theatre review TEN CENTS A DANCE, McCarter Theatre, Sept.11

Musical revues aren't usually my cup of tea.  I need a story or at least some type of theme to keep me entertained.  And while I enjoyed previous revues like Ain't Misbehaven' and Smokey Joe's Cafe, to me they are simply a couple of hours of musical fluff, hardly filling and sometimes in the case of other ill conceived revues like The Look of Love, they are barely filling at all.

So I went into the new revue of Richards Rodgers and Lorenz Hart songs, Ten Cents a Dance, with reservations.  This production was previously staged at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in August and is enjoying a month long run at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton.  While the "story" of this show is somewhat bare bones, and could be interpreted in various ways, it is one that makes you think and one that I'm still thinking about several days later. So, while i did enjoy it, I think it still needs some additional work to give it slightly more focus before moving on to future productions.

Malcom Gets and the five "Miss Jones' "

The director of this piece, John Doyle, is best known for his Broadway revival productions of Sweeney Todd and Company, both of which used their casts also as the shows' orchestra.  Having actors also play instruments can be a gimmick that wears old very fast but Doyle effectively incorporated the actor's use of the instruments seamlessly into both of those shows and won a Tony for Best Director for his work on Sweeney Todd.   Having the cast also play instruments in this production actually works even better than those two previous works mainly because since the show is a revue, it's pretty much non stop music.

Ten Cents a Dance has a cast of six people, one man and five women.  When the show begins, the man (Malcolm Gets) slowly descends into the room down a spiral staircase.  The room below is somewhat dark but has various smaller spaces all around the back that are all filed with musical instruments with a grand piano in the center of the room.  The man almost doesn't want to approach the piano at first, as if he is afraid of what will happen if he begins to play.  But when he does sit down and plays, you know he's been here before and that what unfolds has happened before, maybe even many times, but he is still afraid of what is going to happen once his fingers hit the piano keys.

Donna McKechnie, Diana DiMarzio, Jessica Tyler Wright,
Jane Pfitsch and Lauren Molina

As he begins to play the Rodgers and Hart classic "Blue Moon," a procession of five women slowly descend the staircase.  The women are various ages, from around 20 to 60 and all wear slightly different versions of the same dress and a slightly different version of the same hairstyle.  They obviously only appear because he started to play, and I assumed they represented one woman at various stages in her life.  If he stops playing, they stop moving.  Over the next 80 minutes they will harmonize, play a multitude of instruments and take us through the various stages of a relationship, or should I say the relationship that they as the one woman had with the man.  We don't know what happened or how the relationship ended, or if in fact the woman died and left the man a widow, or even if they are both dead.  But what I took away was that the man is still alive and when he plays the piano he imagines the woman from his past that he can't forget coming to life and playing out what happened in their days together through the music they shared.  It isn't something he completely enjoys reliving, but something it seems he must do.   As I mentioned above, it isn't exactly clear, and I don't even know if my interpretation is what Doyle is thinking, but for me it ultimately is a haunting musical.  In many ways it reminded me of Follies, which we just saw last week, and the visions of younger ghosts and memories of the past are prominent in both shows.

Molina and McKechnie

Now Rodgers and Hart wrote some of the most romantic songs from the 30's and 40's from such shows as Pal Joey, Babes in Arms and On Your Toes and many of them are heard in this production.  Almost every song in this production is about romance, and while overall they combine to make an effective show, the continued use of some of the more heavier ballads become a little monotonous after awhile.  Classic tunes like "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered," "My Funny Valentine," Isn't It Romantic," "Manhattan," "The Lady is a Tramp," "Falling In Love With Love," " This Can't Be Love"  and "I Wish I Were in Love Again" are all heard, some in complete versions, some shortened ones or combined with other songs.  "Have You Met Miss Jones" is effectively used to introduce the five Miss Jones' that the five women play.  Every time the lyrics "Miss Jones" appears in the song our five women sing those words in unison.

The cast is more than capable of not only singing the material but playing various instruments.  While Gets mainly only plays the piano, his playing is rapturous and emotional.  And, like the rest of the cast, he so encompasses his character that you completely feel for him and for whatever happened to him and Miss Jones  The five women while given somewhat less to do then Gets, also pour everything they have into their parts.  Donna McKechnie is the star here, having won a Tony award for her performance in the original cast of A Chorus Line.  She is the eldest of the five "Miss Jones" and Doyle often has her close to whichever woman is singing a solo, and many times McKechnie mouths the words to the song the other woman is singing, to show that she remembers that moment in her life.  It is a very effective directorial choice.  The rest of the women, while being better musicians than McKenchie, are still very good singers.  Lauren Molina as the youngest of the Miss Jones' perfectly captures the youth and joy of love while Diana DiMarzio, Jessica Tyler Wright and Jane Pfitsch  as the middle Miss Jones' show more raw emotions around the pain of love.  McKechnie seems more resolved and even joyous, not only at seeing and singing with Gets but also at looking at her younger selves and so it seems she has gotten over and accepted whatever happened between her and Gets. 

The set is pretty amazing

Now there are a few things that I think need to be clarified before this moves on.  There is practically no dialogue in the piece, and I think adding just a few lines to give us a better sense of the story would be effective.  Dialogue might also help better connect the show with the audience.  There are also many moments of silence with Gets staring broodingly at the piano, or even at the women, that come across as somewhat melodramatic.  And I'm not sure why he disrobes a few times in the show, first taking off his coat, then his vest, then his shirt.  It seems like he is either frustrated, disappointed or just hot, but these moments do nothing but put a puzzled look on the audience's faces.

