The newest bit of sexy fun frolicking through the South Street Seaport's intimate Spiegeltent, Desir takes place in a kind of old Parisian carnival/cabaret and treats the eyes to a lavish spectacle of dancers, acrobats, showgirls and contortionists.  While the performers have all joined the show with well-developed acts, director Wayne Harrison, choreographer John "Cha Cha" O'Connell and music director Josh Abrahams blend them into a world where bending the body in remarkable ways, leaping to amazing heights and daring the laws of gravity become a kind of lovemaking.  With dreamy work by David Quinn (costumes), Josh Zangen (set) and Martin Kinnane (lights), Desir is romantic, captivating and playful.  And yes, there is whipped cream involved.

There's also a plot - I think - concerning a healthy young sailor (Olaf Triebel, who is just spectacular demonstrating his strength on a trio of balancing posts) who has a definite connection with Babette (Annie-Kim Dehry), a woman doing splits and other creative feats while flying overhead on a hoop.  But soon the stage (and the air above) is paraded by a splendid crew of colorful characters.

Marawa, who presents herself in the eccentric style of young Josephine Baker, twirls dozens of hula hoops around her body simultaneously.  Evolution, a team of four teenage Russians (Evgeny Belyaev, Nikolay Shaposhnikov, Anton Smirnov and Nikolay Titov) show great strength and balance in their floor gymnastics before hurling the youngest (Smirnov) high in the air, where he blithely tumbles before being caught.

Arielists Marieve Hemond and Annie-Kim Dehry practically drip down each other like beads of sweat in the evening's steamiest encounter.  Raphaelle Boitel, draped in oversized fabric, performs a graceful butterfly dance, but later she's teamed up with Auger for a very funny routine where, with the lady obviously strapped to ropes, they perform literally impossible balancing acts.

The music is recorded, though often sung live by the lovely Victoria Di Pace.  And while a few odd selections like "Close To You," "Motherless Child" and "Shakalaka, Baby" do stick out a bit, they don't break the mood of Desir's frisky entertainment.

Photos by Joan Marcus:  Top:  Olaf Triebel; Bottom:  Evolution

Posted on: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 @ 10:07 AM Posted by: Michael Dale

--Dorothy Parker

The grosses are out for the week ending 8/17/2008 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.

Up for the week was: RENT (4.3%), THE 39 STEPS (3.1%), THURGOOD (2.8%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1.5%), TITLE OF SHOW (1.1%), THE LITTLE MERMAID (0.3%), MAMMA MIA! (0.2%),

Down for the week was: A CHORUS LINE (-10.2%), LEGALLY BLONDE (-4.5%), IN THE HEIGHTS (-4.4%), SPAMALOT (-3.8%), AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (-3.4%), HAIRSPRAY (-2.8%), AVENUE Q (-2.2%), MARY POPPINS (-1.8%), CIRQUE DREAMS: JUNGLE FANTASY (-1.8%), XANADU (-1.6%), BOEING-BOEING (-1.3%), GYPSY (-1.0%), CHICAGO (-0.4%), SPRING AWAKENING (-0.2%), SOUTH PACIFIC (-0.1%), GREASE (-0.1%),

Posted on: Monday, August 18, 2008 @ 04:00 PM Posted by: Michael Dale

But my favorite part of the interview is the way she describes her first reaction to meeting her eventual husband, Tim Hower:

"When I met him my ovaries were screaming, I knew he was the father of my children."

Ah, those reserve and understated Brits.

Posted on: Monday, August 18, 2008 @ 02:43 AM Posted by: Michael Dale

The first time I heard her sing it… well, she probably sounded about the same as the first time you heard her sing it.  The last time I heard her sing it was at a benefit concert held shortly after 9/11, where she silently planted herself center stage and, with a calming nobility that settled somewhere between a national anthem and an art song, reassured a still-shaken audience that we will all somehow get through this.

But on stage at The Metropolitan Room, where she's just opened an eight performance stint, there is a cooling hipness she brings to Martin Charnin's open-hearted lyric set to Charles Strouse's lightly back-beated march.  With a mature glint that comes from someone who knows the ins and outs of that song better that anyone, she exorcises any hint of corniness and delivers it as a confident woman (in a fabulous dress, by the way) who knows that every new day brings an opportunity to turn any bad situation around.  She's grown up and she's made the song grow up with her.

With a stage resume loaded with musicals set in the past, Andrea McArdle has never played a contemporary New York gal on Broadway, but in a cabaret setting she's all Manhattan sass and style.  Her clarion belt floats deep, smoky tones through warm and textured vibratos; the kind enthusiastically favored by her music director and piano accompanist, Seth Rudetsky.  She laughs at her post-Annie career stumbles (like playing Arnold Horshack's little sister on Welcome Back, Kotter), shows a non-sappy admiration for legendary colleagues like Dorothy Loudon ("She didn't like a lot of kids, but she liked me.") and Carol Channing and very impressively holds her own while bantering with the always very funny Rudetsky.  This is, quite simply, a knockout of a show.

