Okay, so I saw the Sweet Charity revival that is currently in previews at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, formerly the Martin Beck Theatre. Since the production is still in previews (and I've heard a rumour from a somewhat famous source that its opening may be delayed, taking it out of the running for awards this season), I will hold off making extensive comment and will try my best to offer only some general thoughts and observations.
-it was very exciting to sit in the theatre and hear the orchestra start the overture with perhaps the most famous six note vamp in musical theatre. Boy, does that get your blood racing!
-star Christina Applegate is charming and the audience was in love with her. The ovation that greeted her first entrance was such that she finally just decided to start speaking her first lines rather than waiting around till next Tuesday when the applause would have died down naturally.
-Applegate is still not doing the full complement of dancing that I assume she will take on when her foot is more fully healed from the break it sustained when the production was in Chicago. But I found it remarkable that she was doing even as much as she was doing.
-I didn't hate the choreography and I usually hate everything that Wayne Cilento does (at least since Dream). There are nods to Fosse everywhere, but much of the movement is original and fun.
-Some people find Denis O'Hare to be a bit over the top (not just here, but in general). I didn't find that to be the case here. He has his over the top moments, but he picks and chooses his moments and those mostly come early on as his character is in the throes of a nervous breakdown in a stuck elevator.
-The new ending really works for me in the sense that it's a very simple way to put a more positive, hopeful spin on what is actually a very sad, dark story.
-The oft-cut "Charity's Soliloquy" is included here, and, though it is cut down somewhat, I was grateful for the chance to finally see it performed.
-Despite early reports to the contrary, Applegate has a fine singing voice that was absolutely up to the demands of this score. She could have a fine career on the stage if she chose. She will certainly be hard-pressed to find a role this good in Hollywood.
-For all the reports from the road of all the changes that were made to the score and libretto for this production, most of the changes seem to have been dropped in favour of the original material. One new song remains in the second act.
-The original melody of the song "Sweet Charity" is used, rather than the version used in the film and the 1986 revival.
-I also didn't hate the direction by Walter Bobbie, who I still think is a hack. There were adjustments that needed to be made, but, on the whole, he kept things moving and mostly in view of the audience.
So that's it on this show for now. I'll probably write some more specific things later on whenever the show opens. Stay tuned.
I had such a great time on Wednesday that I really must tell you about it. Normally, I work at the Desk Jockey Day Job on Wednesdays, but my friend Hector had suggested getting together for this event. And we rounded up a group of our castmates from the late, lamented My Favorite Year.
Hector wanted to get there early to be sure of getting a CD (there were only 50,000 to be given out), so we all arranged to meet up at the Camelot building on West 45th Street and then proceed to the Imperial Theatre. Of course, it was pouring rain in the morning when I got up.
When I got to West 45th Street, it was still raining and Hector and Maya called out to me from across the street where they'd taken shelter under the enormous marquee of the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. We waited a bit for others in our group to join us (to no avail) before heading over to get in line at the Imperial Theatre. We were lucky; we were close enough to the front of the line to be able to wait in the lobby of the Imperial, rather than out in the rain. And soon, we were joined by Harry and a friend of Maya's and Hector's whose name I no longer remember.
After a couple of hours of watching the security staff move the line around to a number of locations in an attempt to not actually block the box office, we met the cast of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and got our CDs signed. I told Gregory Jbara how I always enjoyed his performances and mentioned several shows in which I'd seen him, including Chicago, in which he had played Billy Flynn for a short while while James Naughton was off somewhere directing a play. He was surprised I had seen him and I told him how good he'd been. For those of you not in New York, Jbara also played Kevin Kline's brother in the film In & Out. I told Joanna Gleason how much I enjoyed her number at the recent Wall to Wall Sondheim event up at Symphony Space. She looked at me like I'd just told her I'd arrived from Saturn to dance the tango with Liza Minnelli.
After the signing, we all met up with Rita, who was waiting outside, and headed down the block to Ranch 1 for lunch as per tradition. You see, there was a Ranch 1 right outside the theatre where we performed My Favorite Year and it was, by far, the most popular meal option amongst the company. Here we were joined by Jim who'd not gotten the message about meeting in the morning till after the appointed time. Oops.
Then we headed to Times Square to join the line at the half-price TKTS booth. The line moved slower than I ever remember it going. And we didn't get up to the windows till 2.00pm on the dot and they closed up shop right in front of us. Ugh. We tried a couple of box offices to see if rush tickets were available, but no luck. So our little group, which by this time had dwindled a bit and consisted of Hector, Harry, Jim, and me headed over to 42nd Street to catch a movie and ended up seeing this new flick called The Interpreter starring Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn.
It was pretty good. Kidman is becoming the new Meryl Streep, adopting a new accent for each role, this one being that of an American raised in a fictional African nation. The most impressive feature of the film is that it's the first movie actually filmed on location at the United Nations over on the east side. The locations provided a needed bit of authenticity to the proceedings.
Then we headed over to Ninth Avenue Saloon for drinks, where we were joined by Tom. We waited out Wednesday afternoon's torrential downpour over our alcohol, popcorn, and cheese and crackers, jumping a little with every loud crack of thunder. And then Hector and Tom left us, and Jim, Harry, and I decided to check out the TKTS line for the evening performances and see if we stood a chance to get tickets for anything.
The line was much more normal this time and in short order we had picked up three half-price tickets to the Broadway revival of Sweet Charity, now in previews at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. I'll post a separate entry on my thoughts on the show, as I'm still sort of thinking on it.
After the show, Harry and Jim and I headed up Ninth Avenue and had dessert at Fluff, a newish coffeehouse that I had be to once before.
And this was the end of a very long day in which every activity was just way too much fun. I wish I had more days like this one.
UPDATE: I later found out that I was captured on camera by WCBS, Channel 2, at the Imperial Theatre and was broadcast as part of a story on the evening news. How cool is that?! Wish I'd known ahead of time.
Just in from seeing the fabulous Dame Edna Everage at the Music Box Theatre on Broadway (well, on West 45th Street) in her new, but sadly soon-to-close show, Dame Edna: Back With A Vengeance!.
I had shown up this morning at the Music Box's box office with the intention of purchasing a rush ticket. I had heard that the show was not selling well these days and I knew that standing room was unlikely. There was a couple ahead of me in line obviously engaged in some high level negotiation. I pretended not to listen while straining to hear what could possibly be taking so long.
I've never understood how some people can make a simple transaction into a five act Wagner opera. Whenever I'm in line at the bank or a box office, for example, I have my business in hand, know what needs to be done, and I've concluded my transaction in a minute or two depending upon the speed of the person on the other side of the counter. But it never fails that whomever ends up in front of me needs to take five or ten minutes to get their business done. Perhaps they've nothing better to do with their time?
Anyway, the couple in front of me at the Music Box was trying to exchange a single ticket in order to get two tickets together. And I gather that the box office wasn't being so accomadating. (Tickets to Broadway shows do say "No Refunds or Exchanges," but, in my experience, box office personnel have some leeway here.) The lady noticed me in the line behind them and asked me how many tickets I needed, thinking that she might sell the single ticket directly to me. I said that I needed one ticket. "Perfect," she said. But I told her that I was there for a less expensive rush ticket and couldn't likely afford her ticket. "Oh," she said, and went back to her companion and the negotiation at the window.
The next thing I know, both are turning from the window, business concluded, and they hand me the single ticket and tell me to enjoy the show, pointing out that it was for the matinee, not the evening. I was flabbergasted. They had decided to purchase two seats together and give me the single for nothing! I was speechless. A mere "thank you" seemed far too ordinary for such a gift from a total stranger. These people are my angels today. God Bless, Frances Spaulding (the name on the ticket) and her companion for being so kind to a poor stranger.
