Broadway Abridged

Blue Man Group: Revisited

By Gil on Friday, Jun 7, 2013 | 0 Comments

"Is there anything I need to know about Blue Man Group going in?"

How do you even describe Blue Man Group? It's three guys, painted blue, who do a series of vignettes that are funny or visually engaging, and they're painted blue, and.. well...

"Heck, I don't think you even really need to know English."

In the 13 years since I've last seen them at the Astor Place Theater, lots has changed for the Blue Men. Their downtown off-Broadway NYC success was parlayed into much larger venue'd shows in Orlando, Vegas and elsewhere, spawning a few music albums and resulting in some newer vignettes of a grander scale. Some of these additions have recently worked their way back into the off-Broadway production, much of the new material cetering around 3 human-sized iPhones which occasionally lower from the ceiling for the Blue Men to interface with. These new setpieces often involve clockwork-perfect timing to produce some hilarious choreography in the interaction with the technology. In fact I would say that the added elements seemed to take up half of the running time, making a revisit absolutely worthwhile for those who haven't seen the show in a decade.

And yet, for those who never got to see some of those earlier incarnations, a partof me laments the passing of the pre-ADD version I saw back when. The new stuff is indoubtably cool, but the simplicity of the original--three dudes painted blue, entertaining you with nothing more than paint and plumbing and drums, a handcrafted feel--is now replaced by rock concert movements and a lot of whatever you can call the non-90s word for "Multimedia". The sketches about Captain Crunch and Twinkies still hold up, but how can they not feel quaint when compared to in-show "apps" and LED screens that suddenly come alive and begin dancing?

But Blue Man Group has to be commended for keeping up with the times. Perhaps I'm kidding myself to say I could enjoy myself with the "quainter" version nowadays; when the Blue Men ventured into the audience halfway through the show to stare at various audience members, I found myself restlessly impatient for for Rock Concert Movement Number Two. So kudos to the creators for keeping up in an era where it's difficult to focus on just one thing at a

Macbeth on Broadway

By Gil on Monday, May 13, 2013 | 0 Comments

Alan Cumming is back on Broadway doing a limited run of his tour-de-force almost-one-man Macbeth, and it is a must-see. Set in a psychiatric ward, Cumming plays a deeply disturbed man who impersonates almost every character in the Shakespeare classic, occasionally leaving clues as to who this poor patient is, why he is recounting this story, and what has led him to become so tortured.
Typically when I go into a Shakespearean play it takes me a few minutes for my ears to get accustomed to the diaalect, much like hearing a foreign language or accent and re-adjusting your listening habits. At first you found yourself doing a similar sort of thing in deciphering the various characters Cumming plays. That is, until you start noticing how he holds himself differently for each character, takes on different affectations, and that these subtler differences perfectly bridge the line between Cumming playing multiple characters and playing one madman who embodies each of the characters in the story. It is nothing short of amazing, and when you join the rest of the audience for a standing ovation afterwards it is because of a truly spectacular performance, not because you liked the guy in The Good Wife.
I would recommend reacquainting yourself with the storyline and characters first if you're not too familiar with Macbeth, as this production adds a full layer on top of Shakespeare's text. Myself, I only had two small complaints with the show:

Complaint # 1. Towards the end, when Cumming is playing Lady Macbeth in the "out, out damn spot" scene, the lines where others describe Lady Macbeth's madness become the two asylum workers' commentary on the madness of Cumming's patient. I'm all for changed readings and meanings in Shakespeare's language, but since the lines were originally referring to Lady Macbeth, they instead continue to mis-comment on Cumming's male patient as a "she". If I presume that this particular patient's diagnosis includes Disassociative Personality Disorder--and that is a reading that may not be intended--it seems like this could be solved so simply by making the first instance of "she" more emphasized, almost in air quotes, as if referring to a side of the patient's personality.

Complaint # 2. Alan Cumming didn't get nominated for best actor? Wtf.

Les Miserables The Movie: Abridged

By Gil on Friday, Jan 4, 2013 | 0 Comments

"Papa, Mister Hooper's camera is getting awfully close. "
"Yes Cosette, that's called a 'bad touch'."

Continue reading Les Miserables The Movie: Abridged.

The Annuary Post-Christmas Broadway Closings List

By Gil on Saturday, Dec 8, 2012 | 0 Comments

Each year on the first Sunday after New Years (January 6th this year), a large number of Broadway shows close. Some limited runs, some Holiday shows, but the balance are shows that profited during the financially-lush Christmas season but not into the stark month of February.