With Steve Singer on drums and Jeff Gans on guitar, her set delves a bit into the past - Annie's "N.Y.C." is, of course, her New York tribute of choice, and Jimmy Hanley's "Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart" recalls the thrill of playing young Judy Garland in the TV bio-pic, Rainbow - while keeping an eye on a possible future.  It's hard to argue with Rudetsky's insistence that she'd be perfect starring in Mame after hearing her bite into Jerry Herman's "If He Walked Into My Life" with stinging regret.  Styne and Sondheim's "Some People," written for the role she's wanted to play since she was eight, explodes with confident power from her full belt.  ("Annie was the last big musical without mics.  It was such an easier business when there were only thirty of us who could hit the back wall.")

She visits Mr. Sondheim three more times; coloring the lyric of "Everybody Says Don't" with the vocal dexterity of an Olympic gymnast maneuvering around the uneven parallel bars, slowing down "You Can Drive A Person Crazy" into a snazzy flirtation and adjusting the lyric of "Broadway Baby" into a plea for a good role.  ("I need a show 'cause I'm a wreck / Maybe Disney's thinking of a female Shrek.")

Speaking of possible roles for Ms. McArdle, after the performance I found myself chatting with Paul Lambert, lead producer of the Broadway bound musical based on The First Wives Club, who wanted to point out that the evening convinced him she could make a terrific Brenda, the role essayed by Bette Midler in the film.  She certainly showed a funny side with a novelty number penned by Martin Charnin (my quest to find out who composed the music continues), where she played an audience member who is shocked to see that the little girl she once saw in Annie has now developed more than just her vocal range.

She's also developed into a dynamic and thoroughly entertaining cabaret performer.  Andrea McArdle's Metropolitan Room engagement plays through August 25 and whether you have fond memories of a curly-headed orphan or not, I think you're gonna like it here.

Posted on: Saturday, August 16, 2008 @ 04:43 AM Posted by: Michael Dale

That's right, kiddies, Daniel Bedingfield.

I had no idea who Daniel Bedingfield was.

So Richard figured it would help if I knew he was the brother of Natasha Bedingfield.

Ah…..

Didn't help.

See, I spend 3 or 4 nights a week going to the theatre and the other nights writing about it.  To me, gossip is finding out that Norm Lewis and Cherry Jones were caught making out on the Wonder Wheel.

So I did some Googling and found out he's a pretty popular British pop singer.  And I liked the snippets of music on his web site.  Like they used to say on American Bandstand, it's got a good beat and you can dance to it.  He's a little too old for Spring Awakening and a little too white for In The Heights, but maybe if he shaves the beard off he can come to town sometime and play Danny Zuko for awhile.

Hope you enjoyed Absinthe, Daniel.  I sure did.

Yes, the frisky and funny mini-cavalcade of eye-popping athleticism has propped up its Speigeltent at the South Street Seaport for a third straight year, offering Gothamites another summer to admire their feats of strength, acrobatics and death-defying (or at least serious injury defying) acts performed with minimal clothing and maximum intimacy in the one-ringed, in the round venue.

Some familiar faces and some new ones populate this year's edition which is once again hosted by the foul-mouthed, multi-offensive and so damn funny sleaze ball known as The Gazillionaire (Voki Kalfayan), who takes the time to make sure every audience member feels belittled; from the "boring white people" in the center section to "the young sluts in the back."  Audience participation for The Gazillionaire may include a 1970s porno flashback if any gentleman in the crowd happens to have a scalp full of thick bushy hair.  (I'll spare you the details.)  He's assisted by a scraggly moppet named Penny (Anais Thomassian), his adorably warped foil who delivers moderately well-timed rim shots and partakes in a hilariously grotesque little routine involving a gun and an apple.

The less dangerous acts include vocalist Kaye Tuckerman, an attractive power balladeer who at one point goes into the audience asking patrons to spank her as she sings  "Nasty, Naughty Boy" (What gentleman would refuse?) and the talented burlesque diva Julie Atlas Muz, who manages to get her nearly nude and quite sparkly body entirely within an enormous bubble.  She also has a very funny bit concerning a disembodied hand and the removal of her clothing.

