Movie lovers hate this one because it's so stagy, but that's exactly what I love about it.  With Broadway director Peter Hunt serving the same duties behind the camera and bookwriter Peter Stone adapting his work and Sherman Edward's score for the screen, plus a congress of stage actors, many of them repeating roles they originated on Broadway, 1776 comes about as close as you can get to recreating the live theatre experience on film without simply sticking a camera in row G center orchestra.

But while 1776 is often sited as having one of, if not the best book ever written for a musical (everyone knows the story will end with congress voting for independence and yet Stone brilliantly makes you wonder how the devil its going to happen) I'd like to take a moment to address a gross historically inaccuracy.  One that makes a villain out of a true American hero.  I'm talking about the musical's depiction of the delegate from the colony of Pennsylvania, Mr. John Dickinson.

While the authors paint Dickinson, especially memorable in Donald Madden's film portrayal, as a sneering elitist man of property who objects to independence for fear of the harm it may cause his personal economy, the actual John Dickinson is remembered by historians as one of the great heroes of the revolution.  But what separates him from the other famous founding fathers is that, married to a devout Quaker and influenced by the practices of that society for most of his life, Dickenson was a pacifist.  Oh sure, he once got into a fight in the middle of Pennsylvania's general assembly during a particularly spirited debate and he did recognize that circumstances may sometimes dictate war as a means of defense, but when Stone has the character calling for "a gentler means of resolving our grievances than revolution" it accurately conveys the man's passionate belief in diplomacy and non-violence as means of settling disputes.  (Though when Stone has Dickinson derogatorily calling John Adams, "Lawyer!" it doesn't make much sense since he was one himself.)

The musical has Adams saying Thomas Jefferson writes "ten times better than any man in congress," but in actuality it's John Dickinson who was known as "The Penman of the Revolution."  His 12-part essay, Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies, was considered a major influence in convincing colonists to unite against Parliament's taxes levied by the Townshend Acts, and so impressed Benjamin Franklin that he published it for distribution in England. 

In the musical, when John Adams pressures Thomas Jefferson into writing the Declaration of Independence by quoting his work in the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, he is actually repeating the words of John Dickinson.  Though congress gave Jefferson the first crack at drafting the document meant to explain to the world why blood was being spilled between colonists and the army of their mother country, his version was considered too forceful, so Dickinson was asked to write a new version using softer language.  It was he who penned, "…the arms we have been compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverance, employ for the preservation of our liberties; being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than to live slaves."  (Did Stone just mess up here or was he perhaps having Adams playing a mind game with Jefferson?  No, I think he just messed up.)

(Oh, and speaking of slaves, Dickinson freed all 37 of his in 1777.)

Jefferson also wrote the first draft of the Olive Branch Petition in 1775; a letter directed to King George III stating that the colonies favor reconciliation over revolution but again Dickinson was brought in to make revisions.  And while Jefferson was busy scribbling his parchment with what would become the Declaration of Independence, Dickinson was assigned, at the same time, to head the committee that would write the Articles of Confederation, reasoning that the colonies couldn't declare anything as a whole without an outline for how they would unite.

When the declaration was debated and accepted, John Dickinson stood quietly in the back and refused to vote.  He could see the inevitable, but stood by his convictions and was the only member of congress to not sign.  Many considered him a traitor for his inaction while others admired his courage in sticking with his unpopular beliefs.

Dickinson did serve briefly in the Continental Army and was a member of the Constitutional Convention, putting his writing skills to further patriotic use by authoring a series of letters, under the penname "Fabius," calling for ratification.

Perhaps 1776 would not have grabbed audiences so strongly if the main conflict was between the rebellious John Adams and an eloquent proponent of non-violence who was working hard to help his country through diplomacy.  Sometimes people like having good guys and bad guys clearly defined for them.  Nevertheless, on the day when we honor American patriots, let's not forget those who strived to win battles with words instead of guns.

