Jesus Christ rises again!

What’s up with ticket sales at Jesus Christ Superstar?  Trish and Liz (our Carousel producer) accompanied me to last night’s opening via $41 TDF tickets!  Granted, our seats were in the second to last row, but the view from the back was fine in the comparatively small Neil Simon theatre.

Trish and Liz and blurry famous person outside the theatre.

The show is slick, tight and well rehearsed - as should be expected from a production that's already run for several months in Toronto and San Diego.  Unfortunately, it’s this almost robotic precision that gives an emotionless sheen to the “greatest story every told.”  But more on the show later, let's dish about the opening night festivities!

With an advertised 6:45 PM curtain (no doubt to make sure the fashionably late arrivals would push the actual curtain time to a reasonable 7:00 PM), we arrived just in time to catch the opening night crowd swarm the theatre and to watch the paparazzi in action.  We caught Edie Falco, Megan Hilty (Smash) and Ben Vereen (Broadway’s original Judas!) posing for the cameras in the photo cage. 

I felt conspicuously under-dressed given all the suits and tuxes dotting the sidewalk.  Having just come from work, I was sporting my usual office drone uniform of dress pants and button down.  The women’s fashion ran the gamut from uber chic to hooker fabulous. Judging from the amount of sequined minis lighting up the sidewalk, there must have a been a big sale at Forever 21.  Please ladies, sequins only work on evening gowns and circus performers.  And drag queens.  I loves me a sequined drag queen.  Can I get an “Amen”?

Sorry, my alternate personality, Que’deesha, took over for a moment.  Now where was I?  Oh yes, the show.  Well, like I said before, it is a well-oiled machine - efficient and clean but lacking true passion, a remarkable feat given the story builds to a hanging and crucifixion.  The direction is oddly sterile with characters standing and staring meaningfully out into the house as they sing high notes. 

Characters don’t relate much to each other either.  Director Des McAnuff has made the choice of often staging the main triumvirate of characters (Jesus, Judas and Mary) quite far from each other, separated by length of the stage, on balconies or atop ladders.  Yes, he creates some pretty pictures, but at the expense of creating real relationships on the stage.

And the choreography, yikes - derivative of the worst 90s music video clichés.  Though well executed by the attractive ensemble, it all seems vulgar and tacky without the sexy sense of humor of my 90s guilty pleasure, Paula Abdul.  Yes, Paula Abdul.  I'm not kidding.  I love her choreography.  This production's temple scene would have benefited greatly from a little more “Cold-hearted Snake” and a little less “My Prerogative.”  

The cast is generally vocally wonderful.  Unfortunately, Josh Young (Judas) was suffering from obvious vocal distress.  While the bottom and mid-range of his voice sounded surprisingly rich and full, his upper register was shredded and seemed forced and often under pitch.  I hope he recovers without damaging his voice permanently. 

The set looks like an ugly airport terminal and doesn’t evoke any kind of setting, time or period.  Thankfully, the gorgeous lighting design makes up for much of the sets shortcomings.

Costumes were mostly uninspired with the ensemble looking like Mad Max rejects.  Mary was always in flowy, yellow, vaguely Middle Eastern garb, Jesus was in requisite white gown (except in the finale) and Judas in cool shades of blue.  Way to hammer the audience over the head with the color symbolism.

The orchestra sounded fantastic, though on the loud side.  There was little in the way of musical variation or shading.  The sound mixer seemed only to have two settings - loud and louder. 

I’m actually a big fan of the score, but the relentless over amplification created a kind of musical monotony that obliterated the more intimate moments while homogenizing the bigger musical climaxes.  All things considered, the score still sounds remarkably fresh given its 70s sensibility.  Here's hoping Lord Webber makes a return to his rock roots for his next score rather than churning out yet another faux-peratic yawner.

The one truly thrilling moment of the evening is the crucifixion - beautiful and unexpected.  Had McAnuff only filled the entire evening with such striking theatricality, I would have forgiven the stylized coldness of the rest of his staging.  Oh, and did I mention Jesus' rip-away white suit? You'll just have to pony up the $130 to get a glimpse of that coups de théâtre.

Neil Simon Theatre

Thursday, March 22

6:45pm performance

On a side note, my review for Once should be coming out shortly.  Stay tuned!

Bi-polar Show Disorder

Legally Blonde and Carousel - could there be two shows any more stylistically different?  Between ongoing Carousel rehearsals for CDC and Legally Blonde auditions for our summer program, I've been experiencing a serious case of choreographic whiplash.  In the span of just a few hours this weekend, I went from the booty-licious rump-shaking of hormonal co-eds, to the repressed sexuality of turn of the century New England lads and lasses.  And if you're not sure which description belongs to which show, then you probably ended up on my blog by some strange googling accident and should stop reading before you catch "the gay."