Shirtless and impressively buff, Adil Rida muscles himself high in the air on long strips of nylon that he uses like gymnastic rings in quiet, almost meditative fashion as Tuckerman softly sings "Alleluia."  The flexible Princess Anya, billed as the most beautiful woman in the world (straight guys – remember to tell your date that Anya's maybe the second most beautiful woman in the world), proves herself a mistress of muscle isolation and rhythmic gymnastics as she contorts her body while twirling hula hoops.

Sergey Petrov and Sergey Dubovyk, a/k/a The Duo Sergio, simmer an underlying eroticism as they balance themselves on each other while sporting no more than pairs of tighty-not-exactly-whities, while the Duo Ssens (Geneviève Landry and Maxime Clabaut) positively steam up the place with their sexually charged trapeze act.

Roller skaters The Willers (Jean-Pierre and Wanda Poissonnet) are the most gasp-inducing act, as he uses centrifugal force to fly her through the air while making tight circles around the tiny stage, but the most jaw-droppingly impressive moves of the night (and the most fully clothed, too) are executed by the Anastasinis Brothers.  Giuliano, who doesn't look old enough to drink, lies on his back with his legs stretched upward while Fabio, who doesn't even look old enough to join China's Olympic Women's Gymnastics team, tumbles above his big brother, landing perfectly on the soles of his feet before getting propelled back in the air for more.

I don't know what Daniel Bedingfield thought, but damn, I was amazed.

Photos by Joan Marcus:  Top:Julie Atlas Muz; Bottom:  Giuliano and Fabio Anastasinis

Posted on: Thursday, August 14, 2008 @ 02:34 AM Posted by: Michael Dale

Posted on: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 @ 02:32 PM Posted by: Michael Dale

Posted on: Monday, August 11, 2008 @ 05:19 PM Posted by: Michael Dale

With clean-cut suburban dad Galt MacDermot composing a score that fused rock with funk, rockabilly and showtune, Hair premiered in 1967 with a 6-week stint as Joseph Papp's first Public Theater production and played briefly at a discotheque named Cheetah before making it to Broadway's Biltmore.  With more songs that have nothing to do with the plot than a typical 1930s Cole Porter musical and such thinly-developed characters that one of a cynical nature might refer to them as The Flesh Failures, Hair, in its time resembled the kind of rebellious vaudeville that recalled Marx Brothers anarchy at its most political.  (Although I doubt if Groucho ever said to an audience member, "Hey lady, will you hold my pants for me?"  Then again…)  But its playful comedy, as in a sweet ditty about air pollution, an angry list song about every derogatory name you could call a black person and a biting patriotic salute by the good citizens of Selma, Alabama, was balanced by gut-twisting and controversial moments like the public burning of draft cards by scared, but committed young men, a horrify drug-induced war fantasy and a rock funereal dirge that leads to an anguished plea for hope, "Let The Sun Shine In."

Today, once again being presented by The Public, but this time at Central Park's Delecorte Theatre (and with a revised script adapted from the original Off-Broadway text and the significantly different Broadway one), Hair is both an exhilarating reminder of a time when an optimistic youth believed it could bring peace and love to a violent world gone mad and a cute nostalgia trip where grandparents can take the kids to see what life was like when they were their age and tap their feet to catchy songs with lyrics like, "Black boys are delicious," "Masturbation can be fun," and (the positively brilliant) "Answer my weary query, Timothy Leary, dearie."

Director Diane Paulus' production, choreographed with more spirit than invention by Karole Armitage, may lack surprises, but there's plenty of fun and poignancy in her straightforward mounting that, despite some truly moving pictures, could stand a little more visual variety its group scenes.  The loose structure of Hair's often unrelated line-up of songs and routines can get a little tiresome by the middle of the second act without a director who can firmly hold our attention and keep the audience from checking their programs to see how many songs there are until, "Good Morning, Starshine."

But the summer's night sky over set designer Scott Pask's simple grassy stage, a little worse for wear with dirt patches, with music director Nadia Digiallonardo's 12-piece band rocking out upstage, is a downright magical setting for this festive evening of musical ritual.  The knockout cast sounds beautifully blended in their full-company vocals of shimmering compositions like the mystically moody "Aquarius" (led with the creamy-toned warmth of Patina Renea Miller), the merrily mod "Manchester, England," the grimly poetic "The Flesh Failures" and the wildly exuberant title song.

The uncomplicated naiveté of sweet-singing Jonathan Groff gives Claude a puppy-dog appeal that makes it unthinkable to hand a gun to this innocent and tell him to kill.  The charismatic Will Swenson gives Berger the confident swagger of an adolescent who hasn't accepted boundaries.  One of the musical's most noticeable weaknesses is the underdeveloped relationship between Berger and his college activist girlfriend Sheila, the only member of the tribe actually doing things to try and change the country for the better.  (After returning from the legendary anti-war protest where demonstrators tried to levitate The Pentagon, Shelia excitedly tells her friends, "You shoulda been there."  She's right.)  Caren Lyn Manuel gives the role a healthy dose of maturity and spunk and puts strong pipes behind a thrilling "Easy To Be Hard" when Berger's immaturity threatens their relationship.

