I was going through my logs to see who links to this site when I found a Pre-Hag website where there was apparently a March attempt to perform this in Central Park.
Also, they gave me the idea to scan some of my recent theatre tickets in for you:

A number of you have pointed out that the new British Rent.Remix logo has an "issue"...

Perhaps we'll zoom in a little closer to clarify...

521,600. Which is 4,000 minutes off from the number highlighted in "Seasons of Love".

I think it's pretty clear why some find this to be a discrepancy:

• 4000 minutes / 60 = 66.6667 hours.
• 66.667 hours / 24 = 2.7778 days.

2.7778 days difference between American and British years? Why, of course we Americans have an extra 2.7778 days! The significance is obvious!
This is the total yearly difference of time between how much the average British vs. American person spends brushing their teeth.

Just saw the return of Rapp/Pascal in Rent on Wednesday. The abridge of this PERIOD PIECE will be coming in the next few weeks...

Speaking of Rent's period-piece-ness, some pictures of London's "reimagining" of Rent:

...that critics are useless.

A friend said he's creating a new show called "This Play is Awesome".

It will be critic proof.

He can quote every reviewer as saying "This play is awesome".

I'd use a title like "This Play is Awesome: Fresh, funny, and fantastic... the best thing you'll see all year." Then you get at least three different critic's quotes.

I'm seeing Rent tonight. I hope to abridge it in the next few weeks.

But in the meanwhile, I was asked to do Last Five Years. Here it is, in short form:

               SHERIE RENE SCOTT
Hey, I'm in the present.

              NORBERT LEO BUTZ
Whoa, I'm in the past!

              SHERIE RENE SCOTT
Wait a minute, I'm moving backwards.

              NORBERT LEO BUTZ
I'm moving forwards.

              SHERIE RENE SCOTT
Oh look it's our wedding, let's meet up and--

              NORBERT LEO BUTZ
Too late.  We missed each other.

              SHERIE RENE SCOTT
Dammit.  Now I'm in the past and you're in the present.

              NORBERT LEO BUTZ
Now I'm fucking the air and pretending it's another woman.

              SHERIE RENE SCOTT
Worst husband ever.... OR AM I A CRAPPY WIFE?!?!?

I don't care if he's put tickets at an all-time high. I still want to see Young Frankenstein, even if I expect it to not be as good as Producers with Lane and Broderick and even if it stays in previews forever.

So here's a thought Mel: Actually keep it in previews forever! Don't invite the critics, just assume word of mouth will be good enough, and never open it. You're already absurd-izing the ticket prices, see what other conventions you can break.

Of course, when you lose Bart/Mullally/Foster/hensley/Marin/Applegate/Fitzgerald and you're trying to attract better audiences with the replacements, that probably won't help you with the papers, will it. Also, they'll just come anyway.

(Via SOB)

It all began when Thoroughly Senseless Millie took the title from the much-better-yet-still-somewhat-overrated Urinetown.

And now, while Sutton is hamming it up in Young Frankenstein, Hunter is going to be settling for the off-Broadway more-serious Frankenstein.

Poor guy.

It should be no secret that I have the utmost respect for Gerard Alessandrini and his masterpiece Forbidden Broadway. I'd like to call what I do "homage" to him, but I think "ripoff" is the more appropriate title.

Anyway, last Friday I caught the "Roast of Utopia" summer edition, the first time in over a year that I've been to Forbidden Broadway. Hilarious, as always, but in particular the very funny "Spring Awakening" and "Company" sketches stand out in my mind as being worth the ticket prices alone. I suggest catching it in August before they switch over to the new "Rude Awakening" Edition because he may decide to remove Company for then.

The interesting thing is, even though the name of the Forbidden Broadway edition only changes every two years or so, Sr. Alessandrini actually makes major updates every six months or so. So for example, if you went to the opening night performance of "Forbidden Broadway: SVU" and then returned to "SVU" a full year later, it would be a mostly-different show, albeit with the same opening number.

So in short, they should just change the name every September. Although I suppose preparing for a new opening night every 12 months would be a pain...