And did I mention that the seat was in the first row? Not in the center, but rather the very last seat auditorium left. But still...wow.
The show itself was wonderful! If you're familiar with Dame Edna and her act, then you know exactly what to expect here. As she sang in her opening number, this show is exactly like her last one, except different. There was lots of improvising with audience, chiefly today Robin from New Jersey, Carol from Pennsylvania, and Mary from New York. Dame Edna pulled no punches in telling people how badly they were dressed or how unattractive they were and we loved it all.
I managed to get her attention by laughing a bit too loudly in one section. Of course, I cannot now remember what exactly it was that she said. But, those of you who know me will verify that I sometimes laugh very loudly. She'd previously referred to the occupants of the boxes as mental patients out of the sanatarium for the day thanks to the good graces of Dame Edna. When she heard me laugh so loudly, she looked at me and said that one of the patients must of fallen out of his box. It was hysterical at the time.
One thing that's different this time around is that, in addition to The Gorgeous Ednaettes, two female dancers who assist Dame Edna in a variety of things throughout the show, there were also two male dancers, The Equally Gorgeous TestEdnarones. And I have to agree with the billing. One of them in particular, a guy named Gerrard Carter was jaw-droppingly Yowsa Yowsa Yowsa yummy. Mmmm...
At the end of the show, I was a recipient of one of the famous gladiolas, which is now brightening up my apartment. Gotta love Dame Edna.
Celebrity Sighting of the Day: comedy writer and Hairspray star Bruce Vilanch crossing Eighth Avenue on 45th Street and continuing to walk up the avenue.
Well, I didn't get that production of Merrily We Roll Along that I had the callback for on Tuesday. I don't know why. I thought it went well considering that I still don't have quite the voice that I usually do. Sigh. Back Stage came yesterday though and I spent part of today sending out headshots and resumes.
Last night was my second week as a member of the Wizomaniacs, the team representing Wicked in the Broadway Show Bowling League. We were bowling against an amazing team called the Mickety Splits that represents Disney Theatricals, the stage producing arm of the entertainment conglomerate known as the Mouse House.
They were awesome! And very nice to boot. I had one really good game where I bowled a 120 something and another very poor game where I couldn't break 100. Not so good.
When my mother gets back from Africa next month, I must get her up here to coach me.
We are in the process of upgrading to MT3.16. Please forgive any technical issues such as comment problems for the next little while.
So after getting out of Good Vibrations on Saturday, Randy and I decided to head over to the TKTS booth to see if there was anything available for the evening that we'd be interested in seeing. Little did we know that most every production on Broadway would be up on the board.
I remember years ago coming to New York when I was in high school and college and I'd occasionally come out of a matinee and find that there were only a handful of shows available on for a Saturday evening, mostly shows I'd either seen or had no interest in.
This past Saturday, there were at least 20 choices, all of which I was interested in seeing. I have no idea what that means. Are there more productions now? Or are shows not selling as well? It was weird.
Anyway, for reasons almost entirely arbitrary, we narrowed our choices down to the revival of La Cage Aux Folles and the new musical The Light in the Piazza. And we debated the choice right up to the window where I took the inititive and...flipped a coin. It came up heads and The Light in the Piazza it was.
I couldn't believe it. We would be seeing a serious musical drama on Broadway on the same day as the Great White Way's most inane jukebox entertainment.
But I was really glad that that penny came up heads.
The Light in the Piazza is Lincoln Center Theatre's current offering at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre, their larger Broadway-sized space. Music and Lyrics are by Adam Guettel and the Book is by Craig Lucas. Guettel is the son of Mary Rodgers and the grandson of Richard Rodgers and has previously written the well regarded Floyd Collins, as well as the song cycle variously known as Saturn Returns and Myths and Hymns. This show marks his Broadway debut. Lucas is, of course, a well known playwright of works such as Reckless and Prelude to a Kiss.
The Light in the Piazza tells the story of Margaret and Clara Johnson, a mother and daughter on vacation in Florence in 1953. Clara falls in love at first sight with Fabrizio, an Italian boy, and the lovers face many obstacles from Margaret, who's harboring a family secret that involves Clara, as well as from Fabrizio's family.
Victoria Clark has the role of her career thus far in Margaret, a woman who is frightened for her daughter and her daughter's future, but who comes to realize that she may be missing something from her own life instead. Clark works on Broadway constantly, usually in featured character roles or as a replacement/standby in leading roles. Here, she takes on the challenge of creating a leading role for possibly the first time. And she is exquisite. Everything she does is right on the money and I absolutely believed her as a mid-century upper middle class Southern lady. In fact, her Margaret reminded me very much of one of my great aunts. Barring the unforeseen, Clark's is definitely the performance to beat this season for Best Actress in a Musical.
Kelli O'Hara, late of the unlamented Dracula, is Clara, the innocent young girl abroad who may or may not find true love in the plazas of Florence. To be honest, for the longest time I didn't understand what O'Hara was trying to play. But a late-in-the-show revelation about her character, even though it's not the BIG secret that Margaret is trying protect (Margaret explains the big one fairly early on in the evening in an aside to the audience), illuminates everything and completely changed how I viewed the character and O'Hara's performance. I feel badly for her that the mysteries surrounding her character complicate the view of her performance, but she comes through it all like the golden girl she is and will probably score a Tony nomination for her trouble.
The show also features veteren Broadway talents Matthew Morrison, who is stretching himself enormously as Fabrizio from his last Broadway outing, originating pretty boy Link Larkin in Hairspray, Michael Berresse, heretofore known as a dancer (he originated Fred Casely in the Chicago revival and Bill Calhoun in the Kiss Me Kate revival) speaking Italian and no longer relying on his dance skills as Fabrizio's ne'er do well brother, Giuseppe, Sarah Uriarte Berry, a former Beauty and the Beast Belle among other things as the prototypical 1950's Italian cinema earth goddess and wife of Giuseppe, and Patti Cohenour, Broadway soprano extrordinaire, as Fabrizio's non-English speaking mother, who has a priceless moment at the beginning of the second act that is perhaps the evening's biggest moment of humour.
The whole company was amazing.
This is a complex story well told by all. The sets by Michael Yeargan are quite breathtaking and evocative. The costumes by Catherine Zuber (including hats to die for) are perfect.
Interestingly enough, I had a number of friends in the audience at The Light in the Piazza's very first preview, including Randy who sat next to me on Saturday. Randy was enthusiastic about all the changes that the creative team had made during the preview process and felt that the show played so much better this time than before. Perhaps he will chime in here himself with more details.
This show really is an anomaly on the Broadway scene right now and I hope that it's able to find an audience. I really loved it and would encourage everyone to go check it out, especially if you've tired of the broad comedy so prevalent on our stages right now.
Trust me. Go.
By evening last night, I was sufficiently recovered from my drunken antics at the office to go volunteer usher for a one-night-only presentation of Andrew Lippa's musical john and jen produced in the Kaplan Penthouse at Lincoln Center by Any Minute Now Productions.
I didn't know this show before, but it's a really cute little two-hander with a terrific score. It's very different from Lippa's other major works, The Wild Party and the stuff he contributed to the revival of You're Good Man, Charlie Brown.
The first act tells the story of John and Jen, a brother and sister, growing up in an abusive household in the late 1950's and 1960's and how their bond grows and changes as the siblings age and grow. The second acts shifts to the '70's and '80's and tells the story of Jen and her son, also named John.