Fine turns are also delivered by Bryce Ryness as Woof, who denies being gay despite a sexual obsession with Mick Jagger; Daurius Nichols, whose Hud relishes the uneasy effect his black skin has on white people; Kacie Sheik, who gets the biggest laugh of the night as the slightly air-headed Jeanie and the pairing of Megan Lawrence and Andrew Kober as Claude's antagonistic but genuinely loving parents.  Kober also scores with his rendition of "My Conviction," an anthropological waltz he chirps as a character named after Margaret Mead.

The tricky part about Hair, and this unavoidable in just about any theatre piece that is so of its time, is re-creating the sense of urgency that made its plea for peace so immediate 40 years ago.  Sure, you can say that once again we're in the middle of a seemingly endless and unpopular war, but it's just not the same without the threat of forced military service looming over every young American male's head.  And with nudity, cursing, racial epitaphs and distrusting the government so much more a part of our popular culture today than 40 years ago, the only thing left in Hair to shock a contemporary audience is the sight of a pregnant woman smoking pot.

But such matters are probably of little concern to the throngs who joyously accept the company's invitation to sing and dance with them on stage for an extended celebration at the show's conclusion.  Yesterday's perceived threat to society is once again today's family entertainment, and I'm sure the cute little girl who was happily bouncing on an actor's shoulders during the band's final blasts on the night I attended had a swell time.

Photos by Michal Daniel:  Top: Tommar Wilson, Will Swenson and Bryce Ryness; Bottom: Jonathan Groff and Company

Posted on: Monday, August 11, 2008 @ 03:52 AM Posted by: Michael Dale

But here we are, and once again Scott Siegel, his wife Barbara, and the crew of performers and musicians they've cultivated through the years have delivered a splendid concert of musical comedy.  This was a rare night where, in addition to his usual duties as writer and host, Siegel took it upon himself to direct.  But I'm sure he'll forgive me if I suggest his staging talents were put to minimal use as the bulk of the evening highlighted the exciting and diverse choreography of Josh Rhodes.  With material representing a grab bag of Broadway through decades stretching as far back as the 1920's, Rhodes created an impressive variety of lyric-centric routines.  Cole Porter's "Too Darn Hot" was danced by Lorin Latarro, Megan Sikora and Lisa Gajda with languid undulations while Kendrick Jones and Melinda Sullivan smacked the floor silly in a challenge tap that climaxed DeSylva, Brown and Henderson's "Varsity Drag."  Jones and Melinda Sullivan displayed a more sensual side of tapping while Natasha Williams warmed the stage with a mellow rendering of Kurt Weill and Ogden Nash's "Speak Low."  A very funny routine had a chorus of nerdy male dancers taking their best shots with the hot ladies they've found themselves accompanying on stalled subway train, singing Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh's "Real Live Girl."

William Michals, fresh from wowing the crowd at Siegel's A Night At The Operetta, did more of what he does best; thrilling audiences with a rich expressive baritone while relishing every note of Lerner and Loewe's "They Call The Wind Mariah" and cutting up in Cole Porter's "Where Is The Life That Late I Led?"  Late in the evening, the standby for Emile de Becque in the current South Pacific revival stood center stage without a microphone and drew enraptured cheers with the dramatic Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, "Some Enchanted Evening."

Alli Mauzey, whose hilarious performance of the Patsy Cline spoof, "Screw Loose" in Cry-Baby was one of the highlights of last season, displayed a more delicate soprano side with Jerry Herman's lovely ballad, "I Never Said 'I Love You'" and Maury Yeston's dramatic "Unusual Way."  The latter also featured Lorin Latarro, Michael Balderramo and Lisa Gajda in a ballet interpretation of the song's romantic triangle.  A comic scene had Mauzey playing a computer and cell phone obsessed go-getter, leading into a clever dance routine when her boyfriend, played by Shonn Wiley, tries to romance her with the Gershwins' "I'm Old Fashioned."  Wiley also had a funny song and dance routine accompanying Megan Sikora in the DeSylva, Brown and Henderson pacifist ditty, "Never Swat A Fly."

Cady Huffman was all musical comedy pizzazz with Cole Porter's "Always True To You In My Fashion," sizzled with heavily rhythmic jazz torchiness in a number she didn't sing in The Will Rogers Follies, Coleman, Comden and Green's "No Man Left For Me" and stretched her legit soprano muscles with Rupert Holmes' poetic "Moonfall."

