On Broadway- Falsettos

The performances in the revival of the Broadway musical Falsettos are fantastic. Christian Borle once again shows why he is the recipient of two recent Tony awards in his role of Marvin, a man who has left his wife and young son for another man.

That man, Whizzer, is beautifully played by Andrew Rannells, who people will know from his role in The Book Of Mormon and on HBO's Girls. Marvin wants to have his family and Whizzer too, something Marvin's wife Trina is struggling with. The luminous and amazingly talented Stephanie J. Block shines as Trina, and in a show that is nearly all music (like Les Miserables), she has the showstopper of a song I'm Breaking Down, which she performs with such a gusto the audience rewards her with sustained applause.

Young Anthony Rosenthal plays tween son Jason in his Broadway debut and he has a huge career ahead of him. He matches the adults with his acting, singing and dancing, and his poise is shocking for someone so young.

I saw Falsettos the day after the election and there is one song, titled Trina's Song, sung by Stephanie J. Block. When she sang the line "I'm tired of all the childish, frightened men who have all the power", the audience began to applaud, which Block clearly did not expect. The applause started slowly and then built until she had to take a moment before continuing. Theater can create empathy and bring people together in a very specific way, and I witnessed it on this day.

I can't say that the show was my favorite, but the performances were spectacular. The harmony of voices blending together was stunning and filled my heart with joy, even in a show that brings the audience to tears.

There are discount tickets available for Falsettos, and I highly recommend it for the performances by some of Broadway's best actors working on the stage today. The website for Falsettos is here.

On Broadway- A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder

I tried two times to see the 2014 Tony Award-winning musical A Gentlemen's Guide to Love and Murder. The first time I bought a ticket, the brilliant Jefferson Mays, who plays nine roles in the show was out with a back injury. The second time I tried to buy a ticket, I found that the regular Wednesday matinee was cancelled because they added an extra Sunday evening show on Columbus Day weekend.

Just when I thought I wouldn't get a chance to see it, I saw that the Actor's Fund was selling tickets to the show a few days before it closed. I guess the third time is the charm.

The show was fabulous, so funny and charming, and the performances were fantastic. Bryce Pinkham plays Monty, a young destitute man in 1909 who discovers that he is 9th in line to be an heir to a fortune. If only the eight ahead of him were dead...

The rest of the show is Monty scheming to murder the eight, all played brilliantly by Jefferson Mays in a phenomenally physical performance. He is just a comic genius!

Pinkham is fabulous as well, and what a wonderful singing voice he has. The musical highlight of the show is a song he sings as he strives to keep his mistress and fiancee from discovering each other. Scarlett Strallen as the mistress has the showier role and she makes the most of it. Catherine Walker also shines as the fiancee.

Pinkham and Mays were both nominated for Tonys and it is clear why. I loved this show, it was a perfect anecdote to the winter blues and it was clear that the rest of the audience agreed with me.

If A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder comes to your town on tour, go see it. You won't regret it.


Here is the video from their Tony performance.

On Broadway- The King and I

You know you are in for something special in the new Broadway production of The King and I as it opens as a huge ship moves along the stage and out into the audience.

Kelli O'Hara has finally won a Tony for her role as Anna, the English widow who brings her son to Siam when she takes a job as a teacher to the King of Siam's many children in the 1860s. O'Hara is simply stunning as Anna, letting us see how steely Anna must be to hold her own in a land where women are relegated to an inferior role.

Jose Llana played the King in the performance I saw (the role has seen two Kings since he departed), and he did a masterful job in a very demanding and dialogue-heavy role. He and O'Hara had a wonderful chemistry, especially in the audience pleasing song and dance of "Shall We Dance?", one of the highlights of the show.

I'd never seen the show, and was so impressed with this glorious production. Everything from the sets to the costumes to the music and choreography were perfectly done.

The young actors who play the King's children are delightful, and O'Hara clearly enjoys her scenes with them. Her interactions with the wives is interesting too. As hard as it seems, Ruthie Ann Miles steals the scene from O'Hara as she leaves the audience breathless when she sings "Something Wonderful". She received a standing ovation in the middle of the show for it.

It is a very long show, but you are so absorbed in this amazing production, you will jump to your feet at the end of the show to applaud this pitch-perfect production. The King and I is a show worth seeing, even if you have to pay full price for a ticket. You will get you money's worth.

More information about the show is here.

Broadway's Something Rotten at Barnes & Noble

The cast of the fabulous Broadway show, Something Rotten, made an appearance at Barnes & Noble on the Upper East Side in NYC to promote the CD release of the cast recording of the show. They sang three fantastic songs from this amazing show, and then signed CDs.

The cast of Something Rotten

I saw the show last month and it is the one show I would recommend to everyone. The premise is that Nigel (John Cariani) and Nick (Brian d'Arcy James) Bottom are brothers who are playwrights in England at the same time as Shakespeare. Nick doesn't understand why everyone thinks Shakespeare is so great, and Nigel worships the man.

The Bottom brothers need a hit, and Nick goes to visit Nostradamus (the fabulous Tony-nominated Brad Oscar) to see if he can find out what kind of show he needs to write to have a hit show. This results in the show-stopping tune A Musical that contains snippets of songs from some of the most iconic Broadway musicals of all time (Annie, Rent, Sweet Charity, Chicago, Phantom of the Opera-you get the idea). The audience gave this number a middle-of-the-show standing ovation, something I've only seen once, for the Genie in Aladdin, played by Tony winner James Monroe Iglehart.