This is really a little jewel of a show that provides a major showcase for two actors. And Courtney Balan and Cullen R. Titmas were definitely up for the challenge. Titmas especially made the most out of playing his Johns as sometimes petulant children.
I have no idea why this show isn't produced more often by the always-cost-conscious theatres in this country. It's certainly inexpensive to produce and much more satisfying than Nunsense 6: Nuns vs. Freddy and Jason that regional and dinner theatres are more apt to produce.
I had such a good time taking in an adult musical drama. It made me wish we got more of them in this age of broad, knock-it-over-the-footlights comedy.
Oh, but there is one in town right now...and more on that later.
It's Me! It's Me!
Remember a few days ago when I posted about how seldom I actually have too much to drink? Well, today at the Desk Jockey Day Job there was a party and I drank a little too much.
Here's what happened:
Around 4.00pm, the entire office is called into the conference room for reasons unknown. Everybody knows that something is going on, no one knows what. It's all very mysterious.
Turns out, there's a person associated with the firm who's so happy that things are going so well for her that she wanted to throw a party to thank everyone for all the hard work on her behalf. And she provided a catered Mexican shindig with all sorts of appetizer-type things and...
Margaritas.
Now, by margarita, what I actually mean in this case is "Tequila Slushy." Can I tell you how delicious it all was?! I ate and drank a lot. In the office. I got giggly.
When I went back to my desk, I was drunk IMing people. I don't remember exactly who or what I said, but there were several people involved. I was flying high for a good long while.
It was all very unlike me and it was great! I just hope I don't get fired.
I think I may have told one of my co-workers that I find him attractive. Yikes! I mean, it's true, but this is no time for in vino veritas. I mean, he wouldn't care and might even be flattered, but who knows?
Argh.
I'm so looking forward to heading in to the Desk Jockey Day Job tomorrow. Whee.
On Saturday afternoon, I went to see Good Vibrations, the soon-to-close (it closed on Sunday, by the way) Beach Boys jukebox musical at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on Broadway. I met up with my friend Randy in the morning and we got rush tickets...and ended up in the first row.
And...
The show was NOT the complete train wreck that we all know Broadway musicals can be (hello, Dance of the Vampires...greetings, Dracula). Sure, it wasn't very good, but it was mostly entertaining. And it had a lot of cute boys dancing around in bathing suits. Yum! And, really, what more can you expect of a low-brow jukebox musical aimed at the tourist crowd?
Story? Yes, there was one, although it obviously didn't matter much to the creators of the show, so I don't know why I'm bothering to recap it here. But I will.
After being graduated from high school in a small eastern town, three best friends decide to blow off going to work in the local factory with all their classmates and head to California to spend the summer hanging out on the beach and enjoying their literal moment in the sun. But Bobby, Dave, and Eddie have a problem: no car for their roadtrip. So hunky, popular Bobby invites along class nerd, Caroline, because they know she just got a really cool car as a graduation present.
The nearly invisible Caroline, who's had a crush on Bobby for years, thinks that he's finally come around and realized he loves her too. En route, Caroline discovers the truth, but drives the guys to California anyway and decides to stay and hang out herself. She snags a job as a lifeguard and her off-kilter fashion sense and native intelligence (anathema at home) bring her such fame and popularity that she's the nominal Queen of the Beach, while the guys can't get arrested.
The summer plays out and some of the friends find true love and some don't. When summer finally comes to end everyone moves on to their own, different lives and face the changes that post-high school life brings.
Trust me, I make it sound better than it was.
So what was good about Good Vibrations? Well, for one thing, the performances. All the actors were doing a great job here with very little. Kate Reinders was lovely as the nerd-turned-princess Caroline. Her Caroline was a combination of Kristin Chenoweth and Saturday Night Live's Amy Poehler. I loved how she blossomed with new found popularity in California while essentially remaining the same nerdy girl who was scorned in high school.
The guys (David Larsen, Brandon Wardell, and Tituss Burgess) were all fine as the popular, but not-too-bright high school types who rule the school and then find themselves at loose ends after graduation. David Larsen's Bobby gets most of the spotlight, but the others get their moments, especially Burgess's Eddie who wants to get with hot waitress Rhonda, but can't forget his girl back home.
There are even some nice cameo moments for members of the ensemble in a few scenes.
And did I mention the boys in bathing suits? Wow!
What was NOT so good about GOOD VIBRATIONS? Ugh, where to begin...
The story strove to be so generic that it might actually have been a cruise ship/theme park entertainment, rather than a Broadway musical. We're never quite sure exactly in what era the story is taking place. The mythos surrounding California beach culture and the idea of almost every person in a small town having to go work for "the factory" suggests the Beach Boys' own 1960's as the setting. But the costuming and language here suggests a modern story. There was a running joke that everytime someone would mention a year (at graduation or the graduation dance), microphone feedback would drown out what the speaker was saying. But it was always "19(feedback)" and my position in the first row allowed me read one speaker's lips as he said through the feedback "1997."
All through the show from the characters' eastern home town, to the western honkytonk they stop in en route to California to the actual beach, the characters are knocking back Yuengling, a Pennsylvania beer that happens to be the only beer I can really even come close to liking. (It was the local brew where I went to college.) I know from experience that Yuengling is practically unheard of outside Pennsylvania and was unavailable, even in New York City, until only the last couple of years. I seriously doubt the kids would have found it in the southwest or California. I realize that the company probably paid the producers something for the product placement, but how difficult would it have been to pursue a placement from any beer that's available nationally and has been for a long time? There are certainly plenty of them.
The Beach Boys' catalogue is filled with the unfiltered, raw emotions of teenagers, be they frivolous or weighty. Which is great for the music, but not so much for a show trying to incorporate that music. At almost every turn, we have actors here trying to create deeply emotional moments in song, but none of the characters have actually earned those emotions. Imagine a little girl singing Stephen Sondheim's "I'm Still Here," an anthem of survival usually sung by middle aged or older women. You might appreciate the performance, but it ultimately doesn't make any sense and the images you're seeing don't jibe at all with what you're hearing. Welcome to Good Vibrations.
Surprisingly, there was only one real groaner of a song set-up, the second act "Help Me, Rhonda," cued by Bobby entreating Eddie to let Rhonda "help you get her [the hometown girl] out of your heart."
And there's even a whisp of a gay relationship here, atlhough it's not particularly well handled. While we get many episodes in the romantic adventures of Bobby and Eddie, Dave's discovery of his gayness and his falling in love with a surfer boy is almost completely ignored so as to come as a surprise "twist" at the end. But when it does come out (ahem) no one seems to bat an eyelash, which seems to be another indicator that this is a modern story not set in the 1960's. (But why then are these characters' musical vocabularies entirely 1960's pop?)
Another weird thing if this is a modern story: for all the scantily clad men and women dancing around the stage, there's no sex at all. The act is never mentioned or discussed. Are any of these characters having it? If this was a 1960's story, perhaps even a slightly grittier equivalent of a Frankie Avalon/Annette Funicello beach flick, I might buy that it's a more innocent time and these hot people aren't actually doing the deed every chance they get. But a modern story? Where sex never even comes up? Give the audience some credit please.
The backup singing...really annoying in an American Idol kind of way. Sometimes the ensemble just drags out the microphone stands and sings backup in the shadows (with appropriate choreography, of course), but other times the backup harmonies so essential to Beach Boys music are piped in from who knows where and might even be pre-recorded for all I could tell. Sloppy. This is the first thing that should have be addressed when the topic of putting this show together was raised in a meeting. How do you manage the tight, layered harmonies of the Beach Boys with only 2 people on stage?
