Review - RENT - 10/7/07

RENT

Nederlander Theatre

10/7/07 - 7:00 pm

This days seemed like it would never get here, but then seemed to come way too soon once it arrived. The last performance of Adam & Anthony in RENT (well so they say right now at least, lol, never rule anything out!). The theater was packed, and it was odd knowing so many people there. Everywhere I turned was a familiar face, whether I knew them personally or not. It really helped set to mood to see so many other exciting faces.

When Adam & Anthony first came out onto stage there was a few minute deafening standing ovation. It was so sweet to see them fighting back emotions, but I totally felt bad for how awkward it must have been. The show itself can't really be commented on any further than I already have in the last three reviews. They were just down right amazing. Performances that left me, of all people, speechless. The only difference in the flawless performance was the obvious emotional effect from it being the last show. A lot of added hugging, joking, and lots of tears. And I think for the first time ever, they had cast members bow by themselves. Usually it is a strict ensemble piece with no one being more important than the other. Well after the first cast bow, Adam & Anthony came out by themselves to more deafening cheering. They hugged and cried, and it was a really sweet moment I am glad I got to witness.

I am unlike others in my thinking of the future. I am so happy and blessed to have witnessed this return, having never seen the OBC in the mid 90's, and being a large fan of Adam's. But I don't feel like it is the close to my RENT chapter. I don't think anyone can live up to this, but I want to see them try. I want to eventually see the new Roger/Mark combo, and even if they suck, see the new interpretation.

Another interesting tidbit was that Christopher Hanke was sitting two rows ahead of me at the performance. Chris is the former Mark that left when Anthony returned. I unfortunately never caught his performance but I heard many good things about it. I couldn't help but study his reactions to the performance. I would love to know what was going on in his mind. Here he is watching the original play the part, two months after that was him on stage. At points in the show he was cheering probably the loudest in the audience, which was really cool to see him still care about the show/cast. I think experiences like this, and seeing the real Jerry at the closing performance of Grey Gardens, are my favorite parts of theater experience. It makes it real.

I had only seen RENT live once before this summer, and it was already deeply embedded into my heart, flaws and all. Now I saw it four (suprisingly only four, I am proud of myself) more times in two months, and I still love it as much if not more. Now though I can go back to seeing other shows.

Thank you boys for many great memories!

Oh and to comment on a few cast changes: Rodney Hicks as Benny is a great addition. D'Monroe grew on me by the third performance, but he was too rushed. Rodney adds a great fresh breath and more toned down approach to the role. Tonya Dixon is back in the role of Joanne. Maybe if I had seen her before Merle I would have enjoyed it more, but that role is forever tainted by Merle's amazingness! She wasn't bad, but no Merle. Troy Horne added a bit more to my Collins appreciation since the last time as well.

Review - Speech & Debate - 10/7/07

Speech & Debate

Black Box Theatre

10/7/07 – 2:30 pm

Speech & Debate was the introductory show for the new “Roundabout Underground” initiative. The goal is to “cultivate new works by emerging playwrights by giving them the opportunity to debut their plays as full scale productions the nurturing environment…”, as per the program. I didn’t know anything about the show, but was looking for something to do while waiting to see RENT in the evening.

You enter the theater via elevator and walk into a funky trendy lobby area. It has a small snack stand, a few couches, and tables. The theater itself is just a simple room. There are about 65 office type chairs assembled in rows and an aisle down the middle. There is no stage and the set is just a few feet away from you. Definitely an adjustment from seeing shows in large broadway houses. It was a simple classroom setting. It is a 4 person cast, and all scene changes are used with the same props, similar to how the tables in RENT are used for various scenes.

Essentially, the show is about a few different themes such as sexual abuse, personal acceptance, and social acceptance. It is the typical teen angst type show. There are three main students and an adult who serves as the teacher and reporter. The show starts showing a mock AIM conversation between the teenager on stage (later learned to be Howie played by Gideon Glick of Spring Awakening fame) and an obviously older man, trying to solicit a get together. Soloman is an uptight wannabe journalist. He starts out by vehemently trying to convince the student advisor to let him write on controversial issues such as abortion, and the recent scandal of the mayor propositioning young boys. He is turned down and seeks other avenues. Diwata is a teenage thespian who has a pod cast for her drunken gripes. Sarah Steele is definitely an up and comer after seeing this performance.

All three characters are strangers and have their own personal problem/agendas, but come together with the common goal of getting out the story of their predator drama teacher. While each is using it as personal gain, they end up caring for each others plights. They definitely tackle some common but still taboo topics, which is brave.

The show itself was very good for being a first production. It runs about two hours with no intermission. My body was achy and I want to stand by the middle, so an intermission is needed, but I can’t picture where they can safely stop the show for it, without taking you too far out of the story. But other than the achy feelings, I didn’t realize I was sitting there for two hours. It kept my attention. I can see some areas definitely needing work, but like I said, for a first time production it was very good. I hope it continues to be developed and moves ahead, along with the cast who were superb. I also look forward to seeing other initiatives from the Roundabout Underground program.

Review - Curtains - 9/21/07

Curtains

Al Hirschfeld Theatre

9/21/2007 – 8:00 PM

Curtains is a good old fashioned style feel good musical. Essentially a musical type “Clue” set backstage at an out of town musical tryout in the 1950’s. Lots of simple yet catchy songs with big chorus dance numbers. I have seen a lot of good shows recently, but this just made me smile like a child seeing something flashy. The story is very captivating and light hearted. A great evening out.

