GOOD OLD RELIABLE NATHAN: Nathan Lane, Megan Mullally, Patrick Wilson, and Sierra Boggess will headline an in-concert performance of Guys and Dolls at a Carnegie Hall benefit next April.
In related news, a reminder: 2011's New York Philharmonic production of Company, with NPH, Patti LuPone, Christina Hendricks, Stephen Colbert and many other faves, airs on your local PBS station tonight. (Query: let Lucy watch it in full? isolated numbers?)
Weird, that's the night I'm going to see a preview of Hedwig! Which may be moot depending on how expensive/hard-to-get the Carnegie tickets would be anyway. But man, Guys and Dolls is my all time fave. (Carnegie Hall is also a big fave).
ReplyDelete10 is probably too young for Company, particularly some of the uglier and more frankly sexual book scenes. The "Getting Married Today" into "Marry Me A Little" could work in isolation, as could the opening.
ReplyDeletePS: Patrick Wilson as Sky: hello nurse.
ReplyDeleteNo Faith Prince? Oh, well. I'm still sad that I missed the Lane/Price production.
ReplyDeleteDVR is already set for Company!
Agree, but I think you'd also be fine showing her "Another Hundred People", "Side by Side," "You Could Drive a Person Crazy,", all of which are fun. Use your judgment on other songs, but I think when my son was 10 I would've been OK with (and may have shown him) "Sorry-Grateful," "The Ladies Who Lunch," "Marry Me a Little," "The Little Things You Do Together" (the most daring of this bunch on language/concepts), and "Being Alive".
ReplyDelete"Barcelona" is fairly sexual on screen, if I remember right, so I'd skip that.
Which ones are the definite, no-question skips?
ReplyDeleteIf you freeze-frame at just the right moment after the bows, you'll see a shot of the crowd applauding. It's blurry, but in the crowd you can see two guys in blue shirts applauding -- THAT'S US! In the foreground of the same shot, you can pretty much make out Stephen Sondheim himself.
ReplyDeleteSo, yes, I HAVE shared screentime with Stephen Sondheim.
And a related note - next Friday, at least on my PBS station, Great Performances will be showing the Hugh Jackman production of Oklahoma.
ReplyDeleteI saw the Lane/Prince production, and Faith Prince set the gold standard for me for Miss Adelaide. There can be many fine Nathan Detroits, but man, was she spectacular.
ReplyDeleteI didn't love the recent Broadway revival of Company, maybe because it's just not my favorite Sondheim show. But I doubt NPH can beat Raul Esparza's "Being Alive." Between his acting, singing, and the beautiful moment when he sat down at the piano, finally ready to both join in the group by playing an instrument by also to take charge and play for himself... one of my most memorable theater moments.
ReplyDeleteI love Esparza's Being Alive, and it works spectacularly well in the context of that production because of Doyle's "actors are the orchestra" tool--it's the first time Bobby plays anything other than a triangle or finger cymbals, making the transformative power of it even more apparent. That said, I thought NPH "acted" the song more than Esparza, even if it wasn't as strongly sung.
ReplyDeleteLet her watch the entire thing! I should warn you that I saw "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" on stage when I was 10, so my perspective is skewed. In other words, you probably shouldn't listen to me.
ReplyDeleteHaving now seen the PBS airing of Company, I have to say that I completely agree with you, Matt. Esparza's was the better sung version (and a very strong concept), but NPH acted it beautifully.
ReplyDelete