Okay, I don't mean to put across that I had a bad time at Good Vibrations. I didn't. It was a very entertaining 85 minutes, including intermission (possibly the shortest Broadway show I've ever attended).
It just wasn't a good show.
And it certainly made for an incongruous start to the day once Randy and I figured out what we were doing that evening. More on that later.
There was indeed a problem with this blog taking comments from users with a gmail address. Two readers pointed it out to me and I took some time today to really examine the issue and have solved the problem.
Feel free to post comments from your gmail addresses to your heart's delight.
Thanks, MAK, for all your help in this endeavour.
I got this comment today from Steve Hickson, and I figured that I would pass it on to all of you. I know he would appreciate any assistance you might be able to provide.
Jere, this has nothing to do with your post, but I have a dilemma I hope your readers can help me with ... last night, I saw Marriott Lincolnshire's production of SWING! (btw, it is wonderful in that suburban, cruise ship/Six Flags Salutes The Big Band Era kind of way) ... but as I sat there in the third row, I couldn't help but wonder ... what do you do when one of the best dancers has VDBL (Visible Dance Belt Lines)? What exactly are my responsibilities as an audience member? As a fellow performer? Will his fellow gypsies point it out to him? Or is that the wardrobe assistant's responsibility?!
What do you think, folks?
Tonight I went to my first post-My Favorite Year audition for an off-Broadway production of the Stephen Sondheim/George Furth musical Merrily We Roll Along. And ended up with a callback for the ensemble. I was surprised about that because I'm still battling the cold that has been plaguing me for weeks now. And I just don't have the singing voice that I normally would. I could hear the difficulties in negotiating my upper register and things just weren't as smooth as they should have been.
And yet I got a callback. If I get it, I'll have to make SOMETHING out of whatever ensemble bits I get assigned. Just like at My Favorite Year. Callback is Tuesday...I'll let you know how it goes.
Funny thing about this audition...I walked in and immediately saw three people from My Favorite Year. We had a mini-reunion while awaiting our turns to go in and sing. The theatre is a small world, even here in the nation's largest metropolis.
I also made my debut tonight with the Broadway Show Bowling League, a league made of teams representing Broadway and off-Broadway shows and organizations.
And you'll never guess which team I'm on. I am a proud member of the "Wizomaniacs," the team representing...Wicked. How did I come to join forces with the dark side and link my name with that of a musical that I thought was pretty much one of the worst pieces of fuckshit I ever saw? Well...it IS for charity. A portion of the proceeds go toward Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
And a friend of mine is on the wardrobe crew at the show. Apparently, even with a company as large as Wicked's, they are having trouble fielding a team and my friend asked me if I'd be interested. Sure, why not?
So I met him at the stage door at 11.00pm following their performance and we walked down to the bowling alley in Port Authority Bus Terminal. Tonight, we were bowling against a team called the "Holy Rollers," which originally represented Nunsense, but which has since evolved and none of the current members had anything do with that show, which has long-since closed anyway. They were four great guys though and we had a great time hanging out and tossing a few balls.
I, not having been bowling in ages, sucked big time. In Game #1, I ended with a whopping 104 and, in Game #2, an even less whopping 94. Sooo...embarrassing. And not helped by the fact that every other person there had a handicap of some sort to boost their score.
My very blood was in revolt. You see, my mother and her entire family are/were bowlers. I grew up with the game and used to be quite good. Not any more. Hopefully, this will change as I bowl on a more regular basis now. It better.
No, Jere is NOT drunk.
But I did manage to make it into Patrick's math quiz today. Yay! Check out questions 12 and 13.
Patrick is a charming and sexy blogger currently (but not for long, I bet) living in Cleveland, the mistake by the lake, that I met awhile back when a gaggle of bloggers from near and far descended upon New York for a wild weekend of drinking and...um...other things.
When WAS that? I just can't think right now. I must have been drunk the entire time. No, I'm kidding. But I still can't remember. As Dan Quayle was wont to say to groups of African-Americans, "It's a terrible thing to lose your mind."
A confession: I don't really get drunk. When I've been eating, I can hold my liquor pretty well. Surprisingly well for someone of my build. But the real reason I don't actually get drunk is that I don't normally drink anywhere near enough. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to. But my precarious financial position usually only allows for a single drink in an evening, if that. Of course, sometimes good friends or handsome men (or both) buy drinks FOR me and that is very nice of them. But it's rare that enough drinks are bought to create more than a pleasant buzz.
Every now and then, I will attend an event that includes an open bar. But these open bars invariably only stock a selection of beers and wine, neither of which really do it for me. I can nurse a beer all night. I just don't like beer enough to drink it quickly. And wine? Eh.
If someone would like to attempt to get me drunk, just for the fun of it, and then report back later, I would certainly go along with the plan. I've been drunk, on rare occasion in past, and I've seen friends drunk (in fact, some of my friends seem to look on intoxication as a hobby), but I think I can count on one hand the number of friends who've seen ME drunk.
But, I must thank Patrick for his kind thoughts. If any gay boys are in the Cleveland area, he's pretty hot. And I hear he's easy. Look him up.
Bebe Neuwirth.
She is the two time Tony Award-winning Broadway star who blazed though the revival of Chicago as that production's original Velma Kelly. It has been, thus far, the crowning achievement of her career and she was quite brilliant. Many Velmas have come and gone since Neuwirth, but she is, arguablely, I suppose, still considered the top.
She is famous across the nation as Lillith, the girlfriend/wife/ex-wife of Kelsey Grammer's Fraiser Crane on television's Cheers and Frasier. She currently stars on television in Law and Order: Trial By Jury, the fourth series in the venerable franchise.
And I keep hearing that she's a raving bitch.
Most recently I read it somewhere on-line, although I no longer remember if it was a blog or a chat room.
Well, I have two Bebe Neuwirth stories, neither of which support the conventional wisdom and I would like to share them and offer another side of the star.
-The first time I saw the Chicago revival was the final preview, the night before the opening at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. Neuwirth had been in and out of the show during previews due to injury, but that night, even though I could see that her ankle was wrapped in an ACE bandage, she was magnetic and simultaneously managed to bring the house down and rip the roof off the joint. It was all I could do to stay in my seat and not get up on stage and dance with her. She was that brilliant. You must remember that his was 1996 and Chicago was the hottest ticket in town and the sexiest musical to come down the pike in memory. I was new to New York and working for a big institutional theatre in those days and we had gotten offered free tickets out of the blue from someone connected to the show who wanted a friendly audience for any critics in the theatre that night. Anyway, the whole night was ELECTRIC and Neuwirth was certainly the first among equals in that amazing company. After the show, my then-roommate and I were hanging around on the sidewalk amongst the crowd of autograph-seekers when Neuwirth left the theatre. In addition to asking for an autograph, one girl told Neuwirth that she was a ballet dancer, but was now inspired to learn about the Fosse style after being mesmerized by her performance that night. Neuwirth started talking to her about the differences in dancing Fosse and doing ballet and, before I knew it, there was an impromptu dance class being held right there on the sidewalk outside the Richard Rodgers Theatre. It was amazing. It was magic. It was Broadway.
