Have you met Mark?

franklinshepard @ 2008-06-27T12:49:00

2008-06-27T16:50:30Z

Well, I saw Passing Strange again last night, and it is still holding up terrifically. And what I love about this show is that Stew and the actors (and maybe Annie Dorsen) are still experimenting with different things and finding stuff that works better, even this long after opening. I really respect that. This show would die if it got stale, and I really have to hand it to them that they are working so hard not only to keep things fresh but to make the show better for audiences still coming in.

The orchestra and the mezz were almost completely full, but I heard that there were only a few people in the balcony. We talked to Daniel Breaker and Stew afterwards, and Daniel was pretty concerned about the grosses, but Stew said that whatever happens, he'll be happy with - he said he'd love to keep doing the show, but he'd also love to take it on the road or let it lay fallow for a while and then revisit it a few years later. Anyway, I figured that I can't like a show this much and not try to get you guys to go see it one more time. Really, it's very similar to Sunday in the Park with George in its discussion of life, love, and the creation of art.

I'll try to talk about what the show is really about for those of you that don't know, but it's hard to describe without sounding pretentious. (In the show, a lot of the pretension is dispelled through humor. I think one reason why it might've won Best Book is because it's actually a really funny show. You wouldn't think of this show as a comedy, but there were way more laughs from the audience at Passing Strange than there were at Young Frankenstein the night I saw it.) All the press releases say it's the story of a young middle-class black kid who travels to Europe to experience real life, to create true art. That's true, but it's the specifics of the characters that make the show great - the kid's relationship with his mom, his relationships that he forms with the people he meets, and his relationship with Stew, who is the grown-up kid. And I relate to it so much because I am that kid - I'm incredibly middle-class, and Europe was always this Mecca for me in high school in Michigan. No one in my grade loved Godard or Truffaut. No one loved art and culture and food, really. So Paris became this idealized city of art in my mind, and finally traveling to it really did feel like I was finding a new world.

It's a youthful feeling, yes, but that's one of the things the show's about - an adult dissection of your youthful feelings, remembering what's good about them as well as their immaturity and accepting the mistakes you made because they are a part of who you are.

That song, "Keys," that they aired on the Tonys, for example. It's a seven-minute number that they really shouldn't have tried to cut down to 3 minutes. The setting of the number is in a cafe in Amsterdam right after the kid arrives. He meets a few of the locals, and a girl asks him where he's staying. He says, "I'll probably just find a hotel or something." She says, "Don't you get it, man? We are your new family." She gives him the keys to her apartment, right after meeting him. It's a small gesture, it hardly would look like anything to an observer. But it has an amazing effect on him. And that's what the song's about - it's a rock "Someone in a Tree." We get three points of view - hers, his, and Stew's, looking back on how that small act of getting her keys changed his life - "No one ever made him feel as real as when she mended him by lending him her keys."

I do think it's kind of odd that this show won Best Book and not Best Score, because much more than In the Heights, the book and score are really indistinguishable here. There's a lot of sung material in the show, much more than what's on the cast album, and a sung line might be answered by a spoken line and vice versa. Often you're not exactly sure if Stew is singing or speaking melodically. That sounds weird, but it's true.

Anyway, I really don't want to give away too much about the ending. I guess I'll describe the ending of the first act, but SPOILERS HERE if you don't want to know. So the kid has decided that Amsterdam is too much of a paradise for him to find any deep emotion for him to put into his music, and he tells Marianna that - "I can't get too happy, or I'll forget all the stuff there is to complain about." She responds, "How wonderfully neurotic - it's good you're going to Berlin. You'll fit right in. (pause) You know, Amsterdam is so much more than hash bars and cheap flats. Maybe someday you'll know the real city." He says, with a smile on his face, "So, if Berlin sucks, I can come back to you?" Silence. "No." Then Stew repeats a section of "Keys" while the kid gives Marianna them back, and Stew sings directly to himself as a kid: "Why you wanna leave, right when it was starting to feel real?" But this is the past, and he can't change it, even as he wishes there was any way he could go back and do things differently. He knows now that he was running away from what he really wanted because he was scared, but all he can do is watch himself make mistake after mistake over and over again, until (Ok, more SPOILERS HERE) at the end of the show, he finally does confront himself as a youth. (But I'm not going to tell you what that confrontation is about!)

I hope that sounds compelling on the page. It really is terrifically theatrical, I think.

The Visit

2008-06-24T16:38:28Z

Ok, so as you all know, I went down to DC this past weekend and saw Chita in The Visit.