Posted on Thursday, July 03, 2008 @ 03:01 AM

Posted on Tuesday, July 01, 2008 @ 11:00 PM

--Robert Benchley

The grosses are out for the week ending 6/29/2008 and we've got them all

Up for the week was: SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE (9.9%), A CHORUS LINE (9.1%), RENT (7.4%), SPRING AWAKENING (7.0%), GYPSY (5.0%), THURGOOD (5.0%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (4.3%), LEGALLY BLONDE (4.3%), HAIRSPRAY (4.1%), XANADU (3.3%), THE COUNTRY GIRL (2.8%), TOP GIRLS (2.3%), NOVEMBER (1.9%), A CATERED AFFAIR (1.6%), THE 39 STEPS (1.4%), MAMMA MIA! (0.9%), IN THE HEIGHTS (0.5%), THE LITTLE MERMAID (0.4%), JERSEY BOYS (0.1%), SOUTH PACIFIC (0.1%),

Down for the week was: PASSING STRANGE (-8.8%), AVENUE Q (-7.3%), MARY POPPINS (-4.2%), CURTAINS (-4.0%), BOEING-BOEING (-2.1%), CHICAGO (-1.0%), SPAMALOT (-1.0%), GREASE (-0.3%), AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (-0.1%),

Posted on Monday, June 30, 2008 @ 05:03 PM

Uranmandakh Amarsanaa is a recent graduate of the Mongolian State School of Contortion.

Buyankhishig Ganbaatar has been performing the art of contortion since childhood.

Stefka Jordanova is one of the few left in the world today still performing the Bulgarian art of hair spinning.

Not a Julliard grad in the bunch, but Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy, though it plays at a theatre that once housed Ethel Merman, Alfred Drake and Bombay Dreams (just checking to see if you're paying attention) is not exactly aimed at the typical New York theatre audience and it certainly wouldn't be fair to review it as such.  But that's not to say it isn't extremely entertaining and a perfectly fun bit of summer diversion.  Kinda like Tarzan, the Musical without the book, music and lyrics.

Don't let the name confused you.  This is not Montreal's world famous Cirque du Soleil, but a Florida-based company, founded by the show's director, Neil Goldberg, that also stars circus artists performing astonishing feats of balance, coordination, strength and yes, contortion.  Less arty than their Canadian colleagues, the Cirque Dreams company displays a lot of humor, showmanship and family-friendly sexiness to go with their gasp-inducing physical skills.

Set designer Jon Craine and lighting designer Kate Johnston provide a lushly hued playing area while costume designers Lenora Taylor and Santiago Rojo dress the cast in loud splashes of color that create kaleidoscopic patterns when they go through their elaborate movements.

The plot, so to speak, simply has an adventurous lad (the goofily charismatic Marcello Balesttracci) being introduced to the many wonders of jungle life by a bare-midriffed Mother Nature (Jill Diane, who nicely belts out Jill Winters' innocuous new-agey songs about nature) and a hunky violin player who is growing out of a tree (Jared Burnett).  Through a combination of costumes and body contortions, the company plays a variety of animals, most impressively the seemingly spineless lizards and a trio of emus who cramp their torsos tight while walking on their feet and sticking an arm up to serve as a neck and head.

In "Jungle Jumpin'" a gang of expert leapers (I have no idea what sort of animal they were supposed to be) bounce to multi-colored jump ropes, arranging themselves in amazingly complex patterns of intertwining roping and hopping.  Stefka Jordanova, billed as a "hairialist," is lifted off the ground by her long, dark tresses and spins wildly in the air.  Anatoliy Yeniy and Vladimir Dovgan, as balancing giraffes, make a vaudeville act out of balancing themselves on a tower of cylinders.

Various aerialists, jugglers, swingers, spinners and such add to the enjoyment.  I wouldn't say any of my theatrical training prepared me to judge their expertise at such skills but I had a swell time.  And if you have kids who like good reasons to yell, "Wow," I bet they will, too.

