A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

GOOD AUTHORS WHO ONCE KNEW BETTER WORDS NOW ONLY USE FOUR-LETTER WORDS WRITING PROSE -- ANYTHING GOES: Commenter Randy spent last week on a Broadway bonanza tour. He files this report:

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We're recently back from our trip to New York -- a trip that happened in part thanks to this blog. When Matt mentioned back in December that the New York Philharmonic was going to be putting on Company with Neil Patrick Harris... well, it took us all of 10 seconds to realize that, yes, we needed to be there. So, figuring we needed to make the most of it, we ended up seeing 7 Broadway shows in the 6 days we were in NYC. Because the first night featured a dinner at Colicchio & Sons - which we recommend STRONGLY, by the way, and if you go you need to get the coconut cream doughnuts - it was actually 7 shows in 5 days. Overkill, maybe. But we didn't fly across the continent NOT to see Broadway shows. (And since four of the shows we saw are new productions – five including Company – I will have seen, for the first time ever, a few Tony nominees before the awards are handed out.)



So, on the first night of the musical marathon, I went to Billy Elliot. To be blunt, I did NOT like this show. The Tony Awards and fantastic reviews and continuing buzz notwithstanding, I just thought the whole thing tried too hard. And I can't remember a single song from the show. (Well, I have vague memories of "Electricity"... and there was a number with cross-dressing kids and disembodied dancing dresses... but that's about it.) I also have an aversion to groups of children singing and dancing onstage - I think it goes back to a dreadful high school production of Sweet Charity I once saw; all those teenage girls shrieking and fumbling through "Hey Big Spender" still haunts me - so maybe I should have thought this choice through a bit more before buying a ticket.

Things picked up considerably after that, and for the rest of the week, I could just say "Every show was awesome!", but I should probably say something more specific.

Wednesday afternoon found us (and a lot of giggly teenager girls) enjoying Daniel Radcliffe in How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying. Radcliffe is not a natural song-and-dance man -- his voice, while fine, is a little weak. But he more than makes up for whatever shortcomings he has with his enthusiasm. He's a terrific actor, and a terrifically likeable one, too. And I think this is a perfect role for him -- his age and height work to his advantage, because you'd expect someone that young and that short in the corporate world to be excessively enthusiastic. (It's quite funny watching him on stage with the equally terrific John Larroquette, who's almost a foot taller.)

Since it's still playing off-Broadway, and since it's one of my favorite shows, we went to see Avenue Q. It's still a really solid show, even if the smaller stage might actually be too small for the set. A couple of changes since the last time I saw the show: during "Mix Tape", Princeton hands Kate a 2-cd mix rather than an actual cassette. These kids today! Also, the famous line in "For Now" has been changed, at least in this production, to "Fox News is only for now." It lacks the pure, satisfying poetry of the original, but it'll do.

Up next was Priscilla Queen of the Desert. The plot of the musical sticks pretty closely to the plot of the movie -- fortunately even including some of the movie's memorable dialogue. (Yes, they keep the character of Bob's wife... and yes, she has the same talents as in the movie... and yes, she's bloody hilarious.) Priscilla would never be confused with a great musical - it is, after all, a jukebox musical that plays like the Greatest Gay Hits of the last 30 years - but it's a really, really fun show. One major complaint: we were in the last row of the orchestra level, and the show makes frequent use of the upper half of the arch. The balcony in the Palace extends so far out that there was a good chunk of the action that we just simply couldn't see. Avoid the last 10 rows or so of the orchestra level.

Partway through Anything Goes, I had a moment where I realized: I am watching Joel Grey sing and dance. It’s not really a good role, or a good performance, but still: I am watching Joel Grey sing and dance. That was pretty high up on the list of things I never really expected to see, so for someone who is as big a fan of "Cabaret" as I am, that was quite a moment. (I also never really expected to be in the same room as Stephen Sondheim, but we'll get to that.) As for Anything Goes itself, there's really nothing to be said about the book. It's got gangsters in disguise, weddings that may or may not need to be stopped, some unfortunate Asian caricature -- it's basically The Drowsy Chaperone without the elegant framing story, but with better songs. Really, the story is the flimsiest of excuses to string together some absolutely terrific Cole Porter songs. But none of this really matters because of two words: Sutton Foster.

Sutton Foster's glorious performance as Reno Sweeney is some kind of miracle. It is easily the greatest star performance I've ever seen on stage (with the caveat being that I haven't seen that many star performances). She's funny, she's a commanding presence, she's generous to castmates and the ensemble, she's got the dance moves, and she's got the voice. My God, the voice! It is worth buying a ticket if only to watch her and the rest of the cast in the show’s two big showstoppers, “Anything Goes” and “Blow Gabriel Blow”.

Book of Mormon. This, as Kim has previously posted here, is a knockout. One of the things I love best about Parker and Stone is how they "zag" when you expect them to "zig". They've spent the last 14 years taking the piss out of celebrities, politicians, religion, the general public - everything! - on South Park, so I expected The Book of Mormon to be a scathing indictment of religious piety. And it's actually the exact opposite of that. The show has a lot on its mind: the power and importance of myth, literal vs. metaphorical interpretations of stories, whether the ends (good behavior) justify the means (lying). It also has at least half a dozen instantly memorable songs and production numbers. (Where is that cast album!?!?)

And then, to end off the week, we had the amazing pleasure of seeing Company. Matt already shared his thoughts on the production, and I’m mostly in agreement with him – except I’ll say that I completely adored Patti LuPone’s take on “The Ladies Who Lunch”. Obviously with an actress like her in the role of Joanne, the balance of the show is going to be tilted towards that song, but she and her “brassy, magnificent trap” (hat-tip: Will &; Grace) earn it. I also thought Neil Patrick Harris was terrific; I’ll agree with Matt that his “Being Alive” was wonderfully acted. And then there’s the remarkable feat of engineering known as Christina Hendricks. Looking at her, I think of that great line from Some Like it Hot: “It’s like Jell-o, on springs!” (I’m gayer than Christmas, but she is the girl for me, boy, hoo boy!)

I’m not sure if he was at any of the other Company performances, but Sondheim himself was there on Saturday night. About 8 rows from us. (Why yes, our seats were terrific.) Being in the same room as Stephen Sondheim, and watching him watch his own show and applaud wildly, was not something I ever expected to experience. Yes, it was an absolutely extraordinary vacation.