Weekend, Fame and Harry Potter

Since The Music Man goes into tech tonight at APA, I decided to spend a rare rehearsal free weekend relaxing in the city. Yes, for the first time in months I was actually able to spend the entire weekend in NYC and not have to make a run out to the wilds of suburban Jersey.

Friday night, Trish and I had trashy Mexican food at Chevy’s. I know its nasty, but sometimes I just crave that gnarly processed crap. Afterwards, we hopped across the street for Insidious, which scared the crap out of us, but disappointed in that Patrick Wilson remained fully clothed throughout. Not even a shirtless scene. What a waste.

We spent most of Saturday in our PJ’s watching a Fame marathon on Ovation (cast left). For those young ‘ens who think Glee is all that and a bag of chips, Fame was kicking it musical style while Lea Michele was still in diapers - and without auto-tune, thank you very much. You heard every delicious vocal imperfection. Nobody sounded like an emotionless, computer-generated voice. Plus you had the campy line readings of Debbie Allen. “Fame costs, and right here is where you start paying - in sweat!” Amen, sister. Oh, and there was also this young cast member named Janet Jackson. You might have heard of her.

Saturday night we were off to Punch, a restaurant and wine bar in the trendy flatiron district, where we met up with my longtime friend, Karen, who was visiting from LA. Karen works for Warner Brothers and was in the city for the opening of the Harry Potter exhibition at the Times Square Discovery Center (which Trish and I hope to catch very soon).

We gorged on pasta and over-priced drinks, whiling away the evening playing the “what-famous-people’s-numbers-do-you-have-in-your-blackberry?” game. Pathetically, I could only muster up a few Broadway chorus boys. Karen, of course, trumped us all with her rolodex of TV and movie personalities.

Dejected by my lack of famous friends, Trish and I hailed Karen a cab (she had to run back to her hotel to meet more Potter dignitaries) and then high tailed it to Mario Batali’s cavernous new Italian market, Eataly, for some gelato and people watching. Still slightly buzzed from dinner, my overly hospitable demeanor and wobbly gait prompted the check-out girl to ask if I was “funk-tified.” I promptly slurred “yeth” as she nodded with a smile of approval.

The high-pitched squeals you hear emanating from West 45th Street is the sound of tween girls losing their shit over young Harry Potter in his Broadway musical debut (pic below). I guess I can’t complain. He’s getting butts in the seats and introducing young people to classic musical theatre, not crap like Mamma Mia.

And for the bitchy folks over at All That Chat lamenting the lack of theatre etiquette amongst the younger set, not a single photograph or cell phone went off during the performance. Maybe there’s hope yet. Perhaps these young people’s model behavior will rub off on their idiotic parents.

As for the show (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying), it’s slick and fun and the constant movement (please, Mr. Ashord, you need not choreograph every single beat of the show) almost hides the overall generic blandness of it all. Not to say that it was boring, just that with the exception of John Larroquette (Biggley), Tammy Blanchard (Hedy) and the gorgeous costumes (thank you, Catherine Zuber) there was nothing uniquely original about the production or cast.

Radcliffe is definitely likeable and cute, but I think he needs to loosen up a little and let his freak flag fly. He sings well enough and his acting and dancing are impressive (you go, girl, with your double pirouette), but I didn’t quite believe he possessed the overwhelming charm needed to hoodwink an entire company, even a company full of imbeciles. Nevertheless, he’s working his tail off and has some wonderful moments. And when he makes those smiling takes to the audience - well, you see why those tweeners are swooning. Overall, he’s a solid Finch. If not for his big screen fame, though, I’m not sure audiences would be so effusively complimentary about his performance.

Radcliffe’s Rosemary (Rose Hemingway) was pleasant and competent, with the requisite skill of any young ingénue pumped out of any one of the current musical theatre factories (CCM, Boston Conservatory, Northwestern, et al). And that’s the problem. She’s talented but non-descript, lacking any kind of unique charm that the young Megan Mullally (below) possessed when she essayed the role pre-Will & Grace.

Though Matthew Broderick has slowly become a caricature of his quirky Ferris Bueller character, when he tackled the role of Finch opposite Mullally, he was still that doe-eyed trickster we remembered singing "Danke Schön" on a parade float. I can’t, of course, compare Radcliffe to the original Finch, Robert Morse, as I hadn’t yet been born, but it seems to me Morse also possessed a somewhat off-kilter charm and sense of humor that Radcliffe seems to lack. Perhaps Radcliffe just needs a few more weeks in the role to loosen up.

As I side note, Trish and I were kicked to the curb, literally, as we waited outside the theatre before the show. Since I don’t like squeezing my fat ass into those tiny theatre seats too early, Trish and I usually wait outside. On this occasion, a black SUV with frosted windows pulled up right next to us and the driver asked us to step aside. A few minutes later, a white van pulled up and a swarm of paparazzi, clown-car-like, spewed forth from the double doors, swarming the SUV. This, of course, got the crowd worked up into a near frenzy. Would I soon be catching a glimpse of some glamorous star? A Madonna or Brangelina?

The street-side door finally swung open, better to avoid the hoi polloi on the sidewalk, and out stepped…wait for it…Tori Spelling (insert long sigh of disappointment here). Yes, the queen of the D-list - Kathy’s moved up to at least “C” after multiple Emmy wins - decided to join me and a throng of teenage girls for the matinee.

I did happen to catch a glimpse of Damian Lewis and his wife, Helen McCrory (obviously here for the Harry Potter event) walking through the lobby. And according to the Potter blogs, David Thewlis was also in the audience, but he must be avoiding me.

<< He'll always be Ferris to me.











How To Succeed...

Al Hirschfeld Theatre

Sunday, April 3, 3pm performance