Friday 5ive- September 18, 2020

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post featuring five things that caught my attention this week. This week, it's all about entertainment, most of it streaming.

1)  When I first came to NYC about a twelve years ago, I bought a ticket to Miscast, a fundraiser for MCC Theater. Juliana Marguiles was the honoree, and I got to meet Chris Noth while getting a drink at the bar. (Yes, he is that handsome.) The entertainment at Miscast consists of performers singing songs from Broadway shows that they would never get cast for- usually men singing songs usually performed by women, and women singing songs tradtionally performed by men. This year, the gala was online, and free so many more people got to see the amazing performances. My favorites were Norbert Leo Butz singing "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar, Phillipa Soo singing "Some Enchanted Evening" from South Pacific and Heather Hedley closing the show with a powerhouse performance of "Endless Night" from The Lion King. I entered the drawing to win a table for 10 for the 2021 Miscast, if I win, maybe I'll take you with me! You can see the performances on MCC Theater's YouTube channel here. (While you're there, check out this classic Miscast performance of "Cell Block Tango" from Chicago) 

2)  HBO premiered a series of five monologues titled Coastal Elites, written by Paul Rudnick and directed by Jay Roach. Bette Midler's portrayal of Miriam Kessler, a retired Jewish schoolteacher who gets into a scuffle with an obnoxious man was so brilliant. She looked directly into the camera, speaking to a police officer investigating the incident, and it was as if she was speaking for me and a whole lot of other people. Give her an Emmy! Dan Levy, Issa Rae, Sarah Paulson and Kaitlyn Devers also had monologues that represent what so many people are feeling today, they were all so fantastic. The group was interviewed on Wendesday by CNN's Alyson Camerota about the show for the 92nd St. Y in New York City, and it was interesting to really get into the creative process behind the show. You can see the trailer here.  

3)  Paula Pell is having a well-deserved moment. First, her Qubi series, Mapleworth Murders, debuted in August. It's a satire of Murder, She Wrote and the 12 ten-minute episodes are nothing short of comic perfection, with lots of great guest stars, like Tina Fey and Maya Rudolph. Now the new Peacock streaming platform premiered the 3rd season of the comedy A.P. Bio, about a Harvard philosophy professor who ends up back in Toledo, Ohio, living in his deceased mom's home, and teaching AP Bio at the local high school (played by Glenn Howerton of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia). Seasons 1 & 2 were on NBC, and so hilarious. The show has moved to Peacock for season 3, and the first episode of the new season is comedy gold. Pell has a physical comedic performance that would make Lucille Ball proud. Patton Oswalt plays the principal, and he and Pell are a comedy team for the ages. I hope there will be a season four. 

4) My husband likes action movies, so we caught up on season 2 of Amazon Prime's series Jack Ryan, based on the Tom Clancy character from his series of novels. John Krasinski plays CIA analyst Jack Ryan who gets involved in the murder of his US Senator friend while in Venezuela. There is lots of action, and Krasinski and Wendell Pierce, who plays CIA agent Jim Greer, make a great team, with their humorous quips in between action scenes and political intrigue. Michael Kelly, from House of Cards, joins them as well as the Chief of Station at the American Embassy. I'm looking forward to season 3 of this one as well. The trailer is here. 

5)  I finished one book and I'm in the middle of two others. Sue Miller's Monogamy tells the story of Graham and Annie, a long married couple. Graham owns a bookstore in Cambridge, and Annie is a photographer readying for a gallery show. Graham is a big, gregarious man, who always loves to talk to people and put them at ease. When Graham dies, Annie has to deal with her own grief and more when she discovers that Graham was unfaithful. It's a beautifully written story. 

I'm in the middle of Marilynne Robinson's new novel, Jack, the fourth in her series of books about the residents of Gilead. Jack is the prodigal son of the Reverend Ames Boughton, now living in St. Louis during WWII after a stint in prison. He falls in love with school teacher Della Miles, a black woman. We watch their romance begin against all of society's conventions. It's a very quiet story, one that you don't rush through, but slowly read  to savor the gorgeous language. 