About the show first, I guess: it's kind of a "Why?" musical, I think. I'm not sure what Kander and Ebb (and McNally) hoped to accomplish by turning this play into a musical. As it stands, it's not a bad show, but not nearly as good as the original play. If one had never seen or read the play, it might be quite affecting. But mostly, it just touches on all the themes and plot points of Durrenmatt and is kind of a paint-by-numbers version of the play. The townspeople starting to buy things on credit is turned into the song "Yellow Shoes," for example. It's a fine song and it works pretty well as an ironic comment on the action. But it doesn't fill you with dread like the play does. I've never seen the play - I've only read the script.

Also, even without comparing it to the play, it's an odd score - half of it is sincere and even romantic, and the other half is that bitter irony that we're familiar with from Cabaret and Chicago. ("Yellow Shoes" would fall into the latter category.) Many of the songs are quite good, but they don't seem to cohere as a whole. I was never quite sure whether we were supposed to care about Anton (as he's called in this version) and Claire or whether the director (Frank Galati) was trying to keep us at a Brechtian arm's length.

Anyway, even with all these caveats, I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy myself. I didn't love the show, but I certainly didn't hate it. But I could probably watch Chita read the phone book and enjoy myself. She was wonderful, commanding the stage and creating a nuanced portrait of Claire. George Hearn was very impressive vocally, but even my aunt thought he was overacting. Mercifully, he kept the screaming down to a minimum, and was actually quite good during his quieter scenes, I though. Everyone in the ensemble was perfectly adequate, but there were no stand out performances. The guy who played the schoolteacher was also in The Glorious Ones as Arlecchino, and his voice still is unpleasant to me when he goes up into a higher register, but I thought his acting was very good.

I don't think we'll be seeing this in New York. Certainly not by a commercial producer. The show needs work that it probably can't get, because the authors really kind of have to go back almost all the way to the drawing board. But I'm glad I saw it.

Also, on Sunday, I saw a sneak preview of Mamma Mia for free with Dee and Viki and some new friends. Not much to say about the movie, other than it's Mamma Mia, and even gayer now than ever. If you go for such things, and I have been known to, you'll probably enjoy it.

franklinshepard @ 2008-06-22T13:52:00

2008-06-22T19:01:12Z

I am writing this from a bus. Cool, I know. I took the Chinatown bus to DC this weekend and am currently heading home. I went to spend time with my aunt and my uncle. Also, my aunt and I saw The Visit yesterday.

But first things first. I promised infinitejoys I would write about the Side Show reading. That happened over a week ago now. I really should write about that, the Mufti Grind, and then the Visit. Let's see how far I get before my computer runs out of battery power. (I already watched The Signal, which I got from Netflix. Great horror/comedy, I really enjoyed it.)

My first thoughts on the Side Show reading is: they've gone a long way towards fixing it. The big numbers that are cut are "More Than We Bargained For" and "Tunnel of Love." All the performance songs were replaced with different earlier performance songs. Those of us who love Side Show have already heard these songs - "Ready to Play" and "Stuck With You" were both recorded by Emily and Alice, and on the demos (which I'm sure most of us have), you can hear "Typical Girls Next Door." Speaking of the demos, a lot of the Auntie material was put back in, but not nearly all of it. Not having done a detailed analysis, I would say that they took parts from each song and strung them together with a little new material. It's all done as a flashback when the girls are telling Terry and Buddy why they can't leave the circus. (An interesting new song was added - a trio for Harry Houdini and the girls called "All in the Mind," about how the girls can always be alone if they just create a compartment in their minds.) And then, you remember the long trial sequence from the demos. Well, it's not here, but there is a trial to determine whether or not Sir has legal guardianship over the girls. So they can't just up and leave the side show like they did in the original version.
In the second act, instead of Buddy and Terry turning into jerks at the last second, Terry finds a doctor who can separate the girls without harming them. He then says to Daisy that he will marry her as soon as they have this operation. The girls are, at first, thrilled about this. But as Buddy's wedding draws closer, Buddy is getting cold feet for some unknown reason, and Jake is trying to convince the girls not to have the operation. It all comes to a head right before the wedding, as in the original show, but here we find out that Buddy is actually gay and just wanted to make Violet happy. Daisy says that Terry is already going to marry her, why not just do it here and now before the operation? Terry can't bring himself to do that, and Tod Browning, who entered the room, asks, "What operation?" When he is told, he says that he needs the girls for his film just the way they are. The girls realize that they do need to stay together, even if it will cost Daisy the love of her life.

So, I think this ending is an improvement. It raises the stakes for "I Will Never Leave You," for one. The girls have the choice to be "like everyone else" and they CHOOSE not to, valuing each other and themselves for their uniqueness.