Photos by Carol Rosegg

Posted on Monday, June 30, 2008 @ 02:45 AM

Posted on Sunday, June 29, 2008 @ 03:16 AM

Bye, Bye, Birdie: 607 performances…  Bring Back Birdie: 4 performances

Annie: 2,377 performances…  Annie II: Miss Hannigan's Revenge:  closed in out of town tryouts

The history of Broadway's attempts to make commercially successful sequels of hit musicals is not a pretty one.  But the Opening Doors Theatre Company, now in its second season at The Duplex staging pocket-sized versions of some of Broadway's most beloved flops, can offer a fabulously fun time from even the most legendary disaster.  Having premiered their Closing Notice series a year and a half ago with Bring Back Birdie, this small but increasingly impressive company headed by Producer/Artistic Director Suzanne Adams now offers a fast and funny mounting of The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public.

Back in 1994 I had a great time at one of Whorehouse Goes Public's 16 Broadway performances, put together by the same creative team that enjoyed a smashing success (1,584 performances) with The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas.  Once again Tommy Tune served as co-director and co-choreographer, sharing directing duties with Peter Masterson and creating dances with Thommie Walsh.  Masterson co-authored the broadly satirical book with Larry L. King and Carol Hall created, in my humble opinion, a score that outdid the original for catchy melodies, ear-pleasing lyrics, snazzy rhythms and good, sincere sentiment.  Unlike its modest predecessor, this was a huge production meant to make fun of Las Vegas glitz, featuring a chorus of dazzling ladies of the evening in Bob Mackie gowns, a sizzling star performance by Dee Hoty and a parade of celebrity impersonators, one of whom was dressed as 1/2 Siegfried and 1/2 Roy.  The major critics complained it was overly garish, with a flimsy book built on corny sex jokes.  Now, stripped of its budget and with the book reduced to its briefest essentials, this eighty-minute presentation is a solid charmer.

When the owner of a legal Nevada brothel suddenly skips town, he leaves his staff of prostitutes unemployed and the IRS stuck for a 26 million dollar debt for back taxes.  A fledgling government official tries to impress the higher-ups by hiring the infamous Miss Mona, former madam of Texas' less legal Chicken Ranch brothel, to re-open the Nevada girls store and hopefully earn a large enough profit to make up for the lost money.  Not exactly a whiz at finance, Mona asks a former fling, Texas billionaire Sam Dallas, for help and he comes up with the so-crazy-its-gotta-work idea to go public and sell stock in the whorehouse on Wall Street.

Molasses-voiced Brooke Jacob and easy-going twanger Brett Rigby may be about 20 years too young to be playing the middle aged Mona and Sam, wildly attracted to each other but nervous about mixing business with pleasure.  Still, their funny and frisky stage chemistry is just right.  Jacob's deep tones and talent for clear, attractive riffs beautifully enhance the score's hidden gem of a ballad, "Picture Show," where Mona traces her life's ups and downs.  Soon after, she's kicking up her heels in style in the comedy song and dance, "I'm Leaving Texas," pattering out a list of Texas towns in rapid succession.  While Rigby's role is more of the "stand there and be charming" variety (which he does very well), he does get to show off some belty pipes in a nightclubbish solo, "A Change In Me."

Burley comic Brian Tom O'Connor is great fun, first as the slippery cab driver who makes millions in the skin game and then stiffs the government for their share and later as the evangelizing U.S. Senator, A. Harry Hardast (I told you it was broadly satirical) who tries to shut down the whorehouse on moral grounds.

A trio of divine-looking honeys (Dana Barathy, Rebecca Greenberg and Lexi Windsor) plays the brothel's star attractions with humor and sex-appeal while Jason B. Schmidt and Justin Jones camp it up grandly as the evil IRS director and his assistant.  Rachel Louise Thomas is earnestly perky as the government official trying to get the whorehouse back on its feet… so to speak… and Bryce Bermingham shines in various small roles.