Liz McCartney's soaring vocals embraced Tim Rice, Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson's "Someone Else's Story" and she was all Broadway comic brass as the diva diner waitress in Stephen Schwartz's "It's An Art."

That last number, of course, is from the musical Working, based on the Studs Terkel book, which Schwartz created by recruiting various songwriters to contribute material.  Now in the process of revising the show, Schwartz asked Lin-Manuel Miranda to write a new song and the resulting "A Very Good Day" was premiered by Marie-France Arcilla and Christopher Jackson.  It's a bittersweet duet sung by a man hired to take care of someone's father in a nursing home and a woman working as a nanny for a young child.  As they build relationships with those they're paid to care for they wonder about the people who don't have time to do what they do.

With Fred Barton and Bruce Barnes skillfully sharing the music director hat, All Singin' All Dancin' was just another example of how musical theatre is alive and doing very well whenever Scott Siegel and his crew make Town Hall their home.

Photos by Genevieve Rafter Keddy:  Top: Megan Sikora Lisa Gajda and Lorin Latarro; Bottom: Cady Huffman

Posted on: Thursday, August 07, 2008 @ 10:35 AM Posted by: Michael Dale

Photo of Jennifer Regan and Susan Sullivan by James Leynse

Posted on: Wednesday, August 06, 2008 @ 10:56 AM Posted by: Michael Dale

Posted on: Tuesday, August 05, 2008 @ 10:57 AM Posted by: Michael Dale

-- Alexander Woollcott

The grosses are out for the week ending 8/3/2008 and we've got them all

Up for the week was: XANADU (13.2%), THE 39 STEPS (7.5%), THURGOOD (4.6%), RENT (4.1%), AVENUE Q (3.9%), GREASE (3.0%), TITLE OF SHOW (2.7%), BOEING-BOEING (2.2%), MARY POPPINS (2.0%), AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (1.3%), A CHORUS LINE (1.3%), SPAMALOT (0.9%), CHICAGO (0.4%),

Down for the week was: CIRQUE DREAMS: JUNGLE FANTASY (-7.2%), GYPSY (-5.6%), LEGALLY BLONDE (-2.3%), THE LITTLE MERMAID (-1.8%), IN THE HEIGHTS (-1.0%), HAIRSPRAY (-0.8%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (-0.7%), SOUTH PACIFIC (-0.3%),

Posted on: Monday, August 04, 2008 @ 05:48 PM Posted by: Michael Dale

Posted on: Monday, August 04, 2008 @ 03:10 AM Posted by: Michael Dale

The production's strongest assets are the two delightful old pros taking center stage.  Anita Gillette, Broadway's kooky ingénue from the 60s, and Jamie Farr, best known for his long-running TV stint as the cross-dressing Corporal Klinger in M*A*S*H are both in fine form providing sincere pathos and crackling comic zing.

Taking place in three different condos in the same South Florida apartment complex, designer James Youmans keeps his efficient unit set in place with different details for each play.  In "Angelina," the title character (Gillette), who gets her kicks out of yelling at the television whenever one of her soap opera heroines is about to trust a man, lives a bit of a soap opera herself.  She's grown very attracted to the romantic Italian neighbor Dominic (Farr is actually pretty convincing as an old world Neapolitan) who, along with their wise-cracking pal Marie (Lucy Martin), visits for post-soap coffee every day.  Dominic, who wants to marry Angelina and take her for a romantic honeymoon in Italy, can't hide his jealousy for her husband Frank, the unseen invalid she tends to in their bedroom.  If the comic complications that ensue aren't exactly realistic, they are appropriately soap opera-ish, with a short and positively charming bit of romantic relief as Dominic walks Angelina through an imaginary tour of his homeland.

In "Clara," the serious-minded melodrama that takes us to intermission, a heartbroken husband (Farr) sadly tries to convince his wife (Gillette) that a nursing home would be the best place for her.  Revealing any more would be too much, as this is a very short piece.

After a merry audience sing-along of "Old Is In," Farr convincingly ages to 89 for the farce, "Harry," about a man determined to spend as much of his money as possible before it goes to his greedy daughter (Martin) and son-in-law (Joe Vincent).  A friendly hearing aid salesman (Herbert Rubens) reluctantly agrees to get him a prostitute, which, of course, turns out to be Anita Gillette dressed by costume designer Carol Sherry in tight gold lame pants with a red halter top.  As "Chi Chi La Boom Boom" Gillette is a scream, trying to hide her winces of pain each time she seductively bumps her hips.

Save for its brief middle piece, Flamingo Court is essentially sketch comedy and Steven Yuhasz directs with a spirited, light-hearted touch.  While you may find yourself smiling more than laughing, Anita Gillette and Jamie Farr flaunt comic skills that prove ageless.