The actors in it were terrific, although Aaron Lazar and Betsy Wolfe (as Terry and Daisy) were the standouts. Erin Davie was very good as Violet, belting better than I've ever heard her. Bobby Steggert and Jefferson Mays (as Sir) were slightly underwhelming, but I'm sure they'd be very good with more rehearsal time. Both just looked somewhat uncomfortable. And as much as I liked Bobby in 110 in the Shade and The Slug Bearers..., he's not really a great singer.

Anyway, it was a very special experience for me - Bill Condon sat right behind me, and I ran into Harvey Fierstein in the bathroom and had a little conversation with him. I'll definitely share the bootleg with you all as soon as it's tracked.

Ok, I have 10 minutes left. The Mufti Grind I saw on Saturday night. There was a new book, and Larry Grossman and Ellen Fitzhugh went back and added a bunch of cut numbers, especially "We All George," which Hal Prince said was vital to the show, and which Ben Vereen refused to sing. (It's all about how on the train, no white people can tell the black porters apart, so to the passengers, they're all "George.") Unfortunately, some great numbers were cut too. I couldn't understand why the authors would want to cut "The Line" unless they felt it was too "on-the-nose" for Leroy to be telling us exactly how he felt and what his problems were. But it's a terrific song, MUCH better than that first song for Romaine, about how she loves young men (and I couldn't figure out what that song was supposed to mirror in real life, either.)

But I LOVED "We All George" - I thought it was a pretty terrific song, musically and lyrically. It manages to be pretty funny all the way through. And they kind of had to cut "Why, Mama, Why?" cause the bike is no longer a part of the show. And Di, according to posts on castrecl, "Rabbity Stew" was in the show in tryouts. (Although it doesn't make a good act-closer at all.)

I'm not sure how I feel about the restructuring of the story. One of the things I liked about the original script is how Leroy doesn't get with Satin. This is much more conventional - Satin and Leroy go off together, and Doyle comes to peace with himself and goes back home to Ireland. And there's very little of the racial violence and tension that seems to be underneath the show constantly in the original script. It's much less about blacks and whites and much more about these burlesque girls being abused, both black and white. (This kind of undercut the power of "We All George," although Doyle makes a very interesting reference to it at the very end of the show.)

Also, in the original script, "These Eyes of Mine" was sung at Gus's funeral. Here, it's sung by Clementine when she is remembering her own father's funeral while talking to Doyle about how she came to work at this theatre.

Speaking of Gus, why did they not use "I Get Myself Out"? That song title was printed in the program, but the lyric was not in the song that was sung. According to that guy on castrecl, it's a song that was cut in tryouts and was replaced by "I Get Myself Out." I mean, the song they used at Mufti was fine but not as interesting, musically, as "I Get Myself Out," and both songs do exactly the same thing, so...

I have read the original script, and I can't say for certain if the prostitution angle is in it or not, but it's certainly not prominent or the driving plot of the show. Which makes me wonder how "A Century of Progress" fit into the show originally, since it basically exists to comment on the corruption of the judge and the city. (Although perhaps they tweaked it lyrically. It probably could've originally been used to comment on racial violence.) I don't know, maybe the show is unfixable. But I think the authors, if they continue to work on it, need a strong director (like Hal Prince) to tell them what works and what doesn't.

Ok, no time for love Dr. Jones. My battery's about to run out. Check out this lj next time for my thoughts on the final (?) Kander and Ebb musical, The Visit.

Best Wedding Toast Ever - Amy's Song - HQ Full Version

2008-06-10T17:55:41Z

This is phenomenal.

franklinshepard @ 2008-06-06T09:24:00

2008-06-06T13:26:58Z

I thought I'd get on lj and see the whole interwebs buzzing about the new My Fair Lady film, to be made with Keira Knightley. But no one's posted about it! Am I the only person excited? Well, me, and a bunch of really old people?

Someone suggested Hugh Laurie for Higgins. THAT WOULD BE CRAMAZING. Seriously. He is perfect. I would probably die.

Also, I stepped on a nail yesterday and just got it out of my shoe. It didn't penetrate the inside and hurting me, it just was annoying. This was while walking around the LES at 2AM with a bunch of burlesque dancers and Miles. We got some pretty odd looks/questions/catcalls.

franklinshepard @ 2008-06-01T19:11:00

2008-06-01T23:15:18Z

I always hoped this icon would be appropriate for some lj entry. And it finally is. Less satisfying than I would've hoped, actually.