-Bebe Neuwirth also happened to be up at the Williamstown Theatre Festival doing a play (she was playing Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew) the same summer that I was an apprentice there. While doing her play, she also chose to do a number at one of the Festival's famous late night cabaret shows. By chance, I was the Production Assistant for that particular cabaret and needed to find out from her whether or not she needed a stool for her number. (Her schedule didn't permit her a rehearsal, so she would be going on "cold.") When I saw her arrive, I approached her and we had the following exchange:
Jere: Ms. Neuwirth, hi, I'm Jere, the Production Assistant tonight. I need to find out from you if you would like a stool for your number tonight.
BN: (thinking a moment): No, I don't think so.
Jere: Thank you very much. Have a great show!
She later did her number, a politically correct fairy tale song whose title I no longer remember, but which was hilarious, as well as some funny patter with host (and her Taming of the Shrew director and co-star) Roger Rees.
Anyhow, that's who Bebe Neuwirth is to me. If I meet her again at a party and she throws a cocktail in my face, I'll be sure to let you know. Otherwise, I will stick to my guns and defend the lady against the prevailing gossip of her being a right bitch.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Thanks to a last minute invitation from a friend, I spent this afternoon at the New Amsterdam Theatre on 42nd Street attending The 19th Annual Easter Bonnet Competition, the annual fund raising event presented by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
For the last six weeks, the companies of plays and musicals on and off Broadway and on tour around the country have been collecting donations from their audiences, planning and rehearsing comedy skits and/or dance numbers, and designing and constructing elaborate Easter Bonnets to represent their shows.
I'd never been to an Easter Bonnet show before...in fact, I'd never been to any of these annual BC/EFA fund raising shows before (They do several, including Gypsy of the Year and Broadway Bares each year.)
It was a fun, low key afternoon that had an air of being a private event for people in the theatre industry. Inside jokes abounded and I wonder if the casual theatregoer (I think tickets were available to the public) would have even gotten most of what was said. I was surprised at the number of serious dance pieces that were presented (all sort of modern in style), and sometimes it felt like these dancers were trying to convince us that, even though they may kick up their heels in Broadway shows, they can do "real" dance too. Anyway...
Here are some Highlights:
-The cast of Beauty and Beast did a Fosse/Sweet Charity parody called "Hey, Big Blender," that was really fun stuff. I wish I could remember the naughty new lyrics, but picture a lot of puns involving big appliances and things that can be done with them.
-The cast of Good Vibrations did a skit called "Some Chick in a Bikini and Her Busted Beach Kids" that poked fun at their show's poisonous reviews to the tune of Gypsy's "Dainty June and Her Farmboys." It was perhaps the most self-aware and (painfully) funny skit of the afternoon. It was also somewhat prescient; the production posted its closing notice this very day.
-Sutton Foster and Maureen McGovern, the stars of Little Women, appeared in "March Girls Gone Wild," in which they portrayed the wild women of 19th Century New England. (The title of this post comes from one of their voice over announcements.) Foster was especially hilarious as an intoxicated Jo desperately trying to flash her breasts and being defeated by her voluminous period undergarments.
-The cast of Mamma Mia complained that the proliferation of jukebox musicals kept causing their show to be invoked in reviews of new productions. They quoted some of their own sharply negative reviews from the show's 2001 opening (while also noting their frequent SRO status) and then quoted more recent reviews of other shows including one of Good Vibrations that said "it makes Mamma Mia look like Sunday in the Park wtih George." This kicked off their number, "A Blank Page," in which they spoofed Sunday in the Park with George's famous first act ending "Sunday."
-An appearance by Urinetown's Officer Lockstock and Little Sally, who, while noting that their show was long-closed (and the theatre since torn down), they were such favorites at this event that they had to find a way to sneak in. They got away with the afternoon's most pointed and potentially cruel jokes, all of which were hilarious. And none of which I can actually remember at this moment. Damn.
-Harvey Fierstein explaining the rules of the prize-awarding at the event to a confused Jessica Lange who had earlier noted, while reading dollar amounts off a card, that "this is how stupid they think actors are...instead of numbers, they actually write out the amounts." Fierstein retorted that "most of us aren't used to those Hollywood paychecks."
It was fun stuff and I was ever so glad to have been there. I thank my friend profusely for inviting me.
Well, it's over.
My Favorite Year closed yesterday with another great show. Afterward, we did a brief photo call and started working on strike, which is, basically, knocking down the set and getting everything out of the theatre and back into storage.
The show came down around 4.30pm, and I finally finished my part of the strike at midnight. There was another party being held afterward, but I had to work this morning and didn't feel up to a late night after working all day.
I will miss this experience tremendously. Sigh.
It was, in most ways, a usual performance. The actress playing Belle was battling a cold and had lost much of her voice on Sunday. But she was able to adjust her performance and really gave it her all. I was so proud of her. I've been in that situation myself and I know how difficult it is.
There was one somewhat embarrassing moment during strike when I was talking with some others about how many people they'd had come to see the show over the course of the run. Most everyone had quite a number of friends and family at the show; I had 4 people come over the course of the whole run. I was asked why and started to explain how my parents are traveling in Africa at the moment, and was asked "What about all your friends?" "Well," I explained, " Four of them came."
"Wow! Your friends really suck!"
I was about to laugh and agree and realized how bad that looked for me and, instead, mumbled something about people being really busy. And I suddenly found something to do in another part of the theatre.
And I have no idea what to think about that.
Amazingly, one of the four people who came was a guy I'd been out with a couple of times a while back. I hadn't seen him in a while, because he'd told me that things had gotten busy at work. It's a common brush-off, so I sort of just thought the guy was history. But there he was on Sunday at my show. He'd come in all the way from Long Island just to see it. Turns out one co-worker had died suddenly, and another had, just after that, suffered a massive coronary, so his office was indeed a little crazy. We spent some time after the show re-connecting and will get together for another date probably at some point when he returns from the vacation he's going on at the end of the week. What a sweet guy!
Also on Sunday, a random audience member came up to me and just raved about my performance talking about how she couldn't take her eyes off me whenever I was on stage, etc. and so forth. I love this! It just makes my day to hear that someone connected with what I was doing, especially in a series of small roles. She wanted to verify that I was pursuing a career professionally. And, when I confirmed this, she told me that she was in the business herself. So who knows?! Wouldn't it be exciting if she told someone about me? Neat!
And I got an email today from a reader who'd also attended the show. Here's, in part, what Rich wrote:
hi jere,
well, i saw "My favorite year" twice in its original lincoln center
run......i saw it twice when it played at the 14'th
street "y" as part of the "Musicals tonight" season, a few years ago.
so how could i only see it once when it
was done by the village light opera? the answer is that i couldn't.
i was back again on friday evening.......in the same seat that i had
the previous saturday. i had wondered about
the missing dancing cigarette box the previous weekend......glad to see she
was back! (even being the hard core
non smoker that i am.) the body mikes did make a big difference. i
ve heard a number of people mention about
the problem of hearing in this venue......refering to this production and
to other shows there.
congratulations on your award! you really did a great job.....you
are so expressive even when you don't get to
say anything! you really seem to be having a great time up on
stage.....even being (i believe) the last person to
leave after the curtain calls, when you danced your way off!
i can't remember any recent show, where one person played as many
parts as you did. (cue card boy,
tess' escort, cop, guy from the gym (in welcome to brooklyn).)....am i
leaving any out?
there didn't seem to be any problems on friday night......there had
been a couple of very minor things the previous
saturday. it is so great to see such an elaborate production and such
a huge cast, in a day and age when everything
is going in the extreme opposite direction. i can't imagine how evan
pappas got so many people to be in the exact
right spot at the right time in those big ensemble numbers. it sounds
so great to hear all those voices singing together
in numbers like "the gospel according to king", etc. it really
made me nostalgic for the way shows were done way
back when......of course the whole show makes me nostalgic for when i was
growing up and loyally watching "your
show of shows" every saturday night. my parents used to go out to the
movies.....my sister and i would stay home
with our grandparents, and watch t.v. (and get to stay up late).
i always like to watch the reactions of other audience members
when i'm at a show that i have seen before.....
i sneaked a good many looks to see others smiling, laughing, and
genuinely having a great time, at both
performances of "M.f.y."
and as always, the last number brought a tear to my
eye.....it's a combination of the happy ending, my
nostalgia for old time broadway, and the way i love a song that has a
modulation as the title tune of "my favorite
year" does......it's a combination that gets me every time.
i recommended the show to a good many people this past week. as
far as i know, only one of them went....
a theatre friend of mine, who came in from new jersey to see it.....he
even brought his father along. when i mentioned
you, and what parts you played, he instantly knew who i was talking
about.
this was one of my all time best theatre weeks ever.... thanks to you and to everyone at vlog, for doing such a
great job with "my favorite year". anyone who did
not go to see it, truly missed out on a wonderful theatre experience!