Still, Ten Cents a Dance is a haunting musical, with lush arrangements, an extremely talented cast and superb direction by Doyle. So, even with it's couple of shortcomings, I'd recommend it for the slightly more adventurous theatre goers out there. The show is playing though October 9th.

McCarter Theatre Site

Behind the scenes with the cast before the Williamstown production:

theatre review FOLLIES, Broadway, Sept. 7

The new Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman's Follies is the first musical of the 2011-2012 season and it opens next Monday.  We caught one of the final previews of the show Wednesday night.   This show recently celebrated it's 40th anniversary (read my story on that here) and while this musical and this revival may not be perfect on all counts, it is most likely one of the best productions and one of the best casts that we will ever get for this show.  This production played the Kennedy Center in D.C. this past Spring, and with a few cast changes after that run, is now on Broadway.

Lead by a first rate cast, with almost spot on direction by Eric Schaeffer, the musical is set in 1971 at a 30th reunion of "follies" girls at the crumbling down theatre where they performed their show which is about to be torn down to make way for a parking lot.  Our four main characters are two couples, who find their marriages crumbling and their lives on the brink of being torn apart as well.  They are all unhappy in their marriages, with Sally still in love with Ben, the husband of her follies roommate Phyllis.  This is a show that makes you seriously think about "the road you didn't take."  We all have made choices throughout our lives and who knows what our lives would be like today if we had taken a different path?  Follies is a musical that must be viewed and perceived differently depending on the age of the audience member, as anyone under 30 who hasn't lived and thought of some of the same questions that our main characters ask wouldn't clearly understand the point of the story.   The fact that there are "ghosts" present in the theatre of the main character's younger selves from 30 years ago only adds an emotional resonance to those choices.  The ghosts of our two couples conjure up memories of the past to our four leads, some which they clearly wish they could forget, or wish they had made different choices so their lives didn't take the road they took.


Ron Raines and Bernadette Peters with their "younger
selves" Lora Lee Gayer and Nick Verina


This is the third production of the show I've seen.  The 1998 production at Paper Mill Playhouse was all glitz and glamour and the 2001 Broadway revival was more minimalistic, where as this production gets almost everything right.  Though I don't know if it only feels that way to me since I am 10 or 13 years older then when I saw those productions so the dialogue and situations connect more with me now.  Or is it just the fact that the four actors in this production are so perfect in their acting abilities that it no longer seems like a long evening with bitter, fighting couples?

Danny Burstein

The beauty of Sondheim's score for this musical is that it perfectly combines character driven songs with more performance type numbers.  The songs play off of the dual meaning of the title of the show, as not only does it refer to the show the girls performed in, but also the foolishness that our two couples exhibit.  In the middle of act two, when the ghosts in the show start to be able to be seen by the main couples, and our two couples and their younger selves start to argue, the show dissolves into a dream "follies" with lavish production numbers where our characters act out and display their own personal "folly."  While some may choose to live in the past or reimagine how past events actually happened, one can't change the present so they must face reality, something that our main characters struggle to do.  However, after the emotional impact of the last 20 minutes of the show, our characters might still struggle with their own personal decisions, but they are all in a somewhat better place then they were before.  Though the ending is in no way uplifting, it isn't a downer as well.

Jan Maxwell

Bernadette Peters is Sally, and she perfectly inhabits her character.  I've seen Peters in several shows before, but never have I seen her play someone so "small" and unsure of herself.  Sally's husband Buddy has accused her of being either drunk or crazy, and Peters portrayal is a cross between the two.  She also looks fantastic.  Danny Burstein is Buddy and it is nice seeing him play a lead character instead of the supporting ones he's played in the past (and received two Tony nominations for.)  Buddy is a tough character to play, as he loves Sally but knows she is still in love with Ben.  Burstein pulls this off, and the smart direction from Schaeffer give Burstein plenty of dramatic and comic moments to show what he's capable of.

Peters singing "Losing My Mind"

Jan Maxwell is Phyllis and like Burstein, she has played plenty of supporting roles and has four Tony nominations for them.  She is witty, sexy and like Peters, looks and acts impeccably. Ron Raines is Phyllis' husband Ben.  With his slight stubble and somewhat disheveled appearance, he doesn't exactly have the look of past Ben's, who were more in the tradition of a wealthy businessman or politician.  However, he has the best voice of our four leads and Sondheim has given him several beautiful songs to show it off.  "The Road You Didn't Take" has always been one of my favorite songs from this show (and this show doesn't have one bad song) and hearing Raines sing, with his clear diction and forceful delivery, is not only stunning but also really hits home the meaning of the song.

Elaine Paige singing "I'm Still Here"

While Peter's voice is a little rougher now, her rendition of "Losing My Mind" is stunning.  During this song, Sally finally understands the truth about her life and that Ben doesn't love her, even though she has been holding on for 30 years that he does truly love her.  The beauty of Peters' delivery of this song comes from the fact that she remains completely still throughout, with the lyrics seemingly trapped inside of her with pauses between them and only being said once she truly understands them. Even so, they still  come out slow as if Sally is somewhat afraid to say them, as if she does, then she will know it is true.  The result is of a woman who finally realizes that she truly has lost her mind, thinking that a man loved her for so long, when he never did.  It was a revelation to me and more than makes up for her slightly by the numbers and lo key solo of "In Buddy's Eyes" in act one.