It'a Hispanic Heritage Month, and I just started Angela Cruz' Dominicana, about fifteen year-old Ana, who leaves her home in the Dominican Republic to marry an older man and move to New York City in the 1960s, in the hopes that she can bring her family to the United States. I'm enjoying this look at immigrants in New York City during this time period in history. Good Morning America chose it for their book club.

I guess it was a week for the Jacks and novels with one word titles.  Stay safe, socially distant, wear a mask and wash your hands everyone.

On Broadway- Hello, Dolly!

My sons and their girlfriends got me the most thoughtful gift for Christmas- a ticket to see my all-time favorite Bette Midler in Hello, Dolly! The tickets are hard to get, especially since Bette Midler, who won the Tony this year for her spectacular performance, recently announced she will be leaving the show in January.

I had read all the rave reviews and sometimes that makes me feel like it couldn't possibly live up to the hype. I'm happy to say that Hello, Dolly! is even better than you have heard. It's been said that this is the perfect show for these turbulent times, and I agree with that as well.

Everything about this show is glorious. The performances, the sets, the songs, the choreography, and the costumes (oh, those stunning costumes)- they all work together to create an unforgettable theatrical experience. You truly lose yourself in the show.

Bette Midler and Dolly Gallagher Levi are the perfect pairing of performer and role. You just can't imagine anyone else as Dolly. Midler is as hilarious, sly and even poignant as any Irish widowed matchmaker could be.

She has one scene where she is eating a huge turkey leg that just goes on and on, building in laughter until everyone, including actors on stage, can't help but giggle. It reminded me of Jackie Gleason and Art Carney in The Honeymooners. 

The highlight of the show is the title song, where Midler comes out in a radiant red dress, complete with headdress, and sings and dances with the men onstage with such joy, it brought tears to my eyes and gave me goosebumps. She earned a rare midshow standing ovation for that. (And I have found my Halloween costume for this year.)

Oh, that red dress! (Photo by Julia Cervantes- from Hello, Dolly website)

David Hyde Pierce is amazing as Horace Vandergelder, the Yonkers businessman looking for a wife who doesn't stand a chance against Dolly's machinations. Gavin Creel won a well-deserved Tony for his role as Cornelius Hackl, finding love and freedom. I've seen him in more a few shows, and I just think he is wonderful.

Beanie Feldstein turns in a star-making comedic performance in her first Broadway show as Minnie Fay, we will see her again for sure. Kate Baldwin was not performing the day that I went, and Analisa Leaming was terrific as Irene Malloy. Midler brought her out for a special bow at the end, which was so special. Jennifer Simard has a small but unforgettable role as Ernestina, I only wish we had seen more of her; she is comedic wonder.

The choreography for "The Waiters' Gallop" must be mentioned as well. Choreographer Warren Carlyle created a take on Gower Champion's original choreography that left me breathless.

I could go on and on, but suffice to say that this production of Hello, Dolly! is one of the greatest joys to ever hit the Broadway stage and I hope that they will tape this production so that people all over the world have the opportunity to experience it for themselves.

Tickets for Midler's performances are scarce, but if you can find them, this is a must-see. And one final note- please don't take photos during the show. So many people were doing that, and it endangers the performers. The orchestra pit is downstage, so there is a hole in the floor that the performers must avoid. The flash from your cameras can distract them, and one misstep can cause an injury.

The website for Hello, Dolly! is here.

Bette Midler in Conversation With Judy Gold at Barnes & Noble

When I was in high school, my first big job was working at a brand new movie theater. One of the first movies we had was The Rose, starring Bette Midler. I saw that movie dozens of times, and I was mesmerized by Midler's amazing performance. (PS- she should have won the Oscar that year- she wuz robbed!)

Her next project was a world tour, which she had never done. She chronicled the tour in a book, A View From A Broad, published in 1984 and I still have my copy. Simon and Schuster is reissuing the book, now in hardcover, and Ms. Midler celebrated this with a conversation with comedian Judy Gold at Barnes & Noble Union Square in New York City, her adopted home.

