BroadwayDave

So, weekend before last, while I was bored out of my mind with nothing going on, and it being way too hot to be outside for too long, I decided to catch up on some movie watching. I did drive to the theaters and watch “Solo”, and the next day watched “Phantom of the Opera” and “Coco” on Netflix. I had less-than-zero interest in “Coco” prior to the Academy Awards earlier this year, but when it beat out my favorite “Loving Vincent” it caught my attention.
 
Fast-forward several months and begrudgingly I clicked on “Coco” and settled in with a big bowl of Orville’s best microwave popcorn.
 
Much to my surprised I really and truly loved the movie. The animation is stunning, the storyline interesting with a great twist, and I came away from it feeling joy in my heart.
 
I was telling a friend about it at work, and she was adamant that she didn’t watch cartoons. I tried to explain to her the difference between a typical old-fashioned Saturday morning cartoon short and a full-length animated feature film, but she continued to the point of degrading them, saying ‘I don’t watch that mess and don’t want it in my collection’ (of DVD’s). She said she might buy if for her children’s children, but that was as close as it would get.
 
I couldn’t help but think of all the really great animated feature films she has missed out on, some of them modern day classics already.

Same here, don’t like it (interiors too bright and almost sterile [?] in appearance), definitely not my taste, but I’m not going to be the one living there.

Both ways, Twenty-eighteen and Two-thousand eighteen, depending on how I’m feeling that day.

Any commercial with Samuel L. Jackson in it...
 

Closed the deal today on my Broadway in Pittsburgh season tickets. Yeah! Now I have a total of 13 shows between mid-July and the end of next May. Even more excited knowing I’ll be seeing the Hamilton National Tour twice, once each with the Philip and Angelica casts. Still three weeks away from celebrating birthday #59 with “Hamilton” in Cleveland. My neighbor’s kids seem to have the OBCR memorized. They’re “Hamilton” junkies and turned me on to a book by Ron Chernow that I’m picking up tomorrow to read before the show. Hopefully I can finish its 800+ pages by then.
 
A list of my shows, most are in Pittsburgh unless otherwise noted:

“Hamilton” (Broadway National Tour, Cleveland)
“Hello, Dolly!” (Bette Midler, Broadway)
“My Fair Lady” (Lincoln Center, New York City)
Disney’s “Aladdin” (Broadway National Tour)
“The Play That Goes Wrong” (Broadway National Tour Launch)
“Hello, Dolly!” (Broadway National Tour Launch, Cleveland)
“Anastasia” (Broadway National Tour)
“Fiddler On The Roof” (Broadway National Tour)
“Hamilton” (Broadway National Tour)
“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (Broadway National Tour)
“Phantom of the Opera” (Broadway National Tour)
“Come From Away” (Broadway National Tour)
“Dear Evan Hansen” (Broadway National Tour)

This was on another website and I wanted to share the information:
 
My Fair Lady 7/4 at 8pm discount code...
 
Use LCTJULY4 at Telecharge Offers for $72 seats

The national tour starring Betty Buckley kicks off in Cleveland this fall.

Snagged me another ticket to see “Hello, Dolly!”. Now I’ll get to see Bernadette Peters (end of May) and Bette Midler (mid-August). Very, VERY excited!

Before going to NYC last month to see my first-ever Broadway shows I was sharing my excitement with a co-worker. She asked what I was going to see, and I told her “Hello, Dolly!”. She asked in all seriousness if it was about Dolly Parton. I tried to explain to her about the movie (she never heard of it) with Barbra Streisand (she’d never heard of her), and Bernadette Peters (also a blank stare) in the staring role of the Broadway show.
 
I went on about Bette Midler (don’t even get me started on her reaction), “My Fair Lady” (that I’m seeing in August), and a few other Broadway shows and stars. It was like talking to a wall until I mentioned that I was seeing “Hamilton” in July during its National Tour. She lit up with big eyes and a long and jealous “Ooooooohhhhhh!”
 
Maybe it wasn’t a completely wasted conversation.

