On The Town

It may be just what Broadway needs right now - a lavish, classic, good-'ol song and dance show on the great white way.  Betty Comden and Adolph Green's classic with music by the incomparable Leonard Bernstein has been made fresh again for a new generation of theater-goers.  And by all accounts, this revisal will delight audiences far and wide.  An orchestra of epic proportions plucks, strums, and toots with wild abandon to the gorgeous and lush musical score by Leonard Bernstein while the actors sing and dance - (do they ever) - to the highest of heights.

The über dreamy Tony Yazbeck helms the cast of over 40 characters as Gabey along with the deliciously sexy Jay Armstrong Johnson (Chip) and Clyde Alves (Ozzie) - 3 sailors let loose on New York City in 1944 on a 24 hour leave with the hopes of each finding a dame.  It's fun, fresh, wholesome, and naughty all at the same time.  The hilarious Jackie Hoffman takes on the role of Maude Dilly (and a little old lady, and several nightclub stars) with brilliant comedic genius.  I am pretty sure much of the revisal work was done in her sketch comedy-like scenes to wild success.  Megan Fairchild (Ivy, Miss Turnstiles), Alysha Umphress (Hildy, the taxi driver), and Elizabeth Stanley (Claire DeLoone) each portray one of the dames - each different, each perfectly cast.  This was Ms. Fairchild's Broadway debut as she is normally a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet.  Ms Umphress is a Broadway veteran but this just may be her break-out role as she knocks Hildy out of the park.

Brilliant scenic design (Beowulf Borritt) and lit (Jason Lyons)  - it is a near perfect picture of the boys in brilliant white sailor suits surrounded by a pastiche of technicolor city dwellers.  Projections are getting near indeterminable from actual scenery and the result is simply marvelous.   This show is significantly stilted toward a ballet and none better than Mr. Yazbeck and Ms Fairchild to execute each jump and lift with effortless aplomb.  I'm pretty sure Jerome Robbins (original idea and choreography) would be pleased with the outcome over 70 years later.  Most likely Comden and Green would also be pleased with Robert Cary's and Jonathan Tolins' book freshening updates.

The theater itself previously housed quite possibly the most different type of show (Spiderman) prior to this - so much so that one could speculate it required a name change back to its original - The Lyric.

Classic material in an old fashioned Broadway house with deliciously fresh talent - it certainly makes for one helluva show!

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!

On the Town

Another glorious, if only short lived, revival at City Center Encores!  A wartime musical penned by the indomitable pair - Betty Comden and Adolph Green with music by Leonard Bernstein.  The tale, as it goes, has 3 baby-faced sailors on shore for 24 hours in New York City.  One can only imagine the trouble they find.    First performed in 1944 during WWII, there is probably some small echo today of a wartime nation watching a few fresh faced (read absolutely gorgeous) young military boys entertain us on stage.  

Fresh off his role in Gypsy - Tony Yazbeck takes the helm (Gabey) with the support of his two sailor buddies - Justin Bohon (Chip) and Christian Borle (Ozzie).  The trio dance the show away - dazzling us with their graceful steps.   Paired up with each of the boys are equally talented young ladies each with a different take on life in the big apple - Leslie Kritzer (Hildy),  Jessica Lee Goldwyn (Ivy) and Jennifer Laura Thompaon (Claire de Loone) all live up to the expectations of their characters and each make you smile in their own way.  Brava!   But who steals the show?  Well - Madame Maude P. Dilly of course.   Played by none other than the incomparable Andrea Martin.

The show, as you would imagine, is a bit dated.  Kind of wholesome, square, and contrived - but most of the classic American musicals are.  For us in 2008 - it may seem phony - but it provides us with a glimpse back when times and people, too, were simpler.

Guest Music Director and conductor Todd Ellison took the helm of the Encores! Orchestra in grand style - involving himself in a scene or two - as it usually goes with the Encores! productions. 

If I had one complaint - it was not about the show's production quality - it was about the staging.  Shame on you John Lee Beatty for allowing the house to be sold out and then setting the "second" stage so far back.   The idea of placing the Encores! orchestra right up front is great, but you can't create an entire stage behind them.  Nobody can see what's going on - except for those in dead center orchestra seats!  For Christ's sake - i was sitting center grant tier - and i had trouble seeing what was going on back there on the sides.  The poor people who paid $95 a ticket in Row A of the Mezzanine should revolt and have you pay them back personally.

