DON WE NOW OUR GAY APPAREL

I could have titled this post “ON A QUEER DAY” – but that would be too easy.

Early last week I say the new revised production of ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER with Harry Connick Jr at the St James Theatre in NYC.  As I previously mentioned – the new book turns Daisy Gamble into David Gamble, in a relationship with a less quirky Warren, although Melinda Wells remains a woman (but she is now a 1940’s jazz singer).

As also previously mentioned – OACD was my high school senior play, and I was in the chorus and had three minor roles, including a solo dance number.

Hey, Neil Patrick Harris, I thought you told us “Broadway is not just for gays anymore” at this year’s TONY Awards.

While giving Daisy a penis (which is awkward and totally unnecessary), the new book takes away the character’s ESP.  This does not cause too many gaps, but it does make the doctor calling for Daisy/David to “Come Back to Me” from his office a bit silly.  The opening “Hey Buds Below” number is now set in a florist shop as David “talks” to the flowers he is arranging, instead of as a demonstration of her “power” in the doctor’s office.

As I expected, the two songs from the Victorian England past life are gone – including the very witty “Don’t Tamper With My Sister”, the lyrics of which include the politician’s credo - “A sin is not a sin until a sin is seen” (“so let us misdemean where lights are low”).  While I missed this song, I can live with the change in past life.

New songs, from Lerner and Lane’s movie ROYAL WEDDING and the Barbra Streisand movie adaptation of the musical, are added.  Those added to facilitate the new past life fit in appropriately, as does a duet by David and his female roommate.  But the “songlets” from the movie that are sung by Harry Connick Jr, like the sex change of the Daisy character, seem awkward and unnecessary.

The book is not updated to present day, but an extra decade is added on to accommodate the past life timeline.

While I will agree that there was a problem with the ending – in the original book Daisy leaves her fiancé Warren and she and the doctor “unite to explore their extraordinary future” – I do not recall there being much else wrong with the story or its development.  The new book does good by making the doctor a widow who has not gotten over the untimely death of his wife, and fixes the ending (although it still needs a bit more tweak).  And, as I said above, I can accept the change in past life, with the doctor interacting more with the “previous” Daisy/David.   

The gratuitous gaiety, while totally unnecessary, is not, thankfully, offensive.  The gay couple plays it, pardon the pun, straight.  Neither one is overly “flamboyant”.  And the Warren character works better as a “normal” beau, especially for the ending.  The sex change does add a strange and comic undertone to the song “What Did I Have I Don’t Have Now”, although it is still powerful. 

I do not like the removal of the sub-plot about a Greek shipping magnate funding the doctor’s research so he can find out who his next life will be and leave his fortune to him, singing “When I’m Being Born Again”.  The song remains, but now is song by the doctor’s students. 

So take away the penis, the plot device of using the story as a case study presentation at a psychiatry conference, the awkward songlets from the movie, return the ESP and the Greek, and keep the change in past life, the revised Warren, the new female colleague pining for the doctor, and the rewritten ending and you will have a great production.   

The bottom line – I liked the current revival better than I thought I would.  It certainly was not as bad as the reviews I read before seeing the show would lead you to believe.  The actors are good and, of course, the score is great (which I already knew).  HCJ was better in THE PAJAMA GAME, but is ok here.   

Let us hope changing the sex of musical comedy characters does not become a trend.  The last thing I would want to see is Miss Adelaide become Mr. Adelaide, and the Hot Box Dancers become an All Male Revue!

SURFLIGHT THEATRE 2012 SEASON

The Surflight Theate in Beach Haven (on Long Beach Island) has announced its 2012 schedule of shows.

The theater's 2012 season will include -

·      THE RAT PACK REVUE (April 18-May 6) celebrating the Swingin’ 60s with Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., and Frank Sinatra,

·      ALL I ASK OF YOU – A TRIBUTE TO ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER (May 26-June 16),

·      ANNIE (June 19-July 21),

·      Rodgers and Hammerstein’s THE SOUND OF MUSIC (July 24-August 25),

·      ONCE UPON A TIME IN NEW JERSEY (August 28-September 16), an all-new and entirely original musical comedy that is “The Sopranos” meets “Happy Days”,

·      STEEL MAGNOLIAS (September 19-October 7),

·      I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE (October 10-21) , touted as “Seinfeld set to music,

·      Neil Simon’s BAREFOOT IN THE PARK (October 24-November 4), and

·      IRVING BERLIN’S WHITE CHRISTMAS (November 23-December 21).   