The unamplified vocals of the whole company sound strong and clear under music director Michael Lavine, who's on stage at piano.  One of the amazing things about the Opening Doors Company is their ability to stage full-out presentations with large casts without crowding the small Duplex stage.  Director Hector Coris and choreographer Dana Boll deliver a swift, fully entertaining production.

During its brief Broadway run, Whorehouse Goes Public's most talked-about scene involved a production number about phone sex titled "Call Me."  Scantily-clad showgirls sang of their $3 per minute service while encased individually in Plexiglas cubes while their horny customers, many with their pants down at their ankles, rolled them around the stage.  While some thought the staging was cute and clever (cough, cough) many more found it in bad taste.  At The Duplex, Boll simplifies matters by having the operators and customers separated by long phone lines in a comical dance that has them weaving their chords around each other while avoiding entanglements.  It's a genuine show-stopper and one of the best staged song and dance bits I've seen in years.

Whorehouse ends its run after performances on June 30th and July 1^st but Opening Doors will be back in September with the Elaine Stritch star vehicle, Goldilocks.  I've got my calendar marked already.

Photo by George Thomas: Bryce Bermingham, Dana Barathy, Jason B. Schmidt, Lexi Windsor, Justin Jones and Rebecca Greenberg peforming "Call Me"

Posted on Thursday, June 26, 2008 @ 10:18 AM

Posted on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 @ 10:57 AM

Directed by Ron Jenkins with crisp, exacting bursts of energy that smoothly mix the script's humor, romance and bubbling rage, BASH'd tells a story of operatic proportions completely through a narrative rapped to recorded music both sampled and composed by Aaron Macri.  Performed by its two authors, the piece opens with the slick and well-groomed Feminem (Nathan Cuckow) and the rugged, bling-laden T-Bag (Chris Craddock) rhyming a prelude that sets the evening's style of translating elements of hip-hop, an art form which has often been accused of glorifying violence and homophobia, into a gay-friendly celebration.  Their language is graphically sexually, but used to promote healthy, consenting lustful activity.  Violence is communicated honestly and in bloody detail, but without glorification.

After shouting out for responses from all the "homos," "lesbians," "mother fuckn bi-curious," "straight women what brought their gay friend," "trannies," and "straight dudes who sucked a bit of dick in college" in the house (curiously excluding straight women who came on their own and straight dudes with no gay experiences in their past) they encourage "all you real faggots" to "pump your wrists in the air" as a way of reclaiming negative stereotypes.  ("We don't like "faggot" when it's said by them / But when we say it, it's like a word that starts with N.")

Then comes the bulk of the show, inspired by the heated debate over Canada's 2005 legalization of gay marriage, particularly in Alberta where hate crimes against homosexuals sharply increased as that province's premier, Ralph Klein, fought vigorously against equal rights.  Feminem plays Dillon, an insecure lad growing up with a dad who encourages him to be anything he wants to be… except gay.  T-Bag plays Jack, who grows up as the son of two gay dads, secure with his sexual preference.  With rapid-fire rapping that, for those who care to hold hip-hop lyrics to musical theatre standards, contains quite a lot of pure rhyming, they tell the story of how the two meet in a bar (their free-wheeling descriptions and portrayals of a drag queen, a Chelsea boi, a twink, a bear and other denizens of their night spot are the comic highlights of the night) and eventually fall in love and get married.

But after Jack gets brutally attacked by three gay-bashers Dillon grows tired of combating hate through support groups letter writing campaigns: "All I want to do now is find a straight guy and beat him / Bash him up with my fists and violently defeat him / It don't matter who he is, cuz they're all the same / I want to humiliate him and cause him some pain."

And this is where the authors lose me.  Because even though they are obviously not defending the choice to commit violent hate crimes against straight people, the innocent (presumably) straight guy Dillon picks a fight with and others who get involved are scripted and portrayed in a way that seems intentionally written to make them seem the hateful ones, keeping the lovers sympathetic despite behavior which is no better than that of the three who attacked Jack.  What happens next to the husbands is so romanticized and scripted to make them seem the victims that the positive end the authors supply loses its impact.  I'm not suggesting Craddock and Cuckow aren't sincere in their final remembrance of real-life targets of hate crimes, but it doesn't ring true when the characters they portray don't acknowledge the hatred and bigotry of their own actions.

