Cooper

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Great article on what killed NYC of my “youth” and hours spent in darkened theaters now gone:
 
https://harpers.org/archive/2018/07/the-death-of-new-york-city-gentrification/

@Cooper
 
Learned I need to go the art museum more......Christina’s world......only 1 person!!!! Argh. Give me a break
 
Not bitter....but the first few questions were SO easy.....

@Cooper not yet, a bit leery that this could exceed my Spider Solitaire obsession :-?

I watched the 1938 movie version of Pygmalion with Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller. I hadn't realized that so much of Shaw's dialogue was used in the musical. Cathleen Nesbitt had a small part in the movie, that of "A Lady."
I know I could look this up on IMDB.com, but didn't she play Rex Harrison's mother in the musical?
 
I saw the Lincoln Center production last week. I just sat there with a big goofy grin for the entire first act. OMG, this is SO wonderful!!! I totally agree with Foxy; Broadway Dave, you are going to love it!!

Yep......I’ll try my skill......er.....luck!
 
You?

11/12 last night. My bad. It’s the millennial questions that get me.
 
“Before using a smile face, what did Facebook use to show that you liked a post?”

I’ve won like 0.78$. Haven’t collected, but bragging rights?!??

HQ is a trivia app craze that invites users to play a quiz game show in real-time with live, professional hosts. And—thanks to new sponsors like Nike and Warner Brothers—the app is handing out hundreds of thousands of dollars.

LOVED that “The Band’s Visit” won Best Musical, and that I just saw it less than two weeks ago. I so enjoyed this unique, sublime, and subtly gorgeous production.
 
And even though “My Fair Lady” didn’t win the Tony Award for Best Revival, I’m still very excited to get to see it in August.

I've only been able to see Once On This Island this season, and although I've heard many good things about My Fair Lady, I'm really excited for Island - I was really bowled over by it. I also have a colleague in Carousel (who appeared as part of the ensemble in the Tony opener - YAY!), and just learned a former student of mine is about to join the Carousel company - but I'm still very very happy that Island won. And the Island performance was a canny and absolutely seamless medley that made me smile. I do wish Alex Newell had been up for an award.
 
Likewise so thrilled for The Band's Visit - a beautiful and evocative score from the extremely versatile David Yazbek, and watching Katrina Lenk's performance of "Omar Sharif" last night was one of the best moments of the telecast IMO.
 
I thought the performances were a mixed bag. The Mean Girls number was horrid in every way. How did this shit ever get to Broadway? The Spongebob number was absolutely fun and entertaining, but the forced character voices make this show impossible for me to listen to. Frozen was typical workmanlike Disney - the winter effects were fun onscreen, but no pun intended, it all left me cold. Summer was just odd. I don't understand the need for 3 Donna Summers (even if it's clearer in the show it made no sense for the excerpt), and the number itself was more "Soul Train" than theatre. (The difference lies between using dance as an organic part of theatrical language/expression, and merely dancing along with the song, which is what I felt they were doing.)
 
The numbers for My Fair Lady and Carousel were oddly contrasting. The "Get Me To The Church" dance seemed oddly un-choreographed. The effect may have been to present something more spontaneous and purposely messy, more realistic than doing an organized routine - and I totally get and appreciate that - but I don't think it worked. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the "Blow High, Blow Low" number from Carousel was a great showcase for Justin Peck's choreo - specific, clean, and athletic, but also exciting and playful. I'm surprised this was the number they picked in some ways, yet I also see why they would want to show this.
 
The plays? Were there any? Well, they did get awards, but as usual, we didn't get to see anything from any of them. Well, except for a cameo appearance from the Angel in Angels in America. But it's ironic, then, that we got two major monologues (both great) from John Leguizamo and Bruce Springsteen. I enjoyed both - but jeez, give the plays a chance to show something...
 
The opening number was fun, I thought, and was perfect for the hosts. But going full circle and doing a finale reprise was a terrible idea. Just say goodnight and let the orchestra play things out.
 
The current cast of Dear Even Hansen singing "For Forever" was a fitting, classy, and appropriately unobtrusive accompaniment for the "In Memoriam" sequence.
 
Some wonderfully moving acceptance speeches. And then there was DeNiro. Look - it's not that many of us don't agree with him, it's just that I wish he had taken the high road with everyone else instead. With so many positive statements made by others, his comments were tone deaf.
 
Rachel Bloom? (That squeaky, rambling, over-caffeinated hot mess of a high school cheerleader reject who was backstage leading us into the commercial breaks...) Please get her off the broadcast. Ugh.
 