So I'm still alive. I think. I'm not sure, check back tomorrow. After the most exhausting week I've had in a long time, I realized something. I want to move to the Welsh countryside and become a preacher.

franklinshepard @ 2008-05-13T17:48:00

2008-05-13T21:52:53Z

So I saw No No Nanette at Encores this weekend. I've never really gotten into the 1971 CD, other than Helen Gallagher, whom I love. Before I saw this, I had expressed my wish that they would've done the 1925 version.

Well, I liked it far more than I like the CD, that's for sure. I think I prefer the original orchestrations in most of the numbers, but with a few exceptions, I don't hate the new ones. They just feel very Vegas-y and not period. But they are fun sometimes - I particularly like the new orchestration/arrangement of "You Can Dance With Any Girl At All," and the big "I Want To Be Happy" dance in the first act was nice too.

The best moment of the whole night came for me when Sandy Duncan came out after the "I Want to Be Happy" vocal, smiled at the audience, and just started dancing. That felt 1920s to me, and it also just captured the joy of musical theatre. I liked most of the cast, including Beth Leavel and Michael Berrese, and I loved their "You Can Dance..." duet. I have to say, I don't really get "Where Has My Hubby Gone Blues." The song just doesn't do anything for me. It was well-performed, though.

Charles Kimborough was a delight and Mara Davi was cute, although her belting was very not 1920s. (I actually prefer Susan Watson on the CD.) It's an entertaining show, and I can see why it went over so well in 1971 with that cast and that production. And I can see why Encores chose the 1971 version, and I don't begrudge them for it. Although it's still not my favorite show.

ETA: And my friend Joe Thalken was at one of the twin pianos! It was nice to see him tickling the ivories up there.

franklinshepard @ 2008-05-06T10:26:00

2008-05-06T14:32:38Z

Is it better to be dumb than smart?

My favorite paragraph: "In another set of experiments, Dr. Dukas discovered that young male flies wasted a lot of time trying to court unreceptive females. It takes time to learn the signs of a receptive fly." - Just another way flies are EXACTLY LIKE HUMANS.

Also, here's a line that made me laugh. It's from a review of PS. I Love You, the Hillary Swank movie, but the line is referring to Nellie McKay, who apparently plays Swank's sister - "I'm not sure what movie she's acting in, but she apparently thinks it's the 1920s, or that she's 12, or that she's part of the Little Rascals."

Here's a short list of shows that need to be seen (by me) before the Tonys:
A Catered Affair - student rush
Glory Days - student rush
Gypsy - student rush
39 Steps - I don't know if they have student rush, but they do have those 39$ rush seats
Top Girls - student rush, but I'm going to see if I can get comps
And maybe Little Mermaid and YF, if I get around to them. Little Mermaid is actually doing student rush now during the week, so I might try that before the summer comes and they get rid of that policy.

Annie and Randi are currently in my apartment! Yay!

franklinshepard @ 2008-05-01T10:07:00

2008-05-01T14:11:32Z

So on my Facebook homepage, it says "You're engaged. Find everything for your new life together. For a limited time, register at Target and receive a free organizational clutch." What do you think, Claire? Should we register?

:)

In other news, my sister finally broke up with her loser boyfriend. This is good news. He was a huge loser and she deserves way better.

In still other news, congrats!!! To all the MSU Theatre graduates!!! I'm so proud of you guys!!! I wish I could be at your graduation.

a question

2008-04-27T03:55:10Z

Does anyone other than me and Jordon think of Anne Trulove's lullaby to Tom at the end of Stravinsky's Rake's Progress whenever you hear "Where are youuuuu" from Spamalot?? Cause seriously, I can not hear one without thinking of the other, and Jordon is like the only other person who has ever not looked at me blankly when I asked her that.

franklinshepard @ 2008-04-26T17:42:00

2008-04-26T21:47:03Z

Friends-cut done. Of course I probably didn't cut you, but if I did just ask me and I'll add you back.

This icon is in honor of how great Kristen Bell was in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Not a great movie, but I thought it was absolutely hilarious. I urge everyone who likes comedy to go see it! I also saw Harold and Kumar... and it wasn't nearly as good as FSM. If you liked the first one, you'll probably like the sequel as well, although it wasn't as funny and had quite a few dead spots. Still worth seeing if you liked the first one and you find Neil Patrick Harris saying things like "You think this is the first time I've ever transported fugitives across state lines??" hilarious.

In other news, I made out with a hot blonde last night. She was 34. It was HOT.

franklinshepard @ 2008-04-23T10:42:00

2008-04-23T14:43:29Z

I need to do a friends-cut. If I post comments on your journal or I'm friends with you in real life, of course you won't be cut. If there's any doubt in your mind, and you want to stay, just comment!

