2014 in a nutshell

Did you miss me?  Anyway, here's a brief rundown of most of my 2014 theatre viewing.  Short and sweet.

Mothers and Sons (Bway - Golden, May 8, 7pm) - Tyne Daly can do no wrong, but I'm sure even she is sick of getting typecast in "nightmare mother" roles. The play poses interesting question of what constitutes family in these days of shifting definitions, but seems like a draft rather than a finished product.
A Gentlemen's Guide to Love and Murder (Bway - Walter Kerr, May 14, 8pm) - Nice to see legit singing back on Broadway. Clever staging, great performances, a dry, almost British comic sensibility, site gags a-plenty. Not earth-shattering, but an enjoyable evening of theatre.
If/Then (Bway - Richard Rodgers, May 29, 8pm) - Idina Menzel is in incredible voice, sounding better than ever (including Wicked). The dual story lines, while not necessarily confusing, seem a bit contrived. Especially the whole *spoiler alert* plane crash. Weird set design that basically cuts the stage height in half, with no apparent pay-off visually. Tom Kitt knows how to write a driving pop ballad. See it for Menzel's performance.
Holler if Ya Hear Me (Bway - Palace, Jun 5, 8pm) - Unlike every legit reviewer on the planet, I actually enjoyed this show. It wasn't perfect by any means. But I found the earnest, yet wildly shifting tone - one minute hardcore street, the next minute a J-Lo music video - enough to keep me interested. Tupac's music and lyrics are worth a listen.
Lady Day (Bway - Circle in the Square, Jun 7, 2pm) - Audra is a goddess and I just needed to see the show for a third time.
Piece of My Heart (OB - Signature Center, Jun 26, 7:30p) - I had no idea that Bert Berns was behind so many hit songs of the 60s. The book is a little rough and the criminally under-used Leslie Kritzer needs more to sing, but you can't beat the score of pop hits.
Violet (Bway - AA, Jul 5, 2:00p) - Sutton Foster is just about perfect and the score is one of Tesori's best. Ensemble cast is uniformly excellent. Glad to have caught this production as a Broadway revival isn't likely again anytime soon.
This Is Our Youth (Bway - Cort, Aug 30, 2pm) - An usher randomly offered to move Trish and I to front row seats, so we got plenty of up-close time with Kieren Culkin and Michael Cera. Solid production, well-cast.
Found (OB - Atlantic Theater, Sep 21, 7pm) - Went in cold and thoroughly enjoyed this quirky musical full of unexpected wit and charm about the pitfalls of success. Always nice to see colleague Orville Mendoza on stage. The show is unique and idiosyncratic, so sadly it probably won't be a hit with the masses.
On The Town (Bway - Lyric, Sep 27, 8pm) - Huge-scale Broadway revival of the Bernstein/Comden/Green musical about sailors on shore leave in the 1940s. Cried when they played the National Anthem to open the show and everyone stood up and sang. I'm sucker for sentimentality. Athletic choreography, virtuoso dancing, huge ensemble, full orchestra, Bernstein score. What's not to like?
The Last Ship (Bway -Neil Simon, Oct 6, 8pm) - Haunting, tuneful score by pop icon Sting in a gorgeous production with a stunning final tableau. And Rachel Tucker should be a star in America (not just in her native Ireland/UK). I honestly don't understand the bad reviews.
On The Town (Bway - Lyric, Oct 23, 7pm) - With another large-scale Broadway revival highly unlikely within my lifetime, had to make a second visit.
Side Show (Bway - St. James, Oct 1, 8pm) - I'm definitely a fan of the much-maligned original production. I found this re-imagined "revisal" less affecting than the original, but appreciated the more realistic approach to the staging and make-up. And you really can't beat the score chock full of driving power ballads. What can I say? I'm a child of the 80s. It's near impossible to match the balls-to-the-wall original performances of Ripley and Skinner, but Erin Davie and Emily Padgett are worthy successors.
Fortress of Solitude (OB - Public, Nov 8, 8pm) - Wonderful score, inventive staging, the always charming Adam Chanler-Berat heading a top-notch Broadway caliber cast rocking a nostalgia-driven period pop and R&B driven score. Hope to see a move uptown in a bigger production that I think would only elevate the piece given the scope of the material.
You Can't Take It With You (Bway - Longacre, Nov 13, 7pm) - I have just three words - James Earl Jones. Annaleigh Ashford is pretty spectacular, too. Nice to see this chestnut lifted out of high-school-production purgatory and given a full-scale Broadway production.
Honeymoon in Vegas (Bway - Nederlander, Nov 20, 8pm) - Jason Robert Brown just can't catch a break. As always, a fantastic score saddled to a problematic book that maybe clung too literally to the source material. Honestly, I found my 2014 sensibilities unable to fully warm to the idea of betting your spouse in a poker game. But always great to see one of my old Grease tour castmates, Gaelen Gillilend, in yet another Broadway show (yes, I will continue to name drop!).

Drugs are your friend

I was finally able to get to the doctor today for some powerful drugs to knock out this nasty sinus infection I've been toting around in my noggin for the last two weeks. I know you're supposed to lay of the antibiotics lest you become immune, but I couldn't take any more of the groggy days and puffy eyes.

My week-long drug cocktail of Sudafed and Zyrtec just wasn't cutting it anymore. And my mental sluggishness combined with severe sinus pressure even caused me to forget to mention seeing my home girl, Jaygee, in her off-off Broadway show last week, Honor. Forgive me, mi amour. I'll owe you a gourmet spam and eggs feast when I see you again. Anyway, Jay Mac was fantastic in the comic role of Mitsuko in this Prospect Theatre musical adaptation of Shakespeare's As You Like It transferred to feudal Japan. The story worked wonderfully within this new framework and the exoticism of the Asian milieu helped soften some of the more far-fetched plot convolusions. Having done my time in countless productions of the Asian bread and butter shows (King and I, Miss Saigon, et al), I was not surprised to see that I had worked with a majority of the cast. Well, at least the chunk of the cast that was over 30. Everyone looks so young to me now. It was totally ego boosting to know I've worked with so many of these talented people. But it was equally depressing knowing I wasn't onstage with them, but instead spending my days at a desk submitting expense forms for spoiled investment bankers. Oh well, you gotsta' make a living, right?

With some work, I think there is indeed a future for this show. But the first 15-20 minutes is in desperate need of some judicious editing. It starts a bit slow and tries too hard to be "important." The somber tone of the opening doesn't really match the rest of the show. I'm not saying to take out all the blood and drama, but the story doesn't really start to get moving until the girls escape from the palace. Until then, it's almost just static atmosphere - beautiful atmosphere - but not necessarily plot forwarding. If I was James Lapine and taking this show to the Broadway, I'd ask the writers to streamline the opening, get to the mother's suicide quicker, and cut a couple of verses of the title song. We get it already, they act with "honor." wink, wink, nudge, nudge, sledgehammer over the head. This show is screaming for a move to a bigger house and a bigger budget.