We've already sat through four audition days for Legally Blonde and the competition is getting crazy.  I haven't seen so much pink hoochiness-in-heels since my Senior Prom in '88.  I realize these young ladies are just trying to dress the part, but somehow they've gotten the idea that the character of Elle Woods is a slutty whore.  Yes, she's clearly not a virgin, but it's also made clear that she's monogamous as well as rich and trendy.  Many of the young ladies we've seen thus far seem to be auditioning for Pretty Woman - The Musical (Alan Menken or Stephen Flaherty, please jump on this idea).

Carousel is shaping up to be quite a wonderful show - if I ever finish choreographing it.  I'm actually on par with my usual mid-rehearsal slump.  I usually need the pressure of the clock to get my artistic juices jump started again.  Hopefully, we won't have a repeat of my infamous unfinished dance number from the last time I choreographed Carousel, where I completed the number at the half hour call prior to the opening night curtain.  Good times.

Merrily, Telly, "black" singing, Wit & Cats - though not necessarily in that order

I know, I know - I'm so behind with my blog entries.  I'm totally in catch-up up mode so you'll hear nothing about my crazy, harried life until I get these damn reviews up.  Today you're getting a two-for-one mini-review special with added bonus features because, quite frankly, it's been so long since I saw these shows that the details now escape me.  Old age - well, at least your 40s - is a bitch, people. 

Merrily We Roll Along                        
City Center
Wednesday, Feb 15, 7pm performance

I won't get into the whole "is it a brilliantly flawed show" or just a "great score with an impossible book" debate.  I think I'm just too biased a Sondheim fan.  Besides, they've re-worked, updated and revised the book and score so many times, I don't think there'll ever be a definitive version.

 Do you know what this is?
If so, you're old!

Having never seen a staged production (That's a lie, actually.  I saw a college production at the University of Richmond probably 20 years ago but I've blocked it from my memory), I was genuinely interested in how Sondheim and Lapine integrated the score and book.  The CD has been a favorite of mine since my theatre-dork days at Muhlenberg.  Remember when we used to have CDs ? - or tapes, or records, for that matter!?  My first cast album was...wait for it...Cats on double LP!  Yup, it was just around the time they discovered fire.

My second cast album?  Les Mis, also on LP.  remember how cool and innovative that damn turntable staging was at the time.  Seems kinda' quaint in hindsight.  Now the audience's over-stimulated brains need constant stage motion or they fall dead asleep.  Or worse, get on their cell phones to see that their friends are "at the mall having Auntie Anne's.  Yum!"  Damn you, facebook.  Oh well, I digress.

Though Encores! is officially a staged-reading, the cast was off book (though still holding those damn black binders - I know, it's a requirement of the Equity staged reading contract, but if the actors are off book, why make them lug 'em around the stage?) and the production was fully staged and choreographed.  It was also swell to hear a full orchestra rather than the wheezy, tinny, carnival-sounding pit bands that are now de rigueur on The Broadway these days.

From our nosebleed seats, we - I took my friend, Dan, since Trish was in Jersey and Dan's partner was out of town - were basically treated to shiny foreheads and bald spots.  But it was still wonderful to finally hear the score within the context of the play.  I'm not sure if the show works, but I was never bored and the classic-filled score ("Not A Day Goes By", "Our Time", "Now You Know" etc) only makes me cry at the thought of having to sit through the next inevitably over-produced, over-amplified, all-the-ballads-are-interchangeable Frank Wildhorn score.

The cast was good, if bland, though that could likely be blamed on the shortened Encores! rehearsal period.  For me, Elizabeth Stanley's Gussie was the standout with the most fully developed (reverse?) character arc.  The ensemble sounded wonderful, but why do African-American singers always have to "sass-up" their solos?  Because they can?  I mean, classically trained singers don't add high C's or "Queen of the Night" runs to their solos. 

The physical production was simple but appropriate.  Projections were used cleverly to evoke period and location and didn't distract except for the occasional unfortunate photo-shopping of the leads into some classic period photos.  Costumes were authentic, but only served to remind me that everyone was on drugs in the 70s.  I love the leg room in the renovated City Center.  It's nice not to have the person in front of you rest their head on your knees.