Nevertheless, their acting performances do ring true, establishing a warm, touching relationship even as they skillfully switch back and forth from T-Bag and Feminem to Dillon and Jack and a variety of other characters through the perpetual motion of their presentation.  Despite my personal objections, BASH'd is an admirably realized and strikingly original work that tries to do some good for the world.

Photo of Chris Craddock and Nathan Cuckow by Carol Rosegg

Posted on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 @ 03:21 AM

-- George S. Kaufman's mid-performance backstage telegram to William Gaxton during the run of Of Thee I Sing

The grosses are out for the week ending 6/22/2008 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.

Up for the week was: GYPSY (14.9%), XANADU (12.8%), SPAMALOT (12.7%), CHICAGO (12.5%), LEGALLY BLONDE (12.4%), GREASE (11.7%), SPRING AWAKENING (10.7%), A CHORUS LINE (10.6%), AVENUE Q (8.1%), HAIRSPRAY (8.0%), THE 39 STEPS (7.7%), CURTAINS (6.7%), CRY BABY (6.2%), MARY POPPINS (5.5%), MAMMA MIA! (5.0%), IN THE HEIGHTS (4.8%), CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (4.8%), TOP GIRLS (3.7%), RENT (2.8%), LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES (2.8%), THE COUNTRY GIRL (1.5%), NOVEMBER (1.4%), SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE (1.1%), THE LITTLE MERMAID (1.1%), SOUTH PACIFIC (0.8%), THE LION KING (0.7%), JERSEY BOYS (0.1%),

Down for the week was: A CATERED AFFAIR (-14.2%), THURGOOD (-7.8%), BOEING-BOEING (-3.9%), PASSING STRANGE (-2.4%), AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (-1.5%),

Posted on Monday, June 23, 2008 @ 05:32 PM

"They don't know what love is," he says of New York reviewers.  "They go to the theater every night.  How do they get laid?"

Gee, Mr. Fierstein, why do you think they give us two free tickets for every show?

Posted on Sunday, June 22, 2008 @ 12:31 AM

Posted on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 @ 04:33 PM

And that's a quality I rather enjoyed about this production.  Leave your sullen, introspective, clearly focused Hamlet's reserved for late autumn and indoor theatres.  After sweating though the day in 95 degree weather during an early New York heat wave and feeling the thick humidity of approaching midnight showers while sitting outdoors in Central Park's Delacorte, I appreciated a flashy, actorly approach with some unexpected humor and some really unexpected violence.

Set designer David Korins has the evening played atop stacked layers of slate rock and places imposing steel walls upstage, making Elsinore seems like a prison.  (In one scene he cleverly has the wall represent an ocean liner.)  Ann Hould-Ward's eclectic mix of costumes features ornamental uniforms for many of the men, neat mismatched suits and bowler hats for Rosenencrantz and Guildenstern (Hoon Lee and Greg McFadden) and a somewhat Nancy Reagan, somewhat Jackie Kennedy ensemble for Queen Gertrude (Margaret Colin).

The cast also provides an eclectic mix of styles, with varying effect.  Sam Waterston does some lovely work as a Polonius who is sweetly empathetic, despite his buffoonish loquaciousness.  Lauren Ambrose's touching Ophelia is the most naturalistic portrayal of the night and Jay O. Sanders is great fun as the revenge-hungry ghost, the amiable player king and the dark-humored gravedigger.  (In the early scenes Acme Sound Partners does a terrific job of wordlessly communicating the movement of the ghost throughout the space.)

Andre Braugher's Claudius is more of an orator than a character, though he is a strong presence, as is David Harbour's sputtering Laertes.  Colin's Gertrude seems a tad undefined.

