The Best Is Yet To Come: The Music of Cy Coleman

OK, so we won't call this theatre, exactly.  It's one of those delicious treats that visits a stage every now and again - a musical review, an homage to a great one, a thoroughly entertaining evening that involves a little toe tapping, finger snapping, head bobbing, and a whole lotta feelin' good.  Ironically, the last show I saw at Theatre A at 59E59 was also a great musical pastiche of another genre - In Transit.  I think everyone would recognize at least one, if not two or more musical numbers that Cy Coleman penned.  They've been performed by the best - Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Barbra Streisand, Shirley Bassey, Steve & Eddie, Perry Como, Dione Warwick, Lena Horne, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Liza, just to name a few!  Maybe these few will ring some bells - The Best is Yet to Come, Witchraft, Big Spender, and If My Friends Could See Me Now.

Director, David Zippel, along with musical director, conductor, pianist, and performer extraordinaire, Billy Stritch, has compiled an intelligent, thoughtful, and melodious arc through Cy Coleman's best works.  Of course, all that would be an academic exercise were it not for the classy, elegant band led by Stritch along with the other 5 uber-enthusiastic and talented performers of all ages that all held court on the supper-club styled stage.

Lillias White blew the roof off the joint with her stylized and sultry vocals in The Oldest Profession and Don't Ask a Lady.  Sally Mayes convinced us all that Nobody Does it Like Me. Rachel York ushered out Spring with a little Come Summer and The Doodling Song.  Billy Stritch, himself, captured our attention with It amazes Me and Some Kind of Music while Howard McGillin charmed us with You Fascinate Me So and With Every Breath I Take.  Of course, I was completely charmed and mesmerized by just about every move David Burnham made - but I figure that everyone else at least enjoyed his rendition of Witchcraft and I've Got Your Number.  I could say more but that would just be shameless flirting (who me?).

So get your fingers, toes and head all synchronized and pop over to 59E59 Theaters and put your tochas in a seat and enjoy an evening or afternoon of sheer musical entertainment.  There is no way you could leave this theater without a smile on your face. Cy Coleman was one of the greats and this production showcases the best-of-the-best performing his best.

The Phantom of the Opera

I've reached a very momentous moment in my theater-going life. When i was 19 years old, I booked tickets 8 months in advance (yes, that's how long you used to have to wait for tickets),ventured into the city with a friend and attended my first Broadway Musical on my own! This Playbill is the FIRST in my stack of Playbills. (I save them all, if you couldn't already know or have guessed!). Over 300+ later - i now have a genuine duplicate!

Perhaps it's just the passing of time that enhances ones memories of the event... my first show... it was a big theater... we had orchestra seats... we got all dressed up... i recall the electricity in the air... i recall it fondly. I'm sure the theater was not as big i remember it to be. I am sure that there were many people with discount tickets in the audience and that someone sang a bad note or maybe flubbed a line, but I don't remember any of that. I was going to the theater and this was the biggest and best show that I could pick to see! I am positive that my rose colored glasses are still on whenever i look back.
Fast forward - When my awesome theater-going friend, Tom, told me he won tickets to see The Phantom of the Opera and asked me to go with him - I was torn.
"I don't see shows twice", I said. "And of all the shows, you won tickets to that modern day tourist trap?", I muttered.
Upon further reflection I decided that maybe it was time to have a repeat. Maybe it was time to visit something that was a distant memory. I'll update my opinion, record a review, maybe it will be bigger and better than I recall. Is it possible? Well, the answer is a big fat "NO!"
While the show is still the epic Andrew Lloyd Webber saga as it always was meant to me - I was embarrassed for all the tour bus patrons who attended. They were being duped in to thinking this was a GOOD show! I'm sure all their aunts and grandmothers told them to go to New York City and see a big Broadway show - like Phantom (or, god forbid, Mama Mia!).
Pedestrian! Run of the Mill. Emotion-less. Clearly director-less and direction-less. Actors going thru the motions with little gusto. The numbers were barely dramatic. The acting was marginal. The orchestra must have been missing 3 or 4 key players - it sounded anemic. I remember the theater shaking when the chandelier fell. I think it shook more when the "A" train passed by under 8th Avenue!
I left feeling a little bummed. I was disappointed, but even more i was angry for the tourists. Did all these tourists just see what they believed to be a "great" show? How they were robbed and they didn't even know it! Shame on the producers for turning this into the "Grey Gardens" musical on Broadway (i.e run down and shabby).
So - it is with great sadness that I lay this first duplicate playbill down on my pile. I am sure it was a lot better 18 years ago, albeit probably not quite as great as I seem to think it was. I just hope some young 19 year old kid didn't attend this show today and think "Ehhhh.. Broadway isn't really all that good - I think I'll go see a WWF event next week."