:)

PS. Liz and I had a great time at Boeing-Boeing! More later.

I think this is hilarious

2008-04-22T00:07:23Z

dear life -

2008-04-19T08:30:36Z

Also, it would be really great if the cute stage manager I'm working with is single. Thanks. I'm going to bed now.

Raggedy Ann & Andy meet the Camel

2008-04-16T23:39:23Z

I feel like everyone should watch this at least once a week.

franklinshepard @ 2008-04-04T09:20:00

2008-04-04T13:21:57Z

[title.of.show] is coming to Broadway.

That is all.

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/116496.html

franklinshepard @ 2008-03-28T13:58:00

2008-03-28T18:02:02Z

So I saw Juno at Encores last night. Basically, my short review is that I loved it, and I urge anyone in the New York area who is interested in musical theatre at all to run to catch this before it closes on Sunday night. But for a more detailed, spoilerful review, click the lj-cut!

So I loved it, with some reservations. But the best parts were truly outstanding.

I feel like "We're Alive" was staged in a very odd way, undercutting much of the power of the number - the show opens with everyone facing front and singing in kind of a Brechtian concert. No one really reacts or emotes until the British come out. I just didn't get it at all. My friend (who was completely unfamiliar with the show) didn't get it at all either.

Luckily, things picked up almost immediately, with "I Wish It So" followed almost immediately by "Song of the Ma." Probably out of everyone onstage, Celia Keenan-Bolger manages to give the best performance (albeit with a character that's not nearly as hard to play as Juno or the Captain.) She is wistful and romantic but also pragmatic (obviously her mother's daughter, thus Juno's line: "You're like I was, Mary.") and harsh when she has to be. She wants her dreams to come true but isn't willing to delude herself when their lives start falling down around them. Tyler Hanes is very good as Johnny, if perhaps not suitably haunted by guilt in the first few scenes. Victoria Clark gives an outline of a wonderful performance. Some people might say that she's miscast, but while she is a warmer Juno than some, I don't think she's terribly miscast. There are hints in her performance that she could become that force of nature that Juno is, given another few weeks of rehearsal and previews. She's certainly giving as good a performance as could reasonably be expected in a concert like this, with one caveat that I'll mention later.

"Daarlin' Man" introduced us to Schuck and Dermot Crowley as the Captain and Joxer, and it was pretty terrific, I thought. There's a section of dance music on on the cast recording, and (for whatever reason) they sang the lyrics on Blitzstein's demo rather than the lyrics on the OCR for the first verse. I actually thought Schuck was perfect as the Captain, getting all of his bluster and bravado perfectly right, as well as letting us see what a cowardly, small, mean man he really is underneath. And there are moments where he is perfectly charming, and we can see why Juno might've married this man. I completely believed during "Old Sayins" (another place where they used some of Blitzstein's demo lyrics for some reason) that Schuck and Clark were husband and wife. They really seemed like a little family, however dysfunctional.

Michael Arden seemed to take that one line that Mary has, about his eyes never lifting from the floor, and based his performance on that line. A valid way of playing Jerry, but it got somewhat monotonous, and almost seemed like low energy rather than a performance choice. Also, he doesn't really get much to play, other than "One Kind Word" and its short reprise in Act II. He needed to make more of an impact than he did.

"What Is The Stars" did not land well, I don't think. For whatever reason, the Captain and Joxer did a box step all throughout the second half of the number. I actually noticed last night that's it's kind of like "Fasten Your Seat Belts" - a famous line made into a famous song. But I actually think this is a good song, unlike "Fasten..." Unfortunately, the actors had no idea what they were playing in the second half of the song, and the director didn't help them at all by giving them that box step. That song, in an odd way, tells us more about the Captain than "Daarlin' Man" does - that he's a huge liar and almost believes his own lies, yes, but also foreshadows his life without Juno (he keeps harping on the fact that there are no women on the sea.)

That's what I love about Marc Blitzstein's character numbers: they're very unconventional, but they really fit these characters perfectly. And the whole first act is basically character numbers. The way the play is structured, the first act is all buildup, with no real drama happening (other than Mary rejecting Jerry.) I don't think that's a flaw necessarily, but it must have felt very unusual to 1959 audiences.

Clarke Thorell was very good as Charlie - slick and charming, no hint of smarm. But "My True Heart" really needed to be a duet. Mary never sings with Jerry because she will never be with Jerry. But Mary should sing with Charlie, because they will be together. The orchestration here is very interesting too - when Mary sings, the orchestration is what we hear on the CD: all strings and woodwinds, just like "I Wish It So." But when Charlie enters, so does the brass and percussion, and all of a sudden, this precious little ballad becomes a 1920s fox-trot. And when Mary sings about living and dying for her love, Charlie sings a counterpoint in which he pooh-poohs the depth of her love and smoothly glosses over things. I thought it was brilliant.