The players in this production are actually puppeteers and the enormous marionettes created by Basil Twist, billowing fabrics that take on remarkably human forms, deliver some of the most subtle and nuanced performances of the night.  Perhaps they can play the lead roles when the chill of autumn hits the air, but in the meantime this summer Hamlet works for me.

Photos by Michal Daniel:  Top:  Michael Stuhlbarg and Sam Waterston; Bottom: Michael Schupbach, Bruce Cannon, and Erin Orr

************************************

Little Shop of Horrors, now getting a perfectly charming mounting via director Mark Waldrop at The Paper Mill Playhouse, is just another example how, with the exception of Lenny Bruce's comedy and Robert Mapplethorpe's photos, yesterday's subversive art eventually winds up as today's family fare.  How else do you explain the dozens and dozens of well-dressed tykes, one sitting next to me in a booster seat, accompanying their parents and grandparents on the production's opening night to enjoy a musical about a budding romance between woman with low self-esteem who accepts physical abuse from her sadistic boyfriend and a guy who feeds bloody body parts to satiate the man-eating plant that's helping him win fame and fortune?

Of course, the giddily sick humor of its source material, Roger Corman's ultra low budget 1960 film, has been considerable softened by the peppy and tuneful score by Alan Menken (music) and Howard Ashman (book and lyrics) which mixes traditional showtune with sassy dollops of Motown and doo-wop.  And while some of its lesser songs tend to drag the story-telling down to a near crawl, there are plenty of semi-standards like "Somewhere That's Green" (a sparking satire of 1950's suburban values), "Suddenly Seymour," "Grow For Me" and the infectiously catchy title song to keep spirits light.

Set in and around a florist shop on the mean streets of Skid Row, designers Paul Wonsek (original set), Adam Koch (additional set design), Matthew Hemesath (costumes) and Ben Stanton (lights) supply the gritty atmosphere and the narrating trio of Chiffon (Montego Glover), Crystal (Badia Farha) and Ronnette (Angela Grovey) deliver their tight girl-group harmonies with lots of street-wise swagger.

Waldrop keeps the campiness to a minimum, having his lead actors play the nutty situation with sincerity.  Jared Gertner has a knockout belt on him, playing the horticultural genius, Seymour, with awkward nobility.  Jenny Fellner plays his co-worker Audrey with Marilyn Monroe sweetness, singing with admirable pathos as the girl who longs for a healthy relationship with a nice guy while feeling undeserving of happiness.  The director seems to have made the decision to tone down the violent menace of Audrey's abusive boyfriend, Orin (Asa Somers), playing up the character's maniacal silliness, which weakens the actor's impact, especially in his big song.  But Somers is still very effective in his other comic roles, as is Stephen Berger as the crotchety shop owner, Mr. Mushnik.

Of course, inevitably stealing any production of Little Shop is the botanical bully known as Audrey II, who grows from a cute little sprout to a man-eater of room-filling proportions.  The puppet plant, designed and built by Monkey Boys Productions (based on Martin P. Robinson's original), manipulated by Michael Latini, and voiced by Michael James Leslie's soul-singing basso, is a very funny creation and its expressions are often puppy-dog adorable.

This zippy production of a Baby Grand Guinol favorite is a swell night out.

Photo of Jared Gertner by Gerry Goodstein

Posted on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 @ 11:37 AM

— Harold Ross

The grosses are out for the week ending 6/15/2008 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.

Up for the week was: AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (15.9%), IN THE HEIGHTS (12.9%), PASSING STRANGE (11.8%), XANADU (11.1%), RENT (11.0%), BOEING-BOEING (10.8%), SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE (10.7%), THURGOOD (10.6%), CRY BABY (8.7%), A CHORUS LINE (8.2%), MARY POPPINS (4.9%), GYPSY (4.9%), CURTAINS (4.5%), THE 39 STEPS (4.3%), LEGALLY BLONDE (4.0%), LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES (2.5%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (2.5%), NOVEMBER (2.4%), THE LITTLE MERMAID (1.4%), SPAMALOT (1.3%), TOP GIRLS (1.3%), SOUTH PACIFIC (1.1%), AVENUE Q (1.0%), CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (0.3%),