On a side note, Telly Leung (Glee, Godspell) was sitting behind us in the cheap seats.  He was there with a friend of Dan's who seemed to want to impress us with his star connection.  That bubble burst when Telly interrupted and blurted out, "I know Fausto!"  Telly's an Asian, male, musical theatre actor based in NYC.  I'm an Asian, male, musical theatre actor (well, former) based in NYC.  Of course we know each other.  There are only, like, six of us.

Actually, Telly and I met doing an ASCAP reading of a new musical based on an Asian (natch) myth.  It remains, to this date, the worst piece of shi...er...I mean, theatre, I've ever had the misfortune to be involved with.  Nevertheless, we performed it as though Shakespeare himself had written the book and a reincarnated Richard Rodgers had composed the score.  Well, at least the parts of the score that were written out.  I shit you not, there were actually sections of the "score" that weren't fully notated.  We winged it!  And this was at a presentation being critiqued by Stephen "Wicked" Schwartz and Susan "Working" Birkenhead!  I mean, come on.  You couldn't pull an all-nighter for Stephen and Susan?

Wit
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
Thursday, Feb 23, 8pm performance

Intense is the best way to describe Wit.  What else would you expect from a play about a woman dying of cancer?  I saw the original off-Broadway production in the late 90s in the intimate Union Square Theatre.  Though the Sam Friedman is small by Broadway standards, I do think the play loses some of its emotional wallop when viewed from the back of a large house.

In a tiny theatre, you felt Professor Vivian Bearing lecturing directly at you.  When she spoke to the audience, Kathleen Chalfant was able to literally make eye contact with everyone in the theatre.  That kind of intimacy natural leads to a fuller connection with the audience.  Chalfant moved me to tears.  In the current revival, Cynthia Nixon came close, but I was always aware of the balcony's distance from the stage, as if we were watching her on a tiny 10" TV screen.  That's not her fault, of course. 

The play is a great example of how not to write a Lifetime movie of the week.  Instead of pandering to the audience, playwright Margaret Edson gives us a central character that seems emotionally frigid.  The beauty of the play is that after 90 intermission-less minutes, the audience is made to feel like surrogate family, hoping that by some medical miracle our eccentric aunt might be saved from the inevitable grim outcome.

For all you pervs, there's also the added bonus(?) of some full frontal Cynthia.  Though after Sex and the City, we've basically seen it all before and in close-up.

How To Succeed...Again

Al Hirschfeld Theatre
Tuesday, January 31
7PM performance

Though not a perfect production (over-choreographed, adequate direction), Trish and I decided it was worth a cheap TDF ticket to catch Nick Jonas' performance in the current revival.  We passed on Darren Criss' three-week limited engagement as Finch.  He's cute in a twink sort of way, but if his talk show appearances are any indication of his stage charisma, he's probably as exciting to watch as my crock-pot except without the promise of a tasty meal afterwards.

I was actually pleasantly surprised by Jonas' stage chops.  I know he started out as a musical theatre kid (though at the ripe old age of 19, I guess he's still a kid), but you'd not have guessed it from his completely forgettable, though earnest, performance in the televised Les Mis concert last year.  In truth, I was fully prepared for a good ol' Broadway train wreck.  An occasional dose of schadenfreude is good for the soul, says I!

Yes, the distracting chin vibrato he displayed in Les Mis is still there - someone get him a vocal coach before that turns into a 80-year old opera singer wobble - but he seemed completely at ease and natural on stage.  He doesn't (yet) possess the overwhelming charm of Daniel Radcliffe, but he's competent and funny.

The rest of the production is still in great shape though I'm still baffled at some of the odd non-period movement and the addition of choreography to just about every musical number.  I mean, what is the point of making "Company Way" into a dance number?  To me, it comes off as a director not trusting the material to stand on its own.  Instead of listening to the lyrics, you end up watching two chorus boys pass envelopes back-and-forth and hurl packages with their feet.  Does this really help the audience better understand the characters or illuminate the story?  Nope.

Though I appreciated Chris Hanke's "non-traditional" (i.e. not gay) Frump, Michael Urie's more foppish interpretation seemed a better fit for the material.  Rose Hemingway's Rosemary nearly bored me into a stupor the first time around, but she's grown immensely since previews and charmed me on second viewing.  Beau Bridges is a much more understated Biggley, but doesn't quite match the quirky fun of John Laroquette's original performance.  I loved Tammy Blanchard's Hedy first time around, but her slightly wobbly, boozy physicality has grown into a weird, constant bodily tremor.

And yes, I'm still way behind with reviews and postings and it's already March!  Stay tuned...

On A Clear Day...

