Because they made a stupid, stupid Shrek musical.

And then they put Sutton Foster in it.

And that made my girlfriend insist that I buy us some tickets today.

But what makes them really jerks is that they also put Brian d'Arcy James, Christopher Sieber, John Tartaglia, and Jennifer Simard in it. Which makes it possible for me to not mind that much about seeing a Shrek musical.

So. Jerks.

On the flipside, seeing Shrek in December has cemented our recent annual tradition of seeing a big overblown low-expectations high-budget musical on our anniversary. This one seems like a fantastic follow up to last year's selection of Little Mermaid. So yeah, traditions are important to me.

I do something sometimes. I think it's human nature; I pretend things aren't happening. I pretend things aren't so. I pretend that when Andrew Lloyd Webber's cat "destroys" some of the Phantom Sequel's score, it's really him just making excuses for not wanting to really write it. I lead myself into thinking that just because he intends to write this thing doesn't mean it's going to happen. Sequel musicals simply do not work, and even Andrew Lloyd Webber knows that, right?

So when he's insisting on a November 2009 London bow for Phantom 2: Once Upon Another Time, he's just pulling our chains. This is never *actually* coming out, right?

RIGHT?

GOD HELP ME PLEASE TELL ME I'M RIGHT.

You gotta love the girl with the "Michael Riedel" sign, and pretty much anything that Kerry Butler does in this one.

I don't think it beats out the best [title of show show] episodes quite yet, but I'm glad to see that they've finally started to figure it out...

The final performance of the Pulitzer and Tony-winning musical Rent, scheduled for Sept. 7 at the Nederlander Theatre, will be filmed for future screenings in movie theatres around the country.

And some people are complaining. It dilutes live theater, or this isn't how it was meant to be done, or it'll kill off theatre's (already-dying) market, or whatever.

Why do people have a problem with the taping of all these things?

Am I the only one who came to love Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, and Sweeney Todd because of their recordings, and far far before I ever saw any of them onstage?

The four feeds are detailed here:

• http://www.playbill.com/rss/

This may have been around for awhile but I definitely wasn't aware; for the longest time I would use Google's search for articles on playbill.com. Which, each time, would insist I hadn't read any articles, even though I had.

For real:

Bartlett Sher will direct the new David Yazbek-David Henry Hwang musical Bruce Lee: Journey to the West, to be produced on Broadway by Elephant Eye Theatrical. Tony nominee Yazbek will pen music and lyrics for the bio musical about the martial arts movie star, and Tony winner Hwang will write the book.

I hope I'm not the only one excited to see a Yazbek/Hwang collaboration.

http://www.roundaboutchat.com/chat/chat_transcript.html

gil: What are the chances of us seeing your rumored musical version of Groundhog Day, and what drew you to Groundhog Day as a musical?

Stephen_Sondheim: Groundhog Day is, in my opinion, a first-rate movie and it lends itself so clearly to musical treatment. I'm not the first person who's thought of it. Many have. But, I feel to make a musical of Groundhog Day would be to gild the lily. It cannot be improved; it's perfect the way it is. I don't want to touch it, because it's perfect. Pretentious as that sounds.

You know what I love?

When you get a whole bunch of talented people to create a viral internet joke that just isn't funny.

(Or am I just plain missing something?)

has a great interview with Harvey Fierstein.

It's true.

I'm impressed. Most producers try to keep it going for a month or two, under the delusion that a deus ex machina will suddenly show up and save the day. I commend the producers, who decided to go with reality instead.

And as for the two writers who created it, best of luck to you. You're really quite young, and even Sondheim didn't win a Tony award for Best Music till he was 40. Company, and the other times before that were just for his lyrics only.

By the way, did you know that the year of Company's original Broadway production, for the first and only time, the Tonys for Music and Lyrics were split into two categories? (and, Sondheim won both awards)

The fantastic podcast Broadway Bullet has a great free digital CD available [i.e. download-able MP3s], which is filled with the 21 best live, in-studio performances. And as a special bonus track is the studio recording of Broadway Abridged Live! - Wicked. If you haven't yet heard the live version of my spoof, do listen. I'm pretty proud of it.

To get it:

1. Log into www.broadwaybullet.com. If you've never registered, do so (Michael's a good guy, he wouldn't spam ya).
2. After you log in, you will see a button on the top right of the website that says "Offers".
   
3. Click on it to find the link to this CD, and check back often for other exclusive offers for registered Broadway Bullet users.

Note: Don't see the link to the CD? You may be using Firefox... try Internet Explorer. I let Michael Gilboe know, he's good at fixing that sort of thing pretty quickly.