Cry Baby (or any other show out there...)

As far as I can tell, Broadway producer types always seem to be copying each other, eyeing the next big thing on the coat tails of the current big thing. The thinking goes, to use one current trend as an example: If one jukebox musical is wildly successful (Mamma Mia!) let's do one but with the back catalogue of another group.

And poof! We end up with shows like Good Vibrations, All Shook Up, Ring of Fire, We Will Rock You, Lennon, Jersey Boys, Hot Feet, Moving Out and the list goes on and on.. Now if you're lucky lightning can strike twice (is there a week where Jersey Boys isn't playing to 100% capacity?!?) But more often then not, we end up with shows like The Times They Are A Changing.

But this doesn't just happen with juke box musicals. After the success of The Producers, Mel Brooks looked at his movies and decided to turn another of his movies into a musical, Young Frankenstein..

And now, from the success of Hairspray the musical, based on the John Waters' film of the same name comes Cry-Baby the musical which recently opened at the Marquis theatre.

Why such a long intro? Because it's amazing to watch Cry Baby and not think of all these other things happening. The show itself is thoroughly enjoyable and there are some fine performances, especially from the supporting cast, which includes a superb Harriet Harris. But it's no Hairspray.

Of course it's different then Hairspray, so it's a little unfair. Hairspray was a little more a celebration of a bygone era layered with serious overtones. Cry Baby is more satirical and not as emotional as it's more refined, lacquered 60's musical cousin. But with it's cooky characters and subversive humor, and the link between the source material, it's unavoidable.

It's a shame that Hairspray happened. If it didn't, Cry Baby might be a genuine blockbuster. The same goes for Young Frankenstein.

What's even more odd is that all of these new shows, jukebox or ones based on a movie, have the feel of being recycled. There are very few truly original musical stories right now on Broadway. Passing Strange, In The Heights, and Glory Days are the only brand new musicals this season. The rest are ALL based on a movies. (Okay I guess technically A Catered Affair is based on a made for TV movie, not a motion picture. But that's almost worse...) And with exception to [title of show] all the new entries will be based on movies also.

Being based on a movie doesn't portend instant mediocrity. Some very good shows are based on movies, Sweet Charity, Nine and My Fair Lady* are all based on movies. (*My Fair Lady while credited as being based on the Shaw play is virtually scene for scene the film version of Pygmalion with a screenplay by Shaw.)

But at a time when the musical theatre is dying for something new, and a time when there is seemingly lots of support of new musical writers, why are they all choosing such mediocre material?

The music and lyrics for Cry Baby were written by Fountain Of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger and Daily Show writer David Javerbaum. Nothing against Cry Baby or all the other shows out there. But come on there has to be something better out there. I just wonder what could happened if they teamed up with John Waters and did something original! Now that's something to cry about...

Glory Days in the wink of young boys' eyes...

Glory Days is the new musical that is currently in previews at Circle in the Square. It revolves around four guys, all best friends in high school, who after completing their freshman year of college, reunite after a year and reflect on their glory days of high school and come to terms with the inevitable changes that have occurred during that time apart from each other.

The show opened in January at The Signature Theatre to much acclaim and has been set on the fast track to get to Broadway. Previews started last week. It opens May 6th. Just barely in time for the Tony eligibility cut off date, May 7th.

But I wonder if it'll stay open long enough to find out if it'll be nominated.

Okay, that's harsh. But really I do wonder. And not because it's a bad show. It's actually quite competent. But I wonder if Broadway audiences will come out for this type of show.

In the show we meet Will who serves as our narrator of sorts, and are introduced to his best friends from high school. Will, played by Steven Booth with a sort of Michael Cera style charm, has planned to pull a prank on the grounds of their high school and enlists his friends to help on the night of their reunion. Through the course of the evening we find out exactly how far apart these friends have grown the past year and the boundaries of their friendships.

The show can be a bit patronizing in it's attempts to speak for it's generation (the show is subtitled "a new American musical") There is a scene about use of the word "totes" that is at once amusing to me as a twenty something and disgusting to me as a twenty something. There is even a myspace joke. But the fact that the show is written by 23 year olds is what makes it tolerable. I would much rather have a peer be writing this kind of stuff then say, Jerry Herman.