Were it not for the boyish and ever-graceful Tony Yazbeck (um, yes, i think he's absolutely and completely dreamy) I might be annoyed.  *sigh*

Gypsy

Gypsy was truly one of the most anticipated theater event of 2007 - post Tony's no-less. As Rose says - "Ya either got it ...or ya ain't". And folks - Ms Lupone has got it! (video hightlights link below)

OK - so we were on our feet applauding the minute she pranced down the right center orchestra aisle - "Sing out Louise!", Rose exclaims as she opens the show. And sing out she did for the next 2 hours. She owned the role. She dominated the stage just as she did her daughters. With her signature vocal power and precision she belted out each Jule Styne note and each Sondheim Lyric. It's no wonder we were on our feet hollering as the "Rose" sign fell at the end of Act II and she belted out Roses Turn.

Now this show was not a Patti Lupone-only concert. Encores! now has air conditioning in City Center - so this show is a 3 week summer run off-book with full staging, orchestration, and choreography. There are other cast members and they indeed are stars in their own right and truly made the entire evening a production we will not soon forget.

Boyd Gaines played the beaten down, love-sick Herbie. Arthur Laurents, who wrote the book, directed this show (he's still alive and kicking) gave us a Herbie and Rose who were truly in love and you could see the chemistry between the two from the minute he laid eyes on Rose.

Laura Benatti could not have been a more beautiful and elegant Gypsy Rose Lee. When she performed Let me Entertain You at the end of act two and came out in a sequence of progressively more sexy outfits - I knew by the last one when she came out in a dress that appeared to be pure dripping-wet gold that we would be on our feet - - and indeed we were (again!).

And I can't let an opportunity pass to drool over another cute boy - so I'll just say now that Tony Yazbeck and I are getting married (I had a dream.... a dream about you, Tony...). I mean you can't stop looking at him anyway but it's an even bigger bonus that the dancing is so flawless and graceful too. (*sigh*)

Let's not forget about the kids... the newsboys and the farm boys... the Louises and the Junes - so many to cast and so cute to watch. One of my favorite scenes is the transition "gimmick" with the strobe light and the dancing kids where they "age" right before your very eyes. Kudos Arthur Laurents and most probably Jerome Robins whose original choreography was used in this production.

This production seemed to emphasise a Rose more comedic and sarcastic, all the while never losing the sense she had of the (albeit twisted) love she had for her daughters. It focused on the kids and the Act I production numbers in a bit more classical musical theater production sort of way. Each Rose and each production is always different. Ethel, Angela, Tyne, and Bernadette each put her stamp on the role. Now Ms Lupone has done the same.

All you need is $88 bucks... grab yourself a ticket and don't miss this very limited run. Everything's coming up Roses over at City Center for the next two weeks only. Curtain Up! Light the Lights! They got nothing to hit but the heights!

Video Highlights!! http://www.broadwayworld.com/videoplay.cfm?colid=19980

A Chorus Line

We all know the story - and many of us have seen the movie. But despite this - the Broadway revival of A Chorus Line is destined to stay around on Broadway for another long run.

The bare stage, the spotlight, the empty theater, the solitary white line painted down the middle of the stage, the dancers, the stories and emotion all add up to... A singular sensation! (ok, i just had to say that!).

Each of the 17 dancers has something to share and each of them makes you feel like the story and the struggle is personally theirs. Many a show has an ensemble cast - and the story within this story is about the very same thing - The desire to make it on "the line". The hopes and dreams not to become "the star", but just to "make it" and then shine thru! This ensemble cast takes you there!

I found myself in awe at how the dancers (we all know they must be TOP notch to have been cast in the show) switch back and forth between the hesitancy and awkward nature of their characters, the tears, the "learning the routines" to the flawless execution of the dance routines in the show numbers. I just have one comment to Bob Alian (the show is still in previews, so changes can officially be made) -- Bring down the mirrors at the end and let the darn cast come out for another bow!

It takes hard work and a lot of rejection before you "get there". The 17 dancers showed us all through their individual stories that this fall's revival of A Chorus Line is going to be "The One"!