You will be able to order tickets online beginning in January.

TTFN

ANYTHING BUT TAXES - FINE WHINE

Hey, Neil Patrick Harris - what’s the story?  I thought you assured us that “it’s not just for gays anymore”!  Broadway, that is.

The new revival of ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER starring Harry Connick Jr, which is coming to the St James Theatre in November, has the cogliones to rewrite Broadway legend Alan Jay Lerner’s original book, turning the story gay.  The new book replaces flake Daisy Gamble with fruit David Gamble, still “affianced” to “perfect” boyfriend Warren.  At least they have kept the “past life” persona, who Connick Jr’s character falls in love with, a female - which adds a new dimension to the song “What Did I Have That I Don’t Have?”!

I could consider trying to understand the updating of the Melinda character from Victorian England to the 1940’s jazz scene – although it would appear that this could cause the loss of the witty song “Don’t Tamper With My Sister” (“A sin is not a sin until a sin is seen.  So let us misdemean where lights are low.”).  But I see no reason at all for gaying it up.  I say, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.  And AJL’s script was certainly not broken.

I saw the original Broadway production of OACDYCSF, with Barbara Harris, John Cullum, and William Daniels, when I was 12, and it was my Senior Play in high school (I was in the chorus and had two small parts).

The same thing was done with Rodgers and Hammerstein’s FLOWER DRUM SONG, which I also saw on Broadway as a child, a few years ago.  The revival rewrote Oscar Hammerstein’s book.  However, I did not see that production, so I cannot properly comment on the changes.

I do intend to see the OACD revival – to see how badly the original has been FU-ed.

TTFN   

AN EVENING WITH LUCILLE BALL

Just wanted to tell you about a great show I saw last Tuesday at the Surflight Theatre in Beach Haven on Long Beach Island.

Actually I saw two great shows at Surflight.   On Sunday afternoon I saw the last performance of ALL HANDS ON DECK, a review of WW2-era music patterned after a USO radio broadcast, and on Tuesday afternoon I saw the first performance of AN EVENING WITH LUCILLE BALL: “THANK YOU VERY MUCH”, a one-woman show about, well, Lucille Ball, presented as one of the Q+A evenings that Ms Ball did in the mid-70s.

The LUCY show starred Suzanne LaRusch and was written by Ms LaRusch and Lucie Arnaz and directed by Lucie Arnaz.  It also featured the recorded voices of various related parties as the question-askers. 

We were fortunate that Lucie Arnaz (whom I had seen twice on Broadway with Robert Klein in THEY’RE PLAYING OUR SONG) was in the area for a concert and was at the performance.  After the show she and Suzanne did their own Q+A with the audience.

I had also seen Lucille Ball on Broadway in WILDCAT as a child.

The show was great – you actually thought you were watching Lucy on stage.  She talked about her life as a model in NYC, told some “behind the scenes” tales about I LOVE LUCY, and admitted that Desi Arnaz was the love of her life.

AN EVENING WITH LUCILLE BALL will be at Surflight through October 16 – so there is still time to get tickets.

TTFN   

SURFLIGHT FALL OFFERINGS

A recent visit to the website of New Jersey’s Surflight Theatre in Beach Haven on Long Beach Island introduced me to the theatre’s fall offerings.

Here is what I found –

(1) ALL HANDS ON DECK! - Sept 21 - Oct. 2

ALL SINGING! ALL DANCING! ALL BIG BAND! Based on Bob Hope's 1942 USO tour to the troops in the field, ALL HANDS ON DECK! is a new, two-act revue performed by four sparkling singer/dancer/comics and a 9-piece orchestra featuring the songs, dances and laughs that America has loved since the '40s.

ALL HANDS ON DECK! boasts over 40 classic Big Band hits in original arrangements all packaged in a fun-filled, true-to-life reproduction of the kind of USO show Bob Hope and Jack Benny would have taken to the troops: classic humor and great music from those special days of road shows, war-bond drives, and radio broadcasts.

(2) AN EVENING WITH LUCILLE BALL: “THANK YOU FOR ASKING - Oct. 4 – 16

A celebration of the first lady of television, An Evening with Lucille Ball: “Thank You for Asking” is a touching, funny and uplifting one-woman play performed by actress and renowned impressionist, Suzanne LaRusch, and written by Suzanne LaRusch & Lucie Arnaz. Crafted in the spirit of the amusing lectures Lucy enjoyed giving throughout her career, the evening recreates the comic genius and the magic behind the “Queen of Comedy.” Arnaz also directs the piece with her award winning knowledge of the theatre and of her mother!

