The Music Man - In Concert

A benefit concert for Transport Group, The Music Man in Concert brought together some of the biggest and brightest stars on Broadway today at the Signature Theater.

Conceived and directed by Jack Cummings III and brilliantly narrated by Joe Iconis, the evening was filled with artistic back-stories, laughs, song, smiles and pure joy.  Over 80 performers and musicians generously donated all of their time and talents to the evening's performance.

Each taking a turn at Harold Hill, Santino Fontana, John Ellison Conlee, Andrew Samonsky, and Jeffry Denman each stole the show - one after the other.

As Marian, Alexander Silber, Lauren Osnes, and Betsy Wolfe, and Jessica Hershberg were all absolutely divine.

The Barbershop Quartet was delicious and sublime - Stanley Bahorek, Bob Stillman, Robert Lenzi, Richard Costa.

The Traveling Salesmen - Jonathan Hammond, Jason SweetTooth Williams, Robert Dusold, James Hindman, Jim Fyfe, Bob Walton, Michael De Liberto were perfectly syncopated.

The Pick-a-Little ladies were priceless - Susan Blair Ross, Heather Mac Rae, Tina Johnson, Danette Holden, Diane Findlay.

Andrew Keenan-Bolger was 100% adorable and pure delight as Marcellus Washburn - lisp and all.  And last but not least, the whole ensemble and the wonderful orchestra was pitch perfect and dashingly dressed!

An enjoyable and unexpectedly educational evening all around.  Joe Iconis' suit certainly took the top prize and the tales he wove made you long for a big silly musical about Iowa on Broadway - once again!

The Royal Family

Beebo Brinker Chronicles

Combine the mystique of a film noir, a repressed lesbian love affair from the 1950's, a jilted young husband, a young, swaggering, confident, brash, and boyish looking gal named Beebo Brinker, a 40 something gay man from Greenwich Village, and a trashy romance novel author - and you have this fantastic production running at 37 Arts right now.

At times, I felt harkened back to Julianne Moore's story in The Hours - her longing for the unspeakable, her trying to confide in a neighbor (Toni Collette), both of them paralyzed by their time and their culture.

The ensemble cast is fantastic. Jenn Colella (High Fidelity, Urban Cowboy) headlines as Beebo Brinker, but the stage was mostly dominated by Beth and Marcie (Autumn Dornfeld and Carolyn Baeumler), the equally jilted and repressed lovers. David Greenspan plays the mysteriously fabulous older gay man superbly - and to many a laugh.

These gals bring new life to the trashy romance novel - and do so with a lesbian twist. Fans of today's The L Word - beware. You've got some new completion on stage from a bygone era.

Some Men

Terrance McNally's new work is both charming and witty. Played out on stage as a series of vignettes emanating from the the flashbacks, back stories, and thoughts of a group of men at a gay wedding - it chronicles the lives of gay men over the past 80 years. Many of the stories are interconnected (shades of "the chart" from the L-Word). History indeed shows that we indeed have come a long way.

I found one of the most poignant scenes to be the one between the "young kids" of generation Y interviewing the "old guys" in the park for their college journalism project. The old couple seem to look back on their own experiences fondly and with great joy. Of course, in hindsight, a gay teen today would find their experiences very closeted, oppressive, and unimaginable in today's world.

"You mean you could be arrested for being at a gay bar? "Why didn't you protest more"? The questions seem logical if the same things were happening today - but the point being made was that at that time, in that era, it just wasn't what seemed appropriate. The older gay men really remember the good times - the "golden era" they were part of.

Times change. Acceptance abounds. We've definitely come a long way. Some Men reminds just how far even in my own lifetime.