Photo by Carol Rosegg:  Herbert Rubens, Anita Gillette, Joe Vincent, Lucy Martin and Jamie Farr

Posted on: Sunday, August 03, 2008 @ 02:04 AM Posted by: Michael Dale

The plot of [title of show] is the same as the history of [title of show], with the omission of a few details here and there.  Bowen, the serious minded dreamer, and Bell, the jovial chronic masturbator (hey, it’s in the script) play themselves, “Two Nobodies In New York,” as the title of a song so bluntly states, who in 2004 learned of the brand new New York Musical Theatre Festival three weeks before the submission deadline.  (They never mention the festival by name for some reason, referring to it only as “the festival,” which, of course, sets up the hilarity of an Into The Woods bit and since the year 2004 is never mentioned it allows for new references to currently running shows.)  Also playing themselves are semi-retired, dry-humored downtown performance art actress Susan Blackwell and Broadway chorus gypsy/understudy Heidi Blickenstaff.  As the show chronicles the process by which they create the musical we’re watching them perform, they write, rehearse, banter and go off on many tangents in a sparsely furnished New York apartment (designed by Neil Patel) while music director Larry Pressgrove, the sole musician, sits (mostly) unobtrusively upstage, playing the score on an electric keyboard.  (I’ll leave you in suspense as to whether or not their musical gets accepted by the festival but I suppose I’m not giving anything away by letting you know it eventually makes it to Broadway.) 

  Director/choreographer Michael Berresse, a slick and polished Broadway song and dance man of high order, appropriately keeps the company’s rough edges on display when they start moving their feet to uncomplicated routines.  Only Blickenstaff is allowed to show off a snazzy belt and musical comedy sass, while the rest get by on goofy charm and committed enthusiasm.  The book scenes glide on the thick chemistry between the foursome. 

  And while [title of show] is absolutely the type of musical I gladly welcome on Broadway – a show about real human beings that pushes the material and performances center stage without worrying about glitz and glitter (Gee, we haven’t had one of those since A Catered Affair) – I wouldn’t call it a completely satisfactory effort.  In theory, I loved it.  In the Lyceum Theatre, I bared with its shortcomings (like a running gag where Bell and Blackwell keep inventing drag queen names like “Minnie Van Rental” and “Tulita Pepsi”) and thought it was, on the whole, rather cute, but pulled off with such visible affection for both the material and each other that the experience of watching this company performing [title of show] on Broadway is much more moving and entertaining than [title of show] itself. 

  Of course, the authors supply built-in explanations for every flaw.  The book seems like a first draft that’s been slapped together in three weeks?  Why yes, that’s the plot.  Most of the cast lacks polish?  Yeah, that’s the authenticity.  The show seems directed toward a small insider audience without regard for being accessible to the general public?  That’s the message of the finale! 

But while Hunter Bell’s free-form book is genial enough and Jeff Bowen’s intimate revue style songs are nicely wordy, too much of the show’s intended humor is based on merely mentioning lesser-known musicals without having anything clever to say about them.  In one song Bowen strings together the names of shows into lyrics like, “He drives by a Steel Pier in Portofino to be The First to hear a Band In Berlin,” while corresponding Playbills are flashed on the wall, as if he were Chita Rivera in Bring Back Birdie holding up cleaning products as she sings, “It’s a life of JOY, and that’s ALL I need.” 

  Too little time is spent detailing what might be the most interesting part of the story, the creation of The [title of show] Show, a series of internet videos, frequently funnier than the musical itself, that substantially helped develop a following even before a Broadway move was in the works and no doubt became a major factor in getting the show to the Lyceum.  (Cue the chorus of Harrigan & Hart:  “Something new, something different, something never tried before.”) 

  But where [title of show] excels, and it does so very well, is when the jokes are set aside for some real moments of vulnerability.  Like when Blackwell describes the voices of self-doubt that stifle creativity.  Or when what started out as an artistic venture where the goal was self-expression becomes a possible ticket to Broadway if they’re willing to make changes solely for the sake of appealing to the masses.  (It’s an interesting twist when Bell starts insisting they cut all the insider theatre jokes that they’ve been making all evening.)   In the most effective moment, Blickenstaff sings of being a little girl dancing to Annie in her backyard while Bell describes a playwriting effort at age ten; times when concerns of balancing commercial success with artistic fulfillment were far, far away.  And by the time the cast is singing, “I'd rather be nine people's favorite thing than a hundred people's ninth favorite thing,” in Bowen’s closing anthem to cult popularity (sort of a cross between the closing song of Snoopy and that shampoo commercial where you tell two friends and they tell two friends and so on and so on and so on…) you may start wonder whether having your caricature up at Sardi’s can provide as great a thrill as having your show card displayed at Joe Allen.  