The crowd was large, and many of us waiting almost seven hours to see the woman known as the Divine Miss M. When she took her seat at 7pm, she began by saying that she was happy to be in a bookstore, "one of her favorite places". (This is true, she has spotted many times in the Barnes & Noble in my neighborhood.)

Gold asked her if anything surprised her about this book, and Midler replied that she was "surprised by how funny it was."  She was also surprised by how she "kept the worst parts of myself out" of the book. Written when she was just 35 years old, it is a snapshot of a younger, more hopeful Midler.

Judy Gold and Bette Midler

She touched upon her childhood in Hawaii, and how her parents used to drop her and her two older sisters off at the library at 8am on Saturdays and pick them up at 4pm, and it was heaven for her. All of the girls still have a love of reading.

Moving on, Gold asked Midler the one question she dreads- "How was it working in the bathhouses?", which is a running gag in the book, with different headlines describing the demise of Midler, all with the same the subline- "Started Career At Continental Baths".

Midler got a job on Broadway at the age of 22, working first in the chorus, then as the eldest daughter in Fiddler on the Roof.  She said that the first year it was OK, the second year she began going on other auditions and by the third year, she was asking "Who do you f(expletive deleted) to get out of here?" The audience roared.

From there, she put together a cabaret act and took it on the road, singing old classics. She opened for Ella Fitzgerald, and at Mr. Kelly's in Chicago, she opened for "the meanest man in show business, Mort Sahl."

She was on the stage  at the Lake Geneva Nightclub the night George Carlin became hip, taking off his tie and becoming the comic we all remember him to be. (He brought plastic vomit onstage and was fired.) The rest is comic history.

She got an offer to work at the Continental Bathhouse, and since the money was better than Fiddler, she took it.

Gold asked Midler about the characters in her stage shows, and Midler said that since she wasn't the best singer, she needed to be entertaining. When pressed, she said that mermaid Dolores Del Lago, the Toast of Chicago has a special place in her heart because she was pompous and a bit of a jerk. (I like Sophie Tucker best.)

They talked costumes, and Midler spoke of her mother who sewed her children's clothes. From this came Midler's profound respect for her costume designers and the builders of the costumes who had to "figure out how to keep these tits up!" (More uproarious laughter from the crowd.)

Bette Midler signing books- love the hat!

Midler also told a funny story from her recent Vegas stint. She volunteered to perform at a fundraiser for the Shoah Foundation, which makes videos of Holocaust survivors telling of their horrible ordeal. They showed a 35 minute film about the survivors and then the emcee says "And now here's Bette Midler!"

Midler says everyone was very somber and sad and she and her Harlettes come out in their showgirl costumes and "we're all tits and ass" and they performed for 30 minutes and rushed off the stage and out the door, mortified. I guess no good deed goes unpunished.

Things became a little serious as Midler talked about how a side trip to Thailand during her first world tour made her reconsider her thoughts on war. It is a beautiful story in the book, and she also said that as she ages, she finds her views on government, social engineering, poverty, education and inequality have evolved.

Her love of New York City was discussed, and she got the most applause at the mention of her foundation,  New York Restoration Project, which plants trees (one million is their goal) and cleans up parks and public areas and creates gardens. When they say that one person can't make a difference, you can point to Ms. Midler and her determination to clean up our city to refute that. She is a good citizen.

At the age of 68, Midler looks fabulous. She has killer legs, and she boasts that she "has the most beautiful body, it can do anything, I can turn into a pretzel. I honor my body, it's my temple. Now go f(expletive deleted) yourself!" (More laughter- this crowd loves the bawdy Ms. Midler.)

Although she wanted to be a rocker, Midler admits she will be remembered most for her ballads, such as "From a Distance" and "Wind Beneath My Wings". Some of her personal favorites are "Shiver Me Timbers", "Hello In There" and "Some People's Lives".

She ended her 45 minute talk saying "It's nice to be with book lovers in a New York City crowd!". We all concurred.