Lucy guides us through the lifetime of personal memories inspiring her timeless sketches on “I Love Lucy,” her 30-year television career and never-before heard personal recollections about her tempestuous and complicated marriage to Cuban bandleader turned impresario, Desi Arnaz. It’s the Lucy the whole world loved – from "Ricardo" to "Mame" – but, more importantly, it’s an evening with the REAL Lucy, as you’ve never seen her before.

(3) FOREVER PLAID, PLAID TIDINGS - Nov 25 - Dec 23

Another Surflight premiere! A Special Holiday Edition of the hit musical Forever Plaid, PLAID TIDINGS continues the story of the singing group whose lives were lost in an accident involving a busload of teens en route to see "The Ed Sullivan Show." Encouraged by a heavenly phone call from Rosemary Clooney, the high-spirited boys of Forever Plaid – Frankie, Sparky, Jinx and Smudge – are transported from the ethereal cosmos to stage a nostalgic holiday extravaganza for world-weary mortals on Earth. Stuffed with such "Plaid-erized" Christmas standards as "Mr. Santa," "Let It Snow" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," this PLAID TIDINGS is one holiday treat that is truly heaven-sent.

I would like to see all three – I just have to check my calendar. Maybe I will see you at one of the productions!

Click here for more info and to order tickets.

TTFN

GREAT PERFORMANCES

I hate to sweat – to the oldies or to anything else! I don’t work out (something you can easily tell if you ever met me). I don’t like traveling to hot climates (my major complaint with the NATP is that its Annual Conference is always held at the height of the summer in the hottest places in the country), and I hate summer weather.

So why did I leave the relative comfort of my air conditioned and heavily “fanned” railroad flat for three days at the shore? It just so happened that I, coincidently, booked three theatrical events for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, July 23rd – 25th.

Saturday was a performance of XANADU by the ReVision Theatre in the Carousel building just off the Boardwalk at the border of Ocean Grove and Asbury Park (on the AP side). I had been there last year to see ReVision’s production of THE BIKINIS.

I have never seen the movie (Gene Kelly’s last musical), a famous financial and artistic bomb, and had no intention of paying $100+ to see the Broadway production. But the intimate setting of the Carousel building was a great venue and the show turned out to be a lot of fun. It is more a spoof of the movie than an adaptation, with some new twists thrown in, and its “in-jokes” were a big part of the fun. The cast was great, especially Kira (the muse Clio, who as part of her human disguise, decides to adapt an Australian accent).

I actually didn’t mind joining the rest of the audience in porcine imitations. Hand fans were given out with the playbills, which helped a bit, and I was able to cool off during intermission by standing in front of a large electric fan.

Unfortunately the last performance was July 24th, so it is no longer playing. The next ReVision production at the Carousel building is RUDE AWAKENING, perhaps the last musical I would ever want to see.

FYI, before the evening’s performance I had my usual lobster bisque and Veal Sinatra at Giamano’s in Bradley Beach. Between courses the lights went out, some kind of selective brown out (the light on the men’s room sign and apparently the electricity in the basement was working – but lights in other buildings on the street, and the street lights, were also out). The brown out did not affect the ability to cook, and I was able to finish my, as usual, excellent dinner entree. But with no air conditioning it was getting too uncomfortable to stay for dessert and coffee, so I managed to save some money and avoid some calories as well.

Sunday was a matinee “community theatre” performance of SOUTH PACIFIC at the Axelrod Performing Arts Center in the Jewish Community Center of Greater Monmouth County, just off Route 71 in Deal.

This was one of three new (to me) theatre companies I discovered in a recent NEW JERSEY magazine article on what to do down the shore. The others were the NJ Repertory Company in Long Branch, where I saw THE JUDY HOLIDAY STORY a few weeks back, and a theatre in Spring Lake, where I will be seeing THE SOUND OF MUSIC in mid-August.

I was somewhat disappointed with the “Our Gang” community theatre in Ocean County earlier in the year, but was very pleased with this company. The semi-professional, although not Equity, leads, and the rest of the cast, were excellent, as was the orchestra (often a bit “iffy” in community theatre). It was as professional a production as any I have seen at any Equity house.