But it does have it's highlights. The song "Generation Apathy" talks about, well, the general apathy that seems to be so prevalent in the current youth of America in an interesting way. And the show is at it's best during "The Good Old Glory Type Days" where the boys all reflect on their great high school moments.

What's odd though all this, is that the deep personal reflection is happening after only a years time, and maybe it's appropriate for a generation that can reflect on last week like it was eons ago, but towards the end of the play when I look at the boys on stage, I still see boys, not men. They just finished their freshmen year of college. They are going to continue to change and grow and hopefully realize that all the drama that they just put themselves through on this one night was not worth it in the larger scheme of things.

The show has a great pop/rock score by 23 year old new comer Nick Blaemire. And it is performed with great energy and enthusiasm by the four person male cast, with Andrew C Call as Andy and Booth as stand outs.

But as much as it pains me to say it, I don't think it's going to make it. Not on Broadway. And as much as I'm all for breaking down the barriers of commercial theatre, you have to ask yourself, is it better to try to make it and fail, or to maybe take the show off-Broadway and have a much longer run and have more people see it. The show seems too small in scope. The audience for it is too small. There are only so many young people who have recently gone through a transitional phase in their lives. Why the show didn't open off-Broadway where I know it would find a very welcoming long run, I don't know.

That said, a personal favorite of mine, Passing Strange, currently playing at the Belasco, is an example of the kind of show that doesn't seem like it belongs on Broadway, and while it's not selling out, it's hanging in there (probably for the Tony's. Which it will win multiple I'm sure) so what do I know?!

I feel like Glory Days is a show that could speak to a lot of people. It certainly resonated with me. Being a recent college grad I know how weird and wonderful it can be to reconnect with people from high school or college, and it seems like suddenly they're not the same person anymore (or is it you that changed?) It's a really interesting idea to try and capture and musicalize. I just feel like it doesn't transfer to larger then life-ness of a Broadway house. I wish it luck though. I hope it's able to run for a long time. I hope it makes a recording. I hope it lasts long enough to look back on it's own glory years on Broadway, and not just days. But like the characters in the show realize, glory days aren't meant to last.

Good Boys and True at 2ST

In Mariah Carey's latest single, "Touch My Body" the chorus goes: If there's a camera up in here/Then it's gonna leave with me when I do/ ...I'd best not catch this flick on YouTube.

We live in an over documented world. Every little thing we do is captured by cameras. Often, before I even get home from a party, the pictures are somehow posted and tagged on Facebook. There is very little that we do, that we don't have a record of. And as we let this kind of documentation into our lives, it doesn't end with just drunk party shots, but begins to exploit deeply personal moments in our lives for everyone to consume.

This issue is at the center of Good Boys and True, a new play at Second Stage Theatre by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. In it we're introduced to students at a prep school where a scandal involving a sex tape between two unknown students is about to burst. I won't reveal a lot as the play revolves around the mystery of the scandal itself, but the more the scandal is investigated and we learn the identities of the students in the tape, the more we learn about the dark history of the school and their families, in influence of class and privilege.

The play is set in the suburbs of Washington DC in 1989. So when I say sex tape, I really do mean tape as in VHS. (Where did they manage to find that prop?! I didn't know they still had those.) But it was this tape that made me think about our over documented world today. Isn't amazing how a sex tape is sort of a PR blessing in that it gives it's participants instant notoriety. That's exactly what happens in this play, as more and more people see the video and get involved. But we can't all be Paris Hilton, and in the play we're shown the horrible personal side effects that occur for this sort of fame.

It's currently running in previews and opens May 19th and runs through June 1st. While the play's 90 intermission-less minutes are captivating, it can lose it's focus and flounders back and forth between one of the students involved in the scandal and his mother, and I wondered at time whose story is actually being told. But the play is just starting previews, so it's more then possible that that will change.

While the play may show the possible dangers of documenting and sharing every aspect our lives, I'm not going to be giving up my photobucket or facebook accounts anytime soon... well on second thought, maybe I'll just take them private.

Back in the City again...

Hello!

After a brief absence, I'm back to New York City and hope to get right back in the swing of things and start seeing theatre and writing about it here.