Ms. Midler signed books and CDs, and when it was my turn, I told her we had met last year in Luke's Lobster and that I saw her in her one woman Broadway show, I'll Eat You Last, and loved her performance. She looked at me and said very sincerely  "Thank you so much for that- that's means so much to me."

It was worth the seven hour wait.

On Broadway- Two Women in One-Woman Shows

The Tony Awards are this Sunday, and I recently saw two one-woman shows that were both fantastic.
The shows are both based on famous women known for their work in traditionally male roles. Holland Taylor wrote and stars in Ann, based on the larger-than-life former Texas governor Ann Richards, and Bette Midler returns to Broadway for the first time in 30 years in I'll Eat You Last about uber-agent Sue Mengers.

When I think of the distinctive look of Ann Richards, I do not think of Holland Taylor, best known to most people for her portrayal of Jon Cryer and Charlie Sheen's mother in Two and Half Men. But once she gets onstage in the makeup and the wig, I thought I was looking at Ann Richards herself.

The first act of the show has Richards giving a commencement speech and telling her life story. Taylor has the mannerisms and the Texas accent down pat, and the first act is the stronger one in my opinion. We learn that she adored her daddy, but got her toughness from her mama. They didn't have much money, and when her daddy went to San Diego during WWII, she and her mama moved there too.

It was in San Diego that the young Ann saw diversity; she went to school with Mexicans, Asians, black children, people she didn't see in her part of Texas. It was here that she learned the compassion for others that informed her political career.

The second act takes place in the Texas governor's office, where we hear but don't see her secretary, voiced by the brilliant Julie White. Taylor is constantly on the phone with her friend President Clinton, her speechwriter, other staff members and her adult children. Hearing her arrange a family vacation had me chuckling, as I realized even with her busy job, it's always up to Mom to organize the family stuff.

Richard is nominated for a Tony for her performance, and she should be a contender. She brings this vibrant, tough, witty woman to life in this truly all-American story.

Midler is an entertainment icon, and I thought it might be difficult for audiences to see her onstage as a character different from her Divine Miss M persona we are used to. I need't have worried. From the moment we see her seated on her couch in her vibrant turquoise kaftan on the gorgeous set in I'll Eat You Last, she simply is Sue Mengers.

The story takes place on the day that Mengers finds out that her friend and biggest client, Barbra Streisand had fired her. She is waiting by her ever-present phone for a call from Barbra and as she waits, she unspools how she got here.

Mengers was a German immigrant who came to America with her parents. She lived with her parents near Utica, New York and didn't speak English. When her father died, she and her mother moved to New York City, and Mengers fell in love with the movies.

She decided that she wanted to be in that industry, but knew she wasn't pretty enough to be an actress. After getting a job as a secretary at the William Morris Agency, she learned all she could about being an agent.

Mengers climbed the ropes and became the first super-agent. She had many major clients, most of the big names in the 1970s  (Ryan O'Neal, Gene Hackman, Candice Bergen, Cher), and she drops them all in this show.

There are many great stories in this show, and we watch as Mengers tries to steal Sissy Spacek from another agent over the phone. Midler is just fantastic in this show, and she talks so fast, I can't imagine how many pages of script she had to memorize.

Mengers was a woman who 'leaned-in' to her career, long before that term was popular. Her career was  everything to her, and when it was over, when the business changed, she was left with just hosting her fabulous and infamous dinner parties, where the food, booze, pot and gossip flowed freely.

I'll Eat You Last is hilarious, full of gut-busting lines and when it is over, you feel like you were seated next to Mengers at one of her parties.

Bothe Mengers and Richards embody what is great about America- if you set a goal, work hard toward that goal and don't let anyone stop you, you can be whatever you want to be. Young women should see these great shows if only to learn that.

Both of these shows are worth the price of a full-priced ticket, but you can get discount tickets for Ann.

The Ann  website is here.
I'll Eat You Last 's website is here.
You can see Bette Midler on CBS Sunday Morning below.