| My recent 12 Shows in 7 Days, ... briefly? ... | |
| Posted by: | flaguy 08:39 am EST 11/22/14 |
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| TWELVE SHOWS IN SEVEN DAYS: #1) - 'ALLEGRO' - A dozen actors singing and acting and playing violins and trumpets and clarinets and you name it, with the show trimmed down to 90-intermissionless-minutes, and set on a bare stage. Not much on plot, here. But the cast and the songs are wonderful! #2) - 'THE GIRL WHO CAME TO SUPPER' - Two leads were very good, and I got a better idea of exactly how the songs drop into the story in this old 1963 Noel Coward flop. But, as always with 'Musicals Tonight!,' production values were minimal and in questionable taste. As was much of the casting and staging. Still, a pleasant enough way to spend a Friday afternoon. And it's certainly an honorable effort on the part of producer Mel Miller to try and reproduce these old shows today. I applaud and support him for that. #3) - 'SIDE SHOW' - Hated the original B'way production, LOVED this one! Big, handsome, true to period, and put together with the best possible taste. Also, these leading ladies are the top! After the show, I spent $80 on souvenirs: the magnet, the baseball cap and the tote bag. Not to be missed! #4) - 'STICKS & BONES' - Anti-war Vietnam play, shocking in its day (when I first saw it), and it still is. Rambles along for THREE FULL HOURS, though, with every sort of horror thrown in the audience's collective face along the way. Example: I was in the front row, and early on in the proceedings Holly Hunter (looking a lot like Julie Harris these days) threw up right in front of me. And it was so real that, for a moment, I wasn't quite sure if it was actually a part of the play or not. The vomit certainly looked very real! ... I should've gone to 'DISGRACED.' #5) - 'ON THE TOWN' - Every rave it recently received from New York critics, it certainly deserves. Terrific production, wonderful dancing, and fine singing from such a talented cast! Not to be missed!! #6) - 'RADIO CITY CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR' - Though much is the same from year-to-year, it all seemed even more dazzling and fun to me THIS particular year. Don't know why. Rockettes were sensational!, as always. And what else can you do on a Sunday morning at 10:00? Glad I went. #7) - 'YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU' - Biggest delight? Annaleigh Ashford (plays Betty, the blonde floozy secretary on Showtime's 'MASTERS OF SEX'), who - up close (I was in the first row) - looks amazingly VERY YOUNG!? Biggest disappointment? Elizabeth Ashley, who - up close - seems to have hardly any speaking voice left. But this production IS a delight, and the set IS gorgeous, and the cast IS (for the most part) terrific. Had a great time! #8) - 'THE BAND WAGON' - Pleasantly entertaining. No more, no less. (Though perhaps a little corny-hokey near the end.) Cast was terrific, as was the dancing/singing chorus. And all expertly polished and put together by Kathleen Marshall. I DID enjoy it, and am really glad I caught it closing night. #9) - 'A DELICATE BALANCE' - Never heard so much COUGHING in a theater in my LIFE! Four scenes poured over three acts and two intermissions, coming in at two hours and fifty minutes in length. I saw Rosemary Harris, George Grizzard and Elaine Stritch and, before that, Jessica Tandy, Hume Cronyn and the great Rosemary Murphy perform this play in handsome productions. This, too, is a handsome production, with a great cast. But it comes in third in the competition, for my money. ... PS - Take a BIG nap before you go. #10) - 'IT'S ONLY A PLAY' - I think I smiled far more than I actually laughed-out-loud at the proceedings. Good all-star cast having fun in a very slight play that is at least an HOUR too long. But I first saw it when it was 'BROADWAY, BROADWAY' and, rest assured, it's greatly improved over the years in rewrites. Paid a very high price for my ticket - what would be considered a high price for a MUSICAL, in fact. And yet, on a cold November Tuesday, there were some empty seats along the extreme sides of the orchestra, which quite surprised me. Isn't this a huge HIT!? #11) - 'THE LAST SHIP' - It's so rare these days to sit and hear a new song (to me, anyway) in a theater for the first time and LOVE it! That happened several times to me with this show. The songs are foot-stomping glorious! Performed by a sensational cast. I cannot wait for the cast recording to be released. As for the plot, it's a bit dark and gloomy and confusing, and not particularly original. Who cares? I had a great time. Not to be missed! #12) - 'HONEYMOON IN VEGAS' - What a disappointment. Pluses: the score, Rob McClure's performance, and that band. Negatives: the show isn't all that funny. And it's long. ... Sorry, it's just not a great show! And I had been led to believe it was, so I went in with high expectations, I suppose. Still, in all fairness, I did see only the second preview, and it WAS my last show to take in on this trip, so perhaps I was just tired by the time I got to it. Cast album (which I purchased in the lobby for $25, CASH ONLY) sounds great, by the way. THE BEST OF THE LOT THIS TRIP: 'ON THE TOWN,' 'THE LAST SHIP,' and 'SIDE SHOW.' WHAT I'M SORRY I MISSED THIS TRIP: 'DISGRACED,' 'THE REAL THING,' 'INDIAN INK,' 'THE RIVER,' 'CABARET' (with Emma Stone) and, of course, 'THE ELAINE STRITCH MEMORIAL.' I'm tired. | |
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