Photos by Carol Rosegg:Top: (standing) Heidi Blickenstaff and Susan Blackwell (seated) Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell;Bottom: Hunter Bell, Susan Blackwell, Jeff Bowen, Heidi Blickenstaff and Larry Pressgrove

Posted on: Thursday, July 31, 2008 @ 11:39 AM Posted by: Michael Dale

-- Dorothy Parker

The grosses are out for the week ending 7/27/2008 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.

Up for the week was: A CATERED AFFAIR (7.7%), CHICAGO (6.5%), A CHORUS LINE (4.4%), BOEING-BOEING (4.0%), CIRQUE DREAMS: JUNGLE FANTASY (3.8%), SPAMALOT (3.6%), THURGOOD (3.5%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (3.4%), TITLE OF SHOW (3.3%), RENT (2.9%), HAIRSPRAY (2.7%), LEGALLY BLONDE (1.6%), GYPSY (0.7%), THE LITTLE MERMAID (0.6%), SPRING AWAKENING (0.5%), SOUTH PACIFIC (0.1%), MAMMA MIA! (0.1%),

Down for the week was: THE 39 STEPS (-7.3%), AVENUE Q (-6.4%), IN THE HEIGHTS (-1.3%), MARY POPPINS (-0.9%), GREASE (-0.8%), XANADU (-0.7%), AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (-0.1%),

Posted on: Monday, July 28, 2008 @ 04:32 PM Posted by: Michael Dale

As they did last year, the Siegel pair, this time accompanied by co-directors Scott Coulter and Emily Skinner, hand selected a 20 member company from the recent graduating classes of schools such as NYU, Julliard, The New School, AMDA and Marymount Manhattan College.  With choreographer Vibecka Dahle entering the picture and music director John Fisher (who provided most of the arrangements) leading a four-piece band, Broadway's Rising Stars once again offered an extremely entertaining look at fledgling performers joyously giving their all to a loud and appreciative audience.

Though the singers might all have been young, the material they sang stretched through many decades of our musical theatre heritage.  Mark Cajigao performed Carnival's "Her Face" in a classic Broadway leading man style while Greg Kenna and Jenna Dallacco exemplified the more neurotic side of romance; he with "A Miracle Would Happen" from The Last 5 Years and she with "I Think I May Want To Remember Today" from Starting Here, Starting Now.  Jennifer LaMonica contributed a classic anthem from nearly 50 years ago (The Sound of Music's "Climb Every Mountain") and Sara Sheperd gave us a more contemporary one with Little Women's "Astonishing."

There were strong, passionate belters like Shanyn Trammell (Scott Allen's "I'm A Star"), F. Michael Haynie (Violet's "Let It Sing"), Jon Fletcher (A Man of No Importance's "The Streets of Dublin"), Malia Tippets (Bravo, Giovanni's "I'm All I've Got) and Elena Mindlina (Edith Piaf and Marguerite Monnot's "If You Love Me"), as well as those who tackled demanding acting challenges like Karen Myatt (Happy End's "Surabaya Johnny") and Joshua Isaacs (Parade's "It's Hard To Speak My Heart").  A dramatic pairing from Andrew Lippa's version of The Wild Party matched Kyu-Jeong Han's "What Is It About Her?" with Dawn Cantwell's "Maybe I Like It This Way."

Naughty ladies were well represented by Danielle Simone Roundtree (Fats Waller & Clarence Williams' "Squeeze Me") and Stephanie Torns (Nine's "A Call From The Vatican"), but purer thoughts were emoted with sincerity by Lucy Horton (The Secret Garden's "How Would I Ever Know?"), Ryan Scoble (Jason Robert Brown's "Someone To Fall Back On") and Seth Peterson ("What You'd Call A Dream" from Diamonds).

Lucy Horton, Jennifer LaMonica and Joshua Isaacs took advantage of Town Hall's fine acoustics by presenting their solos unamplified.

Smaller ensembles were teamed up for songs like The Full Monty's "Big Ass Rock, Avenue Q's "I Wish I Could Go Back To College" and the title song from Songs For A New World, while Dahle's dancers sizzled with Copacabana's "Just Arrived."  The full company blended gorgeously for a finale of Candide's "Make Our Garden Grow."

"What is it that we're living for? / Applause!  Applause!," were the first sung lyrics of the evening.  I wouldn't be surprised if the fresh faces of this year's Broadway's Rising Stars will be hearing that sound for many years to come.

