foxy

A friend who lives in London saw this a while ago and thought it brilliant. I went to the box office the other day but it wasn’t open so had to get tickets through the website. I hate those extra fees they tag on but bit the bullet. I’m seeing it November 13, row C in the orchestra. Tickets were $195 each and I’m seeing both parts in one day. If a play is really good I don’t mind sitting that long. Now that I’ve paid full price I’m wondering if discount tickets will be available? We shall see. Wondering if Vanessa Redgrave is coming with the rest of the cast. She can be pretty astounding.

Having seen the original production of Mack & Mabel it will be fun to see it again.

Jake is on his way to the Hudson Theater July 26-September 29. I have my ticket in the orchestra pretty close to the stage on July 31. And there’s this other guy, Tom something lol.

Usually with musical comedies I smile. With Tootsie I laughed. A terrific show.

Last night I binge watched the first 4 episodes of Fosse/Verdon. It’s very, very good. Michelle Williams is a total reincarnation of Gwen Verdon. And thanks to Benjamin’s recommendation I just ordered the book Fosse which is already a page turner.

Funnily enough, after reading this review I’m tempted to see the show again. It’s so peculiar. I don’t think it will last long but I don’t think we’ve seen the last of it. I think it could get cult status.

Hopefully tickets will be easier to come by. In this case I don’t really care about the play. I just like looking at Jake. Those eyes!!

Laurie Metcalf is always interesting to watch on stage and Lithgow as Clinton was quite good. But I found the play pretty light and instead of an ending it just stopped. For me I wanted more and left the theater feeling hungry.

A friend of mine recently returned from London saw this play and she raved about how brilliant she thought it was. Here's hoping it will transfer to Broadway. https://variety.com/2018/legit/reviews/the-inheritance-review-play-1202739184/ ‘The Inheritance’ Review: Stephen Daldry Directs Matthew Lopez’s Play – Variety “The Inheritance" is a vast, imperfect and unweildy masterpiece that unpicks queer politics and neoliberal economics anew. variety.com https://www.yesbroadway.com/content/theinheritance http://static1.squarespace.com/static/58322a2d579fb38c571815d3/59e4c405b1ffb682d1027b08/5af9ac6a8a922d061762d01e/1528724129135/Samuel+H.+Levine+and+Andrew+Burnap+in+The+Inheritance+at+the+Young+Vic+%C2%A9Simon+Annand%283%29.jpg?format=1000w London: The Inheritance — YesBroadway Photos: Simon Annand. It clocks in at just over 6.5 hours, but the play (especially Part 1) rarely feels as long as that thanks to a fantastic mix of comedy and drama — you’re basically dared not to bawl at the end of the first part. www.yesbroadway.com

For some reason I keep thinking of “Springtime for Hitler” from The Producers.

I’ll be curious to see how the critics react to this show and especially to those buying tickets. Probably not a family friendly show lol. I have to admit I liked the dancing soldiers with the big erections going up and down.

Saw the show today and really liked it. Recommended.

Also a genius. And those individuals are very hard to work with but they are usually hardest on themselves.

If you’ve ever seen the show you mostly know what you’re going to get which is just fun. Every year they tweak the show a bit but wisely keep the Rockettes as the main attraction. The toy soldier routine with the cannon never gets old. The first time I saw the nativity scene ending I was probably 7 years old. It’s the same, live camels and all. I still get a rush when I enter this Art Deco gem of a building. Plus the mighty Wurlitzer shaking the rafters. You can’t really go wrong. Tickets are easy to get.

I was impressed with Michael C Hall’s ability to memorize all that dialogue. Although since it didn’t make that much sense to me he could have been ad-libbing. Nevertheless he’s a charming, attractive and talented actor. Maybe this is a case for “he could be reading the phone book”. Still a lot of it was funny and he did wander through the audience to bring a “volunteer” up to the stage which was fun and scary. He eventually did bring a man up onstage and mostly ignored him after that. I enjoyed the show but couldn’t tell you what it was about even after reading an explanation online later. As for the theater it certainly did appear to be a real renovation. If not the set designer should win a Tony. Well, maybe not.