The Parkland students? Moved me to tears. Unforgettable. Particularly, perhaps, for those of us who work with youngsters doing theatre. But on a larger level, something that will define this broadcast for years to come. The irony of course is that I'm sure we all wish they could have done this under happier circumstances. But then again, their resilience and courage is what made it so moving. And they sounded good (they could have rocked out a bit more, but I can't complain lol.) And for those of us who know the song well, were we all full of joy for that high C? Were we all sitting there on the edge of our couches going "is she going to go for it?" I found myself crying as the number went on, but that moment had me bawling. "How about love" indeed.

Agree with others' assessments of the show. One thing I'll add - I really appreciated the integration of live Twitter feed.
 
As a general rule, I find live social-media integration into live TV to be pointless or blatantly commercial attempts for producers to capture the interest, hold the attention, of those suffering from Smartphone Addiction Syndrome.
 
I liked the #TonyDreaming pics of all the viewers in the closing number, showing their participation in performance arts.

For me the highlight will always be the students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School singing Seasons Of Love. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srkj63VBSHM

As for the category of “Best Revival of a Musical”, I was surprised that Once On This Island won over My Fair Lady.
IMO, Once On This Island was very good but My Fair Lady was great.
 
Most of the other Tony winners were predictable. Both Andrew Garfield & Natan Lane from Angels in America deserved to win. Their performances were outstanding as was the play.
 
The Bands Visit was a big winner. It was one of the first plays that opened this Awards season and, at one point, was a difficult ticket to get. Since then it’s been at TKTS.
 
I felt the show moved along quickly. The acceptance speeches were well timed. A couple went on beyond their allotted time & were cut off. As for the hosts, Josh Groban & Sara Bareilles, they stuck to what they do best which is singing.
 
Looks like the highlight will be Robert deNero.

Another performance I saw last week in NYC. Wrote this long review...
 
THE BAND’S VISIT (spoilers ahead):
 
I was seated in the very front row Orchestra AA109. The stage is right there. In your face. To give you an idea, I’m approximately (though shrinking every year) 5’10” tall, and when I was seated the stage was equal in height to the top of my head. So, yes, you’re (I was) basically looking up the entire show, although at varying angles depending on how close the cast got to the very front of the stage. And you’re so close you can see them spit when they’re yelling at each other. At times there was action going on both sides of the stage and you’re (I was) getting whiplash. And when they’re mid-stage, you see basically from the ankles or mid-shin and up.
 
Most know it’s a one act musical, 90 minutes, no intermission.
 
As for the show itself, I had been listening to the OBCR for about two months, and knew all the songs. Seeing it play out on stage, and witnessing how the songs were injected into the action, was fascinating.
 
Katrina Lenk (Dina) was literally the center of attention anytime she was on stage. Sure you looked at the cast member replying to her, or whoever she’s having the conversation with, but she is mesmerizing and all you could do was look at her. The entire cast worked brilliantly as an ensemble.
 
My favorites, other than Katrina Lenk, were Etai Benson who I’d seen before in the National Tour of “An American in Paris, and Adam Kantor (he played Mark Cohen in the closing cast of Rent, and I had watched him on YouTube). Etai played Papi, Adam played Telephone Guy. For a good part of the show Telephone Guy just stood nearly motionless in front of the pay phone, wherever it was onstage. Just staring. At the phone. A thankless part of the show until the end, when he got “the call” and the entire cast joined in to sing “Answer Me”. And my God, what a stunning song. It’s my favorite of the OBCR.
 
Other favorite songs were:
 
“Omar Sharif”, with Dina so very deeply sharing her love and passion of Egyptian music (Umm Kulthum) and movies (Omar Sharif), her arms elegantly and sensually caressing the air;
 
“Papi Hears the Ocean” (cute and funny) with “Haley’s Song About Love” (brilliantly sung), with most the entire disco/nightclub scene just as cute as it could be. Every time Papi’s date would skate by his eyes got as big as saucers in fear of having to interact with his crush;
 
“The Park”, “Itgara’a”, and “Something Different”, where Dina and Tewfiq get to know more about each other’s lives. Being so close to the stage I could sense their was an actual attraction from Dina, but Tewfiq stayed aloof. They shared quite a few laughs, and deep emotional stories, and there was a connection, but I still felt Tewfiq wasn’t yet there. The scene where he shows her what it’s like to conduct music, truly beautiful.
 
and “Welcome to Nowhere”, with Dina, all hand-on-hip and in charge, but “indifferent” to the non-Petah Tikvah and how boring it all is, Papi rubbing his face like he’d just had about enough of the town, then bouncing up and down to the beat of the song, and Itzik (played by John Cariani) really getting into the song bouncing up and down in his seat.
 