Says Riedel:

Producers for the upcoming Broadway revival of "Guys and Dolls" are pursuing Debra Messing (Adelaide), Patrick Wilson (Sky), Anne Hathaway (Sarah) and possibly John C. Reilly (Nathan). Sources say there's a 50-50 chance that cast will be locked up for a spring opening of the musical, which will be directed by Michael Grandage ("Frost/Nixon").

Would love to see Debra Messing in this. I've watched very little Will & Grace, but earlier this year she was at the Shakespeare on Broadway playing the lead in As You Like it, and she was fantastic.

Oh right, snarky: THANK GOD THEY'RE REVIVING GUYS AND DOLLS AGAIN! I COULDN'T FIND A PRODUCTION ANYWHERE!

Did anybody else look at the Lincoln Center Theatre front page and momentarily wonder why they were bringing back Anything Goes??

Other theatre blogs rarely seem to talk about the industry based on what offers they received in the e-mail recently.

• Goldstar members get first chance at tickets in Les Misérables' fall sale--over a 50% discount, exclusive for Goldstar customers! Full Price: $66.50 - $111.50, Our Price: $31.50 - $66.50

Interesting. I guess Les Mis isn't really the obvious open run that I thought it was again.
And this:

• A limited number of Grease Opening Night Tickets are now on-sale to Audience Rewards members. Don't miss this once in a lifetime opportunity to see the Opening Night Performance of the Show That You Want, with the Stars that you chose, Max Crumm and Laura Osnes.

A friend wondered why they couldn't find enough family and friends and industry people to go to Grease's opening night. I gave them the benefit of the doubt, noting that anybody can buy limited tickets to a Broadway Show's opening night.
I actually went to Wedding Singers' opening night some time back. I won a BroadwayWorld.com contest for coming up with a new `80s word. Mine was the verb to "beuller":

• Definition: to be able to get through a seemingly-impossible situation, the kind of situation that is so implausible it could only be written by John Hughes.
• Sentence: What do you mean I can't skip work with an excuse about going to visit my "cousin" Michael J. Fox, then get into Shea Stadium by pretending I'm Jon Bon Jovi, be invited to throw the first pitch via a total snafu involving a Cabbage Patch Kid bribe, and then take Bo Jackson's Limo home... I can totally Bueller that.

They just look a bit weird, ya?

Like some cheap knock-off product.

(This is only based on the picture. I stopped watching the TV show after Reed Prescott left.)

Or as better put, "I have lots of opinions of things I've never seen".

that I tried to abridge Les Miserables was about a year and a half ago. Les Mis wasn't on Broadway at the moment, so I started writing a version of the abridge that takes place in an alternate universe where Les Mis was still running because, to keep the show from having empty houses, the producers create Weissler-style casting of stars.
It was going to be called Celebrity Les Mis. I remember that it starred Ben Affleck as Marius, Bronson Pinchot as a really crappy Enjolras, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears playing a siamese-twins version of Eponine, and Danny Devito as Gavroche.

And of course, Sean Connery was Jean Valjean.

Shame I was too lazy to do it. But I liked the idea...

Congratulation to Amanda and Colleen who win today's special "how much of a theatre dork are you?" contest.

Les Miserables Abridged.

It's a small show you've never heard of.

Special thanks to Jenn for letting me keep jokes about undeveloped testi... I'll let you just read it yourself.

(EDIT: Special thanks to Gil for being the one to come up with the undeveloped testicles so I didn't have to. -Jenn)

So because London hasn't had it around continuously for 11 years, they're getting the first chance of a re-conceiving of Rent.

Think this might be a good idea on Broadway. Take some of the staleness out and refill it with new life. Much like how Les Mis closed down and re-casted from scratch to get a rebirth (I'm talking about the 10th anniversary, not the closedown for the current "revival"). I do think Rent would fare well as a show with no chorus and just the main cast in a small blackbox. It might fix act two's confusing all-over-the-place-ness.

Of course, that's heresay about Rent being stale. I don't actually know whether it's stale right now. I'll find out when I see it in late August with Rapp and Pascal. At which point I actually plan on Abridging Rent.

But before that, there's another "classic" show I'll be putting an abridgment up for in the next week or so. It'll be soon I promise, so don't LOOK DOWN.