Terri White and the Follies ladies

The supporting cast has several ladies who all get a solo song and some witty dialogue to speak.  Elaine Paige gets the highest billing of these actresses, mainly because her character has a little more to do than the others and she gets to sing the Sondheim classic "I'm Still Here."   Paige is a huge star in the UK, having originated the parts of Eva in Evita and Grizabella in Cats in the West End, but she hasn't quite found success in the US, so it is nice to see her in this featured part.  She delivers on her solo song as well as on her portrayal of her character and she also has a lot of fun when she joins in on the shows one big female dance number with her other cast mates.  That song, "Who's That Woman" is led by Terri White, and White is a firecracker.  She not only has a huge voice but jumps right into the tap dancing required for this song.  Like Paige, White and the other ladies have a blast with this song, and the choreography by Warren Carlyle perfectly combines the actresses with the ghosts of their younger selves into this number.  If anyone in the audience didn't realize what all of these younger people were doing wandering around the stage before, this number should make them clearly understand the point of them being there.



Houdyshell and Peil

 Jayne Houdyshell gets to sing another gem from this show "Broadway Baby" and boy does she deliver.  Disheveled is an understatement to describe her appearance, but she definitely stands out from the crowd and like every other person in this cast is clearly having a blast.  Mary Beth Peil, probably best known to audiences today from her role as the mother in law on tv's The Good Wife, looks nothing like that character in this show with her long flowing hair and her skin tight, sexy costumes.  Her performance of "Ah Paris" is all style over substance and she completely pulls it off.  Rosalind Elias, who has had an over 50 year career singing in major opera houses around the world, is making her Broadway debut in this show as "Heidi."  She drifts out in act two, as if on a cloud and delivers her song "One Last Kiss" with such a force that you have to stand up and listen, when her younger self joins in, you see how her voice has aged, and the emotional connection between the two when the older "Heidi" appears to see her younger self singing the song with her packs a wallop.



Rosalind Elias and Leah Horowitz - "One Last Kiss"

 A little issue I have with this production has to do with the set and how it is used for the more dramatic scenes.   The set perfectly evokes the stage of a expansive theatre that's best days are in the past, but when the party goers disappear in order for a scene with two of our main characters to play out, you get no sense that they are in a more private area of the theatre, it seems they are still on the stage of this huge theatre. In past productions scrims or small set pieces have been used to give you the feeling that they are backstage or off in a private corner, not sure why they didn't try to do something similar for this production.  Instead it is as if everyone at the party ran outside for a smoke as they knew someone needed to have a private conversation on the stage of the theatre.  Fortunately the lighting and costumes are in peak condition.

the "younger" versions of our two couples - Kirsten Scott,
Nick Verina, Lora Lee Gayer and Christian Delcroix

While this show and production is a magical and truly enjoyable evening, there are still some problems with the book and how some of the songs, as great as they are, seem a bit shoe horned into it, but this cast really delivers. As I said above, this is probably the best cast we'll ever get for this show, as it isn't made up only of "stars" like other productions were, but has actors who can really act the book and deliver on the songs.  A recording is being made of this production and it will be a 2 cd set and include all of the music from the show, unlike the Original Broadway Cast album which featured truncated versions of many of the songs in order to fit on one lp.  This production is currently advertised as a limited run, playing through December 30th.

Official Show Site

Amazon link for the new cast recording -


Highlights from the 2011 Broadway revival -

cd review ANYTHING GOES, the New Broadway Cast Recording

If you read my review of the current Broadway revival of Anything Goes you know I had an excellent time seeing this production.  Even though there are numerous cast recordings from the many previous productions that musical has had, a cast album of this Broadway revival was made and it has just been released as a digital download with the cd release coming out in September.  

The recording is just as fun and colorful as the Broadway revival, with expert musical direction and playing by the orchestra, full, rich orchestrations and a simply de-lovely cast.  Sutton Foster, who won a Tony for her performance as "Reno Sweeney" sounds just as good as she did on stage.  She expertly handles the belting required but just as easily excels at the comical moments of the duets she has with her two male co-stars, Joel Grey and Colin Donnell.  Her performance perfectly captures the range required for the Cole Porter score, whether it be the comical, quick timing of some of the lyrics, the more bawdy moments of some of the songs or the more quiet and intimate moments.  She clearly shows why she deserved the Tony for her performance.  And, unlike a certain star of the last Broadway revival of this show, you can also clearly understand every lyric she sings.

Grey is in fine form on his songs and Donnell sings like a bird.  While there would be no question that Grey would be able to deliver on the same level as Sutton on their comical duet "Friendship," it is nice to see the relatively unknown Donnell pair beautifully with Foster on "You're the Top."  It is a nice bonus that the recording includes the extended version of that song that is heard in this production with the reprise added on to the end of the song.

The supporting cast has their moments to shine as well.  John McMartin is allowed to display his comical line readings on the dialogue around his song "I Want to Row on the Crew" and Laura Osnes sounds splendid on her songs, especially her second act solo, "Goodbye, Little Dream, Goodbye."  Osnes and Donnell are also simply heaven on "All Through the Night" which has a beautiful arrangement including a very romantic sounding rich vocal support from the ensemble.  Adam Godley, who got a Tony nom for his performance, sounds even better on his solo, "The Gypsy in Me" then I remember he sounded live on stage.