In fact I'm going to go see the final dress of Good Boys and True at Second Stage Theatre tonight, so I'm throwing myself right back in there. I know very little about the play, other then it takes place in suburban Washington D.C. and involves some kind of prep school scandal.

And after that I have a lot of shows to catch up on! Below is a personal line up, in no particular order, of the spring theatre season.

Crybaby - The musical version of John Waters' movie starring Johnny Depp as a rocker.

A Catered Affair - John Buccino and Harvey Feirstein team up for this chamber musical about a Bronx cab driver's daughters upcoming wedding.

Glory Days - I know very little about this, other then it's a musical about four guys getting together a year or so after high school and realizing how their lives have changed.

Gypsy - This revival has gotten nothing but raves, and since I don't know the show at all, what a good way to get to know it!

Hostage Song - This show looks crazed!!! A musical about a journalist who is kidnapped and being held hostage? What? She's blindfolded most of the show while singing?!?!? WHAT?! I have to go.

Macbeth - Patrick Stewart as Mr. M. Nuff said...

South Pacific - Not my favorite show, but word on the street says it's good. Word on the street also says there are naked soldiers. And there ain't nothing like a... dame?

The Four Of Us - MTC produces this play about the stress that success can put on a sturdy friendship.

Marcy in the Galaxy - All I know is it's a musical, and I love the title.

The New Century - A series of one acts by Paul Rudnick.

Sizwe Banzai is Dead - I read this South African play about apartheid in college and loved it. I would love to see it done!

From Up Here - Another play by MTC starring Julie White.

Now, will I see all of these?!? Who knows? Probably not now that I see how many it actually is. But here's to hoping!

The Underpants @ Purdue University

This week I am writing from West Lafayette, Indiana where I am currently music directing a production of Hair for Purdue University's Theatre. Rehearsals just started and I am very excited to be here working on such an awesome show. I may write a little bit about my experience working on the show out here, since I will be away from the New York theatre scene for a few weeks.

But that doesn't mean there isn't any theatre in Indiana. The day before rehearsals started I was able to see closing night for the first show this semester at Purdue, Steve Martin's adaptation of The Underpants by Carle Sternheim. I knew very little of the show, and was excited to see it.

We are introduced to Louise Maske, who has caused a commotion in the small provincial 1910 German town she lives in, when independently of her dress, her underpants accidentally fall down to the ground.

Just the sight of her underpants at her ankles sends the men of the town into a sexually frenzy. She instantly becomes the object of every man's lust. As a result, a number of men come to her house, posing as men interesting in renting a room in her and her husband Theo's house, but are secretly trying to seduce her.

Through a series of crazy events, a couple of men end up sharing the rented room, and try to seduce her, all the while her husband is unaware of what is happening under his nose.

What has the set up for a fun, old-fashioned sex farce, ends up feeling more like a neutered dog trying to hump you leg.

Steve Martin's adaptation is adequate, but one wonders why this story has any relevance. Of course, we still experience "wardrobe malfunctions" today, and the sight of flesh at an inappropriate time can still be shocking and possibly morally offensive. (The University's upcoming productions of Marat/Sade and Hair have both sparked controversy over their planned use of nudity.) But the play's odd mix of modern and classical jokes and structure leave one wondering if it's a modern play masking as an old one, or an old one desperately trying to be relevant.

In most cases, I prefer the latter. And if I'm honest with myself, in the end I was able to see some of today's culture reflected in this early 20th century German town. But this is all for nothing, if the jokes just aren't that funny.

But Steve Martin did throw in an almost prophetic joke. Louise's noisy neighbor announces upon entering that she just saw the new Sternheim comedy at the theatre that night. Louise asks her how she liked it and if it was worth seeing, to which the neighbor replies, "I would wait for the adaptation."

Now having seen the adaptation that she's talking about, I have some advice for Louise: Don't pay full price!

But there were some fine and occasionally funny performances from the cast. Any problems I had with the show, was with the show itself, not with the students performances. I will be lucky enough to work with a handful of them on Hair.

(I was also very careful with the 50 foot rule here, you never know who's Grandma is sitting in front of you! lol)

Cheap Tickets

New York City is a crazy/cool place for theatre. Any actor who wants to pursue a career in theatre generally finds them self here at one point or another. And most aspiring actors know how hard it is to have a life in the theatre.