Before going to NYC last month to see my first-ever Broadway shows I was sharing my excitement with a co-worker. She asked what I was going to see, and I told her “Hello, Dolly!”. She asked in all seriousness if it was about Dolly Parton. I tried to explain to her about the movie (she never heard of it) with Barbra Streisand (she’d never heard of her), and Bernadette Peters (also a blank stare) in the staring role of the Broadway show.
 
I went on about Bette Midler (don’t even get me started on her reaction), “My Fair Lady” (that I’m seeing in August), and a few other Broadway shows and stars. It was like talking to a wall until I mentioned that I was seeing “Hamilton” in July during its National Tour. She lit up with big eyes and a long and jealous “Ooooooohhhhhh!”
 
Maybe it wasn’t a completely wasted conversation.

Before going to NYC last month to see my first-ever Broadway shows I was sharing my excitement with a co-worker. She asked what I was going to see, and I told her “Hello, Dolly!”. She asked in all seriousness if it was about Dolly Parton. I tried to explain to her about the movie (she never heard of it) with Barbra Streisand (she’d never heard of her), and Bernadette Peters (also a blank stare) in the staring role of the Broadway show.
 
I went on about Bette Midler (don’t even get me started on her reaction), “My Fair Lady” (that I’m seeing in August), and a few other Broadway shows and stars. It was like talking to a wall until I mentioned that I was seeing “Hamilton” in July during its National Tour. She lit up with big eyes and a long and jealous “Ooooooohhhhhh!”
 
Maybe it wasn’t a completely wasted conversation.

Dying to see the show again in August. Only regret was that I never got to see Donna Murphy in the role. Been contemplating a one-day drive-there-and-back to NYC to catch her in a performance, but it’s a little cost prohibitive. And 13hrs roundtrip.

Saw the show last week in NYC with Bernadette Peters. She was absolutely amazing. Wrote a long review of my experience...
 
“HELLO, DOLLY!” with Bernadette Peters (spoilers ahead)
 
My seat was front row center mezzanine A104. With the exception of a tiny bit of height on the balcony wall in front of me that blocked the very front of the passerelle, which really was never an issue, the view was absolutely perfect. Leg room was a little cramped but enough where I could be comfortable.
 
I absolutely loved, loved, LOVED this show, from opening Overture until that stunning red curtain closed at the end. And then it got even better with the final high-flying dance and cast bows, and everyone singing “Hello, Dolly!” once again. As the audience had done several times that night, they went nuts when Bernadette came out for her curtain call to the biggest, roaring cheer and applause I have ever heard. Only second to that was when she first showed up from behind that newspaper on the “horse”-drawn trolly. It was nearly deafening. In a good way. Even she had to pause her lines until it ended. It was a moment I’ll never forget.
 
Bernadette played the role of Dolly Levi with such passion, that at those times she was speaking to her dearly departed husband Ephraim, you felt like you were listening in on a private conversation. And the next to last time she talked to Ephraim your heart broke when she asked him to “let me go” so that she could marry Horace. I had a lump so big in my throat I thought I was going to ball like a baby.
 
The absolute highlight of the show, and there were quite a few, was the jaw dropping, extraordinary song “Put on Your Sunday Clothes”. Nothing was more beautiful, colorful, amazing, and sung so marvelous as this. All those soaring voices, all that grand music, together reaching an incredible fever pitch of perfection. It was breathtaking.
 
Next in the line of the “visually impressive” was the Harmonia Gardens set. All that luxurious, sumptuous RED. The only problem I had with this entire “scene” was that I thought The “Waiters’ Gallop” went on a bit tooooo long. It got repetitive and I personally thought it could be shortened.
 
And finally, the 14th Street Parade ensemble. This was just amazing.
 
But Dolly’s Harmonia Gardens “entrance”, and that eye-catching dress, necklace, and headpiece...just WOW! Can she ever glide effortlessly down those stairs, as if ‘floating’ on a cloud of incredible style and elegance.
 
Favorite songs:
 
“Before the Parade Passes By” - at the beginning the audience got so quiet it was deafening, and my heart wanted to reach out to Dolly and tell her it’s not too late, that you could feel how lonely she had really been, and by the end of the song how determined she was to get back out there and truly enjoy life.
 
When Kate Baldwin sang “Ribbons Down My Back”. God, can this woman sing like an angel.
 