Speaking of Itzik, I think one of the most heartfelt, gut wrenching scenes came from his wife Iris after they had both been fighting and arguing and her been just being “done” and disgusted with their relationship the whole show. After Simon (Tewfiq’s second in command, who had been staying at their house) lulled the crying baby back to sleep, Itzik and Iris have one last knock down drag out fight, then she just breaks down in the most amazing crying I’d ever witnessed. You could truly feel her absolute pain. And the way Itzik held on to her as she battled his embrace, and they collapsed to the floor together, her just sobbing. It was heartbreaking.
 
The production and scenery are basic and simple, and the main scenes rotate on a turntable with perfection between locations. There’s projections of clouds and moon in some scenes, and its subtle without being distracting. And when Telephone Guy gets “the call” the translation is projected onto the main structure in the middle of the stage for all to see.
 
This story of how different people from different cultures and countries came together, helped each other, and fell in love, then went their own way, was also simple.
 
But it is a stunning achievement in how simple can be overwhelmingly beautiful, funny, heartbreaking, and how they connected with each through a shared loved of music.
 

 

More comments on Afterglow can be found on this thread:
 
https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/afterglow.127209/

http://static.playbill.com/dims4/default/6c5c60e/2147483647/resize/800x450/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.playbill.com%2Fe2%2Faa%2Fdf1a934f47f6a858c9b68f6e28d8%2Fthe-boys-in-the-band-broaway-production-photo-2018-099-matt-bomer-and-jim-parsons-in-the-boys-in-the-band-photo-by-joan-marcus-2018-hr.jpg

Recently, this question came up. Here are some suggestions:
 
https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/bars-in-nyc.134597/#post-1478909

Recently, this question came up. Here are some suggestions:
 
https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/bars-in-nyc.134597/#post-1478909

The last of my tickets arrived yesterday: “Hello, Dolly!” with Bette Midler in August.
 
Now I have all of the tickets in-hand for all my shows between now and the end of summer: “The Band’s Visit”, “Hello, Dolly!” (Bernadette Peters), “Hello, Dolly!” (Bette Midler), and “My Fair Lady”, all on Broadway; “Hamilton” in Cleveland for my birthday; and Disney’s “Aladdin” in Philadelphia.
 
And I may be getting an advance ticket for “Hello, Dolly!” at the National Tour Launch in Cleveland for October.
 
Very excited about all of this!

How the cast views the play:
 

A suggestion for those planning on seeing this play. If possible, try to purchase orchestra seats close to (but not the front rows) to the stage. It's an intimate show that you'll want to be closely connected to. Also, it's a better location for viewing the cast as Andrew Rannells looks very hot in his tight white slacks. Also gives a nice manspread.
 
There's a 2nd floor to Michael's apartment & some undressing scenes take place there. Also, there's a brief shower scene.
 
Enjoy the show!

Thanks @foxy for that great review. I share your views.
 
I also saw "The Boys In The Band". It's playing at the Booth Theatre and is in it's 1st week of previews. It has a limited run of 15 weeks and, actually, is the 1st time the play has been on Broadway. Some 50 years ago it was an Off Broadway production. The play is 100 minutes with no intermission.
 
I liked that it was an all gay cast. A "band" of 9 very talented and handsome actors. Some names you'll recognize while others are new to Broadway.
 
The play takes place in Michael's (Jim Parsons) NYC apartment (very red). He's hosting a 30th birthday party for his friend Harold (Zachary Quinto) and has invited several of his gay friends. While preparing for the party Michael receives a call from his straight and married college roommate, Alan (Brian Hutchison), who needs to speak with him. He is invited over. After a few too many drinks, the band of boys turns into the mean girls. Nothing is held back.
 
As @foxy mentioned, this play takes place in the late 1960's. At the time it was a revolutionary show that opened gay life to the public. Yes, it's dated but it does show how far we've come in 50 years.
 
One of the disturbing lines was, "Show me a happy homosexual and I'll show you a gay corpse". After a night of heavy drinking and beating up on their friends, they all look forward to seeing each other again.
 
For comic relief there's a prostitute cowboy played by the very handsome actor Charlie Carver. He's hired for $20 to be Harold's birthday gift. He's portrayed as a dumb blonde who says all the wrong thing.
 
It's great seeing Broadway currently hosting 2 excellent gay themed plays: Angels in America and The Boys In The Band.

Having seen this play I can understand why Jim Parsons’ foot injury would be taken very seriously.
 
The set is a duplex apartment. Parsons climbs the staircase several times. An injured foot could make that a difficult task. I don’t think a boot or crutches would make it any easier.