The Sunday matinee I attended was the final performance of the run, so again you will not have the opportunity to see it. You can click here for a YOU TUBE “ad” for the show. No future theatrical productions are currently advertised, though there are some good concert offerings (see end of post). I look forward to returning here in the future.

Saturday and Sunday I stayed in Neptune, and managed to get two loads of laundry done while there. Despite, or perhaps because of, the excessive heat the shore was “chock-a-block”. After breakfast on Monday morning I headed south on the Parkway to Beach Haven on Long Beach Island for my third performance.

It was a bit cooler on LBI, and I was able to enjoy bay breezes while reading my latest mystery book in one of the gazebos in the park behind the Bay Village mall.

My reason for visiting LBI was a 6:00 pm performance by the John Pizzarelli Quartet at the Surflight Theatre. The quartet is made up of, as Jonathan Schwartz introduces them each year on his Christmas show, “everybody in the world named Pizzarelli” – John, his brother Martin on base, and, a surprise addition, his father Bucky – and drummer Tony Tedesco. It is the ultimate cabaret act, and they did their cabaret act of American popular standards. Bucky, at age 85, is still a nimble guitarist showing no signs of aging.

It was a reunion of sort for John – in the audience was his, and his brother’s, 5th grade teacher, a fellow musician with whom he played in the eighth grade, and a member of his high school class. Also in the audience was Jo Anne Worley, who will soon be appearing at Surflight with Cindy Williams in the female version of the ODD COUPLE.

As expected the quartet did the long version of I LIKE JERSEY BEST, including the various “cover” versions by Bob Dylan, the Beach Boys, Lou Reed, Paul Simon, and Billy Holliday among others. During the song John commented, “it is good to have an audience that understands the song”.

During the early years of my tenure at the Summit Art Center (now the Center for Visual Arts of New Jersey) John and Bucky appeared together at one of the Sunday jazz concerts. Unfortunately I was the receptionist that day and could not watch their performance as I had to stay in the office and answer the phones. Now, some 25+ years later, I finally get to see the show.

It was a perfect ending to a 3-day week-end of great performances!

FYI, the Axelrod Center will host John Pizzarelli in concert (“A Special Evening Featuring the Songs of Frank Sinatra With the Swing 7 Band”) at 8:00 pm Thursday, August 18th. If you go you may see me in the audience.

Unfortunately when I got back to my home office the GD extensions were still waiting to be done!
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TTFN

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

I have returned from a brief, but wonderfully 1040-Free, 4 days in Sullivan County NY, staying in Narrowsburg NY. Despite the brutal heat (as the audience left the theatre after Wednesday’s matinee performance the Producer was announcing that it was 97 degrees) I managed to survive – and finished reading my first Stuart Woods Will Lee mystery and my second and third of James Patterson’s Women’s Murder Club books.

The reason for the timing of my trip (while it had also hopefully been to celebrate my finished the GD extensions – but that was true wishful thinking) was to see a musical comedy titled IDAHO in a new venue for me – the Forestburgh Playhouse in Forestburgh NY.

After having been somewhat disappointed with the relative amateur nature of the OUR GANG theatre company in Ocean County (minutes from LBI) I was truly pleased and delighted with my introduction to the Forestburgh Playhouse.

I actually do not remember how I first came across the existence of the Playhouse – it was probably last fall while visiting the area in a tourist guide or some similar publication. It has apparently been around for some 50 years – although under various names over the years. I “Googled” it earlier in the year and checked out its current season.

In addition to old standards MAN OF LA MANCHA and CHICAGO, which I had seen several times before (on Broadway and in regional theatre), was the new musical IDAHO. Here is how it was described –

“A bawdy, original, laugh-out-loud musical comedy that pays homage to Broadway’s Golden Age classics! Tater country is turned spud-side-up in IDAHO! When a mail order bride comes to town and falls in love with the wrong man. Born (out of wedlock) from the golden age of musical comedy comes a new love story . . . a twisted tale of wife stealin’, spud peeling’ and double dealin’ at a time when men were men and Aunt Pearlie carried the shotgun.”

The theatre looked like it had once been a barn. There was only one level – no mezzanine or balcony. And, again a pleasant surprise, it is apparently an equity house. Because it was, based on the directions, in the middle of the back country of NY I chose the Wednesday matinee so as to be traveling each way in daylight. While, at 57, I may not have been the youngest member of the audience, the number of those younger than me could be counted on one hand.