Down for the week was: SPRING AWAKENING (-3.9%), A CATERED AFFAIR (-3.3%), CHICAGO (-2.6%), THE COUNTRY GIRL (-2.4%), GREASE (-2.0%), MAMMA MIA! (-1.7%), THE LION KING (-0.8%), HAIRSPRAY (-0.5%),

Posted on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 @ 12:02 AM

Indeed, if there was any educational value A Swell Party: RSVP Cole Porter, Nadler and K.T. Sullivan's return engagement of their dynamite Algonquin Oak Room tribute playing a one-nighter on what would be the golden child of Peru, Indiana's 117^th birthday, it was in how to find unexpected shadings in songs we've known and loved forever.

Though they both have earned acclaim for their solo careers, the frequent pairing of Mark Nadler and K.T. Sullivan is one of those inexplicable combustions of stage chemistry that works beyond any conventional reason.  How does a wildly frenetic pianist with a whirlwind wit perfumed with Tin Pan Alley moxie (imagine if Groucho was the piano-playing Marx) mix with the refined airy soprano southern belle of high-haired elegance?  The answer probably lies in the admirably complex and unpredictable arrangements by Nadler, which takes advantage of their contrasting styles to comedic effect in duets like "Let's Do It" and "Well, Did You Evah!," and creates sublime moments of drama as when Nadler's torchy intense "You Don't Know Paree" is counter-melodied with Sullivan's delicately airy "After You, Who?"

Though not afraid to tickle the borders of questionable taste ("Kate The Great," Porter's resume of the sexual appetites of Catherine of Russia, ended with Nadler fiercely galloping the familiar strains of Rossini's overture to William Tell followed by Sullivan's satisfied little whinny.) their easy-going playfulness was balanced by moments like Sullivan's still and regal "I've Got You Under My Skin" and her pairing of a dulcet "So In Love" with a throaty "Get Out Of Town."

Nadler treated Porter's lyrical repetition in "You've Got That Thing" as a troubled search for the right word to describe a lover's appeal, gradually resigning himself to celebrate the indescribably nature of attraction.  His piano playing hit a frenzied zenith with a jaw-dropping solo of "Too Darn Hot."

With Yasushi Nakamura on bass and Loren Schoenberg frequently featured in creamy sax solos, along with celebs such as Tammy Grimes, Sondra Lee and Barbara Brussell seated at on-stage cocktail tables, Nadler and Sullivan honored one of Broadway's most stylish artists in exquisite form.

Posted on Monday, June 16, 2008 @ 10:38 AM

Director Gary Griffin has a cast full of excellent musical theatre performers who are all in fine form, headed by Celia Keenan-Bolger, gleaming quirky vulnerability as Mary, a high school senior whose boyfriend Dean (Aaron Tveit) tells her he's gay and doesn't really know what to do about it.  Promising secrecy she asks Jesus (a nicely personable Daniel Zaitchik) for guidance, and interprets his advice to be there for her friend to mean she must offer her previously abstinent body to him as a cure.  You know where this is going, don'tcha?  Yup, after just one time.  Complicating matters is that Mary is starting to fall hard for the attentive Patrick (Van Hughes), the pastor's son who is back after years working in Africa, and that when word about Dean does hit the school, her best friend Hilary Faye (Mary Faber) leads a public crusade to love the sinner and hate the sin.  Faber is just terrific as the popular girl who may be bossy and self-centered, but is also sincerely devoted to her faith and her friends, keeping the character from being seen as a villain.

Also standing out in the swirl of subplots are Curtis Holbrook as Hilary Faye's bitterly sarcastic wheelchair-bound brother Roland and Morgan Weed as the Jewish tough girl, Cassandra, who gets her kicks out of putting their acid tongues to good use in order to disgust his devout sister.  Choreographer Sergio Trujillo does a great job of integrating wheelchair movement for Holbrook, a fine dancer, into the ensemble numbers and in a fantasy sequence where Hillary Faye imagines her heavenly perfect world, he gets to ditch the ride and show off his stuff.