Shakespeare in the show is portrayed by the brilliant Christian Borle, who won the Tony for his portrayal of Shakespeare as a combination of Prince/James Brown/Mick Jagger. He was born to play this role, similar to his other Tony-winning performance as Black Stache in Peter and the Star Catcher. (He's  a nice guy too. And Brian d'Arcy James has the most beautiful eyes and the kindest smile.)


Other standouts in the cast include Heidi Blickenstaff as Nick's wife Bea, Michael James Scott as Minstrel and Brooks Ashmanskas as Brother Jeremiah.

At Barnes and Noble, they opened with another great number, God, I Hate Shakespeare, which highlights the terrific talents of Brian d'Arcy James (Nick) and John Cariani (Nigel). These guys have a great brotherly chemistry.


Cariani and Kate Reinders sang the next song, the sweetly comedic I Love the Way.


Christian Borle finished the performances with the Queen-sounding Hard to Be the Bard, which is also a favorite from the show.


This is the perfect show- funny, great songs, and a fantastic cast- and it is a must-see even at full price.
The Something Rotten website is here.

On Broadway- Beautiful- The Carole King Musical

Looking through the Musical Numbers list in the Playbill for Beautiful- The Carole King Musical, you're likely to start humming all of the songs that you grew up with and know so well. (Though I could have done without the man next to me humming every single song during the show- not cool dude.)

Jessie Mueller won a well deserved Tony as Best Actress in a Musical last year for her brilliant and uncanny portrayal of songwriter/singer/icon Carole King. She absolutely embodies the spirit of Brooklyn born and raised King, and when she sings, you'd swear Carole King is right there.

The story takes us from Carole's teenage years, when she met the dreamy Gerry Goffin, who wrote a play and needs music for it. Carole and Gerry fall in love, become a songwriting team and then marry and become young parents.

King and Goffin end up working for Don Kirshner, where they meet and compete with another couple- Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. As played by Jarrod Spector (who many will recognize from his long-running role as Frankie Valli in Jersey Boys) and Anika Larsen, who is a dead ringer for a young Julianne Moore, Spector and Larsen are fabulous, and a show could have easily been written about their fascinating characters.

We see King struggle with her husband's infidelity and possible mental illness, all while trying to be a good mom and striving to be a successful songwriter and be fulfilled creatively. When you realize all of the great songs this foursome is responsible for- Will You Love Me Tomorrow, Up On The Roof, You've Lost That Loving Feeling, A Natural Woman- it is stunning.

Everything works in this show: the music, the story, the acting. It reminds me of Jersey Boys in that respect; it's a terrific musical with a interesting story behind it. For those who came of age in the 1960s, when music changed so much in just a decade, it is a wonderful trip back through the music of their life. Let's just say, you will be searching out the music for this one on ITunes.

Mueller has left the show, and I am curious to see how replacement Chilina Kennedy does; she certainly has big shoes to fill. Beautiful is a show to see even at full price.
The website for Beautiful is here.

I finally saw Broadway's NEXT TO NORMAL

I have been meaning for a very long time to see Broadway's Next to Normal. My friend Paula, who ushers at Second Stage Theatre, saw it off-Broadway and told me how good it was and I said "I've got to see it", but I didn't.

Then a few weeks ago it won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and I said I have to see it. I went to the website and saw that J. Robert Spencer, who plays Dan, the husband, was leaving soon, and again I said "I have to see it". Finally, I got an email offering $50 tickets for a few performances, and when plans that I had for one of those nights fell through, I bought my ticket. And I was glad I did.

The show is about a mother of two who is battling mental illness. Alice Ripley won a Tony last year for her performance as Diana, the troubled mother. The show also won a Best Score Tony. Both awards were very well deserved, as Ripley is fantastic, both humorous and heartbreaking in her showy role, and the music is terrific. It's a rock score, like Rent, and the band actually plays on the stage, well, above the stage.

The play reminded me of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner, August:Osage County, in that the subject matter is a family in crisis, and the story takes the viewer on an emotional journey. You really feel wrung out by the end of the show.

Jennifer Damiano plays the daughter Natalie, an artistic high school high achiever who is struggling with her mother's illness and finds a kind boyfriend in Henry, played in the performance I saw by understudy Brian Crum. Damiano has a powerful voice, and I am sure we will see a lot of her in the future. She hits all the right notes of being a teenager.

Kyle Dean Massey plays son Gabe, and he is a whirlwind on the stage, bringing a huge energy to his dancing and singing, along with his underlying anger at his family. He's very easy on the eyes too.

While the showier role is Diana, the heart of the show belongs to Spencer's father, Dan. Spencer really breaks your heart as a man torn between caring for his wife, who doesn't seem to get any better no matter what kind of therapy she gets, and trying to give his daughter a normal life. I loved his performance; it was full of nuance, sadness, anger and confusion.

My only problem with the show, and this is one I find frequently with rock scores, is that the music sometimes drowns out the singing, and the overlapping singing makes it difficult to understand the lyrics at times. To get the full effect of the show, you need to buy the soundtrack CD, which in this case is a good buy. It's filled with great performances from to bottom, especially "Superboy and the Invisible Girl" a duet between the siblings.

Next to Normal is a near-perfect show; it has the power of a great dramatic play and a wonderful score that makes it a musical not to be missed. Paula was so right!