I'd say this year is no different, but among all the shows closing in January only 4 are actually closing on that January 6th date. Some close on December 30th, a few (Anarchist, The Performers) didn't make it to Christmas at all, and a handful of others are closing a few weeks after that standard January 6th date. And still you have others--Picnic, The Other Place, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof--with limited runs that have either just started previews or are about to, and won't open until January. Perhaps I've always assumed that the time between December 31st and the first Sunday after New Years was more financially worthwhile than it really is. And perhaps there's something keeping tourists around more through January 20th than the rest of January and February (Martin Luther King weekend?).

I admit haven't been paying much attention to Broadway this season. On a whole I'm quite less interested in the new autumn stuff than usual, and you can sort of see the general theatre-going audience feel that way as well:

~~The Anarchist~~
Annie
The Book of Mormon
~~Bring It On~~ (Dec 30)
~~Chaplin~~ (Jan 6)
Chicago
~~A Christmas Story~~ (Dec 30)
~~Dead~~ Accounts (Feb 24)
~~Elf~~ (Jan 6)
Evita
~~Glengarry Glen Ross~~ (Jan 20)
~~Golden Boy~~ (Jan 20)
~~Grace~~ (Jan 6)
~~The Heiress~~ (Feb 10)
Jersey Boys
Lion King
Mamma Mia
Mary Poppins
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Newsies
Nice Work If You Can Get It
Once
~~The Other~~ Place (Feb 2)
~~The Performers~~
~~Peter and the Starcatcher~~ (Jan 20)
The Phantom of the Opera
Rock of Ages
~~Scandalous~~ (Dec 9)
Spider-Man
~~War Horse~~ (Jan 6)
~~Who's Afraid of Virginia~~ Woolf? (Feb 24)
Wicked

In past years I've "half" crossed out shows that seemed like they still had a chance to announce a closing. But looking at the past week's percentages and grosses for non-crossed-out shows, the lowest-scoring are Mamma Mia, Chicago, Evita, Mary Poppins, Phantom and Spider-Man, all in the 60-something percent capacity range. Really, the only one of those I might guess has a shot of closing this winter is Evita, which loses Ricky Martin, Elena Roger and Michael Cerveris on January 26th, with no replacements announced as of yet.

Usually it's nice to see that those strikeouts are just making room for more new exciting stuff, but aside from wanting to Matilda solely based on Kevin Daly's high praise, I think I'm going to tune out of this upcoming Spring as much as I tuned out on the past autumn.

Review: ELF on Broadway

By Gil on Tuesday, Dec 4, 2012 | 0 Comments

I am in the wrong audience for Elf. I think the movie on which it is based is Just Okay. I stopped enjoying Will Ferrell movies at some point after Anchorman, unless you count the Producers movie musical, in which case Ferrell was about the only thing I found worthwhile. And when it comes to Christmas music, I'm less likely to get in the festive mood and more likely to rant about how all the recordings are Baby Boomer-era. So perhaps it is fully chalked up to low expectations, but I actually kind of enjoyed the musical version of Elf.

Elf The Musical takes it's cue from the original film at nearly every moment: it's still a story about a supposed orphan (Avenue Q's Jordan Gelber) who is brought up at the North Pole among elves before taking a trip to Manhattan to unite with the Father he never knew he had, all the while falling in love with a girl (Leslie Krtizer) who simply needs to find her Christmas spirit! The plot is a near-copy of the movie, save for the obvious changes you'd expect with the constraints of the stage. Which means, like many film-to-musical adaptations, characters will undoubtedly break out in song to belabor a minor point that was three lines long in the film.

But bookwriters Thomas Meehan (Producers, Hairspray, Annie) and Bob Martin (Drowsy Chaperone) seem to understand the way these bland adaptations are expected to transpire and have decided to just go with the flow, all the while peppering the script with as many jokes as possible (many of which are pretty damn funny). Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin's songs are serviceable and while they definitely have a Christmas feel, they are not quite as witty as the book that surrounds it. In fact the need to "get a song in" often stops the show dead; an example is one song where Gelber's Buddy teaches Jovie the importance of singing, which not only feels like the most generic showtune ever but also happens so early that she has no character advances or epiphanies for the other half of the musical.

The cast ranges from wasted (talented ladies Kritzer and Beth Leavel as Gelber's mother) to hysterical-but-a-bit-one-note (Gelber) to an unbridled joy (Wayne Knight, playing Santa Claus as a sometimes-narrator). David Rockwell's yuletide set evokes the North Pole, the Empire State Building, Central Park, and a how-did-they-do-that-onstage ice rink that I can only presume was a very smooth telfon-y plastic that can be "skated" on. I haven't seen Grinch, White Christmas or A Christmas Story's musical adaptations so I can't speak much about comparison, but if your family chooses Elf as the Christmas musical they see this season then by all means go, let go of your expectations, and have a great time.

