Fame Is FleetingMartin Short's
Fame Becomes Me will close on January 7, it was announced today. When the "comedy musical" closes, it will have enjoyed 165 regular performances. Not bad for a show that initially received mixed reviews. Of course, it helps that two-time Tony winner Short is much beloved.
And contrary to some perceptions, this was far from being a one-man show. Instead, it included a cast of "Comedy All Stars" including:
Brooks Ashmanskas,
Mary Birdsong,
Capathia Jenkins,
Nicole Parker, and of course, songwriting extraordinaire
Marc Shaiman.
But most of the headlines the show continued to grab were for its array of Short's pals who were "interviewed," including
Nathan Lane,
Steve Martin,
Bette Midler,
David Schwimmer and even
Brian Williams, among others.
As recently as last week, Short was still attracting a fairly decent capacity of just over 70%. After taking care of a film commitment, look for Short to launch a national tour of this show.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:Critics Find Martin Short's Fame Only Somewhat Becoming (August 18, 2006)
Fame Becomes Martin Short Tonight on Broadway (August 18, 2006)
Labels: Broadway, Closing Notices, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, Musical
Critics Find Martin Short's Fame Only Somewhat BecomingThe latest pastiche of musical whimsy and "autobiographical" theatre opened last evening via
Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me at the
Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. On the whole, critics appeared to enjoy some of the show, but sounded as though they'd seen most of it before.
Perhaps the best review comes from
Variety's David Rooney, who writes, "If there's a slight feeling of insubstantiality since the show never really abandons jokiness to expose the man behind the performer centerstage, Short nonetheless delivers a good time."
Ben Brantley of The New York Times gives a guarded critique, saying, "...[I]nstead of being pure pleasure, it’s merely pleasant, rather like a decent summer-replacement comedy sketch series on television....Mr. Short twinkles beguilingly throughout the hit-and-miss farrago that is
Fame Becomes Me. But, bless his heart, he has yet to find a show that lets him shine as he was meant to."
Less kind is the 2-star review from
Clive Barnes of the New York Post: "You need something called material. That was shown -- or rather not shown -- abundantly last night at the Bernard J. Jacobs Theatre, where the show
Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me seemed buried neck-deep in talent....Here -- through no one's fault but his own -- Short is very much short-changed."
New York's Daily News critic Joe Dziemianowicz seems to agree: "Short is built for funny. He and everyone work their butts off. One guy even flashes his. But a lot of the material feels far too familiar....Short calls it 'a party.' But before you RSVP, just know some of the refreshments are past their sell-by date."
Finally,
The Wall Street Journal's Terry Teachout provides what is surely the most savage review of all: "Make way for the first train wreck of the season.
Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me is that most embarrassing of disasters, a toothless spoof of a tired subject."
Certainly, there's plenty of fodder for the tuner's marketing team to come up with decent quotes for their advertising campaign, and since Teachout's review was about the only flat-out pan, it's quite possible that New Yorkers and visitors merely seeking a summer laugh or two may decide this could be just the ticket.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:Fame Becomes Martin Short Tonight on Broadway (August 18, 2006)
Labels: Broadway, Critics' Capsule, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, Musical
Fame Becomes Martin Short Tonight on BroadwayIt's been seven long years since
Martin Short last graced a Broadway stage via his Tony-winning turn
s playing eight characters in 1999's
Little Me. But tonight, his fanciful "autobiographical" musical
Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me opens at the
Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre complete with songs by the celebrated Tony-winning team from
Hairspray:
Marc Shaiman and
Scott Wittman.
Several friends have already told me how much they enjoyed this farce -- and that was when it was in tryouts in Chicago. In fact, I've been told that the supporting players practically steal the show, even though several of Short's well-known characters like Jiminy Glick and Ed Grimley are on-hand.
This marks Short's third time on the Great White Way -- having been Tony nominated in 1993 for
The Goodbye Girl and then again with
Little Me, will he continue to bat 1.000 with Tony voters? Perhaps we'll have an early indication after tomorrow's reviews come out.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Labels: Broadway, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, Musical, Opening Night