On A Clear Day You Can See Forever

January 13, 2012  8:00pm performance

St. James Theatre

It’s been weeks since Trish and I checked out Harry Connick in the (now closed) homoerotically-tinged re-write of a flawed musical classic.  And still, the thing I remember most about the production is the hideous set design.  Sad, huh?

It’s a bummer this gorgeous score is attached to such a problematic book. The original story is about Daisy, a young woman with telepathic powers who, under hypnosis, reveals several hidden past lives.  Through the course of the evening, the psychiatrist, played by Connick, falls in love with one of these past reincarnations.  

The current revisal tries to give the story a modern day sensibility by pulling a Chaz Bono on the lead character.  Daisy is now a flouncing gay florist named David.  As in the original, Connick’s character still falls in love with one of David’s past reincarnations, a 1940s jazz singer, Melinda (in the original, she’s an 18^th Century lady).

What does this little bit of gender bending do to improve the story?  Absolutely nothing - well, except give the director an opportunity to make Harry Connick look super uncomfortable and to tease us with (almost) a gay kiss between Connick and David.

Don’t worry you red-staters, there is a convenient black-out just before their lips lock.  Although they do get close enough to elicit a rather audible communal gasp from the audience - just in time for intermission!

There are some other added pointless subplots, mildly successful interpolations of other Loesser songs, some nice choreography and some really ugly costumes to go with the set.  The performances are all adequate with Jessie Mueller’s Melinda the standout.  David Turner does his best with the material he’s given.  Sarah Stiles, channeling a young Kristin Chenoweth (in a good way), is cute and charming.  Connick is bland, but sounds great. 

The orchestral arrangements have been changed to fit Connick’s rat-pack style crooning.  For a recording, they’d be beautiful, but for the stage, these arrangements drain the score of any dramatic heft or forward momentum. 

This current incarnation would have a have made a great concert, but as theatre it’s at best a mildly interesting riff on 70s-era gender politics, at worst, it’s a boring night at the theatre.

Danced in my scanties / Three bucks a night was the pay / But I'm here...

If you don't know that quote, your rainbow membership is hereby revoked by order of The Friends of Dorothy.

But yes, I'm still here but extremely busy, so I haven't been quite as prolific with posting recently.  So much has happened since the ball dropped on 2012 that I don't even know how to start filling you in on my latest adventures.  I guess I'll just start typing and hope to finish before I need some lunch or before some selfish banker type interrupts my "me" time with a trivial request to book travel for some multi-billion dollar IPO.  Anyhoo...

Juan, Val and I spent several agonizing days in January locked in the mold-friendly walls of the CDC theatre auditioning folks who apparently cannot count to 16 (all you non-theatre folks, don't worry, you're not meant to get that reference).  The question weighing most heavily in people's minds was why we bothered to audition our sister, Trish, instead of just handing her the role of Carrie.  Well, because unlike most community theatre in New Jersey - and probably the nation at large - we actually don't pre-cast our shows.  I know, a bold and original concept, but we're crazy that way.

Sis was wonderful, of course.  But as they say in the casting biz, there was someone else who auditioned that turned out to be a better fit.  And yes, she still talks to us.

Our biggest surprise was the pathetic turn out for the auditions.  Is there seriously a baritone alive who would not sell his soul to play Billy Bigelow?  This, my friends, is the community-theatre-versus-professional-theatre conundrum.  An audition for Carousel in NYC would cause a stampede of "Julie"s and "Billy"s to storm the AEA audition center.  In Cranford, NJ, not so much.  It seems musical theatre's legacy is in the hands of performers who don't wish to appear in a show written before 1990 or that has the adjective "legit" in any way, shape or form associated with it.  Are we destined for a future filled with musicals based on mediocre films?  Dear God, what's next, Ghost the Musical?  Oh, wait...

We're now three weeks into rehearsals and though most of the first act is blocked, we still don't have a full cast.  Yup, we like to play on the edge.  We're kooky like that.  Fingers crossed that our potential new Jigger works out.  Otherwise, we're sort of fucked. 

In other news, the audition requests for our summer high school production of Legally Blonde are pouring in.  I can't wait to watch fourteen and fifteen-year-old girls try to act like sexy sorority co-eds!  I smell a law suit.

Believe it or not, I have yet to watch an episode of "Smash".  I'm all for promoting musical theatre on national TV, but the idea that Katharine McPhee would wow any panel of jaded Broadway professionals (singing Christina Aguilera, natch) is dubious, to say the least.  Instead, I choose to waste the precious few moments of my free time in the ultra realistic milieu of a post-apocalyptic world filled with "The Walking Dead."  Yes, I'll choose a real zombie over Katharine McPhee anyday.