And of course, the Harmonia Gardens rendition of “Hello, Dolly!” - a timeless classic.
 
The remaining songs were all wonderful, but those three stuck out the most.
 
One thing I did notice was that in “I Put My Hand In” (on the street outside the station) the street lamps did NOT pop up from the stage. And I was watching for them.
 
And most annoying were Ermengarde’s crying squeals. They actually hurt my ears due to a sensitivity to high pitched noises. When Dolly stuffed that scarf into her mouth... Thank you for that.
 
Bernadette’s incredible comedic timing throughout the show, and especially in the scenes where she is eating with Horace in the restaurant and again when it changes to the courthouse, made me laugh so hard I had tears in my eyes. There were several times when even Victor Garber would crack up, and the audience would just lose it! And Bernadette just kept going. The scooping up of the dumplings part of that scene was just over-the-top hilarious. And when it transitioned to the courthouse scene where she is stuffing her mouth and drinking the gravy was just hysterically priceless beyond words.
 
Favorite actor/actress other than Bernadette Peters was Charlie Stemp. This guy is amazing, and a smile that you can see for miles. And man can he dance!
 
The theater has no elevator, and there’s souvenir stands on the main level behind the orchestra seats, the top of the mezzanine level house-right, and in the basement next to the men’s restroom. Bathrooms are small, but the line seemed to go quickly.
 
I don’t think my heart has ever been as full of unmitigated, pure joy as when I walked out of the Shubert Theater. This show is total perfection, a one-of-a-kind style of entertainment without peer from start to finish.
 
The one word for this show is FABULOUS. And I’m honored to have been a witness to this historical run.
 

 

 

 

A couple of weeks ago I took myself up to the box office at Lincoln Center and bought a ticket for a Wednesday matinee performance. I paid $137 for a pretty decent seat up in the mezzanine. Come last Tuesday the snowstorm rolled into NYC. The next day, Wednesday was to be my performance. Since I commute into the city there was no way I could chance going in. I was very disappointed. I was going to miss the performance.
Friday (yesterday) I went into the city to see if I could make an exchange and happily, to my surprise, the ticket agent was willing to make an exchange. We had a quick discussion of possible dates and he volunteered that he had a seat available for Saturday’s (today’s) matinee. For an additional $40 I got a first row center orchestra seat. I was literally behind the conductor. I know that sometimes being too close can be as bad as sitting too far but I went for it. I’m so glad I did. Because of the orchestra pit I was about 10 feet from the edge of the stage. It was great.
I’ve seen past revivals of My Fair Lady but I can’t imagine a better production than this. Whatever the critics may have to say when it opens, I loved every minute of it.
Lincoln Center does an incredible job in their revivals. Everything is top notch.
The sets, costumes, orchestra, all just as good as it gets.
As to the stars.... Lauren Ambrose who many might know from Six Feet Under plays Eliza. She’s a wonderful actress I’ve seen in other plays but I had no idea she sings so beautifully. Her voice is just gorgeous.
Harry Hadden-Paton who I didn’t know is very good as Professor Higgins.
So much fun to see Diana Rigg as Mrs. Higgins. So sexy in the Avengers years ago, and of course Game of Thrones. Her movie, theater and television credits are as long as your arm.
However Norman Leo Butz as Alfred P. Doolittle almost stops the show. Just to see him perform Get Me to the Church on Time is worth the price of a ticket.
The Ascot Gavotte was also a favorite scene. There was never a dull moment in this production.
All in all I couldn’t have asked for a more delightful afternoon at the theater. I’m actually grateful to the snow storm that wound up putting me into such a great seat.
This was certainly the theater highlight for me this season. Highly recommended.

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!!

Snagged me another ticket to see “Hello, Dolly!”. Now I’ll get to see Bernadette Peters (end of May) and Bette Midler (mid-August). Very, VERY excited!

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 saw him back in Feb 2016 while he was doing the Broadway National Tour of “Cabaret” and he was the Emcee. It was good seeing him up on on stage, as I had orchestra seats just three rows back. Really, really enjoyed the show.

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.

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.
 

 

Saw the show last week in NYC with Bernadette Peters. She was absolutely amazing. Wrote a long review of my experience...
 
