Little Me

It's been a while for me, but eventually the delight of a fresh production at Encores! has caught my attention.  Little Me - Book by Neil Simon - Music by Cy Coleman-  is an evening of pure fluff and fun at The City Center!  Nothing serious going on here - that's for sure. Just pure joy!

Christian Borle dazzles and entertains as multiple characters passing through the life of Miss Poitrine (Judy Kaye).   The all-star cast that supports is full of fun and fabulous characters too - Rachel York as the young Miss Poitrine, Tony Yazbeck as the dashing and debonair George Musgrove, Harriet Harris as the wealthy and evil mother and a fantastic dancing chorus of boys and girls and extras including so many names, faces and talents they are too numerous to list!

Mr. Borle masters the many characters with hilarity, quick costume changes, and lots of hamming it up.  Ms. Kaye's humor is delicious and the music, songs, singing, and dancing are all well above average - especially considering this is a semi-staged production running for a very short time.  Of course the Encores! Orchestra - lead by Rob Berman pulled off an outstanding performance on-stage as usual in all their glory.

This one is quick - so get your last minute tickets while they last!

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

OK, take a deep breath.  Ready?  This one is a mouthful.  A delightful, delicious, and audaciously entertaining mouthful.

Charles Dickens started a novel and died before it was finished.  Rupert Holmes (Book, Music, and Lyrics) thought it would be clever to write a musical that offered a cast - playing actors - who were playing actors - in a  musical where the audience would vote on the outcome of Dickens' novel in an interactive, "first-ever" theatrical experience.  Got all that?   Don't worry it's not all that complicated.  It's actually quite fun.

OK, so each of the actors plays and actor playing an actor.  For example, the stalwart, Jim Norton, plays the Chairman of the theatre company and then by proxy, Mr. William Cartwright in the musical.  Will Chase plays Mr. Clive Paget playing John Jasper in the musical.   And I could go on and on and on... This cast is one of those endless pools of talent both young and old - Stephanie J. Block, Jessie Mueller, Andy Karl, and living legend, Chita Rivera - just to start things off.

It's an entertaining, interactive, and fun Roundabout Theater Company production over at Studio 54.  Since the cast is intentionally interacting with the audience as their actor-characters, the joviality and camaraderie shines through and brings joy and delight - literally out into the audience and up in the mezzanine.  And at the end of act 2, you'll vote not only on who you think killed Edwin Drood, but a mash-up of other outcomes as well.

Well, I can't really tell you the ending.  While I haven't studied the book, i suspect there are a multitude of endings possible and ever more fun to be had rehearsing them all!

Anything Goes

I wanted it to be great.  I really did.  I wanted to walk away from the theater soaking wet - like someone opened a musical theatre fire hydrant all over me in the audience on a hot summer day. Instead, all I got were a few blasts from the sprinkler in each act - all of which wet my leaves, but never got to my roots.

Problem #1 - Joel Grey is mis-cast.  He seemed oddly out of place the entire show.   Problem #2  - The book.  It's utterly stupid.  Stupid books abound, but you gotta compensate somehow.  Problem #3 - Three rousing tap numbers that don't really go anywhere and stand-alone gems do not compensate for the aforementioned problem #2 or #1. I had such high expectations - and they promptly withered and died by 11pm (yes, it's a long show on top of everything else).  

Was Sutton Foster magnificent - absolutely, without a doubt.  She's indeed delicious, delightful and de-lovely!  Her leading man, Colin Donnell, is adorably dashing and debonair and incredibly talented in the song and dance department too. You'll have to wait the entire first act for Anything Goes, the first knock-your-socks-off, full company, full-tilt tap number that brings the house down.  The entire cast is indeed talented and very easy on the eyes, i must admit.  Right after the intermission, you'll get that barn-burner,  Blow, Gabriel, Blow, and then really nothing until the finale.   I especially enjoyed Kathleen Marshall's razzle-dazzle choreography but it felt so isolated and stand-alone-ish.  And I adore John McMartin, but he looked so incredibly lost on the stage all the time.  And sometimes he just disappeared!  There's not much else to report over the rest of the 2H:45M run time aside from a very clever and cute use of a blue spot during Be Like The Blue Bird.  ~Sigh~

Best Leading Actress - No qualms.  Best Musical Revival?  Not a chance.   This ship is more like a row boat in a lake.   I'm going to wait for the concert version with the New York Philharmonic.  Get rid of the story - and focus on all the great song and dance.  Now that would be a ship I'd buy a ticket to sail on!

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.