It is no question while this musical receives so many productions and recordings.  The Cole Porter score is one with so many classic songs, and having them delivered by this cast  make this recording a winner.  My only complaint, the title song "Anything Goes" is a slightly edited down version then what's heard in the theatre.  The dance breaks that build the song into a frenzy on stage have been slightly cut back for the recording.  Fortunately, "Blow Gabriel Blow" has the full version heard on stage, including the jazzy new orchestrations, which are simply divine.

The revival is already doing blockbuster business, and if anyone who hasn't seen the show yet listens to this superb recording it should only steer more people to the box office.  A highly recommended recording.

2011 Tony Award's Performance -

theatre review - Revisiting Carrie - Off Broadway, August 1

Last night we attended the one night only event entitled Revisiting "Carrie."  Now most people know about my fascination with the musical Carrie, (see my previous post about it here) and last night's event has gotten me very excited about the upcoming Off Broadway production that begins performances in January.  Subtitled "A Behind the Scenes Discussion with Song Selections," the evening featured about 55 minutes of discussion with the creative team and about 25 minutes of performance selections.   

Based on the popular novel by Stephen King, Carrie tells the story of a teenage misfit who is bullied at her high school and at home has to deal with her religiously over protective mother.  When Carrie realizes she has special powers she uses them to get back at those who put her down. "A Cinderella story with a vengeance" is how one of the creators summarized it.

The original production of Carrie on Broadway in 1988 closed just a few performances after it opened, but the material, the performances and most of the score left a memory for those who saw it that they simply can't forget.  It was nice to see this mentioned last night by the director for the upcoming production Stafford Arima.  He saw the original Broadway production when he was just 19 and the memories from it stuck with him for years.  

Molly Ranson is "Carrie"

The evening started off with the revised opening number "In."  Originally this was sung just by the high school girls in their gym class but has been completely reworked to feature the boys and girls and it features some amazing vocal harmonies, cleaner lyrics and completely sets up the importance of being in the "in" crowd at high school.  A clear step in the right direction from what opened the show in 1988.   We were next introduced to the creative team by Bernie Telsey, an artistic director for MCC, the Off Broadway theatre company that is producing the upcoming production.   Book writer Lawrence D. Cohen, music writer Michael Gore and lyricist Dean Pitchford were joined on stage by Arima, and the four of them had a lively discussion about the musical that Telsey moderated.   Other songs from the show were performed throughout the evening and several questions were taken from the audience as well.

Having the three creators of the musical talking about how the original musical came to be and how the past 23 years have made them look at the material and think about it differently was great.  They discussed the original novel, the various workshops the production had, the involvement of the Royal Shakespeare Company as well as how director Stafford Arima reached out to them through his agent three years ago about looking at the piece in a new light.   That phone call resulted in an 8 hour meeting with the four gentlemen that got the musical moving through a two year development process where everything about the original production was discussed, torn apart and put back together again.  Pitchford said that they all re-read the novel and in doing so realized that the novel's extremely effective in telling the story even though it is not told in a linear fashion.  Rather the novel uses yearbook comments, police reports, diary entries and personal accounts of the events to tell the story in a "mosaic" fashion, something they realized they hadn't done with the original version, which was told in a simple linear way.  They didn't say if they've now changed the show to be less linear, but from the ending of one of the songs we heard performed, it does appear that the show will now be told in flashback. 

Marrin Mazzie is Carrie's mom

They also discussed that while they had originally thought to keep the show set in the early 1980's, they've since realized that the events in the story, especially those around bullying, are so prominent today that they've decided to set the story in present time.  Something Pitchford said required them to go back and change details in every aspect of the show - book, music, lyrics, direction, sets, costumes and choreography.  But, they all agreed that in doing so, it makes the piece stronger.  I have to say that the modern vocal arrangements by Ann Marie Milazzo we heard for "In" were so amazing that I'm glad they made this decision.

Gore commented that 10 of the original songs from the 1988 show are no longer in the new version.   I'm not certain if he meant that they are completely gone or just no longer in their original form - as "In" still had the same melody but has about 75% new lyrics and arrangements and the title song "Carrie" - performed by Molly Ranson is about 50% the same as it was originally.  We did get a completely new song "You Shine" performed by "good girl" Sue (Christy Altomare) and Tommy (Derek Klena), which replaces the solo song Sue had in the original production, ''It Hurts To Be Strong."  And the evening ended with Ranson and Marin Mazzie who plays her mom, Margaret, singing their song when Carrie is leaving for the prom, as well as Margaret's act two solo "When There's No One" - both of which are virtually unchanged from the way they were heard in 1988.  Ranson and Mazzie were extremely effective in both their songs and dialogue scenes and the ensemble sounded great as well.  I'm not certain if the cast we saw last night, beyond Ranson and Mazzie, will be the cast we see come January, but if it is, I think we're in good hands.

The poster design for the 1988

Broadway production

While hearing the songs was the big highlight of the evening, there was also a very interesting discussion about the choice of Terry Hands as the director of the 1988 production as well as some of the directors who were first approached about directing the original production.  Both Mike Nichols and Bob Fosse had discussions with Gore, Pitchford and Cohen, with Fosse wanting to take the show into a dark place that was darker than any of the three creators wanted to go.  It was mentioned that the one musical Hands directed before Carrie was one in the UK that both Gore and Pitchford left at intermission, but with his success in directing plays with the RSC and the RSC's decision to fast track the musical into a production at their Stratford Upon Avon home, made them think he was right for the job.  He was a "gentlemen" and had a nice accent as well, they mentioned.  It wasn't until they were deep into rehearsals that they realized he wasn't the right choice.  

