[TOS]

I wasn't sure if my "little show that could" would work in a Broadway house. Even in a "small" Broadway house like the Lyceum. Actually, I'm still not sure if the show stands up if you're not in the first few rows of the orchestra (Trish and I were in the third row, center orchestra). It's so intimate and cozy that I'm afraid some of the charm is probably lost in the mezzanine. And the balcony? Fuggedaboutit. When it played the Vineyard Off-Broadway last year, the theater was so small that you could literally make eye contact with all the actors from anywhere in the house. It was like having a bunch of your theater friends over for brunch, hanging out and just shooting the sh*t about life and the biz. Now it's on "The Broadway" and people are paying a hundred bucks a pop! That's some mark-up from the Andrew Jackson I gave up for a Vineyard ticket. For you [TOS] virgins, the show is a meta-musical about two guys writing a musical about two guys writing a musical. It's full of self-referential jokes, insider theater gossip and obscure theater references - the perfect show for any theater queen or performer.

The first forty minutes are as clever, funny and wacky as I remembered from the show's previous incarnation. The only differences I could spot were a line here and there, originally spoken, now set to music. Frankly, the newly musicalized dialogue wasn't really an improvement as much as perhaps some producer saying, "You need to change something for the Broadway run." Even as a fan, I have to say, the getting-to-Broadway medley section was on the dull side and rather tedious except for the Sutton Foster replacement section. That juicy bit of insider information introduced a darker, more dramatic element that I think the piece was lacking in it's previous run. It also provided some honest to goodness conflict between the "characters" - in quotes since the actors play themselves. It's nice to know that these BFF's can get just as nasty as the rest of us. The performances are still surprisingly fresh considering the long Off- and Off-Off Broadway runs. Everyone seemed genuinely in the moment and nothing felt fake or insincere. My two fave moments remain "Die, Vampire" and "Way Back to Then." Heidi still sound f*ckin' amazing, fresh from her stint at Mermaid. The answering machine messages are still fun, especially the ones from LuPone and Ebersole.

I just wonder how long an insider musical can run when half the jokes are based on theater trivia only us diehards know about? I mean, there's a joke about Mary Stout getting hit by a hot dog cart, for God's sake. How many theater insiders even know who Mary Stout is? And if you do, you definitely are a hardcore theater whore (and the target demographic for this show). I'm sure I'll end up seeing it at least 2 or 3 more times (unless it hastily closes) through TDF or through rush tickets at a more reasonable $30.

FYI - definitely check out the podcasts of the [title of show] Show on http://www.titleofshow.com/. Especially the Christmas special and the episode about replacement casting.