The show turned out to be an excessively, although not offensively, bawdy (a difficult balance to maintain – and proven by the fact that it appeared none of the senior citizen audience walked out) send up of OKLAHOMA, complete with a rousing production number in which the cast spells out the name of the state.

It starts out with “Heck It’s A Helluva Day”. The handsome lead sings about his “Tater Wagon” (without fringe). There is a dream ballet. The cast includes a girl who can’t say no (she once “dated” a soldier named Charley Company) who sings “The Boys Are Never Put Out . . . Because I Do”. While everything may have been up to date in Kansas City, this musical tells us “Boise’s Just As Noisy As Kin Be”. The villain of the piece is not Jud, but Jed. And, borrowing from another R+H classic, the matriarchal Aunt leads the cast in singing an inspirational (You’ll Never Walk Alone – like) “Screw Up Your Courage” (“Don’t be a pansy and piss in your pants – screw up your courage!). And during the Tater Festival the Aunt even started to sing about the fact that the potato grower and the cattleman should be friends, but the song was interrupted and never finished.

The show was great, an as-promised laugh-out-loud (which I did) musical comedy. I was surprised to learn that it had been an entry in last year’s New York Musical Theatre Festival, productions of which I attend each year. How could I have missed it? Definitely two thumbs up from me.

While I will not be returning to the Forestburgh Playhouse again this year, I look forward to the announcement of next year’s schedule.

TTFN

AND THE WINNER IS

The answer to my latest Broadway Trivia Contest is “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught”.

I got one correct answer – from fellow tax blogger and fellow theatre aficionado Trish McIntire of OUR TAXING TIMES.

Even after SOUTH PACIFIC opened the song was highly criticized and, according to Wikipedia, was “judged by some to be too controversial or downright inappropriate for the musical stage”.

Wikipedia goes on –

“Rodgers and Hammerstein risked the entire South Pacific venture in light of legislative challenges to its decency or supposed Communist agenda. While on a tour of the Southern United States, lawmakers in Georgia introduced a bill outlawing entertainment containing ‘an underlying philosophy inspired by Moscow’. One legislator said that ‘a song justifying interracial marriage was implicitly a threat to the American way of life’.”

James Michener, author of the book “Tales of The South Pacific” upon which SOUTH PACIFIC was based, explained, "The authors {R+H – rdf} replied stubbornly that this number represented why they had wanted to do this play, and that even if it meant the failure of the production, it was going to stay in."

We’ve come a long way, baby!

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For those of you unfamiliar with the song it is sung by the character Lieutenant Cable and is preceded by Cable saying racism is "not born in you! It happens after you’re born...". Here are the lyrics -

..

You've got to be taught

To hate and fear,

You've got to be taught

From year to year,

It's got to be drummedIn your dear little ear

You've got to be carefully taught.
.

You've got to be taught to be afraid

Of people whose eyes are oddly made,

And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,

You've got to be carefully taught.

.
You've got to be taught before it's too late,

Before you are six or seven or eight,

To hate all the people your relatives hate,

You've got to be carefully taught!

.
TTFN

ANOTHER BROADWAY TRIVIA CONTEST!

While I have not received many responses to similar posts in the past – I thought I would try a Broadway Trivia Contest once again in lieu of BUZZ this holiday week-end.

The winner will receive a free copy of my THE 2010 edition of my special report “ITEMIZED DEDUCTIONS: A COMPLETE GUIDE TO SCHEDULE A”.

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s SOUTH PACIFIC was having a bit of trouble during its out of town try-outs. It appears the show was running a bit long. Thoughts were turned to how to trim a few minutes from the production.

Several suggestions were made to cut a little song from the 2nd Act. But Richard and Oscar would not have it – they were adamant in their support of this song. Their response was - if the song was cut they might as well close the show out of town. Since R+H were the producers the song remained.

What is that song?

You can provide your answer either via a comment to this post, or by sending an email, with BROADWAY TRIVIA CONTEST in the subject line, to rdftaxpro@yahoo.com.

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TTFN

BEACH BLANKET BINGO

Thomas Morrissey, Producing Artistic Director of the ReVision Theatre in Asbury Park, emailed me to ask what I thought of the company’s production of THE BIKINIS. Below is my response/review-

My initial interest in seeing the ReVision Theatre’s world premiere production of THE BIKINIS, presented in the section of the old Casino building at the Ocean Grove/Asbury Park NJ border that once housed a carousel, concerned the venue. The fact that the production showcased the music of my youth, specifically the early 60s, sealed the deal.

