Jere-Rigged

Opera, Therapy, and the French Riviera

Saturday was a lot of fun.

I had my first rehearsal at the Metropolitan Opera for a Verdi piece called Don Carlo, about which I know very little other than that it takes place during the Spanish Inquisition. I'm playing a Black Monk in the second scene of the second act, which is an elaborate ceremony celebrating the burning of some heretics. Fun stuff.

Basically, I march in as part of a processional carrying a cross on top of a pole. And that is it. Welcome to being a Supernumerary.

After rehearsal, I met my friend and reader Randy at El Azteca on 9th Avenue, between 52nd and 53rd for a delicious Mexican lunch. If you are unfamiliar with El Azteca, I urge you to stop in and give the place a try. The atmosphere, perhaps best described as "suburban shopping center Mexican place," may leave something to be desired, but the food is delicious and the margaritas are spectacular! And the prices are fairly reasonable. Go Go Go!

Randy and I then headed down to 45th Street to catch a performance of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, a new musical now in previews at the Imperial Theatre. Because this show is still a work-in-progress, I will not be going into detail here about it at this time. I will, however, make some general comments about what I saw. If anyone reading this is associated with the production and would like a detailed analysis, I would be happy to provide one. Contact me via email.

Okay, the show is very funny and a lot of fun. But that said, it does need some work. Not major work, mind you, but some tightening and some focusing would be beneficial.

In case you don't know, this is a comedy based on the 1980's film starring Michael Caine and Steve Martin about two rival thieves in a seaside resort town on the French Riviera as they compete to see which of them can fleece an unsuspecting tourist of $50,000 first.

Music is by David Yazbek, who also provided the score for The Full Monty a few years ago, libretto is courtesy of Jeffrey Lane. Direction and choreography is from Jack O'Brien and Jerry Mitchell, who also did the same for The Full Monty. The stars are New York theatre regulars John Lithgow and Norbert Leo Butz (as the two leads), Sherie Rene Scott as the pretty blonde tourist they set their sights on, and Joanna Gleason and Gregory Jbara as a rich American and corrupt French policeman.

Okay, here it is...

The show is fun and the cast is good, but everyone seem to be working very hard at what should be breezy, fun comedy. This may come as they get more comfortable with the material.

Butz's first number is almost there, but not quite, and should be more on the order of Scott's.

Sherie Rene Scott needs to watch her enunciation.

In addition to the main plot, there is a traditional romantic subplot involving two of the characters that doesn't mesh with or even intersect at all with the rest of the show.

There is another character who is set up as a lead, but who disappears 3/4 of the way through the first act and whose presence delays the arrival of Scott's character. This character could be combined with another, which would allow Scott an earlier entrance as well as solving the last issue I mentioned. (I think.)

A few of the songs, especially toward the end of the second act, sound like rejects from The Full Monty.

But there is a lot of good stuff here. The show is indeed a lot of fun and the cast is excellent. At the performance I attended, every one of the leads received entrance applause and the audience was very much with them.

I find it interesting that so many of the creative staff were involved with The Full Monty, a production that had the unfortunate luck to open in the same season as that 1000 pound gorilla/PR jauggernaut The Producers. As you probably remember, The Full Monty, a very worthy, and some might say superior, show did not win a single Tony Award and seemed to get buried in they hype afforded its rival.

Well, it seems that The Full Monty creative team decided, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em," and have created their very own Producers. Here also we have two men engaged in nefarious, illegal activities and competing as rivals for a blonde girl.

I can't wait to go back and see this at some point and see what changes are made between now and the opening next week. Plenty of time to fix!

After the show, Randy and I walked around a bit and ended up heading into John's on 44th Street to grab a pizza. Of course, we forgot that we were there in between shows on a matinee day...and the place was PACKED. Luckily, as a party of only two, we were seated pretty quickly.

I left Randy after dinner and headed home for a quick nap before heading out to Therapy on 52nd Street, where I joined a party thrown by MAK in honour of his recent birthday. I got to meet a lot of great guys, included MAK's boyfriend, K. I with I could remember the other guys, many of whom were bloggers, but it was late and I had been drinking. Perhaps MAK will chime in here on this.

I had a really great time that night with all those folks, but especially with MAK and K, who are terrific guys and a very cute couple.

Fun!

Posted by Jere at February 21, 2005 09:38 PM | TrackBack