Tale Of Two Openings: Working 9 To GodotWhile
Vice President Joe Biden is busy dispensing
his own personal advice against being in "confined spaces," two of them -- namely Broadway's
Marquis Theatre and
Studio 54 -- are playing host this evening to the final two openings of the 2008-09 Theatrical Season.
That's right. Both
9 To 5 and
Waiting For Godot are opening tonight at the very same time. I mean, what are
Joyce Randolph and all the other theatre mavens to do? Seriously, did
anyone think to reschedule? And really, what a way to make a living!
This certainly marks the very first time I'm aware of that two Broadway shows have scheduled their openings for the same evening.
Dear readers, are you aware of any opening night conflicts in the Great White Way's storied history, or is this indeed a first?
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: 9 To 5, Broadway, Musical, Opening Night, Play, Waiting For Godot
Annie: Thirty Years LaterThirty years ago this month, my view of the world and all its possibilities was forever and inalterably changed.
Nearly two years before I ever set foot in New York City and six before I would see my first
show in a
Broadway theatre, I was truly fortunate to be among thirty
Homestead High School juniors and seniors from
Mequon-
Thiensville (Wisconsin) to travel with history teacher
Brook Brown and his wife Liz for an extraordinary action packed ten-day journey, first to London and then to Paris.
Prior to this experience, my family had traveled only infrequently. While we took a month-long drive to California back in the summer of 1976, most of our other road trips were limited to visiting relatives in northern Wisconsin or in Minnesota.
So when I boarded my TWA flight from Chicago to London, my excitement was surely palpable. Everything from being on a wide-bodied plane to traveling without my parents made everything fresh and new. I was so thrilled that I couldn't even sleep on that long plane ride across the Atlantic. Once there, I soaked up London like a sponge.
Part of the experience of traveling to London, I was to learn, would include two evenings of live theatre. Prior to this trip, I could probably count the number of times I had seen stage performances on both hands, and with one exception, they were all high school productions (
Bye Bye Birdie,
Don't Drink The Water,
Fiddler On The Roof,
Gypsy,
Harvey,
Oklahoma!,
Romeo And Juliet,
South Pacific and
You Can't Take It With You). Mind you, I really enjoyed seeing each show, especially those under the expert direction of Homestead's musical director Sonia Simonsen, but they only hinted at the overall experience that professional theatre would afford.
In London, for our first night of theatre, we were provided an option of seeing one of two West End mountings of two Broadway hits:
Annie or
A Chorus Line. Since I was already familiar with the former's cast album --
Martin Charnin and
Charles Strouse's score was a favorite of our family's during our long six hour drives to Minnesota -- I opted to see
Annie.
Little did I know upon entering London's
Victoria Palace Theatre (current home to
Billy Elliot - The Musical) how swept away I could become by just one show. From my front row center mezzanine seat, I witnessed nothing short of pure magic.
I was absolutely riveted by the legendary
Stratford Johns as Daddy Warbucks and the glorious
Sheila Hancock as Miss Hannigan -- she simply blew me away with a sublime performance I can still vividly recall even today.
I marveled at Charnin's ingenious direction,
Peter Gennaro's breathtaking choreography and
Theoni V. Aldredge's dazzling costume design.
But it was
David Mitchell's sliding set designs that completely floored me as they transported
Annie's array of characters across the stage without them even having to take a step.
To say it transported me as well would be a major understatement. I was wowed. Big time.
As noted above, we also had a second night at the theatre.
Our entire group went to see a production of
Agatha Christie's Murder At The Vicarage at the West End's
Fortune Theatre (current home to long-running hit
The Woman In Black). With a run of 1758 performances, this show was no slouch, either. But this production was much more old school English theatre than the captivating American import I had seen the night before.
Going to London, in and of itself, had already been a life-changing cultural experience in which I truly began to see the world in a different way, and the subsequent visit to Paris only enhanced this wonderful new perspective on life itself.
But the exhilaration I felt in seeing
Annie was a life-changer of a different order. With a strange new tingling sensation down my spine, I was replete with goosebumps from head to toe. This live performance would forever change my expectations of entertainment. I now saw just how brilliant stagecraft could be. Entertainment became art. And I was forever hooked on live theatre.
Coming full circle, I'm about to revisit
Annie for my third time.
This coming weekend, I'm traveling to Providence to visit my beloved friend Esther (
Gratuitous Violins). One of the things I love about Esther is how genuinely interested she is in sharing experiences. She knew that my visit would coincide nearly thirty years to the day since I first enjoyed
Annie and all it had to offer.