Unfortunately, just the act of going to the theatre (forget acting in it!) can be just as hard because of the price.

But there are a lot of affordable ways to go and see shows. You just have to be able to work a little bit.

Student and General Rush

Most shows out there have rush tickets. Some of these are available only to students or people under 25. To check rush listings I go to a couple of places. The first is Talking Broadway's Board. It has listings for both Broadway and Off and seems to updated the most often. I always double check it against Playbill's Rush Listings. But the Playbill one is only updated every so often, so when in doubt go with the Talking Broadway site.

Usually with rush tickets there are two ways to go about getting them. Either they go on sale when the box office opens (usually 10:00am) or they go on sale two hours before the show starts. They are almost all $25 (plus a mandatory New York ticket fee called a "theatre restoration fee" of $1.25).

For those people who don't like planning their evening plans that morning, most of the new shows opening have either $20 or $25 tickets for the last two or three rows in the balcony. Not the best, but you can reserve a seat in advance which is a perk.

20 @ 20

Every year, Off-Broadway gets together and does a promotion they call 20 at 20. Basically, Off-Broadway shows sell a set amount of tickets at 20 minutes to curtain for $20. There are a few good ones out there to see (at least for $20). Altar Boyz and Forbidden Broadway are both fun, but expect lines at both as they are popular. I've heard good things about Oroonoko and Naked Boys Singing though I haven't seen them. Roundabout's Crimes of the Heart is also included on the list, and worth checking out.

BUT beware that the 20 @ 20 event is for two weeks only! It starts Monday the 25th, and ends Sunday, March 9th. Also, I guess there is a promotion where if you see 5 shows you get a voucher for a free dinner for two!

If this all sounds a little BOGO, well.... it is basically. But it's about time theatre starts to become more accessible. I mean, like Star Jones once said, "doesn't it feel good to pay less?"

No Pare! Sigue, Sigue!!!

In the Heights opened last year around this time Off-Broadway. It got pretty rave reviews, and despite not being able to find a strong audience way out in a theatre on 37th and 10th, the producers decided to take it to Broadway, where it started previews on Feb 14th. It opens officially on March 9th.

I saw the production early in it's run Off-Broadway, and instantly fell in love with it. It was exactly the kind of show that I loved. The music was fresh and fun, I laughed and cried, and I felt like a part of a community when I left the show. I urged all my friends to go see it, and even took some friends to see it (mostly so I could see it again myself!)

The show is one of the freshest, coolest things out there right now, and the composer/lyricist, and star of the show, Lin-Manuel Miranda can be considered a major force among young up and coming composers today.

Now, this is the first show that I've seen where I've seen it make the transfer from Off to the Great White Way. So it was exciting for me to see it on Broadway because I heard there were a few changes to the score and book, and of course some costume and set changes.

But what is interesting is, what time will do to the memory of a show.



As I've mentioned before, seeing a show again changes your opinion of it. When I saw Next to Normal a second time, I loved it. Legally Blonde was different for me this time too, and I actually was able to like it more for some reason.

But with this, I had such fond memories of the show, I wonder if it could have lived up to them.

The show follows a group of people in the Upper, Upper West Side neighborhood of Washington Heights. The title In the Heights, takes on different meanings, with the image of flight or being in the sky comes up often and also in referring to the neighborhood name itself.

It uses a mix of Latin beats and melodies, Hip-Hop and Broadway Pop as the basis for the score. Quite simply, this score is one of the best I have heard in a very, very long time. The lyrics are always interesting. Miranda uses rhymes that are simple but come off as unexpected, and often reference other literary or pop culture items. ("You probably never heard my name/Reports of my fame/Are greatly exaggerated")

I think what happened with myself was I hyped it up in my head. It's basically the same show. But I was looking for the same experience on Broadway as I got Off, and it was impossible to get. (For one, sitting in the Mezz of the Richard Rodgers is not the same as the intimate 37ARTS, the theatre where In the Heights played Off-Broadway.) I should have known better then to do this to myself.

I recommended this show like crazy last year, and will continue to do so this year. Despite whatever little dislikes of the show that I have in it's current Broadway incarnation, this show is wonderful, and better then most of the stuff out there! GO!