Stay tuned for reviews of How to Succeed (viewing #2 with Nick Jonas), Merrily We Roll Along at Encores! and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.

I'm going to be in a writing frenzy over the next few days, so you'll have plenty of bed time reading material coming your way shortly.

Archive: Reviews for 2011

• Lysistrata Jones (Bway)
• The Blue Flower (Off Bway)
• Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway (Bway)
• Bonnie & Clyde (Bway)
• Godspell! (Bway)
• Audra McDonald Concert (Carnegie Hall)
• Anna Bolena (Met)
• Follies...again (Bway)
• Sister Act (Bway)
• Newsies (Papermill)
• Follies (Bway)
• Anything Goes (Bway)
• Priscilla...again (Bway)
• Born Yesterday (Bway)
• War Horse (Bway)
• Master Class (Bway)
• Zarkana (Radio City)
• Catch Me...(Bway)
• The House of Blue Leaves (Bway)
• Spider-man...again (Bway)
• Die Walkure (Met)
• The Normal Heart (Bway)
• Le Comte Ory (Met)
• How to Succeed...(Bway)
• Book of Mormon (Bway)
• Kathy Griffin Wants a Tony (Bway)
• Priscilla Queen of the Desert (Bway)
• Next to Normal (Bway)
• Time Stands Still (Bway)
• La Traviata (Met)
• Angels Part 2 (OB)
• Donny & Marie (Bway)

Midnight and we're wasted!

Here's a lovely video Trish took at midnight when the entire wait staff at Colicchio's (see previous entry for the mouth-watering dinner details) paraded into the dining room banging on pots and pans.  Quite an exciting beginning for 2012.  Notice Trish's expert camera work.  If you keep watching, she does eventually get us both in the frame, right-side-up.  Enjoy!



New Year's dinner debouchery

Double fisting the champagne at Colicchios

Our Texan brother, Gerry, decided to forsake Trish and I for the wilds of Jersey, so we were left to fend for ourselves this New Years.  Since we didn't want to mingle with the unwashed hordes in Times Square or with the wasted party animals at any one of the many hotel and bar parties across the city, we decided to make a return visit to Colicchio & Sons (or Colickmee-ohs, as we lovingly refer to it), where we spent New Year's last year.  I've been saving my pennies all this fall so we could partake of their special seven-course tasting menu.   



Oh no she dih-ent.  Sequined
leggings & cross strap flats - eek!

Unfortunately, we still had to fraternize with the crowds on the subway on our way to dinner.  Throughout our journey to the far west side, I was left dumbfounded by the general lack of taste we supposedly fashion forward New Yorkers possess.  Since when is a sequined mini-skirts, whore heels and puff coat considered fashionable?  I guess I'm just old-fashioned.  The photo to the left shows yet another unfortunate fashion choice I managed to covertly photograph (through her boyfriends legs no less!).

Just to invoke jealousy and hatred amongst all you foodies, here's the drool-worthy menu from our New Year's bacchanal.  And to add insult to injury, I've also added our selections from the optional champagne-pairing menu.

Trish with our lovely waitress

Amuse Bouche:

Foie gras in puff pastry

Oyster w/ pickled cucumber gelée

Parsnip purée soup w/ black truffles

First Course:

Potato mousse w/ caviar and mini fried potato chips

Paired w/ 2000 Dom Perignon

Second Course:

Crab fondant and sea urchin spaghetti

Paired w/ Ruinart Blanc du Blanc

Third Course:

Roasted turbo on cauliflower sauce w/ grilled endive

Paired w/ 1993 Dom Perignon

Fourth Course:

Roasted Guinea Hen w/ black truffle over foie gras ravioli and brussel sprouts

Paired w/ 1993 Krug

Fifth Course:

Wagyu beef over braised short rib and burdock root purée topped with trumpet mushrooms

Paired w/ Ruinart Rosé

Sixth Course:

Persimmon sorbet, grapefruit granite, citrus salad, candied orange and lemon peel topped w/ sugar tuile

Paired w/ Moët Nectar Imperial

Seventh Course:

Hot chocolate crème brûlée, passionfruit sorbet w/ earl grey gelée and sesame brittle

Dessert extras:

Chocolate brownie w/ peppermint icing

Chocolate truffles in gift box

Complimentary chocolate truffles!

And yes, it all tasted as good as it sounds.  Happy 2012!

Trish double fisted it all night as well!