Win 2 Free Tickets to PETER AND THE STARCATCHER

By Gil on Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 | 0 Comments

Peter and the Starcatcher closes on January 20th, and if you haven't had a chance to see this show I've one more free pair of tickets I'm giving away. You get:

One entry if you retweet this tweet.
Another entry if you comment on this post with an answer to this question: Who Do You Want To Play Stache (Captain Hook) In The Inevetable Peter And The Starcatcher Movie?

Contest ends Friday, October 26th at 5pm. Good luck!

Win 2 free tickets to see Danny Burstein in GOLDEN BOY

By Gil on Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 | 0 Comments

Dear Reader,

Summer is long past over, and this website doesn't get updated much when I'm in the middle of writing a musical, and for one of these two reasons you're sad. But cheer up, because Danny Burstein is back on Broadway and it's in a show that doesn't have the words "Women", "Verge", "Breakdown" or "Nervous" in the title!

Set in the vivid world of prizefighting’s past, GOLDEN BOY, Clifford Odets’ most popular play, is the story of Joe Bonaparte, a promising young violinist who forsakes his family and artistic dreams for the lure of fame and fortune in the ring.

I have a pair of tickets to give away for a performance through December 13th, so you have two chances to enter:

1. Retweet this tweet, and/or

2. Comment on this post and say what part you'd like to see Danny Burstein to play. For example, "Edna Turnblad in Hairspray". Wait, is the hula dance in South Pacific the closest we've seen to Danny Burstein crossdressing?

Giveaway ends Thursday October 25th at 5pm.

Into the Woods at the Delacorte

By Gil on Monday, Jul 30, 2012 | 0 Comments

My thoughts based on the preview I saw:

There currently are some problems based on it being in previews, and I don't know why this is surprising to people. Sound problems, pacing... some people's performances will get better and gel over time. I don't know why this is news to people who aren't struggling to find things to write about.
This is a major re-imagining of Into the Woods, much like one might do with Shakespeare. The whole thing takes place on a very awesome multi-tiered treehouse set, and the narrator here is a little boy. There's something about the execution of the little boy's story at the end of Act 2 that I feel still needs polishing up, however it's a great new take on it. Yet...
The treehouse set doesn't work so well at the Delacorte's semi-circle thrust stage. You have a giant half-circle on the bottom, and then at the very back of the stage are all these levels. That means that every scene takes place on a relatively-plain stage, or pretty far away from the audience. Move this show to something like The Booth, where Next to Normal also had a multi-tiered set right up to the lip of the stage, and you'd be a bit more successful. Except for that...
The visual design complicates an already complex show. The original and revival had an opening that established Cinderella/Jack/Baker&Wife via three houses, storybooks, whatnot. Which means that even though the opening number is a 15-minute extravaganza where every single character is introduced, it's generally been fine, because you can easily keep track of the three stories you're supposed to keep track of. However in this production, since so much was "suggested", the "focused" story would keep moving downstage-center and there was a lot of scrambling around. At the end of Act 1 a friend (who'd never seen the show before) said that he thought Into the Woods had one too many stories to keep track of. And for the first time, I felt the same way. It didn't help that...
They also made the costumes very "suggested". Nobody looks like their fairytale (or Disney) counterparts. Little Red, for example, had a bike helmet for her "hood" and a red leather jacket for her "cape". In theory I liked this a lot, more with some characters than the others. But in reality, it adds another level to something that already had quite enough levels. You start with Fairy tales. Then you add Lapine and Sondheim's modification on the characters' personalities. Then the "twists" in act 2. And on top of that you add yet another visual costume twist. I thought the abstractness was actually more appropriate for Act 2 (but at Act 1's cost).
Donna Murphy held her own against Bernadette. Amy Adams gets lost in the shuffle, not yet having found a strong take on an admittedly bland character (but I think she may just need more time). Sarah Stiles' Red Riding Hood practically steals Act 1, save for a wonderful return of Chip Zien as the Mysterious Man. Most of the cast was good, they just haven't gelled together yet. I think the director hasn't had the time he should have been allotted, but that's pure speculation. (Edit: I haven't seen the Regent Park video yet)

Overall I'm very mixed on it. By which I mean to say, if you get to see it then by all means go, but if you can't stand the early morning, don't kill yourself.

Kill the kid narrating the story.