In the adult word John Dossett gives solid support as the pastor and principal trying to be the cool spiritual leader to the kids while, with his wife away at an extended mission in Africa, controlling his growing feeling for Mary's widowed mom (Julia Murney providing her usual vocal and comic dazzle).

Composer Michael Friedman's score is attractively bouncy energetic pop, and while it can stand for a bit more contrast at times the lyrics he co-wrote with bookwriters John Dempsey and Rinne Groff are nicely conversational and often very clever, especially when the characters communicate, as they frequently do, through text messaging.

Spirited, heartfelt and witty, with just the right touch of oddball, Saved get the new musical season off to an inspiring start.

Photo of Mary Faber and Celia Keenan-Bolger by Joan Marcus

Posted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 @ 08:40 AM

"Ladies and gentlemen, please note that Patti LuPone has injured her foot and will be wearing Isotoners for the performance.  Please note that this has not effected her voice."

Go get 'em, Ms. LuPone!

Posted on Tuesday, June 10, 2008 @ 10:35 PM

Posted on Tuesday, June 10, 2008 @ 01:51 AM

-- Dorothy Parker

The grosses are out for the week ending 6/8/2008 and we've got them all

Up for the week was: MARY POPPINS (11.7%), LEGALLY BLONDE (11.6%), THE LITTLE MERMAID (11.6%), A CHORUS LINE (7.7%), BOEING-BOEING (6.5%), HAIRSPRAY (6.3%), THE 39 STEPS (6.2%), CHICAGO (5.3%), NOVEMBER (4.8%), MAMMA MIA! (4.8%), AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (4.7%), TOP GIRLS (4.6%), CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (4.5%), A CATERED AFFAIR (4.1%), GREASE (3.9%), IN THE HEIGHTS (3.8%), LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES (3.8%), XANADU (3.5%), GYPSY (2.6%), SPRING AWAKENING (2.3%), THE LION KING (1.7%), SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE (0.7%), PASSING STRANGE (0.4%), SOUTH PACIFIC (0.3%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (0.3%),

Down for the week was: RENT (-26.5%), THURGOOD (-12.8%), CURTAINS (-2.1%), SPAMALOT (-0.7%), THE COUNTRY GIRL (-0.7%), AVENUE Q (-0.5%), JERSEY BOYS (-0.1%),

Posted on Monday, June 09, 2008 @ 03:37 PM

Posted on Friday, June 06, 2008 @ 12:25 PM

-- Edna Ferber

The grosses are out for the week ending 6/1/2008 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.

Up for the week was: TOP GIRLS (4.7%),

Down for the week was: CHICAGO (-20.7%), A CHORUS LINE (-20.4%), MARY POPPINS (-19.9%), SPAMALOT (-18.8%), XANADU (-17.6%), CURTAINS (-16.9%), SPRING AWAKENING (-16.7%), PASSING STRANGE (-16.6%), AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (-15.5%), THE 39 STEPS (-15.1%), AVENUE Q (-14.4%), THE COUNTRY GIRL (-13.7%), IN THE HEIGHTS (-13.6%), GYPSY (-13.1%), CRY BABY (-12.9%), THE LITTLE MERMAID (-11.6%), GREASE (-11.4%), HAIRSPRAY (-10.3%), RENT (-7.9%), LEGALLY BLONDE (-7.8%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (-7.5%), BOEING-BOEING (-7.3%), A CATERED AFFAIR (-6.9%), MAMMA MIA! (-6.8%), CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (-6.8%), THURGOOD (-6.6%), NOVEMBER (-5.1%), SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE (-3.0%), LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES (-2.2%), THE LION KING (-1.6%), JERSEY BOYS (-0.1%),

Posted on Tuesday, June 03, 2008 @ 04:51 PM