The first act finale, "On a Day Like This" was so joyous and charming. But even in this light piece, Juno sings about wanting love. Mary sings about wanting love. The Captain just wants material possessions - he never mentions love.

For whatever reason, "Bird Upon the Tree" is the surprise hit of the show. The audience gave "I Wish It So" a large hand, but that's to be expected. But it felt like the audience genuinely loved "Bird Upon a Tree." They weren't expecting it and it caught them off guard. It is a terrific song.

That ballet in the first scene of the second act...just wow. Stuff like that makes me so sad that I live in the era of Susan Stroman, where "Springtime for Hitler" and YF's "Putting on the Ritz" is the apex of musical theatre dancing today. It was incredibly shocking and incredibly moving. I really have no idea if they used the original choreography, but clearly the outline that Agnes DeMille constructed was used. I think the entire show is worth seeing for that ballet. Tyler Hanes really shines in it, both dramatically and dancing-wise.

So like I mentioned, they used "Farewell Me Butty" in the second act, when the Captain tells off the sycophantic Joxer. I think it's a good song (the lyrics probably need a rewrite) and important, but this production did not make a case for it at all. I think part of the problem lies with Crowley's performance as Joxer - I never got even a whiff of his contempt for the Captain underneath his constant compliments, and I think this song should come as an explosion for Joxer. But another problem is that it was just really poorly staged, with the actors kind of walking back and forth for no reason. It's unfortunate that the staging failed during the two Captain/Joxer duets.

But the scene afterwards, that was incredibly. It was probably Clark's best scene, where she reveals that Mary is pregnant and then is told that no money's coming in. And then Johnny's death was also very powerful, as was Mary's following scene. Unfortunately, Clark didn't quite get the arc of "Where?" and it wasn't nearly as powerful as it could've been. But the material is still so good, and then that reprise of "Bird Upon a Tree" as they leave was very moving.

But the final "We're Alive" was underwhelming. The director staged it as the IRA getting ready for an attack, which I wouldn't have done, but it was interesting. My problem came with the business of cocking their rifles after the final "We're alive" and then pointing them out at the audience during "As the old woman says." I get what she was going for, but it got more chuckles out of the audience than anything else, and she could've easily gotten the effect she was after by modifying that staging only slightly.

But even with those caveats, I feel incredibly lucky that I saw this production of Juno. I don't think we will ever see another production as good as this, and certainly not one with the ballet and the full orchestra. I'm telling all my friends to go see it. It's an amazing show, and if the production is sometimes less than amazing, it's still worthy.

a few thoughts (again)

2008-03-20T14:46:11Z

So in the past week I've seen In The Heights, Take Me Along at the Irish Rep, The Adding Machine for the second time, and Cry-Baby. I don't discuss The Adding Machine below, but I've seen it twice. Clearly I like it. :) My thoughts are long, cause I talk about three shows. You don't have to read them all. We can still be friends.

In The Heights wasn't great. Remember when I said Legally Blonde was the modern Wish You Were Here? Well, ITH actually is a modern Wish You Were Here - a story focused on a particular ethnic group, using the musical idiom of that group, to tell a fairly low-stakes story in a way that seeks only to entertain for a few hours. ITH is incredibly old-fashioned in every way but musical styles - there are the extraneous comic relief characters (Andrea Burns, who is so good she almost makes you forget she's completely irrelevant), extraneous song-and-dance numbers, even the old trope of the main couple and the secondary couple.

Of course, old-fashioned doesn't necessarily mean bad. But unfortunately, being old-fashioned is not the major problem of this show. The two main characters, Nina and Benny, are boring. They have boring material, and the actors are decent but not good enough to make the material anything other than boring. (Also Mandy Gonzalez is looking a little long in the tooth to be playing a college freshman.) They should've either given them stronger material or cut their parts down; from what I've read, it seems as if they actually beefed up their parts since the off-Broadway run.

I do want to echo the praise most critics heaped upon Lin Manuel Miranda as Usnavi. He is just completely charming in his role as a narrator and the secondary lead. He also plays opposite the fiery Karen Olivo as Vanessa, who is a terrific match for him. I can understand why Miranda wrote himself such a good part, but my question is why isn't his relationship with Vanessa the emotional focus of the show? That's what the audience cares about, and the audience I saw the show with couldn't care less about whether Nina and Benny ended up together.