Disastrous leading lady Jessica Cranshaw is killed during curtain calls of ‘Robbin’ Hood”, and all cast members are locked in while a Boston detective tries to figure out who the murder is. Along the way, he helps the cast members rewrite and rework the show from a flop into a hit. And a lot more stuff, obviously but that would be giving too much away.

Debra Monk is a force to be reckoned with as Carmen Bernstein, the producer. She completely commands the stage. I think it is part due to her fame and past stage successes, but it is also that this role IS her! Karen Ziemba, playing Georgia Hendricks the song writer turned leading lady, is also a great talent. I have heard plenty of her dancing abilities, but she definitely wowed the audience during numbers like “Thataway”. It is especially impressive because she isn’t exactly a spring chicken anymore, but she still nailed it.

Aaron Fox, composer, was played by Jason Danieley, and he has a new fan in me. I came back and sought out his solo work because his classic broadway tenor voice was beautiful. I listen to “I Miss the Music” on the cast recording but it doesn’t live up to the emotional live performance. I know the song has a double meaning with the relationship of Kander & Ebb (the Composer/Lyricist of the show itself), which made it that much more touching. The rest of the supporting cast was also talented and brought a lot to the show. Only character I wasn’t overly thrilled with was Jill Paice as Niki Harris, the ingénue. I’m sure it was meant to be played like this, but I always want to take a shotgun to the naïve damsel in distress characters. Plus, oy, that high pitched voice was giving me a headache!

David Hyde Pierce (Niles from Frasier) is considered the ultimate star of the show, and he lived up to it. He played Lieutenant Frank Coffi, the detective in charge of the investigation and a budding thespian. His numbers are cute and his character is played with the right mixture of innocence and intelligence. His dance number is “A Tough Act to Follow” was very impressive.

I hopefully will get the chance to catch this show again. The material is good enough, in my opinion, to last on broadway a bit longer, but it all depends on how the eventual replacements of Pierce and Monk do. I sat in center front mezzanine and they were great seats. Not great leg room, but better then some other theaters. This is a big ensemble piece so sitting a bit further back helps you take in everything.

Review - Legally Blonde: The Musical - 9/18/2007

Legally Blonde: The Musical

Palace Theatre

9/18/2007 8:00pm

This outing started out more as a joke, but turned out to be pretty enjoyable. I saw the press release about free tickets to the MTV taping of a live Legally Blonde performance. I submitted an e-mail for me and a friend just for giggles, and we got tickets. They were in the upper right balcony which is essentially miles from the stage, but it was free. Having adored the movie, I always had the urge to see the musical but I part scared me away. So couldn’t beat a free chance.

One of the stipulations of the free tickets was we had to dress in pink, which sucked, but we soldiered forward. They had set up a “pink carpet” for arrivals of D-rated celebrities, and had the crowd stand outside almost taking over that corner of Times Square. A sea of pink, screaming, attention wanting fan girls and boys, I almost wanted to run for the hills. We finally entered and was instructed by a cute chorus boy for pre planned crowd shots, expected at a taping. We were in the country Balcony, so it really didn’t mean anything for us.

The show itself is very flawed and rushes the story way to fast. Even If I had never seen the movie, I still would feel it was rushed. But the supporting cast made up for all of that with their performances. The Greek Chorus - Serena (Tracy Jai Edwards), Margot (Annaleigh Ashford), and Pilar (Asmeret Ghebremichael) were my favorites. They were completely perky and fun throughout the show. The characters in the movie actually annoyed me to no end, but they rocked the musical.

Richard H. Blake was cute as Warner played like a boy band member. Orfeh as Paulette was a real delight. I had never understood the fascination with her, but then she started singing and I was a believer. But no matter how great she sounded it was not the voice I imagined for the role of Paulette though. “Ireland” was a cute song, but didn’t thrill me. Andy Karl was obviously adorable as Kyle the UPS guy. Knowing they are married in real life made it that much cuter.

As for the lead, Laura Bell Bundy, she ruined the show for me. Don’t get me wrong, I respect the talent to get up there and sing and dance 8 times a week, etc. I could never dream of doing that, but she just didn’t do it for me. She tried too hard for a valley girl type voice and it sounded way too nasally. Plus, I didn’t feel anything for her character. I just wanted her to shut up and let everyone else talk. The very essence of the Elle character is being very strong willed and confident, and I just felt like she whined about everything. I gave consideration to the thought that this could be that they gave too much importance and character to the Greek Chorus, but still didn’t convince myself. She and Emmett (Christian Borle) had no romantic chemistry, which is a big part of the show. Christian was adorable given the material given to him.

During the show itself my eyebrow was raised many times in a “Really? I have to endure more of this?” fashion. “There! Right! There!” was pointless and borderline offensive. The gay pool boy scene in the movie was critical but very quick. There have drawn it out into a whole song with many stereotypes. Many shows have songs like that that are praised, but this was obviously going just for cheap laughs. By the end of the show, I felt a bit better just being happy with the actual performances. Whipped Into Shape” was impressively choreographed with a dance number done with jump ropes.

I waited a few days and listened to the cast recording and it grew on me, but I still won’t go gushing praises or anything. I may consider going back again if there is an understudy for Elle, but I won’t put it on the top of my To See list. But it was a fun, light show, so if that is what you are in the mood for, it can be enjoyable.