And what can I possibly say to THAT? Thanks, Rich! I am...overwhelmed.
Back to real life soon...I promise.
Performances of My Favorite Year have gone very well so far this weekend. Audiences have been loving us and we're all having so much fun. It's really kind of cool being in a show that everyone hasn't seen 112 times.
On Friday night, Jeff and Matt came out to see the show, as well as my friend Randy and I was so happy that they were there. It's very rare that anyone comes out to see me in anything because I'm usually performing in far flung locales that are either difficult to get to from the city or require some planning to attend. But this show is performing right in Chelsea, in the heart of the city. Of course, I had hoped that this would mean that more friends would be able to carve a couple of hours out of their lives to come see me, but, oh, well...
Thanks to Jeff, Matt and Randy for coming out and supporting me. I really appreciate it.
After the show today, we had a Question and Answer session for kids and they were SO cute!! Gotta love the little kids. Of course, our show is not really geared to the little ones, but what the hell, right? If the parents don't mind explaining the words "schlong" and "schtup" to the kids, I say go for it.
We also had our "official" cast party tonight and it was nice to get together with most of the company for a fun evening prior to the hell that Sunday will be what with a performance followed by set strike. Oh, and one last party, of course.
During the party, I won an award. For what, I'm not sure. You see, I totally wasn't expecting to win anything because I'm new to the company, so during the award presentation part of the program, I sort of zoned out a little. Mine was one of the first presented, you see.
So I'm not paying that much attention and I'm applauding right along with the crowd when, suddenly, I realize that the name said was MINE. Holy Fuck, Right!? I just wish I remembered what nice things were said about me before my name was called.
After the official party, a small group of us headed over to a neighbourhood bar for an afterparty. It was fun. We traded gossip. We debated the meaning of the phrase "hooking up." We talked about boobs and whose are biggest (you KNOW who you are) and cock, who doesn't like it (LIKEWISE), who's getting laid and who's not. And the weird places that we'd had sex (elevators, various parks, olivander bushes, etc.). And we drank. And ate. It was so much fun.
Tomorrow's the last performance. Come. Info is here.
So tonight was a brush up rehearsal of My Favorite Year in preparation for our three performances this weekend. We had had three whole days off and I was glad for the chance to get the show back into my head a little bit, but in a more relaxed way.
Basically we did a run through, but at a faster tempo. The musical numbers we took at normal speed, just the scenes were sped up a bit.
But some things will be different this weekend. We now have a tap dancing cigarette box (Chesterfields) that will be an addition to the opening number. You wouldn't think that it would make that much difference, but being on stage with it was a little freaky. There will also be some tweaks to the set as some detail work has been done that there just wasn't time for last week.
But the biggest change came as a result of an anonymous donor to the company. You will recall, or perhaps not, that the only criticism any of us have really heard is that there are times where the full orchestra drowns out the singers. This is a score that was orchestrated in 1992 to be sung with amplification and this theatre does not have a pit, so this was bound to occur. But someone donated some money to the company for the purpose of acquiring body mics. And now our two leads are wired for sound. Whee!
I can't wait to talk to people this weekend and see if it makes a difference or not. Since I've never seen the show from out front, it's hard for me to judge. But, in any case, BRAVO to the anonymous donors. We all thank you very much.
Speaking of seeing the show from out front, since we were in rehearsal mode tonight, members of the company would sit out front and watch whenever we were not required for the scene. We haven't really been in a position to watch the show in quite a while now and our rehearsal space didn't really afford much space to see the proceedings from the front.
I mention this only because two or three members of the company came up to me independently to tell me how funny I am and how cool it is to watch me when I'm on stage as Cue Card Boy (the largest of my ensemble roles). Can I tell you how much I frickin' love this? It's one thing for people in the audience to tell you that they liked the show (and that's great too), but for a co-worker to take the time to do that is so amazing. Especially when these people are doing such great work themselves.
And I have to say that it's really nice when people get it. I do put a lot of thought into what I'm doing on stage even when I don't have a really large role to play. I know that 98% of what I'm doing is going to be missed because I'm not the focus of any given scene, but it's really nice to hear that people notice once in a while and like what I'm doing.
So, anyway, there are three performances left: Friday at 8.00pm, Saturday at 2.00pm, and Sunday at 2.00pm. Come see us. Ticket information is here.
And stop and say hi afterward. If you don't know which one I am, just ask someone. I'll surely be pointed out to you.
I got a comment yesterday that I want to quickly address so that no one out there in the world gets the wrong idea. It was from someone identifying him or herself as "Block and Tackle," and was regarding my mentioning seeing Musical Director/Cabaret Star Seth Rudetsky on the street yesterday. Here's what the person said:
Are we supposed to know who Seth Rudetsky is? You live in NYC, and that's all you're offering? Out of the thousands of celebrities who inhabit that fair city, you throw up that turd in the punchbowl?
You might as well post that you saw your mailman today, he's got as much gravitas as Seth Rudetsky. Throw us a bone here, please. Work with us a little bit, Chachi.
First of all, B&T, I explained who Seth Rudetsky is in the post. He is a Musical Director who sometimes does his own act in cabaret spaces around town. I saw his Rhapsody in Seth show awhile back and it was terrific!
Now, I'm sorry that Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick don't happen to cross my path each and every day, but, B&T, this blog is MY story of MY life and when I see someone in the street that I recognize, I will mention it. People in New York in the theatre business know who Seth Rudetsky is and you're just going to have to trust me on that.
I live very near Times Square and will often see theatre actors as I go about my business living my life. YOU may not be familiar with them, B&T, living in your little town somewhere, but it's still really cool. And, chances are, these people are way more talented than anyone you HAVE heard of. Pardon the dangling participle, please.
And, really, B&T, if your town was so great, people would be flocking THERE in droves to pursue their art and somehow I doubt it.
In future, if you don't recognize the name of someone I deem a celebrity, please feel free to ask and I will explain who he or she is for you. But I don't need some snotty put down of me, my town, or the talented people who work here. Name recognition in your household, B&T, is not the end all and be all of talent.
By the way, I have no problem being referring to as "Chachi." When I was a kid, I thought Scott Baio was ever so cute. He had this one poster where he was wearing a jacket, but no shirt, and the jacket was unzipped just enough to see a little chest. HOT HOT HOT! Of course, anyone reading this who actually knows me, will most likely laugh his or her ass off at the comparison. I'm really NOTHING like Scott Baio, either then or now that he's old.