Pitchford also commented that when you are three people doing a Broadway show for the first time you should surround yourself with veterans who have experience in something you're new to.  With Carrie, Cohen, Gore, Pitchford, Hands and choreographer Debbie Allen were all making their Broadway musical theatre creative debut.

So, all in all, a very interesting and engaging evening that will hopefully get some good buzz generated for this production.  Though the fact that this one night only event sold out fairly quickly and that there is still so much discussion about this show, I highly doubt this evening was necessary to sell more tickets than they would have sold without it.  

I might be getting ahead of myself since previews haven't even started yet, but I truly believe that this production will be a success and will finally result in a recording of the music that so many people have been dying to have in their possession.  I also believe that the fact that this is being done Off Broadway, with a smaller cast and orchestra compared to the 1988 production, will mean that the profitability and future life of the show will be stronger, as many regional theatres would be able to put this production on due to a lower cost base compared to the previous production that had a cast with 10 more members.

  

MCC subscriptions are on sale now, which is the only current way to get tickets to this show, with single tickets for Carrie going on sale in October.  January can't get here fast enough!

MCC Site

theatre review DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY, Off Broadway, July 31

Death Takes a Holiday, the musical based on the play and film of the same name, is an engaging tuneful show having it's world premiere Off Broadway.  With a score by Tony Winner Maury Yeston (Nine, Titanic, Grand Hotel) and a book by Tony Winners Peter Stone (1776, Titanic, Will Rogers Follies) and Thomas Meehan (Annie, The Producers, Hairspray) it definitely has Broadway pedigree on it's side.  Add in one of the best ensemble casts around that consists of actors with many Broadway credits and you have a show that delivers on almost everything it sets out to accomplish.  With just a few minor quibbles, it is also a show that I enjoyed a lot.

Ovenden and Paice

The musical is based on the original Italian play written by Alberto Casella that was rewritten in English by Walter Ferris and first premiered on Broadway in 1929.  The plot of the show is fairly simple, Death decides to take a weekend off to see what life is like as a mortal.  The setting is a beautiful lakeside Italian villa in 1921, home to the young, beautiful and recently engaged Grazia Lamberti (Jill Paice), her family and a few close friends who are visiting for the Summer.   When the show begins, Grazia is involved in a serious car accident where she is thrown from the car.  The accident starts the plot in motion as Death is caught somewhat off guard by Grazia, leaves her unharmed from the accident and, wondering why people fear him so, decides to take the weekend off to see what life is really like as well as to spend more time with Grazia.

Luker and Silberry (center) and the cast

Now while I enjoyed the show overall, there were just a few points that I think need to be slightly addressed.   To start off, the first few scenes of the show make it come across as very serious in tone but there there are many humorous moments that come later, which correctly set the tone as more of a light comedy in the vein of Blithe Spirit.   The humor obviously adds to the enjoyment and provides many moments for the cast to shine, but is slightly at odds with the extremely serious nature of the first 10 minutes of the show.  The ending of the show is also a little bit unfocused, not to give anything away, but let's just say that while it is a solid conclusion to the story it leaves some slight unfinished business as well as is a little too simplistic and anticlimactic compared to some of the high points that come before it.

Cavenaugh doesn't show up until an hour into the show
but delivers an emotional powerhouse of a song.

However, the score and book are in very fine form and the cast and direction are just about perfect in every way.  The production elements, while a bit on the simplistic side are used effectively and the costumes by Catherine Zuber are simply exquisite.

Also, the fact that this is a show that makes you think is a positive one.  And the fact that it makes you think about death, and if death actually exists as a person what he must be thinking and wondering about the living, is a nice added touch and something I was glad to experience and had never really thought about before.  And it isn't one of those cerebral shows where your head hurts from thinking and trying to connect things together, but one that makes you think and feel. That it is also a show that touches upon love and loss and how people grieve make it into something that I also wasn't expecting.  

Socha and von Essen have a comical duet in the second act

Jill Paice perfectly captures the free spirited Grazia, someone who isn't afraid of anything.  She also sings exquisitely.  Besides Paice, the cast includes Rebecca Luker and Michael Siberry as her parents, Max Von Essen as her fiancé, Matt Cavenaugh as her late brother's friend, Mara Davi and Alexandra Socha as her friends and Linda Balgord and Simon Jones as her grandmother and her doctor.  Now, this production also stars Julian Ovenden making his New York Musical Theatre debut in the lead role.  Ovenden has starred in many UK musicals, but this is his first NY one.  However, Ovenden came down with a very bad case of laryngitis a few days before the show's opening night and has now been out for 14 performances, including the one we saw.  I had heard good things about him so was somewhat disappointed that he was still out, however, I shouldn't have been concerned as his understudy Kevin Earley completely embodied "Death," sang and acted the part exquisitely and completely held his own on stage with actors who have had years of Broadway experience.  I was actually glad to have seen the understudy and can't imagine how Ovenden is more effective in the part than Earley is.