A friend of mine recently returned from London saw this play and she raved about how brilliant she thought it was. Here's hoping it will transfer to Broadway. https://variety.com/2018/legit/reviews/the-inheritance-review-play-1202739184/ ‘The Inheritance’ Review: Stephen Daldry Directs Matthew Lopez’s Play – Variety “The Inheritance" is a vast, imperfect and unweildy masterpiece that unpicks queer politics and neoliberal economics anew. variety.com https://www.yesbroadway.com/content/theinheritance http://static1.squarespace.com/static/58322a2d579fb38c571815d3/59e4c405b1ffb682d1027b08/5af9ac6a8a922d061762d01e/1528724129135/Samuel+H.+Levine+and+Andrew+Burnap+in+The+Inheritance+at+the+Young+Vic+%C2%A9Simon+Annand%283%29.jpg?format=1000w London: The Inheritance — YesBroadway Photos: Simon Annand. It clocks in at just over 6.5 hours, but the play (especially Part 1) rarely feels as long as that thanks to a fantastic mix of comedy and drama — you’re basically dared not to bawl at the end of the first part. www.yesbroadway.com

I don't know very much about this play and that's okay since sometimes it's nice to be surprised. I bought the ticket because I like Michael C. Hall in anything he does. His Hedwig and the Angry Inch really blew me away a while back. I never knew he could sing especially in such a demanding and unconventional part. This is a one man which should be interesting. Seeing it this Saturday. Maybe a review will follow. http://www.signaturetheatre.org/shows-and-events/Productions/2018-2019/Thom-Pain-(based-on-nothing).aspx?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIiuCPiIrc3gIVlonICh2jkAnqEAAYASAAEgLYtvD_BwE http://www.signaturetheatre.org/getmedia/ea5c67b6-5670-4b16-81bd-45b156c904f2/180925stc_ThomPainMeet534.jpg.aspx Thom Pain (based on nothing) by Will Eno at Signature Theatre Will Eno is a Lucille Lortel and Obie Award-winner and the first writer to complete the Residency 5 program. His previous plays at Signature include Title and Deed in 2012, The Open House in 2014, and Wakey, Wakey in 2017. His internationally heralded play Thom Pain (based on nothing) was a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize and has been translated into more than a dozen languages. www.signaturetheatre.org

Well there’s Falsettos. Not sure if that meets your criteria.

Saw the play this afternoon. I am a Stockard Channing fan ever since I discovered her in the 1976 disaster spoof movie called The Big Bus. If you haven’t seen it I recommend you seek it out. It’s like Airplane but on the ground. Since then Channing has had a more serious acting career on Broadway, films and tv. She’s a remarkable actress. Having said that I really didn’t care all that much for this play. While there were plenty of laughs to accompany the dialogue none of the characters or their motivations seemed authentic to me. I’ll just leave it at that.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/theater/reviews/la-et-cm-king-kong-review-20181108-story.html

The reviews are in. No better than mine. Read on.

Anyone who follows theater probably knows some of the history of this show that originated in Melbourne, Australia in 2013. While not a flop exactly it's been hard, slow transition to Broadway. So is it worth the time and money to see it? Maybe. Let's face it, it was a crazy idea in the first place. I've always been a fan of the original 1933 movie. No one could scream quite like Fay Wray. I've never been a big fan of all the remakes despite the cgi. Sometimes overlooked is the incredible score of the original movie by Max Steiner. I have a vinyl recording of just the score and I think it's a wonderful piece of orchestral music. I wish there would be a concert performance some day. So the main reason to see the show is the big 20 foot 2,000 pound puppet. It's impressive to say the least. The large crew of puppeteers, which you can see but often don't notice does an amazing job bringing the creature to life. So that's a big plus. The sets which use a lot of sepia toned moving projections are quite beautiful at times recreating a New York cityscape of the '30's. There are exciting uses of lasers shooting beams across the stage that are impressive. There's a big cast of mostly male dancers performing very athletic choreography. Those are the good parts of the show. The music is forgettable. Not one interesting song I can think of. You won't walk out humming any of these tunes. The 3 leads are Eric William Morris as Carl Denham who has a rather annoying nasal quality to his voice. Eric Lochtefeld as a character called Lumpy who I suppose is the nice guy comic relief and the foil for the not so nice Carl Denham and Christiani Pitts as Ann Darrow, Kong's love interest. I really wanted to like her. She tried hard to do something with the lackluster tunes she was given to sing. I kept thinking had she been on American Idol she may have been a 3rd place winner. I hope after this show closes something better will come along for her. The audience seemed to like the show but I doubt if any of the investors are going to make a profit. See it if you can get a discount seat. I think there will be plenty of them.

For those in the NYC area Lucas Hedges is now appearing in The Waverly Gallery. It’s always interesting to see a screen actor appearing live on stage. Not all of them can do it. Apples and oranges. But Hedges did a great job in a play whose character is in many ways the pivotal role.

I saw The Waverly Gallery today and certainly related to the plot. Many people today have a relative slipping into Alzheimer’s and it’s a tragic thing to watch and be a part of. But what I enjoyed about today’s performance was all the funny stuff. I guess that’s what’s called seriocomic. Wonderful to see Elaine May still performing at 86.