skynyc

I saw this last night, and there are some great things about it. It's very faithful to the book. (Didn't see the movie.) The score is stronger in the first act...but pretty deadly for a chunk of the second act. None of the ballads are very good. Jakob (Grant Gustin - TV's The Flash) has a song about stars that comes near the end of Act 1, that is too long and his singing is fine for the bigger numbers, but I don't think he was able to pull off the ballad, or the love duet in the second act. (However, he is pretty spectacular to look at.) Marlena (Isabelle MacCalla) has a ballad in the second act, which felt endless. The score is by "Pigpen Theatre Co." which according to the program consists of 7 fellows who have written and performed some off-Broadway and regional works. This collective didn't to my mind provide enough of a connective spirit for the score, but some of the bigger numbers were very strong, and there's some stunning choral arrangements for the cast. The ensemble is strong. Paul Alexander Nolan is truly a menacing villain, August. He is dangerous and mercurial, and not entirely two-dimensional, (...which he is in the book.) The show is pretty impressive viewing...there are some good circus acts, one in particular: a wounded horse imagining his younger days. The second act is muddled, and could be trimmed quite a lot...my companion didn't follow what happened in the big climax. (And there must have been some incident at the end of Act 1, because the intermission was longer than 25 minutes with a lot of folks running up and down the side aisle to the stage access door.) Part Lion King, part recent circus-themed revival of Pippin, part The Notebook (the reminiscent framing device seems to be very popular now), it's an engaging, if predictable story. It was worth the terrific discounted $100 seats we had, but I am glad we didn't pay more.

This Encores production of the homage to the music of Jelly Roll Morton is pretty spectacular. The cast is superb, and I could write a sonnet to each. LOL. Nicholas Christopher is terrific as Jelly...so hard to tread that line of the anti-hero...mistreating everyone around him, and still make him likable. (Especially after Gregory Hines' Tony winning original which is still pretty iconic in my head.) Billy Porter is the best I've seen him lately as the Chimney Man. Leslie Uggams at age 80 is in great voice and looks like a million bucks. Joaquina Kalukangu sings the hell out of Anita. Like in Paradise Square two years ago, she holds her long notes that folks just don't wait for her to stop to start applauding. (which I hate, by the way.) And the highlight for me was the three original Hunnies: Allison Williams, Mamie Duncan Gibbs, and Stephanie Pope. And the dancing is the best on Broadway this season...(and it's not on Broadway.) The tapping is spectacular. I don't know how they managed to put this together in their short rehearsal time, but I recommend it highly.

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Annie was also my first show...came to NY to visit older sister and somehow our dad finagled amazing tickets. Dorothy Louden had just won the Tony...and I was the same age as Andrea, but what I remember most clearly about that night is the scenery...the way things flew and two treadmills...and Laurie Beechman standing center stage singing NYC (while the treadmills moved frozen cast members in New York poses behind her.) That voice, and that anthem to the city. I fell in love with both. Was fortunate to see her in Joseph and Cats before her too-early passing. Saw several musicals after that, but my first Play was Amadeus, after my first year of college, again while visiting sis. And it was amazing to me see Frank-N-Furter on stage. LOL.

I've heard buzz that Hell's Kitchen is being slated to go into the Shubert Theater, where Some Like It Hot is closing on 12/30. Didn't move fast enough to get a ticket at the Public, where the Newman, at about 300 seats would be the place to see it. Hamilton there was pretty extraordinary...everyone knew it was something special. (And yes, I'm going to closing performance of SLIH. LOL)

Curious if your "yawns" are for this set of revivals, or revivals in general. This year's options are classic and contemporary, and the casts - and known material - are drawing audiences...which is good for NY. Are there any revivals you'd particularly like to see? I've been chomping at the bit for City of Angels to come back...with modern technology, the Color vs. B/W could be pretty impressive.

Yes, he told me he'd probably be back in NY this November, but didn't know if he'd be escorting. Last time I saw him, I asked him if there was a video he could share to tide me over, and he laughed and said he used to have an Only Fans page... sorry to have missed that.

I will look for his Honcho spread...I also have a lousy VCR tape of him on the Robin Byrd show somewhere. He told me he was the guy who showed the other guys about tying up their dicks so they'd stay hard on camera. It's astonishing to realize how long ago this was....LOL

We clearly have the same type. Other then "Dan" I had a great time with these guys too. Jason lived down the street from me for awhile. That was fun!

Oh, the days of hiring from the back of Next Magazine, or in LA, Frontiers. I met up a couple times with a beautiful blonde surfer boy name Tod Canon in LA. So sweet and sexy. He was a couple years older than I, and not my usual type, smooth and blonde. But he had a gorgeous thick piece that he really knew how to use. And his bedroom talk was incredible. I wanted to date him so badly. I think in a scrapbook somewhere I have the Frontiers ad.

I remember Joey well...he danced at Splash fairly often. On several occasions he had a little too much to drink and didn't want to drive home, so he came to my place. Crashed on my couch, and once in my bed. Sadly nothing ever happened...he was very straight, and "didn't want to fuck up our friendship".

Love this...who was Seymour opposite Ellen? I saw Hunter and Jake, and Jeremy when he did it a year ago...also Groff, Conrad Ricamora, and Skylar Astin...and yes, I probably go see Corbin Bleu. It's a great production of a terrific show.

Jason Markus was a regular for years...third Thursday of the month. LOL Sadly, I have no pics to share. Lately, I did have great time with Cutlerx...need to practice more.