The score includes many nice elements.  Besides the beautiful love songs for Graizia and Death, there are also many beautifully sung ensemble songs as well as a gorgeously arranged trio with the three young ladies, a touching ballad about lose from Luker and an all out male belting song "Roberto's Eyes" by Cavenaugh.    These are just three of the many songs that let the ensemble shine.   Every member of the ensemble is given something to do and they all effectively bring their characters to life.   It was especially nice to see Luker and Silberry playing a couple again as they last were together on Broadway when he was the Captain and she was Maria in the 1998 Broadway revival of The Sound of Music.  Both Max von Essen and Matt Cavenaugh are perfectly cast as well, and while von Essen isn't given a solo and Cavenaugh doesn't appear until about an hour into the show, they both make their characters into more than just cameo parts.  Simon Jones and Don Stephenson also have many moments to make their characters, the Doctor and the Butler, respectively, into fleshed out ones.  Stephenson gets most of the humorous moments and knows how to perfectly play them.  Davi, Socha and Balgord are also perfect in their parts, with each of them making their characters complete individuals.

This production runs into early September, but I do believe that this show will have a healthy life ahead of it due to not only it's recognizable title but the fact that it has a relatively small cast and creators with names like Yeston, Stone and Meehan.  So I expect many productions at regional theatres in years to come.

Official Show Site

Highlights from the show -

25,000 Pageviews!

Wow, not sure what to say, but thank you to everyone for checking out my blog!   I took a couple of weeks off but will have posts up soon about Death Takes a Holiday and the Carrie "preview" tonight as well as some classic and new film reviews - so keep checking out my blog, and "thanks" again!

Gil

theatre review - UNNATURAL ACTS, Off Broadway, July 14



"If it occurs in nature, how can it be unnatural?" is the key line of dialogue in the new play Unnatural Acts running Off Broadway at Classic Stage Company until July 24th.  That line doesn't occur until late in the second act, but it is the one question that every character is asking themselves throughout the play, as you see they are all victims of an extensive homosexual witch hunt set in 1920's Harvard. 


Based on true events, Unnatural Acts is a fairly well crafted and directed production that delivers on most of what it sets out to do.  The true story behind the play is that in 1920 a Harvard student committed suicide and an investigation into his death was held by a five man team who questioned the group of men who were associated with him.  These men, including the student who killed himself, often frequented parties in a dorm room on campus where "unnatural" things were believed to be happening.  These undercover interview sessions spiraled into an elaborate witch hunt into the intimate natures of those relationships, with the panel using fear to pressure the men to name names and ultimately expose them and expel those involved.   The notes from this investigation were filed away and not discovered until eighty years later when a student reporter stumbled upon a reference to "Secret Court" - the name Harvard administrators gave to these interrogations.  Further research and petitioning for the papers to be released resulted in that student, Amit Paley, writing an article for the Harvard student paper that got national attention into this dark spot in Harvard's past.  Director Tony Speciale read one of the articles about this story and with a team of writers from The Plastic Theatre researched the events and recreated the timeline into the investigation and also discovered what happened to the students after they were expelled.  Speciale and his team crafted Unnatural Acts from this extensive research and three of those who wrote it also appear in this production.

The play is an interesting look into homophobia and fear and what a university does to protect itself, even if it means the ultimate doom for many people.  With dialogue that is extremely well written and consistent (something I was concerned about since this is a play written by a group of people) and characters that aren't stereotypes but are well fleshed out, Unnatural Acts ultimately proves to be an effective look back at how fear and intimidation can unravel close relationships and how anyone can get accused of something that they should never have been accused of to begin with.   While the main action of the play is something that would rarely happen today, it is still an interesting lesson for us to learn from since homophobia and people who try to tell other's what is "natural" and what isn't (gay marriage, anyone?) is obviously still prominent today.

Jess Burkle, Roe Hartrampf and Will Rogers

There is not a weak link in this ensemble.   Everyone gets at least a moment or two to shine.  My favorites were Jess Burkle who plays the slightly more "fey" member of the group, Nick Westrate, the congressman's son who feels no shame in being who he truly is and provides the venue, his dorm room, for the parties where most of the "unnatural acts" begin, Roe Hartrampf who is the "jock" who finds himself drawn to the men he sees go into that Perkins Hall dorm room, Will Rogers as the "straight" man who eventually finds himself an attendee at the parties that Westrate's character throws but mainly for the friendship the people there give him and Max Jenkins who is the one "villain" in the group who does what he needs to do to take care of his best interests.  I also liked Joe Curnette and Frank De Julio as the one "couple" of the group.  We see their relationship begin in a sweet way as well as the ultimate betrayal and doom that the "secret court" investigations thrust upon it.  The two of them perfectly capture young love as well as fear and sadness.  Burkle and Curnette are two of the three writers who also appear in the show.

Joe Curnutte, Frank DeJulio, Will Rogers, Max Jenkins
and Jess Burkle

Speciale provides many effective theatrical flourishes including having the accused men take turns as the interrogators,  and a well choreographed bit where the men act out their fears and nervousness in unison that then quickly spirals out of control.    Justin Townsend provides an excellent lighting design that evokes the fear of the investigations and beautiful costumes by Andrea Lauer and a simple but effective set design by Walt Spangler perfectly set the period for the production.   My only complaint would be that the CSC space is a thrust venue with just about as many people seated on the sides of the acting space as in front of it and Speciale directs 50% of this production as if there was no one on the side with the action delivered face forward.  During many important moments, especially in act one, people on the sides of the stage see either the side or complete back of an actor as he delivers his lines.   Speciale somewhat redeems himself as the other 50% of the play uses more movement where scenes are delivered to the entire auditorium but considering that Speciale is the Associate Artistic Director of CSC and has directed several productions there before, you would think he would know better then to possibly alienate those who are on the sides.

