Finian's Rainbow

Damn Yankees

Another summer gem in the Summer Stars Encores! series.   Ironically, it's not really about the Yankees at all.  It's about the Washington Senators (go figure!).   George Abbott wrote the now stale and awkward book and Richard Adler and Jerry Ross wrote, for the most part, non-memorable numbers.  It wasn't much of a hit on Broadway, comparatively, but it has its moments.

Taking the helm this time around at the City Center are Sean Hayes (Will and Grace) as Applegate (the devil) making his New York theater debut; Jane Krakowski (Nine, Ally McBeal) making a sublime appearance as the seductive Lola; and Cheyenne Jackson (Xanadu) demonstrating his powerful voice and gorgeous looks as Joe Hardy.   One of my all time favorites was also in the cast as Sister - the ever-hysterical, Veanne Cox (Company, A Mother A Daughter and a Gun).

The show to me was an awkward pastiche of scenes that sometimes did not appear to even connect with each other.  One minute boys on the baseball team are talking, the next they are doing a dance ballet (good, but why?).   One minute Lola and Joe are sad and the next they are dancing like Bob Fosse in a Hernando's Hide-a-way type club (good, but why?).  Other times the scene changes were so dramatic that it felt like you were flipping thru the channels on the TV trying to watch 3 different shows.   And what was that silly fan club talent show number (erp!) for??

The show does have a few memorable numbers - Whatever Lola Wants and my favorite A Little Brains, A Little Heart (with an emphasis on the latter!).  Jane Krakowski knocked them both out of the ballpark!  Sean Hayes scored big with his performance and showcased his talents playing the piano, singing, dancing, and hamming it up in Those Were the Good Old Days.

I doubt this one will transfer to Broadway - but like they say - you can't win 'em all.  In the meantime, steal third and check it out.  The stars of the show salvage what the show lacks.  You won't go home disappointed.

Xanadu

OK, it does occasionally happen. I was wrong. I admit it fully and publicly right here. Like the movie, I expected Xanadu on Broadway to be the world's worst! (Right behind anything Kurt Weil had something to do with, of course). How could I be wrong? Most of the free world considers Xanadu, the movie, to be a big bomb and CLM (career limiting move) for Olivia Newton-John. Boy was I wrong about this new show.

Xanadu on Broadway mocks everything - including itself ! The very clever book is written by Douglas Carter Beane - the genius behind The Little Dog Laughed. Make no bones about it- this play is a parody of the movie and the entire 1980's and everything that might ever be remotely connected to either! I thought that maybe you had to "know" the movie to "get" the musical - but the answer is a resounding "No"! This show does not require a cult following throwing toast at a movie screen (Rocky Horror Picture Show) or an audience that shows up knowing every line the author wrote (Monty Python's Spamalot). It simply requires a sense of humor and some inkling of what was funny about the 1980's.

Xanadu is pure candy - for the eye and soul. It's sweet, it's hysterical, it's got leg warmers, disco balls, roller-skates, Cheyenne Jackson (*sigh*), Tony Roberts, Jackie Hoffman and Mary Testa!! How could you go wrong with a cast like that?! The answer is - you can't!

It's 90 Minutes - no intermission - a formula that will probably benefit this show in the long run. Any longer and the jokes would get old and someone besides the original leading man might break a leg (he did and that's why Cheyenne was brought in). Curtis Holbrook and Andre Ward ham it up like two true divas really would. Be sure to notice that Curtis also showcases his tap dancing talents like a pro. (If Cheyenne is busy tonight, I'd be glad to keep Curtis company)

I'm not sure this one will knock Mama Mia off the Broadway boards - but it's got the same look and feel just in a much more intimate theater. It's not the same story as the movie - although loosely based on it. It's got much of the music from the movie - for which some might try to consider it a Juke Box Musical - but it's not exactly the music of a particular group (a la Jersey Boys), but it's not altogether different - being all the music sung by Olivia Newton John in the movie.

Put all that in a blender and out comes this outrageously funny and bewilderingly alluring new Musical playing over at the Helen Hayes Theater on West 44th Street - the street that is now home to Spamalot, Xanadu, and soon-to-be Young Frankenstein! Yikes!!

Rehearsal Video: http://www.theatermania.com/content/news.cfm/story/10867

Thoroughly Modern Millie