There are some great songs that grow into old-fashioned show-stoppers, albeit in the musical idiom of salsa and hip-hop - "96,000," where Usnavi realizes he sold a winning lottery ticket, and the entire town starts dreaming of what they would do with the money, is probably the best of these, but the opening number and the act one finale are also good. There are also some pretty bad numbers, with Priscilla Lopez having one of the worst.

SPOILERS

Finally, the ending doesn't work at all. Usnavi, after his grandmother dies, plans on using the money she won in the lottery to go back to the Domincan Republic. The finale, which is entirely rapped, is one of those "Soliloquy" type songs where the singer starts thinking one way and ends thinking another. But "Soliloquy" goes through at least three distinct musical changes, when Billy's thought pattern shifts. Because of its very nature, rap can't go through those emotional shifts. Rap can convey humor, anger, and passion, but it can't convey a discovery of love, and so the ending remains unmoving. I don't think it'll ever have the emotional impact that Lin-Manuel clearly wants it to have, because rap can't bring an audience to that emotional place.

It was an entertaining show, and for the 26$ lottery, I thought it was worth seeing. The dance sequences are well-performed if rarely used well, and some of the songs are good. I had a good time for most of the show. But the best parts of In The Heights are just good enough to make you acutely aware of how much potential the show has squandered.

As for Take Me Along, it was cute. But I've never been a big fan of the score, and as much as some people love "Promise Me a Rose," it really doesn't do anything for me. I think Merrill's ballads in that show are mostly lifeless, except for "Staying Young" for Nat, the father. I do like the uptempos. But I do think Take Me Along is kind of a missed opportunity - it seems like Ah! Wilderness is ideal musical material, rich and full of emotion, and Take Me Along is not that ideal musical.

Anyway, this is a fairly good production, even if the kid playing Richard isn't really very funny. (I auditioned for that part, so I might be a bit biased.) Don Stephenson has a unique take on Sid - he's kind of this grown-up child, still, covering up his real feelings with boyish grins and impish one-liners. Stephenson has real chemistry with the actress playing Lily, and their scenes come off as true and heartfelt. William Parry is terrific as Nat, and he also has great chemistry with the actress playing Essie.

One caveat: the actors are playing everything awfully large for that small house. I think they could all tone down their performances a little, and get more naturalistic. But everyone is pretty good, even if I do think I could play a better Richard.

And finally, I got a comp for Cry-Baby last night, and I'm sure I'm not going to surprise anyone by telling you to stay far away from this show. It's just dreadful. The original film isn't great, but at least all of the characters are vividly drawn and clearly defined - in this show we know nothing about any of the characters besides for Cry-Baby and Allison, his love interest, for the entire first act! They cut out all characterization in order to cram plot into tiny book scenes so they could make room for extraneous and not very funny songs.

The songs consistently mistake vulgarity for humor. For instance, the first song's punchline (as far as I could tell) is the repeated singing of the word "ass." There's a song called "Girl, Can I Kiss You With Tongue" and the punchline is already in the title. There's a takeoff of "Honestly Sincere" from Bye Bye Birdie minus the wit called "Baby Baby Baby Baby Baby Baby." And that just made me imagine how much better the score would be if it had been written by Charles Strouse. When the songs weren't aping Bye Bye Birdie, they were clearly aping Hairspray - there was a "Welcome to the 60s" number that welcomed Allison into the world of bad girls; the opening of act two was a musical number with Cry-Baby in prison, echoing both "The Big Dollhouse" and "Without Love"; the ending number was clearly trying to be "You Can't Stop The Beat," etc.

But besides for being superior to Cry-Baby, Hairspray was also a fun family musical with a sweet message about racial (and implicitly, homosexual) tolerance. Cry-Baby has no such message, and there is full male and female nudity in it! I wasn't offended, but I was shocked, and I certainly would not recommend this show for any families. (Of course, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.)

There's only one moment when the musical betters the movie - when the crazy girl in love with Cry-Baby and the square guy in love with Allison sing a duet in the second act about their futures with their respective spouses called "It's All In My Head." It's actually a funny joke, and it connects these two characters on a musical level, and also those two actors - Alli Mauzey and Christopher Hanke - probably scored the best with the material they got. The audience just adored Alli Mauzey, and she was pretty great given her terrible, terrible material.

The cast does mostly pretty good work. James Snyder is very likeable, if lacking in star power (he's no Johnny Depp, although that's not his fault.) Elizabeth Stanley gives us more of her April for much of the show, and she's about as good here as she was in Company. Harriet Harris is saddled with probably the worst song in the show, and her singing was incredibly weak. Was she weak in Millie? I was afraid she wouldn't be able to get through her song. Nevertheless, she made the best of her part, and trouped on like a professional.