Nick Westrate and the cast

As anyone who went to college knows, the four years you spend getting your degree aren't just about going to class and learning from your professors, but they are also years when you are able to find out who you are, grow as an individual, truly be yourself, party a little too hard and build relationships that will most likely last for the rest of your life.  The students at the center of Unnatural Acts are doing all of those things but end up being punished for their actions.   If you can't make it to CSC to see this production before it closes next week that is too bad, though I do believe this play will have a nice life in regional theatres.

20,000 pageviews!

My blog just went over the 20,000 pageview mark. Thanks to everyone for checking out what I have to write about Broadway shows, cds, movies and tv. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!  

"TV Time" - The Glee Project

I'm a big tv watcher, and while I enjoy my share of reality tv I have to admit that I've never seen more than an hour or two of American Idol or watched more than one episode of any of the other on-going "talent competition" type of reality shows.  I guess it's because I'm not into judges or people calling in votes to decide someone's fate, but instead am more in favor of a show like The Amazing Race where each individual's strength and knowledge determines their success or failure.  The only talent competion show I watched every episode of was Grease: You're the One that I Want! where the two lead stars of the recent Broadway revival of Grease were picked via phone votes.  So, even though I'm not the biggest fan of these types of competition shows, it would only be natural that since I'm a big fan of Glee that I would be loving the new Glee reality competition show The Glee Project.

The twelve contestants

Airing Sunday nights on Oxygen, this tv series is produced in conjunction with Ryan Murphy, the creator, producer and sometime director and writer of Glee.  Murphy also appears as one of the final judges in each episode.  (Murphy, strangely enough is from Indianapolis, where my parent's live, and graduated, as I did, from Indiana University in Bloomington.  He was two years behind me, which means we were actually on campus at the same time, how about that?)  

The context of this competition are that thousands of kids auditioned either via submission of an on-line video or at several open casting calls, for the chance to appear as a character on Glee in several episodes this coming season.  Twelve kids were picked not only on their singing ability but also on their "under dog" factor as they all have to appear like the geeks and nerds that are in the cast of Glee.  Let's just say that with maybe one exception, I don't think any of these kids would ever end up on American Idol, even though they all can most likely sing just as well as the ones I've seen on that show.  The people who picked the final contestants, who also serve as the other judges on The Glee Project besides Murphy, are Robert Ulrich who is the casting director for Glee and Zach Woodlee who is the principal choreographer for Glee.

Ulrich, Woodlee and Anders

Each week the contestants are given a homework assignment around a "theme" for that week.  Topics like "Individuality" and "Theatricality" are the themes, and these themes and the songs that represent them are usually taken right from an actual episode of Glee where the choir members on the show dealt with a similar theme that they had to find a way to best represent.   The contestants then perform the song for a mystery guest who, so far, have been members of the recurring cast of Glee.   The mystery guest picks who they think best represented the theme of that week and that person gets a one on one coaching session with the mystery guest as well as is featured more prominently in the second competition part of each week's episode, the group music video.  For the music video, each contestant records their part of the song with vocal arranger Nikki Anders, who, like Ulrich and Woodlee, performs that same role on Glee. 

Based on each contestant's performance in the music video as well as how they acted during the filming of the video, the final call back list is created.  The "Bottom Three" on the Call Back List are then given a "Last chance recital" where they are given a specific song to sing that best represents them and they perform this song in front of Ulrich, Woodlee and Murphy.   Once the judges have made their decision, Ulrich tells the kids that the "list is up" and we watch as each of the "bottom three" walks the long hallway to see if their name is or isn't on the call back list.  

Ulrich, Murphy and Woodlee decide
who won't make the call back list.

Now, I do like how this show is all about the under dog, or outcast, getting a chance to succeed.  And, like I said above, every one in the cast has a great voice but it really ultimately comes down to if Murphy thinks there is a part on Glee that he can write for the finalist's specific type or personality.  So ultimately it doesn't matter how talented the kids are, but is more about the way they look, or act or how well they work with others.  So most week's I've found the person that I thought would have no chance of being cut being the person that gets eliminated, which makes the show that more exciting.

I also like how Ulrich serves as the "father" to the cast while Woodlee is the "older brother" and Anders the "big sister."   Ulrich and Woodlee are usually almost brought to tears or have huge smiles on their faces in the final competition round, they are that proud of the kids and that connected to them.   They also have said over and over again how difficult it is in eliminating someone, as unlike other reality competition type shows where the outcasts are hardly every represented, on this show the contestants are almost all outcasts, so every time one gets eliminated it hurts that much more.

So, check out The Glee Project on Oxygen if you aren't already watching it.

"The Broadway Spin" Kelli O'Hara- Always

Kelli O'Hara's latest cd, Always, is a gem.  With the inclusion of more musical theatre songs than her previous cd, Wonder in the World, it is sure to be one that gets a lot of play from Broadway lovers.

O'Hara has been nominated for three Tony Awards, for Pajama Game, The Light in the Piazza and South Pacific.  She has appeared in seven Broadway shows including the flop shows Sweet Smell of Success and Dracula but also in Jekyll and Hyde and the revival of Follies.

