Friday 5ive- April 1, 2023

April Fools! Event though it's Saturday, welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly-ish post featuring five things that caught my eye this week.

1)  I went to see MJ: The Musical on Broadway this week. Myles Frost, who plays Michael Jackson, won the Tony last year for his portrayal, and this is his last week in the show so I wanted to him. The show revolves around Michael Jackson rehearsing for his Dangerous tour, and we see him and the dancers and singers working to make the show perfect. Frost is magnetic in the role, you literally can't take your eyes off him when he is on stage. He sounds and moves just like Jackson and it appeared that audience members felt like they were seeing the actual Michael Jackson on stage. There were flashbacks to seminal moments in Jackson's career, from his beginnings with the Jackson 5 to his Thriller days, and all of the Michael Jackson hits are here. If you like jukebox musicals like Jersey Boys and A Beauiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical, you'll like this one too.

2)  I visited the Museum of Broadway in Times Square this week before MJ, and it is so wonderfully done. They start with the beginnings of Broadway through each era of shows and iconic shows like Hair, A Chorus Line, Wicked have displays with costumes, sets and cast photos. At the end they have a huge section dedicated to the behind-the-scenes jobs- set designers, stage managers, public relations and marketing people. My only criticism is that the font for the captions on the photos is so small you have to be right on top of the photos to even read them. I will be returning when I can spend more time there, it is a must-see for every Broadway fan.

Original Ziegfeld Follies costumes found in a trunk

Doc's Drug Store from West Side Story

Costumes from Hair

Auburnian Thommie Walsh from A Chorus Line

Broadway Cares AIDS Quilt

The set from The Producers

3) While doing a little spring cleaning I found a box with cards from my sons, and this one from my older son JD made me laugh because it is ironic, because we have found out there is something scarier. It's from well before 2016 (maybe 2012 or so?).

Not so funny now, is it?

4)  Ted Lasso is back for its third and supposedly final season on Apple TV+. The first three episodes are available and they haven't lost a step. I laughed so hard in episode three when Ted is trying to slide out from behind Richmond's newest player international star Zava during their locker room pep talk (Jason Sudekis is a comedic genius). The lines come fast and furious, you really have to pay attention. On a serious note, Ted is dealing with his worsening panic attacks, and I like how the show has brought attention to that. This is appointment television on Fridays. 

5)  I read a memoir and an upcoming novel from one of my go-to authors this week. Alisha Fernandez Miranda's memoir My What If Year shares her experiences going from CEO of a consulting company to interning in three different jobs in one year. Alisha is the daughters of immigrants, the kind of driven, hardworking woman who graduated from Harvard University and the London School of Economics and always followed the rules to succeed. When she found herself yearning for something more, she decided to try her hand at learning three different careers that always interested her. She left her husband and two young daughters in London and headed to New York City to intern for two different Broadway productions- Flying Over Sunset and a revival of Assassins- in the early months of 2020. Just as things were proceeding in rehearsals and production and Alisha was enjoying her internship, COVID hit and Broadway shut down. She headed back home to London and moved onto her next internship with an art dealer, where she was offered a permanent position. She finished her What If Year at a resort in Scotland near her home. This one proved to be the most arduous one yet; working as a waitress was physically exhausting for the 40 year-old. I enjoyed that section the most.  The premise was so interesting, although her timing of doing all this during COVID was unfortunate. She does acknowledge how lucky she was to have great connections that allowed her the opportunities that most don't have. I found my copy in the gift shop at the Museum of Broadway, the last signed copy they had. If you like memoirs (and Broadway!), this is a must-read. 

One of my all-time favorite authors, Alice McDermott, has a new novel publishing in November titled Absolution. This one has a different setting than most of her New York based books. The setting is Saigon in the early 1960s. Tricia is a young newlywed whose husband is a naval engineer stationed in Vietnam. When she meets Charlene, another American wife, she finds herself drawn into Charlene's charitable plans to help the Vietnamese people, going against her husband's wishes. McDermott brings us into a time and place we don't know much about as seen through these women's eyes, and her writing is exquisite. It reminded me of Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible , a book that resides on my Favorites Shelf. I already preordered a physical copy for November, I'm going to make an early call that it will be one of my best reads of 2023. 

I think spring is here (right?) Stay safe and healthy all.

Diane