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re: Best Musical

Posted by:	owk 12:33 am EDT 04/02/14
In reply to:	Best Musical - castro 11:13 pm EDT 04/01/14

I always find it odd -- and I've seen it a few times on this board -- when people compare AFTER MIDNIGHT to SOPHISTICATED LADIES and declare that they're basically the same. True, they're both by Ellington, among others, and they're both revues, but AFTER MIDNIGHT is so carefully structured, musically and choreographically authentic, and includes dance styles that are contemporary along with the period stuff, all the music in it is from the '20s and '30s, before Strayhorn joined Ellington, it's specifically a tribute to the Cotton Club years and the Harlem Renaissance, unlike SOPHISTICATED LADIES, which felt contemporary and not about period. And it focusses on instrumental sound and individual instrumental players in a way that is completely unlike SOPHISTICATED LADIES. There's something a little, what, cursory, about these comparisons. I think AFTER MIDNIGHT is superior in every way except that it doesn't have Gregory Hines. On the other hand, it does have Jarod Grimes. And guest stars, some better than others. In any case, I don't see these kind of sloppy comparisons of other shows that could have garnered them. Which hardly means it will win the Tony. But it deserves a nomination. It's beautifully crafted and non-stop entertaining. We haven't had a lot of either one this year.

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