New York Week

To finish off my Birthday month Gary and I took off for NYC to see the shows. We had a lot of fun even on the soggy days. Below is what we saw.  

The biggest question asked to us was "Did you see/are you going to see The Book of Mormon musical?" NO! First:  Just because we are Mormon doesn't mean we want to see the musical. Second: I don't enjoy South Park so why would I enjoy something written by the South Park creators? Now I am not judging those who have or want to see it, but it just isn't something that has any interest for me.....there are all kinds of things I choose to and not to see, read and do that most people don't care about so why should this be any different?  Enough of my rant.

Over all we had a great time and saw some really great shows.....that was the point of my trip to see a few good shows.

 We Started off with the 2010 Tony winner. It still had the original cast and was very good. Boy can they sing and dance. It is always sad to see the racism that has exited as part of our history, and this was based on several stories. The Costumes were beautiful. The set very creative. The thing I noticed is becoming more and more of a trend is video projection as part of the show. They used live for the TV show segments and also real news photos and stories.

 So why did we see this...Gary's choice, but I am glad I went. It is a spectacle. It was a 3 hour Cirque de Soli...as long as you understand that the story is one you know, and the music is not really hummable, but a U2 sounding concert, which was enjoyable, you should be okay with it. The little boys in the audiance seemed to like it. Patrick Paige as the Green Goblin was fantastic, but then he is a fantastic actor. The Set was done in comic book style as were the costumes....they literally had the "inked" shadows on them. The flying and acrobatics were awesome. The did a great job combining the low tech old school ways of doing things with the new tech advance stuff.

 Loved, loved, loved this show. It was done as a 1960's style musical TV show that would have been done by Frank or Dean. Big band in a bandstand on stage, costumes and dance stylized 1960's. Even the music was in that cool Frank and dean style. Aaron Tivit who plays Frank Abignal Jr. is fabulous and runs through the whole show. Tom Whopat plays his dad and his tale is heart breaking. Mr. Hanratty the FBI agent is Norbert Leo Butz. (I think it could be the best musical for this year as long as everyone doesn't get overcome by the BoM musical). Over all the music was wonderful and hummable, there are several tunes that are still coming to my mind. It was a visual treat; the dancing, lighting, costumes and limited set. And the TALENT was OUTSTANDING!

 So fun to see an old dog do new tricks. We were in the new Neil Simon theater. Sutton Foster - Reno Sweeny and Joel Gray- Moonface Martin were the stars along with Jessica Walters and John McMartin (Into the Woods story teller).  Sutton seemed to have such a fun time in this roll....more character and less ingenue. And Joel Grays comic timing was superb.
Kathleen Marshall always does such a great job with theses old classics. Of course the dancing was unbelievable. the tapping of Anything Goes was 7 minutes of wonderful. And Blow Gabriel, while not a favorite of mine was very well done. Both numbers involved the entire cast singing and dancing. The costumes were beautiful and elegant. The set very simple but perfect for the show. In fact it is a set design that is usable by most theater companies.

We finished off Monday night by seeing this campy disco, drag queen/gay romp across Australia. (Not a lot available on Monday night, but it was something we knew would be fun to see). This show is loosely based on the movie and has been playing in Australia for 45 years. Tony Sheldon the original Bernadette in Australia is playing the role here as well. We had fab seats that were front row on almost on the stage. Because of this we had an up close and personal view of the costumes and theater magic. The quick change on stage into drag make-up was so fun to see. If we had sat any where else we would not have seen how it was done. You have to be comfortable with men in drag, and the gay references in this show and sitter where we sate you could see those who were and those who weren't squirming in their seats. The leading player was Will Swenson; he did a great job. It is always fun to see a local boy making a name for himself. the third member of the traveling gang was Nick Williams, wow what a little firecracker. He is a great dancer. The songs are well known disco tunes. The LED curtain and LED bus/motor home/caravan was so much fun.

So the trip was/is a fun tradition....we have gone at least three times now in the first part of April....I guess we always do it now.  It is so much fun to see the shows and get ready for the Tony awards. I love my musical theatre.

Thanks Gary, Love Ya!

MCC