So, yeah, B&T...thanks for reading and taking the time to comment. Now go fuck yourself.
That is all. Thank You.
Celebrity Sighting of the Day: I keep seeing Musical Director/Cabaret Star Seth Rudetksy around the neighbourhood. Tonight he was walking up Ninth Avenue at West 49th Street. He's got to live nearby somewhere.
And the Ginger Carlucci saga continues: I got another $5 from Ginger the other day. That's $10 down and $165 to go.
You know, you never realize how much television you watch until you spend an entire week in tech for your musical and then you check the queue on your DVR. Holy Fuck! I must have had something like THREE straight days of television awaiting me. I had no idea that I watched this much TV.
Spent some time tonight in a new coffee shop here in the neighbourhood called Fluff. I dropped in after discovering that The Coffee Pot, my usual coffee place was PACKED. Great place! It's all kind of sleak and stark with fluorescent lights and butterflys twisted into what could pass for an art installation hanging from the ceiling.
The pastries at Fluff are all in house made versions of snacks like twinkies (here called "Fwinkies"), snowballs, and malomars. And the people behind the counter are really nice.
If you're in Hell's Kitchen on Ninth Avenue, I definitely recommend checking the place out.
So, yeah, we got My Favorite Year open on Saturday night. It was a rough tech, but the opening went really well, as did our second performance on Sunday afternoon.
I haven't seen any "official" reviews, but here is one that appeared in Talkin' Broadway's chatroom, All That Chat. It's mostly positive, and the few negative things mentioned are things that are minor, if, perhaps, valid.
Everyone is really pleased with how it's going.
I'll try to present some random thoughts and memories about the weekend, and I apologize if they seem scattered and random. I feel a little scattered and random right now:
I found out that more people from the show have found this blog, although I haven't heard anything negative about it.
My (now former) houseguest finally had time to check out the blog. You will recall that I actually told him about it myself. He was pleased and flattered to find himself on the list of The Top 5 Guys At The Show I'd Totally Do Given The Opportunity. And he asked to be kept on the list. And I said fine. So what if he's straight? I'd still totally do him and it's not like I'm really going to get a shot at any of the other four either, so why not?
At the opening night gathering at a local bar, I met a gentlemen who had seen my posting on All That Chat about the show and he asked someone to point me out to him. So nice to meet new people.
I also received an email from a reader who'd also seen me in Sugar last summer. He enjoyed My Favorite Year and thought I was terrific in my numerous parts. That's always nice to hear.
Apparently, lyricist Lynn Ahrens and original cast member Lannyl Stephens were at the show this weekend and both gave their seal of approval. Sadly, I did not get to meet either one. But I bet they're really nice.
I really miss seeing all these people. I genuinely like all of them and will miss them terribly when I don't see them anymore.
Oh, hey, I'm doing my usual routine here of making a three act play out of nothing for my own amusement and that of the crew. This is just something I do when I'm cast in a role that doesn't really have a lot of lines. I come up with business and try to come up with a through-line for whatever character I'm playing so that if you DID happen to spend the whole evening watching me, you might actually be entertained.
In this particular case, you might notice that Cue Card Boy does not seem to handle pressure particularly well. Nor is he "in the loop" at the King Kaiser Comedy Cavalcade. Come see the show and you'll probably see what I mean.
In general, the only people who notice these things are the crew, the folks who see the show over and over and get the opportunity to notice these things. But it's fun for me too and let's me actually be an actor when I don't actually have anything to play.
Although I was stopped by a random pair of people on Eighth Avenue who recognized me from seeing the show on Sunday as I made my way home. That's really cool.
David Cerda will be pleased to know that I have managed to work in a bit where my mouth drops open in shock and I point at someone for an extended period. Also, my hairstyle for the show has caused several people, all independently of each other, to note my resemblance to Our Gang's Alfalfa (without the stubborn cowlick). This will come in handy when David finally writes the promised Alfalfa: The Musical for me.
So after the last performance, I basically came home and collapsed. I'm still sort of in recovery mode. But I can't wait to get back and do another performance.
I'm just nuts like that. :)
We were released last night from the theatre at 1.00am. The show is coming along, but we are exhausted. First dress rehearsal is tonight with the orchestra and final dress is tomorrow afternoon prior to our opening tomorrow night.
I'll write more later...I'm just too tired now.
Quote of the Night:
This is from the actress playing the role of Tess, a small, but important part in My Favorite Year. She came and worked in the costume shop all though the rehearsal last night, only actually making it to the stage for a few minutes in a quick run through of one of her scenes, and only then because the scene happened to cue a major set change and the crew needed to hear it in order to prepare. When I heard that she had been up there in the shop all night, I remarked that "Aww...that's so sweet." Her reply?
"It's not sweet, it's mandatory."
I'm now a little bit in love with this girl. And I'm totally co-opting that line for future use.
We basically did a cue-to-cue of the first act, hitting all the major highlights with the exception of "Manhattan." Fun. The set is coming along nicely and it's HUGE. HUGE. With many moving pieces. It's gonna be ever so cool!
And we got the official invitation to the cast party following our run. I'm not sure I can afford to attend, however, because the cost is $35 per person. I've never heard of charging the cast to attend the closing party, but I'm guessing that the majority of the folks who make up this company are rich or otherwise not hurting for cash and don't mind ponying up the dough. Not so for me, so I will need to carefully consider my finances and decide whether or not I can attend.
Oh, and here's an interesting factoid that I found out the other day: Our former musical director/conductor, who has been with the company for something like 40 years, is the father of Broadway star Christiane Noll, who I most recently saw back in December in the Goodspeed Opera House's production of Mack and Mabel. While I knew the last name was the same, I would never have thought to put two and two together, so to speak. Unfortunately, due to some health problems, our musical director had to bow out of rehearsals early on and I didn't really work with him all that much.
Steve Hickson asked the other day if anyone from the show had found this blog and was reading and I know that one person has. And I also mentioned it to my houseguest last night and perhaps he will look it up. I haven't really written anything negative here about anyone, not necessarily because I've learned the lesson of Sugar (which I did, by the way), but because I have very little that's negative to say about the experience thus far. Great people, terrific show. Come see it.
We ran some major numbers tonight and were at the theatre from about 6.30pm to 11.45pm or so. Started be reviewing last night's major accomplishment, "Twenty Million People," and progressed to "The Gospel According to King," "Professional Showbizness Comedy," "The Muskateer Sketch," and "Manhattan."
We are all wiped out and it's only Tuesday. Many of us are sick. I still find it incredible that people's love of the theatre can propel them on adreneline alone for a week. And just when we're at our most exhausted and most strung out, we will be performing the show for an audience. And it will be terrific! It's a terrible, horrible system, but it's just how it's always been, I guess.
The cough drops of choice for the cast of My Favorite Year are Ricola. Mine are actually Cold-eeze.
In a moment of whimsy tonight, our director Evan Pappas amused us all by breaking out into some dance moves from A Chorus Line, which I'd forgotten he'd been in for awhile (four and a half years, according to him). Though he professed to be hurting afterward, it looks to me like he's still got it.
I took a look around at the cast and crew tonight with a view toward finding a replacement for that vacant fifth slot of Top 5 guys At The Show I'd Totally Do If Given The Opportunity. And I'm just not finding anyone...so I've decided to leave the fifth slot blank for now. It's not that I'm out of guys, or even out of gay guys, but I'm just not seeing anyone that's capturing my attention the way the other four (five, counting my straight houseguest, which I am not anymore) do.