I learned of the production from a review in the Asbury Park Press that I read on a midweek visit to the Jersey shore. Upon returning home I booked a ticked for last Sunday evening online.

It was a great performance. It was good to hear all those songs of the 60s and beyond performed live. The 4 BIKINIS themselves (Cheryl Freeman, Annie Golden, Kathy Morath and Karyn Quackenbush – all professional musical theatre veterans) were excellent, both in their solo performances and their group numbers.

The show is in the same mold as off-Broadway’s THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES, which features the music of the 50’s – and just as good.

The actual plot of the musical is really immaterial – just a way to “explain” the context of the performance and to provide some back story filler between songs. The idea chosen is as good as any other option. My only complaint with the plot, which seems to have been shared by other reviewers, is that nobody in their right mind would turn down $1 Million to hang on to a spot in a trailer park (excuse me - mobile home resort). The specific back-story of the BIKINIS group was much more interesting and well-written.

My only other complaint is with the Second Act construction. The First Act was practically perfect – the girls reminiscing about the summers of their high school years, and the progress of the group toward its goal to be on AMERICAN BANDSTAND, in between songs from the period (“It’s In His Kiss”, “Shop Around”, ‘Under the Boardwalk”, ‘Where the Boys Are”, etc). The Second Act was all over the place, going from the “summer of love” to the disco era. While the performances in the Second Act were just as good as those of the First, and again it was good to hear these songs again, it strayed from the basic premise. And why was an original country-western song thrown in among the “covers”. I can understand the two original 60’s-styled songs in the show – the two sides of the group’s demo 45 – but the CW number, while again very good, was out of place.

Perhaps the show should have began in 1962 instead of 1964 and run without an intermission. Or the Second Act could have dealt more with the girls’ college-age years of 1967 through 1971, a period that was pretty much given only minimal representation in the musical, showing the contrast between the music, and the culture, of the two distinct periods.

I was impressed with the layout of the small space available within the “Carousel Building”. The seating was arranged to accommodate a relatively large audience – bigger than I expected, and the stage area was not cramped. It looked to me like a full house on Sunday night. While this site is especially suited for summer performances I would hope that with the right enhancements it could be turned into a year-round venue.

I was not aware until the night of the performance that this was the third summer that ReVision Theatre had done shows just off the Boardwalk at the “Carousel House”. I am truly sorry that I missed the previous productions. But as a new member of ReVision Theatre I will not miss out on future offerings.

Unfortunately the last performance in Asbury Park was yesterday. However it is next scheduled to appear in Long Island and, I expect, will continue to travel thereafter. Keep an eye out for it and see it if it comes to your area.

TTFN

IT'S NY MUSICAL THEATRE FESTIVAL TIME!

Last week I purchased my Silver Membership ($100.00 + $7.50 service charge) for the 2010 NEW YORK MUSICAL THEATRE FESTIVAL - and booked the 4 shows that come with the membership.

Inaugurated in 2004, “the New York Musical Theatre Festival provides a launching pad for the next generation of musicals and their creators to ensure the continued vitality of America's greatest art form. We discover, nurture, and promote promising musical theatre artists and producers at all stages of development, and inspire a diverse audience through vibrant, accessible, powerful new work.”

I have been attending the festival’s productions for I think 5 years now. As a Silver Member I get 4 tickets to festival musicals, early booking (I get order my tickets one month before the general public), early seating (I skip to the front of the line for pick of the best seats in the house), and member discounts (I save at area restaurants and partner events). Click here to become a member.

If you do not want to join the ticket price for each performance is only $20.00 – the best bargain in NYC!

Here are the shows I will be going to this October -

I GOT FIRED
Book, Music and Lyrics by Keith Varney

Aspiring writer Keith has been a temp in a wacky office’s soul crushing cubicle for six years. When an evil nemesis emerges to squash his coffee-stained hopes and dreams, Keith makes a decision that causes him to get summarily fired… with security escorts and everything! Naturally he retaliates by writing a musical. Based on a true-ish story. Some names have been changed to protect the guilty.