I mostly concur. I thought that there were moments that were really funny, but for the most part, it was just schtick. There was a scene with the narrator (I saw Neil Patrick Harris) interacting with a kid in the audience during one of the "This is not funny" moments. And it wasn't...although the audience was beside themselves. When the one performer stepped onto the table, and was knocked out and hung there upside-down until the end of the act, I really laughed, because I didn't see it coming, but too much of it was too obvious. I did LOVE the fact that they brought the stage crew out for the curtain call, because those folks were REALLY busting their asses. I have a true fondness for Peter Pan, it was my third broadway show with Sandy Duncan, so I am glad to have seen it, but it should have been in one act. The Cottage, playing now at the Hayes with Eric McCormick is a decent farce, but again...could have been shortened to one act.

Bumping this as I’m wondering same thing. 6year old pics seem like a red flag.

I'm excited to be in contact with LiveNation to use this venue for a school event. I'm being given a tour in October.

There's a small, but awesome show of J.C. Leyendecker's original art at the New York Historical Society. The original creator of the Arrow Collar man. His models are always checking each other out, even when there are women in the image. And the gift shop is full of his images on stuff...it's practically a boutique on Christopher St. LOL

Yes, Benjamin Nicholas, exactly! Not for the big shows like Sweeney, Hamilton, etc., but the digital lotteries are pretty amazing...you often get sensational seats...sometimes too close (first row), for minimal money. Of course no guarantee, but I've been pretty lucky. And TodayTix will often have good sales...including "no fee" days.

Watched last night as I was attending a wedding on Sunday night...(what gay couple plans their wedding for TONY night?)...and agree. Theater is a live medium so winging it comes naturally to many of these folks, so the script less format worked pretty well. I agree the Shucked number was a mess...didn't sell the show at all, which is too bad because it's lots of fun. Loved that they did the anagram song from Kimberly Akimbo...and missed Annaleigh in the Sweeney presentation. Glad we got to see Lea rock it on Don't Rain on My Parade. Thought Henderson would win Best Actor...which would have been fine, but glad Sean Hayes got it as well. One of those categories I would have had a terrible time voting. Broadway needed the bump...hopefully it will help, but until ticket prices come down, it's going to be too luxe for many. (Especially those who don't know all the discount tricks.)

I saw it last week...taken by a reviewer friend, as I didn't want to pay. LOL It's a pretty powerful piece. The 100 minutes flew by, and the outcome is pretty devastating. The women in the audience around us were particularly engaged...a play about sexual assault is never a gentle experience. the outcome was predictable...they'd set it up from the get go...but still a complicated situation. She gives a real tour-de-force. The entire body/spirit/demeanor alteration is pretty extraordinary and I don't know how she does it 8 times a week.

In the early 90s, I ran a children's bookstore in Beverly Hills, and these two polite boys with accents would come in fairly often, always a little better dressed that the average customer. They were there with a woman thy called Lizzie. And then one day they came in with a man who I couldn't quite place...until he spoke...and it was Barry Humphries. He was funny and polite, and he could read my face when I recognized him...and he said "hello, Possum." He was in several times in that year, and was always a delight. A special memory. Safe journeys to him, and condolences to his familly.

Saw this tonight and loved it. It's a sweet, (but not too sweet) love letter to NYC. Spoilers. A gentler retelling of the original movie from 1977, and still set in 1946 New York, Francine is a former USO singer and Jimmy is a jazz pianist, who are drawn to each other, but their pride and temperaments get in the way. The mixed-race thing is handled honestly, (but it's a Broadway Musical, remember.) There are a number of folks in their orbit...the Cuban Boy who loves to dance to Salsa music, the faded violin prodigy awaiting news from her GI son, and the young Jewish boy who wants her to teach him. The score is really strong...including some classic Kander and Ebb NOT from the movie, and several songs with new lyrics by Lin Manuel Miranda. The two young stars Colton Ryan, with a Michael Buble-voice and dangerous charm, (from Girl from the North Country) and Anna Uzele (OBC of Six: Catherine Parr--"survived") with a glorious belt and a stage presence of both strength and vulnerability are both pretty sensational. The magnificent ensemble orbits around them...sealing, not stealing the show. Director Susan Stroman has pulled all the stops from her bag of tricks and the show is gorgeous to look at. The rain sequence, the girder sequence, Central Park's Bow Bridge, the whisper corners outside Grand Central's Oyster Bar, even Manhattan-henge. I will be going back to the box office this weekend to get another ticket.

No surprise that the reviews were not good...the show isn't that good. That isn't to say it can't be enjoyed for the eye candy and over the top camp of Carolee Carmello and Grace McLean, (especially after a nice martini.) I got tickets to take some out of town guests over Easter weekend. $75 for mid-orchestra, center. Row K. They're not making the weekly nut if that's what tickets are selling for...can't imagine it will run for long. Through Tony nominations in a month? Although, perhaps with Phantom closing next month, tourists seeking an ALW diversion will keep it going for awhile. Sadly, Andrew Lloyd Webber's son passed from cancer last week, so his attentions are understandably elsewhere.

I tend to read some of the short episodes in Ethan Mordden's Buddies books in between other reads. I purchase copies of I've a Feeling We're Not In Kansas Anymore every time I see it at used bookstores and pass them on to the younger generation as a great look at life in NY pre-AIDS. I've probably given thirty copies away. I liken these titles to the NY version of Armistead Maupin's titles.

This thread made me laugh...had to go find these. Bought The Lord Won't Mind when I was in sixth grade. Timing was perfect, as it was the year we had wood shop in school. After making the requisite key rack, when most of the other boys...the girls had to take cooking...were making step stools, I made myself a lockbox. It was just large enough for a magazine...I'd swiped a Playgirl at one point. I went to the hardware store and bought hinges, a hasp, and a padlock. When I brought it home, my mother took one look, rolled her eyes, and said "Boys!" And it was never mentioned again. But it got pretty full before I finished High School.