Tonight I took a look at our sign-in sheet and counted the cast for the first time. There are 51 actors in this show. 5-1. Holy Fuck! This may well be one of the largest productions I've ever been in. For those of you looking for comparisons, most Broadway musicals have casts in the 10-15 person range. A particularly large show might have a cast of 25-30. Yes, folks, you can do amazing things when you aren't paying anyone.
There's a lyric in the show, in the opening number actually, that goes "...if only we had another week." We always want another week or another day or another whatever to continue to perfect the show. We never have that. You never feel like there's quite enough time to do everything that you want to do. And I think that's part of the energy, the electricity of live theatre.
It's gonna be great. Trust me. Buy tickets here. And tell them at the box office that I sent you.
We spent the first part of the evening tonight in a rehearsal studio where we talked through transitions and staged the curtain call. It was unremarkable in every way, except that the room we were in was barely big enough to hold all of us, much less actually stage anything.
I noticed that our director, Evan Pappas, has given the last bow to the actor playing Benjy (the role Evan originated), which is absolutely correct considering that this is Benjy's story. However, in the original production, the last bow went to Tim Curry, who was playing the movie star Alan Swann, not Evan, presumably because Curry is/was a bigger name than Evan. I hate curtain call politics like that, but I guess it's inevitable.
After a short break, we moved to the theatre, which was right around the corner from the rehearsal studio and spent the next two hours trying to restage the opening number, "Twenty Million People," and work out all the spacing issues about which we've been saying "You know, we're never going to know exactly until we get into the theatre" for weeks and weeks now.
And I have a houseguest. One of my fellow cast members lives way the fuck out in Queens and it takes him at least an hour to get home from Manhattan. And he works in the Bronx and must rise at 5.00am to make it on time, Now see, we are called at rehearsal this week until midnight every night. So he was looking at getting maybe three and a half hours of sleep a night this week. That's not so good. So I offered my sofabed. I just had to...I couldn't let this guy kill himself this week unnecessarily. This way, his commuting time is cut in half and he gets to bed at a decent hour.
And...ahem...no ulterior motives here. I invited him BEFORE I ascertained his sexual preference, but I found out tonight that he is straight. So on the sofabed he will stay. Too bad, he's pretty cute in a boy next door kind of way and I certainly wouldn't kick him out of bed if he was so inclined.
The other day, I was bored at rehearsal and made a list of the top five guys associated with the show that I'd totally do if given the chance. My houseguest made the list, but this was, of course, before I found out that he's straight. The others are definitely gay, but now I have an empty slot on my roster. Hmmm...
Oh, and hey...remember awhile back that I posted on how odd it was that there were so many major shows on and off Broadway whose two leading roles were characters of the same sex? Well, I totally forgot that My Favorite Year absolutely falls into that category as well. It's that whole "forest for the trees" cliche.
I should mention for all the straight guys and lesbians in my readership (cricket...cricket...cricket) that the women in My Favorite Year are stunningly gorgeous. Some of them almost make me want to...well, take my attention away from the cute guys to whom I SHOULD be paying attention. Oh, and it's not just the cast, the women on the crew are beautiful as well. You probably won't see any of them, so you'll have to take my word for it.
Speaking of the crew, there's this one guy...YOWSA! He, of course, is one of the four remaining on my Top 5 list.
It's going to be a long week. Please bear with me here and forgive me if I have nothing else to write about but the latest goings on at My Favorite Year. For this week, there's not much else going on in my life.
I ran into Mike in the rear gallery at City Center tonight at the intermission of Purlie. I was telling him how pleased I was with the progress of My Favorite Year, but that I didn't think anyone would be coming to see me considering the small size of my role.
His suggestion was to post an entry telling people that the show was going to be good and to come see it.
Okay...it's going to be good. Come see it. It's a fully staged, fully orchestrated production of a rarely done musical and, while it still has its problems, it's going to be pretty good. I do happen to be in it. But don't blink or you'll miss me. Oh, I do have that one line ("Come on...that's nothing to do with us.") in the second act. So, if you must blink, that would be a good time.
Mike told me tonight that he would come and guaranteed that he could round up some folks to come see this and, in fact, he specifically mentioned certain people.
Can't wait to see who actually shows up now. If you do come, tell the box office that you're there to see me. And do stick around afterward and say hi. I'm assuming that there's a convenient stage door somewhere.
Did everyone see South Park's deliciously subversive (and perfectly timed) take on the whole Terri Schiavo mess this week? How much do I love this show? It's got to be the most pointed satire on television right now. You've got to see it if you can.
I've been battling a most fiendish cold this week. It started as a tickle in my throat on Monday night after the monsoon we had here. Tuesday, it was a full blown sore throat. Wednesday, the sore throat was gone, but the cold mutated into sinus congestion and a runny nose, along with disruption of my sleep. Now the congestion and runny nose seem to be tapering off and the cold seems to have come rest in my throat, not as a sore throat this time, but rather settling on my vocal cords and taking away my voice. Ugh.
I'm fighting as hard as I can with Airborne and Cold-eeze. Not a single day off between now and the opening of My Favorite Year, so I really need to be careful.
Also, I forgot to mention the reading that I participated in on Easter Sunday. It was a rough version of a new musical by David Cerda called Scarrie. It's a parody of the movie Carrie (which I've never seen), and seems really promising, even in this extremely rough version we performed on Sunday. Of course, there was a notorious "straight" musical adaptation of this story on Broadway for a few performances in the 1980's. David says that he thinks the main reason this version failed (other than inept choroeography, courtesy of Oscar telecast succubus Debbie Allen) was that the creators and cast took it way too seriously. And the material is just too over the top for that kind of approach. Don't worry about that here.
David was actually in attendance and really helped to flesh it out for us by explaining things that were missing and changed and potentially confusing. The music was all pre-recorded, mainly David singing on demo recordings and audio from a video of a workshop presentation of the show done in the fall in Chicago.
It's going to be really fun when the producers here get it on its feet. You heard it here first, kids.
Just in from the Encores! concert of the 1970 Gary Geld/Peter Udell musical Purlie, based on Ossie Davis' 1961 play Purlie Victorious. Television hottie Blair Underwood played the title role and he was joined on stage by recent Tony winner Anika Noni Rose, as well as past Tony recipients Lillias White and John Cullum and the usual stageful of New York's top talent.
I didn't know this show before and it's pretty easy to understand why it's so rarely done. While the score is fun, the book is fairly nonsensical and causes the show as a whole to come off as pretty slight.
In 1960's rural Georgia, local minister Purlie has decided to try to con the local rich white guy out of $500 which he wants to use to buy a local barn to convert to a church. To that end, he brings in a pretty young thing to impersonate his MIA cousing Bea, whose inheritance the $500 actually may be. (Where Bea actually IS and why she hasn't claimed her money herself is unclear.) Local rich guy also happens to have a hippie son, a nice, progressive guy who genuinely likes the local blacks and wants to treat them like real people.
Does Purlie's scheme work? Does he find true love with his pretty young thing? Is there a huge deus ex machina twist at the end that could have happened at any point in the show and basically invalidates the entire second act? What do YOU think?
The cast gives fine, if unexceptional, performances, and the show never really takes off and grabs the audience the way it should. They need to work on their diction and projection. Both in speaking and song, I had trouble understanding what was being said on stage at times. Eh...
I don't want to leave the impression that I had a bad time and this production certainly doesn't rank with the worst of Encores!, but it's just a very slight show probably not worthy of a full scale revival and I doubt I'll ever have a chance at seeing it again...which makes it the perfect Encores! choice.