Gypsy

Savoy Theatre
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With some trepidation, I procured two tickets to see Gypsy at the Savoy Theatre in London. True confession - my first choice was Martin McDonagh's Hangman, a play that I discovered was harder to get into than Harvard (more on that in a later post). Concerns centered whether this would be the vibrant theater experience we so enjoy or an archeological dig.   

Having been some time since our last visit to London one can easily forget how utterly charming and enveloping the London theater experience is. The audience is calmly guided to their seats during the opening notes of the overture as the lights slowly dim. A genteel version of what sometimes can be the harsh New York City ”traffic controllers.”

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Thoughts on . . . The Standing Ovation

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The standing ovation. The value of a standing ovation to performers. The loss of the significance by its over-use. How long do you stand? When? Do you sit again during an encore? These have been written about ad nauseum, and here I am going to contribute just one more because, at its very heart, I think that if you can think about these questions before standing, you don’t stand.

I have seen more than my fair share of theatre, and I have stood during curtain calls that I would rather not have stood for. Only three times have I felt that I was physically incapable of staying in my seat: Venus in Fur at the Lyceum Theatre, The Normal Heart at the Golden Theatre, and the Cabaret revival (revival) at Studio 54. Venus in Fur was a brand new experience for me, one that affected my heart rate and my breathing, and something that visceral deserved standing. The Normal Heart is indescribable in its story, storytelling, and theatrical manipulation of your emotions. Cabaret was a note-perfect retelling of a show that I grew up with, so regardless of your personal opinion of the musical, I was out of my seat the second those lights went down.

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Cinderella

The Minetta Lane Theatre
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When has a show left you speechless? If the answer is never, then you have not been to the right places. Company XIV is one of those right places. 

I will spare you all the praise that will likely fall short of doing this show justice, and simply tell you that Company XIV’s “baroque burlesque” Cinderella is the apogee of contemporary artistic achievement. Imagine a Juilliard-trained choreographer freed from the fetters of conventional theater; the plot, the character development, the nuanced back-and-forths—they all felt secondary to pure, unrestrained, creative expression. The sexy little-dressed performers were at once, singers, acrobats, dancers, and actors, all with that remarkable sprezzatura that knocks skill up to the level of art. 

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Hamilton

Richard Rodgers Theatre
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Being new to our blog, it’s a shame to have to use a year’s worth of superlatives on a single show. Extraordinary!  Addicting!  Brilliant!  Genius!  I’ll try to exercise restraint in sharing my thoughts on what I was certain would be another over-hyped Broadway production.  If anything, this show may be under-hyped.

Hamilton is in the league of Broadway’s best over the last century.  It’s in the category of My Fair Lady, Fiddler on the Roof, the best of Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Simply put, it’s as good as musical theater can be. 

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The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey

Westside Theatre
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The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey, a one-man show at the Westside Theatre, was a great experience. An earnest and kind treatment of multiple characters by one actor is rare. It is all too easy to fall into mocking the female or elderly characters – James Lecesne both wrote and performed the whole piece – and as this show is set south on the Jersey Shore, there are certain unnamed caricatures that are top of mind with the region.

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Fun Home

Circle in the Square Theater
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Joel acquired tickets to the Tony Awards this year (Yes! You can just buy the tickets on-line like for any show and it’s an incredible evening of the very best of Broadway). I must confess, that Fun Home  wasn’t really on my radar, but that night it won five Tonys, including Best Musical, and exploded into our world.  The very talented young actress, Sydney Lucas, and Broadway favorite, Michael Cerveris (won a Tony for Best Lead Actor in a Musical), performed the song, Ring of Keys, from the show.  We were mesmerized!  That night, Joel went on-line and bought tickets before the post Tony Awards stampede began. 

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Man of La Mancha

Barrington Stage Company
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Full disclosure - there are shows that I don’t see because I don’t want to bias my opinion.  The corollary of this is that certain shows are impossible for me not to love.  Man of La Mancha is one of those shows.  That, however, should take nothing away from the joy I derived from this production.  Already expecting to be wowed by the reunion with my old friends in the dark and dirty dungeons of the Spanish Inquisition, I was overwhelmed by the spirit and potency of this production. 

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Off the Main Road

Williamstown Theatre Festival
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What is the Main Road?  Happiness is found in beauty, wealth and achievement (baseball for example).  We lived our life reflecting off the signposts on the Main Road.  The detour that is taken in this world premiere of William Inge’s Off the Main Road, is the path that we were nearly discovering in art and literature in the early 1960s. 

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