In addition to celebrating her birthday, I have a feeling we'll also be toasting my life-changing experience as we look forward to yet another thirty years of seeing theatrical magic unfold before our eyes. So here's to two vitally important females in my life -
Annie and Esther.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Annie, Anniversary, Broadway, London, Murder At The Vicarage, Musical, Sheila Hancock, Special Messages, Stratford Johns
RIP Bea Arthur (1922-2009)
So sorry to learn of the death of Tony Award-winning actress Beatrice Arthur today. Arthur lost her battle with cancer early this morning.
Long before she forever changed television as a Golden Girl or as the paradigm-shifting Maude, Arthur was a Broadway star. The actress was featured in the original 1964 Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof. as the memorable Yente. She topped that performance with her 1966 award-winning turn as Vera Charles alongside Angela Lansbury as the eponymous Mame. Vera Charles epitomized Mame Dennis' mantra of "live, live, live." So I have little doubt that I'm not alone in mourning the loss of Ms. Arthur.
What better way to remember her stage talent than to revisit a reprise of "Bosom Buddies" from the great Bea Arthur and legendary Angela Lansbury once more. Rest in peace, Bea Arthur.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB)
Labels: Angela Lansbury, Bea Arthur, Broadway, Fiddler On The Roof, In Memoriam, Mame
SOB At ThreeIt's been 1,478 posts ... over 300,000 hits ... more than 190 shows reviewed ... travels to five other countries on four different continents to see shows ... visits to all but
one Broadway theatre ... and scores of exceptional new friends made ... since writing my very first
Steve On Broadway (SOB)
item three years ago today.
While I'm not posting as regularly as I used to, Steve On Broadway is most definitely not going away.
Make no mistake, one of my great passions remains live theatre. Yes, I'm still taking in live theatre whenever I have the opportunity because, simply put, there is nothing like the thrill of seeing a stage performance that will be singularly unique for each individual audience sharing that afternoon or evening's communal experience. And a bad afternoon or evening at the theatre is still better than most other entertainment options, in my humble opinion, because it is live.
As I celebrate this third anniversary, I'm raising a toast to everyone who has stopped here along their journey to or from the Great White Way. Thank you, dear reader, for being among them.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Anniversary, Special Messages
West Side Story (The SOB Review) - Palace Theatre, New York, NY
**1/2 (out of ****)When
Arthur Laurents' beautiful revival of
West Side Story soars, it flies so high that you practically can feel yourself being lifted out of your seat.
With
Leonard Bernstein and
Stephen Sondheim's timeless score and
Joey McKneely's lovingly recreated choreography from the show's original director
Jerome Robbins, how could it not?
I was practically moved to tears many times by the amazing vocal talent Laurents amassed. In particular,
Matt Cavenaugh's Tony was especially angelic. And the captivating
Josefina Scaglione as Maria makes for a most auspicious Broadway debut.
But the conceit of this revival, of course, is its ultimately frustrating use of Spanish language to tell the Sharks' tale. While I laud Laurents for daring to break new ground by having his Sharks speak their native tongue from Puerto Rico, so much was lost in translation -- or complete lack thereof -- that this conceit gnawed at me as highly arrogant. Had Laurents done for his audience what opera has done for years -- providing subtitles of some sort -- he would have had no bigger advocate of his otherwise sparkling revival than I.
Instead, I left feeling cheated and very disappointed that I only got one side of this story.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Arthur Laurents, Broadway, Jerome Robbins, Leonard Bernstein, Matt Cavenaugh, Musicals, Stephen Sondheim, The SOB Review, West Side Story
Finian's Rainbow (The SOB Review) - City Center Main Stage, New York, New York** (out of ****)Now that
it's been announced that the
City Center Encores! musical reading of
Finian's Rainbow will get all gussied up for a regular Broadway staging later this year, I feel compelled to write a few thoughts about this dated clunker.
I submit that what may have worked among the adoring, hard-core New York theatre audiences that regularly assembles for Encores! presentations simply won't sell on the Great White Way.
Yes, there were winning performances from
Cheyenne Jackson,
Kate Baldwin,
Jim Norton and
Terri White (who truly proved a "Necessity"). Also,
Finian's Rainbow boasts some timeless tunes from the canon of
E.Y. Harburg and
Burton Lane -- I still can't get "Old Devil Moon" or "How Are Things in Glocca Morra" out of my mind.
But despite director/choreographer
Warren Carlyle's best attempts to breathe new life into this
62 year old tuner -- which in 1947 had boldly challenged racial discrimination well ahead of its time -- Harburg and
Fred Saidy' s ridiculously creaky book reads more like a relic.
And dare I say it? I was bored silly.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Burton Lane, Cheyenne Jackson, E.Y.Harburg, Finian's Rainbow, First Word On New Show, Jim Norton, Kate Baldwin, Musical, New York City Center, Terri White, The SOB Review, Warren Carlyle
