I love musicals. Probably more than anything in the world. Nothing brings me such a complete sense of overwhelming joy. Seeing a good musical for me is like eating a good meal or having a good workout, it's food for my soul.
Of course the best place to see a great, big faggy musical is that lovely drag in NYC called Broadway. I try to make it there as much as humanly possible. With the 2007/2008 season shaping up to be a very eventful one, I knew I had to fly down to sample this year's fall offerings.
This fall on Broadway is really about two shows; Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein and Disney's The Little Mermaid. Both shows are hugely under the Broadway microscope. Young Frankenstein happens follow up to mammothly successful Producers. It also is having the gall to charge people $450 for a "premium seat". The Little Mermaid is perhaps the most beloved Disney movie of all time. Both shows opening had problematic out of town try outs and bad press started to plague them before they have even opened.
The Little Mermaid started previews after my fall trip, so it sucked that I wouldn't be able to channel my inner Ariel and sing Part of Their World under my breath live and in person. But it just gives me another excuse to have to take a mid February trip.
I went to New York with two things in mind this trip. I needed to see Young Frankenstein before the experience of seeing it was tainted by the hype and hoopla. I also needed to see Fantasia in the Color Purple round 2. I had seen her in June and she was a revelation.
I had five opportunities to see shows. Besides The Color Purple and Young Frankenstein any other show I would see was like gravy on top of a huge Broadway meat loaf and mashed potato sundae.
So when all was said and done I saw:
Mauritius: A new play about stamps. It doesn't sound very interesting and it really wasn't in actuality. But the actors were extraordinary featuring Toronto's Alison Pill, Bobby Cannavale, F. Murray Abraham, Dylan Baker and Katie Finneran, You've probably seen these actors in a thousand movies, but they are and will most likely remain the actors whose names always escape you. That's too bad because they are all immensely talented and really give this bland material some sort of life.
The Ritz: The second play I saw was this piece of garbage about a man on the run hiding out in a gay bathhouse. The script was written in a pre-AIDS era. It's not particularly funny or even remotely amusing. In fact take an episode of Will & Grace and remove all humor and charm and what you would have remaining is this play. I went mainly to say I saw Rosie Perez in the flesh but where's my theatrical Jiminy Cricket when I need him the most.
Spring Awakening: Very interesting rock musical that take place in late 1800's Germany. I had heard so much hype concerning this show that it was hard to go in with an open mind. Did I love it... no. Did I appreciate what it was doing theatrically... hell to the yes.
Young Frankenstein: This show was hilarious and really enjoyable. The score isn't great and it doesn't have the complete all around brilliance of The Producers. But between Andrea Martin's perfection, the incredible set, and the stop the show cold Puttin' on the Ritz number, there really is a ton to enjoy here.
A Chorus Line: I had been wanting to see this show for a while and finally got a chance to see it. I had never seen this quintessential American Broadway musical before. It was such a clean, crisp, and together production. It's nice to see material, performances and choreography that doesn't try to hide behind blinding production values. This is as stripped down and real and as good as it gets.
Now you will probably notice that The Color Purple being absent from that list. Yours truly had scored a second row centre $20.00 seat to Oprah's pride and joy, but I heard rumors that Lady F was having attendance problems. I showed up at the theatre around 6:30 to discover that yes she was out for the fifth consecutive performance. So I chatted up some lovely sistas about Oprah's trip to South Africa and the state of African American theatre on Broadway and got a refund. Oh well now I have an excuse to take a NYC trip before Jan. 6th when Zion's Baby Mama returns to the R & B world.
I am very glad that I hit up the rialto when I did because as of today, they are in day 11 of a brutal strike. No Broadway for American Thanksgiving. What will they think of next? Between the Broadway strike and the Writer's Strike, it really isn't such a great time to be a working actor.
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