Kelli starts her new cd off with a rousing "What More Do I Need?" from Sondheim's Saturday Night that has a pulse pounding beat and a beautiful jazzy arrangement. She follows this with a slowed down take on "Something Wonderful" from The King and I.  It is a nice version of the song, but unfortunately has a somewhat abrupt ending.  Floyd Collin's "When Glory Goes" is a soaring song that has been included in many contemporary musical theatre solo cd's.  Kelli doesn't push the song, but let's her voice simply allow the song to soar.  "He Loves Me" from She Loves Me gives O'Hara a chance to let her voice portray pure joy and excitement, something she is easily capable of doing.  The title track "Always" has a jazzy, slow and simple arrangement but effectively gets across the eternal love message of this Irving Berlin classic song.  "Finishing the Hat" from Sunday in the Park with George is one of my most favorite Sondheim songs.  This version is, I think, the first one I've heard with a small arrangement instead of the usual lush one you hear on the cast recording or the various concerts where this has been performed and recorded.  I have to say that the smaller arrangement takes nothing away from the song, and actually allows O'Hara's voice to effectively get the message behind the words across extremely well.  The song becomes more of an inner monologue then the somewhat loud and forced version It also gives her a nice way to show x and xx.  In the recent revival of South Pacific, Kelli played the role of Nelli but on her cd she gives us a beautiful version of a song she didn't get to sing in that show, "This Nearly Was Mine."  It has a nice waltzy arrangement with some beautiful violin work that gains speed along the way but ends in a simple and effective quiet way.  O'Hara really shows off her range on this selection.

O'Hara includes some contemporary songs as well including "Once I Was" which is a song by Ricky Ian Gordon.  While some of Gordon's songs I've heard before are disjointed poems, this one has a nice melody and lyric and Kelli sounds great on it.  "Another Life" is a new song by Jason Robert Brown from his musical version of The Bridges of Madison County.  It is a beautiful character song with a lovely arrangement.   "They Don't Let You in the Opera (If You're a Country Star)" is a very humorous cabaret song that perfectly plays into O'Hara's actual story where she was an aspiring opera singer from the south and was actually a student of the same famed Oklahoma City University voice teacher who had previously taught Kristin Chenoweth. This song was co-written by Dan Lipton who also serves as the music director of the cd and the song gives Kelli plenty of opportunities to show off her wide vocal range as well as opera and county song styles. "You're Always Here" has a lovely contemporary lyric with a driving arrangement that perfectly builds and compliments O'Hara and the point of the song.  

Kelli ends the cd with two showtunes, first she delivers a heartfelt version of "The Party's Over" from Bells are Ringing and closes out the cd with "I Could Have Danced All Night" from My Fair Lady which she expertly delivers with her rich and full soprano voice.   It is nice to hear her sing a song from this show since she got great notices for her performance in the concert staging of this show that she did with Kelsey Grammer at the NY Philharmonic four years ago.

Highly recommended

Kelli's official website

theatre review BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, National Tour, NJPAC, June 22

Emily Behny and Dane Agostinis

Beauty and the Beast ran for over 13 years on Broadway, so to say it was a blockbuster show is pretty much an understatement.  Based on the beloved Disney animated film, which received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, the Broadway production used the film's original composer Alan Menken and author, Linda Woolverston to expand the film for the Broadway stage.   Helping them was lyricist Tim Rice, director Robert Jess Roth, costume designer Ann Hould-Ward and set designer Stan Meyer.  Together they were able to fully create the imaginary world of the film on stage, including the colorful and creative costumes as well as supplement it with some beautiful new songs.

We saw the Broadway production a few times, and I was always struck at how they fully delivered on the message in the film, that beauty is really found from within.   The production was magical as well, with beautiful sets, including a huge and elaborate one to portray the Beast's castle and (Spoiler alert) a spellbinding transformation at the end of the show when the Beast becomes the Prince after he finds true love.  The direction of the cast on Broadway was always never heavy handed and never on the verge of being cartoonish, except for the characters of Gaston and Lefou who are written that way.  I think I cried every time I saw the show.

Where did the "cheese grater" go?

So, with much dread I am here to report that the current National Touring company of this show isn't very good.  Though it still lists Roth and Meyer as the director and set designer, the production is directed and designed completely different than the Broadway production.   The direction of many of the characters makes them out to be complete cartoons with many of the actors mugging and chewing as much scenery as they can get their hands on.  Which, in the case of this production, isn't that much, as while there are some lovely and colorful scrims and backdrops, there is basically only the minimalist of set pieces.  The ones that represent the Beast's castle are small interlocking ones that made me not once believe that I was in an elaborate castle.  There wasn't even a detailed backdrop to portray one.  Only the Beast's chair and the fireplace were anything imaginative.   I know that these tours move all over the country, so sets need to be small enough to be put in a truck and moved and reset all in a day, but some nice colorful drops don't replace what on Broadway was a truly magical production.   While the "Be Our Guest" number was fairly in line with what was staged on Broadway, hardly any of the imaginative and comical "enchanted object" costumes seen on Broadway in that number appear on the tour.  What happened to the Cheese Grater Man?  We only get napkins, utensils, plates and salt and pepper shakers!

Now, I won't mention the specific actors who are playing their parts so over the top that they literally are in a different show, but I will say that Belle and the Beast aren't two of them.   I know that Roth directed this, and I'm not sure how long this tour has been running, so it's possible he hasn't seen it in a while and the actors are now doing whatever they want to do, so I hope if that's the case he sees this soon and gets them back in line.

Still, many of the people around us enjoyed the show, but considering many of the audience members could have seen this show just 15 miles away on Broadway a few years back, it is a shame that they are getting such a lack luster production.   At least the transformation for this tour uses the same magic effect used on Broadway, so that almost saved the show for me.   If someone can get a few of the actors to play the parts the way they were written, and they add a backdrop for the castle interior, then I'd recommend this production, but as it is now, I'd say skip it if it comes to your town.

Official Show Site

Highlights from this production