I'd be surprised if this show lasts past labor day. Is there any kind of an advance? I have to think word-of-mouth will be as bad as if not worse than the reviews will be.

franklinshepard @ 2008-03-17T13:59:00

2008-03-17T18:01:50Z

I know I have been neglecting lj lately. Sorry, lj. I still like you. I'll come back, I promise.

But I have a question for all NYCers: when I was growing up in Philly, I ate soft pretzels all the time, but ESPECIALLY on St. Patrick's Day. I live in New York now. There has to be someplace in Manhattan where you can get a good soft pretzel, right? Those ones that they sell on the street taste like they came out of the frozen foods section at Pathmark.

Help me, somebody! Where can I find a good soft pretzel??

Happy St. Patrick's Day too, even though technically the church moved it to Saturday.

franklinshepard @ 2008-02-17T18:03:00

2008-02-17T23:05:28Z

I just re-joined Netflix. Friend away! Just follow the link.

http://www.netflix.com/BeMyFriend/PATORPQjMwhK03YC2Wdc

franklinshepard @ 2008-02-13T22:39:00

2008-02-14T03:44:59Z

I need to blog about several things:

Wanda's World - new teen musical that was really cute and smart
Applause @ Encores - short version - I loved it
The Adding Machine: The Musical - my second favorite Elmer Rice musical
my weekend - crazy
seeing the SPICE GIRLS on Monday night with Jillian.

Best week of my life? Probably not. But it certainly is up there. I promise details. Maybe tomorrow. I can't think of a more appropriate valentine to you, dear lj.

The American Idol Top 24 - I don't ever care about the men. (Josiah is walking a thin line between charming and annoying.) But the women look pretty good. There are quite a few I could vote for. Only a few Antonella-type hot girls who can't sing. What's up with a girl named Alaina getting through two years in a row? Or was she 2006? The years blend together for me sometimes.

New blog

2008-02-05T19:12:55Z

Hey guys, I need help. I want to create a new blog dedicated solely to my musings on theatre, TV, movies, arts in general, and this will become more of a personal thing. But I can't think of a good name. Can you suggest some names for me??? Everyone has really cute stuff, like Kate Shindle has Shindleslist. I want something cute! Or at least something theatre-y. I think I've taken Have You Met Mark as far as it can go.

In other news, Lost is back on the air. I have a complex history with Lost. I always start watching it, every season, but I end up missing several episodes, and I never really care enough to catch up on them, since there are always some pretty boring eps. But that S3 finale really grabbed me, and the beginning of S4 was great too, and it kind of makes me want to go back and re-discover all the moments I missed.

I just want to say I will be really mad if these flash-forwards are what actually happen after the show. I want these people to have a happy ending! I don't know how they can do that without using magic or something, but if this show ends on a downer, I'll get mad. Unless it's a Twin Peaks-esque "Where's Annie???" downer. That would be awesome.

WTF Meryl and Adam?

2008-01-17T21:42:58Z

This makes me feel like I'm on acid.

Also, check this out - Anton Chekov is alive and well and signing plays in Union Square!
http://www.improveverywhere.com/2004/02/29/anton-chekov/

One more thing. Thank you, American Idol, for filling a hole in my life. Already, I've laughed so hard because of one man:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/breaking/news_breaking/13864701.html

franklinshepard @ 2008-01-11T22:53:00

2008-01-12T03:59:52Z

Attention, everyone who stopped watching The Simpsons when it got dumb: they are back.

Seriously, the last two episodes of The Simpsons have been incredibly great episodes. Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind was clever, engrossing, hilarious, and ultimately one of the most moving episodes they've done (you can probably tell what themes it riffs on by the title). E Pluribis Wiggum has to be the best political satire episode ever - Ralph Wiggum runs for President! They are hitting their stride again, folks! Time to tune back in!

I could offer up a bunch of quotes from either ep, but here's a good one from Moe: "Hey, who wants to abolish democracy? Show of hands." Or Homer, waxing poetic on the Patriot Act in his sarcasm voice: "Ooooh, the Patriot Act! The government can see what books I'm checking out of the library!!! What's next, finding out what operas I go to?"

Go download these episodes! You shan't be disappointed.

Flight of the Conchords Ep 8 'Foux Da Fa Fa'

2008-01-10T01:59:52Z

This makes me laugh so hard. "Bonjour mon petit bureau de change."

If Kira still reads my lj, she will loooooove this. Assuming she hasn't seen it already.