Waitress

The all female dynamo creative team of Sara Bareilles (Music & Lyrics), Jessie Nelson (Book), and Diane Paulus (Director) have turned Adrenne Shelly's (Motion Picture) work into a divine Broadway chic-flick with something for everyone to enjoy.

Broadway darling Jessie Mueller (Jenna) tackles the downtrodden role with gusto and aplomb, bringing life to Ms. Bareilles' music.  But what may be more important is that the supporting cast brings life to the show itself.  Understudy Stephanie Torns (and presumably Kimko Glenn too) bring a quirky, funny, and lovable geekiness to life in Dawn.  Keala Settle brings a bold, sassy, brash waitress to live in Becky.  The adorable tall drink of doctor water, Drew Gehling, brings a hopeless romantic and lovable married lunk to life in Dr. Pomatter.  And perhaps the most underrated and hysterical - scene stealing Christopher Fitzgerald brings geek to life in the adorable Ogie.

A perfect blend of soulful music, funny dialogue and a quirky cast of characters forms the basis for quite an enjoyable evening in the theatre.  The term chic flick does come to mind to describe the overall show but once the first bar of the show is played I think there's a little something for everyone in this delightful summer story that continues to pull in box office receipts to keep it afloat.

Brooklynite

There's a little slice of Brooklyn invading Manhattan at the Vineyard Theatre near Union Square in Manhattan.  Fear not.  The invasion is merely a riff on chemistry, superheroes and saving the world.  (Spoiler Alert:  Brooklyn survives).

It's an energetic, endearing, engaging, and enthusiastic undertaking by Michael Mayer and Peter Lerman.  Serious, not a chance.  Lively, funny, silly - all that and more.  Steven Hoggett's choreography  keeps the performers on their toes and moving all over the stage from beginning to end.  Mr. Mayer's additional role of director makes much sense.  He tells us his story, his way.

Helming the production is the deliciously nerdy and uber-talented Matt Doyle (Trey Swieskowski).  Supporting him are the suave and handsome Andrew Call (el Fuego) and the hunky Gerard Canonico (Kid Comet).  Stunning beauties Nicolette Robinson (Astrolass) and Grace McLean (Blue Nixie) both showcase their star powers and both blow the roof off the theater nightly.   Rounding out the cast is the stalwart Ann Harada (Professor Whitman) and powerhouse "goomba" Nick Cordero (Avenging Angelo).

There are plenty of riffs on Brooklyn - perhaps a few too many given the fact that nobody outside NYC would even know what the jokes mean (read a tour or regional theater is not in the cards for this one).  El Fuego awkwardly even says "I put the wick in Bushwick". (get it?  he's a flame and he's talking about a candle....ok).   The show runs 2 hours which isn't too bad, but I'd say maybe another 10-15 minutes could be shaved off the show to punch it up to the max.  Maybe cutting one too many of the ballads might work in this area.

It's not too easy to make a silly show based on superheroes work but this team has, at least the best they can given the subject matter.  In the end it's a love story,  a comic book like caper,  and a save-the-world story all rolled up in one.   For an off-Broadway, Not-For-Profit theater it's a bit of a coup to get such heavy talent to don capes and tights for 2 hours 8 shows a week (seeing Andrew Call in them and ripping open is shirt was worth the price of admission alone).  But he heart and soul of this show is inherently good and audiences will ultimately appreciate it - if not love and rave about it.  After all - saving Brooklyn is high on everyone's list - right?

Bullets Over Broadway

I was moderately entertained.  Indeed, I was.  However, knowing what I know, I feel a bit cheated.  If I didn't know any better (as most of the out-of-towners who attend these sorts of big productions), I guess nothing would seem to of place.  In his new musical this season, Woody Allen chose to not create any original music for the stage adaptation of his film by the same name.  Seems odd to me.  Such a prolific and arguably successful director, actor, and writer - why would he omit such a core ingredient from a new "musical".  Oh yes, there was music, but it was all existing and just carefully selected, recycled, re-arranged, and plopped into the story.   It frankly hit a sour note in my book.  That aside, the music chosen seemed stylistically appropriate.  Nothing too bad.  Just not original.  Not fresh.

If music were the only problem with the show, I'd be inclined to overlook the issue mostly.  However, when you combine it with the problem of casting - Houston, we've got a problem.  Don't get me wrong, Zach Braff turned in a decent performance and I can honestly say that even for a Wednesday evening performance (after a matinee) it seemed he gave it his all.  But it just wasn't enough.  His character, playwright David Shayne, cries out for a performance by none other than the goof-ball Matthew Broderick.  The entire performance, from beginning to end, was delightful, but not excellent.  It was as if Zach himself invested in the show, so they felt obliged to give him the lead over much more appropriate choices (you'll get the reference once you see the show).  I don't really even know if the part was even offered to Mr. Broderick, but it certainly seemed to me that it should have been.

Nick Cordero turned in a tortured and hysterical performance as Cheech the gangster with a penchant for writing - including one steal-the-show number.  Vincent Pastore may have appeared as goomba Johnny on The Sopranos, but his stage presence is about as engaging and entertaining as a wet sponge.  Marin Mazzie's (Helen Sinclair) star power out-shinned just about everyone else in the production except, perhaps, for Karen Ziemba, whose talents seemed utterly wasted on Eden Brent, the adorable dog-carrying actress to whom that had to give a solo number in Act II just to make sure she didn't quit.   Helene Yorke (Olive) turned in a great performance, but once again, you felt the part was perhaps written for someone else - maybe, let's speculate, Katie Finneran.  Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't.  The show had a spectacular chorus of male dancers (think gangsters) and female dancers (think The Rockettes) both sets of whom dazzled throughout the entire show.

Uneven casting and poor choices by Woody with respect to music detract from what would otherwise have been another smash hit just like The Producers.  Maybe next time Ms. Stroman.  Given these challenges, this show is destined for mediocrity.