Photos by Genevieve Rafter Keddy:  Top:  Karen Myatt, Mark Cajigao, Shanyn Tramell, F. Michael Haynie, Bottom:  Jennifer LaMonica, Seth Peterson, Greg Kenna

Posted on: Sunday, July 27, 2008 @ 06:17 PM Posted by: Michael Dale

All centuries but this, and every country but his own.

-- W.S. Gilbert, The Mikado

Though idiots like the academic assortment of Richard Nelson's Some Americans Abroad, his 1989 satire of Yankee cultural self-loathing, may be high on Gilbert and Sullivan's Lord High Executioner's little list of those whose loss would be a distinct gain to society at large, this verbose crew would undoubtedly escape the axman's blade.  After all, they have tenure.  And just like, as one character argues, a life sentence with no chance of execution gives a convict the freedom to kill a prison guard without fear of harsher punishment, tenure is the desired life sentence that defends these plastic-souled elitists against the consequences of their own ignorance.

With a bow to Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad, the play chronicles between performance conversations among members of an unnamed northeastern college's English department who accompany a group of 22 (mostly unseen) students on a play-going tour of London and Stratford.  As they judgmentally browse used book stores, complain about the political content in Shaw's plays, gather to sing "God Save The Queen" as the sun rises on Westminster Bridge, salivate over both the productions and the cheap buffet at the National Theatre (though regretting having scheduled two lengthy Shakespeare pieces on the same day) and do their darndest to avoid running into other Americans, British culture becomes a means of self-validation as a sensitive intellectual.

Though thin on plot, most of the evening spins around Joe, the young and newly appointed chairman of the department who is trying to establish leadership that is not exactly in his nature.  Tom Cavanagh gives the character a nicely forced attempt at charm, smiling nervously and gesticulating fiercely when his passions rise.  Joe's unpleasant task at hand is to tell the amiable Henry (a very pleasant and sympathetic Anthony Rapp) that he'll be relieved of his professorship next semester.  Henry's a good guy, but having gone to the wrong school there's just no hope for him to get onto the tenure track at Unnamed U.  Knowing his job was on the line, he and his wife, Betty (Emily Bergl), paid their own way for the trip, an expense they can't afford, to try and gain favor but with the inevitable coming nearer the grim Betty seems bent on reminding the others of their poverty for the remainder of their travels; not an effective strategy for this group, who routinely haggle over every detail when divvying up a dinner check.

Meanwhile, there's the matter of a student (Fiona Dourif) who has been skipping plays in order to hook up with her boyfriend, and two professors, the loud and argumentative Philip (Corey Stoll) and the reserved Frankie (Enid Graham) who have been using these annual trips to carry on an adulterous affair.  Each little crisis reveals the out-for-yourself attitude that permeates through the hearts of the main characters.  While claiming enrichment through great literature, these not especially likeable people are distinctly lacking in the humanity it teaches.

While Nelson's satirical darts are not the sharpest in the pub and the targets they hit are quite wide, director Gordon Edelstein 's production still provides plenty of smirks and some good, solid laughs, despite a general pacing that seems to sustain the same workmanlike level for length of the piece.  While never quite trudging (though set designer Michael Yeargan's concept of having the actors bring on tables and chairs for each scene, then placing them upstage in a clutter when finished slows things down a bit) the production rarely peaks.  When it does, it's usually because of stand-out performances from supporting players.  Halley Feiffer perkily mines all the sly humor from her role as the former student of Joe's, now a Londoner, who makes great efforts to avoid being recognized as an American.  Todd Weeks is very funny in his one scene as a sincere, but over chatty American tourist who strikes up a conversation with Joe.  John Cunningham is spot-on hilarious as the multi-bigoted former chairman who is a fountain of inappropriate observations.  ("Too bad he isn't black," is his response to Henry's unsuccessful job search.)  Pamela Payton-Wright is very sweet as his gracious wife and Cristin Milioti does nicely as Joe's daughter (also a student) who gives us some hope that the younger generation of Americans abroad may prove more honorable ambassadors.

With the exchange rate what it is these days Londoners should be running into far fewer Americans abroad this summer.  Perhaps it's time for some clever playwright to jot down a couple of acts about Brits visiting New York to see Broadway musicals.  But that, dear readers, is an entirely different story.

Photo of Corey Stoll, Enid Graham, Tom Cavanagh, Anthony Rapp and Emily Bergl by Joan Marcus.

Posted on: Friday, July 25, 2008 @ 12:19 PM Posted by: Michael Dale

Do you have to actually be homosexual to be considered a New Old Gay?

Because the writer is describing me and about half of my straight male friends.

Posted on: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 @ 11:03 PM Posted by: Michael Dale

Posted on: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 @ 11:32 AM Posted by: Michael Dale