“HELLO, DOLLY!” with Bernadette Peters (spoilers ahead)
 
My seat was front row center mezzanine A104. With the exception of a tiny bit of height on the balcony wall in front of me that blocked the very front of the passerelle, which really was never an issue, the view was absolutely perfect. Leg room was a little cramped but enough where I could be comfortable.
 
I absolutely loved, loved, LOVED this show, from opening Overture until that stunning red curtain closed at the end. And then it got even better with the final high-flying dance and cast bows, and everyone singing “Hello, Dolly!” once again. As the audience had done several times that night, they went nuts when Bernadette came out for her curtain call to the biggest, roaring cheer and applause I have ever heard. Only second to that was when she first showed up from behind that newspaper on the “horse”-drawn trolly. It was nearly deafening. In a good way. Even she had to pause her lines until it ended. It was a moment I’ll never forget.
 
Bernadette played the role of Dolly Levi with such passion, that at those times she was speaking to her dearly departed husband Ephraim, you felt like you were listening in on a private conversation. And the next to last time she talked to Ephraim your heart broke when she asked him to “let me go” so that she could marry Horace. I had a lump so big in my throat I thought I was going to ball like a baby.
 
The absolute highlight of the show, and there were quite a few, was the jaw dropping, extraordinary song “Put on Your Sunday Clothes”. Nothing was more beautiful, colorful, amazing, and sung so marvelous as this. All those soaring voices, all that grand music, together reaching an incredible fever pitch of perfection. It was breathtaking.
 
Next in the line of the “visually impressive” was the Harmonia Gardens set. All that luxurious, sumptuous RED. The only problem I had with this entire “scene” was that I thought The “Waiters’ Gallop” went on a bit tooooo long. It got repetitive and I personally thought it could be shortened.
 
And finally, the 14th Street Parade ensemble. This was just amazing.
 
But Dolly’s Harmonia Gardens “entrance”, and that eye-catching dress, necklace, and headpiece...just WOW! Can she ever glide effortlessly down those stairs, as if ‘floating’ on a cloud of incredible style and elegance.
 
Favorite songs:
 
“Before the Parade Passes By” - at the beginning the audience got so quiet it was deafening, and my heart wanted to reach out to Dolly and tell her it’s not too late, that you could feel how lonely she had really been, and by the end of the song how determined she was to get back out there and truly enjoy life.
 
When Kate Baldwin sang “Ribbons Down My Back”. God, can this woman sing like an angel.
 
And of course, the Harmonia Gardens rendition of “Hello, Dolly!” - a timeless classic.
 
The remaining songs were all wonderful, but those three stuck out the most.
 
One thing I did notice was that in “I Put My Hand In” (on the street outside the station) the street lamps did NOT pop up from the stage. And I was watching for them.
 
And most annoying were Ermengarde’s crying squeals. They actually hurt my ears due to a sensitivity to high pitched noises. When Dolly stuffed that scarf into her mouth... Thank you for that.
 
Bernadette’s incredible comedic timing throughout the show, and especially in the scenes where she is eating with Horace in the restaurant and again when it changes to the courthouse, made me laugh so hard I had tears in my eyes. There were several times when even Victor Garber would crack up, and the audience would just lose it! And Bernadette just kept going. The scooping up of the dumplings part of that scene was just over-the-top hilarious. And when it transitioned to the courthouse scene where she is stuffing her mouth and drinking the gravy was just hysterically priceless beyond words.
 
Favorite actor/actress other than Bernadette Peters was Charlie Stemp. This guy is amazing, and a smile that you can see for miles. And man can he dance!
 
The theater has no elevator, and there’s souvenir stands on the main level behind the orchestra seats, the top of the mezzanine level house-right, and in the basement next to the men’s restroom. Bathrooms are small, but the line seemed to go quickly.
 
I don’t think my heart has ever been as full of unmitigated, pure joy as when I walked out of the Shubert Theater. This show is total perfection, a one-of-a-kind style of entertainment without peer from start to finish.
 
The one word for this show is FABULOUS. And I’m honored to have been a witness to this historical run.
 

 

 

 

I love people who love Broadway.
 
Great post. Infectious smiles. Well done