SHOW CHORUS
Book, Music and Lyrics by Donald Gaverick and Mark McDaniels

International pop phenomenon The Symphonic Sensations rose from small town high school show choir to big time show biz success with an explosion of tight harmonies and jazz hands. As the music bio TV documentary “Beyond the Façade” follows their thrilling path to fame and adoration by millions, the highs and lows of celebrity are exposed in this musical comedy exploration of America’s favorite extracurricular activity.

VOTE FOR ME: A MUSICAL DEBATE
by Drew Fornarola and Scott Elmegreen

Tea Parties, oil spills, death panels...and that's just the opening statements! VOTE FOR ME is a musicalized Presidential debate where you pick the winner. Hum along as the candidates dance and sing their way through the three-ring circus of American politics, and cast your vote to help determine the outcome of the show--and the future of America!

THE MOST RIDICULOUS THING YOU EVER HOID
Book by Andy Seiler, Jim Beckerman, and Fred Wemyss; Lyrics by Jim Beckerman and Andy Seiler; Music by Jim Beckerman - Based on the "Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel" radio series by Nat Perrin, Arthur Sheekman, George Oppenheimer, and Tom McKnight

Who can forget Groucho, Chico and Harpo, those three mirth-makers of the silver screen? No one, that's who! But when the Marx Brothers are let loose in an unsuspecting radio studio, the airwaves will never be safe for detergent commercials again! Featuring all new songs and bursting with mayhem, it’s a laugh-filled, tune-filled, lunacy-filled extravaganza!

TTFN

OH SAY CAN YOU SEE MY EYES? IF YOU CAN THEN MY HAIR’S TOO SHORT!

This past Saturday evening, after a delicious dinner of Veal Bolognese at La Rivista on Restaurant Row, I enjoyed the current Broadway revival of the rock musical HAIR – and watched it win a Tony Award for Best Revival of A Musical on Sunday night.

When I was 5 years old my Uncle Ted, my father’s bachelor brother, took me to see my first Broadway musical – THE MUSIC MAN with Robert Preston. It was a Saturday matinee and we sat in the first row of the Mezzanine. From age 5 through my college years Ted continued to take me to just about every Broadway musical that was “age appropriate” – with few exceptions always a Saturday matinee sitting in the center of the first row Mezzanine (at the revival of A FUNNY THING that starred Phil Silvers we sat next to the star’s sister).

When I was 8 years old my father took me to my first football game – a Rutgers college game I believe. By then I had already seen MY FAIR LADY, CAMELOT, DESTRY RIDES AGAIN (with Andy Griffith), WILDCAT (with Lucille Ball), FLOWER DRUM SONG, THE SOUND OF MUSIC, and others. I was totally bored at the football game. Where is the music? Where is the dancing? To this day I have always been glad that my uncle got to me first.

Unfortunately, because of the brief full frontal nudity that closed the first Act (and still does in the current revival), HAIR was not considered “age appropriate” for a 16 year old – so I did not see the original Broadway production (although we did see several of the forgettable rip-offs that followed during the late 60s and early 70s, including DUDE from HAIR creators Gerome Ragni and Galt MacDermot). I did, however, play my uncle’s Original Broad Cast Album of HAIR constantly during my high school years – so much that I almost wore down the grooves in the record. I finally did get to see a production of HAIR, complete with Act-closing nudity, at Convention Hall in Asbury Park in the early 1970s.

Other than the Asbury Park production I had never seen or heard of HAIR being revived or done by a regional professional or amateur theatre (although there was apparently a 1977 Broadway revival at the Biltmore that ran from August 3rd to November 6th and more recently a special one-night benefit, concert at the New Amsterdam Theatre on September 20, 2004). So I was “pleased as punch” when I heard that the Public Theatre’s Theatre-in-the-Park production would be coming to Broadway.

HAIR, The American Tribal Love Rock Musical, was originally conceived by actors James Rado and Gerome Ragni. They got the idea for the title of the show from a painting of a comb and a few strands of hair on a blank canvas by Jim Dine titled "Hair" in a Whitney Museum exhibition. Rado and Ragni were hooked up with Canadian composer Galt MacDermot when they brought their drafts of the show to producer Eric Blau.

Joe Papp of the New York Shakespeare Festival chose HAIR to open the Festival’s new Public Theater in New York City's Greenwich Village. The musical was the Festival’s first non-Shakespeare offering. HAIR next had a brief run at “The Cheetah”, a discothèque at 53rd Street and Broadway, before being totally overhauled for its move to Broadway. FYI, There was no nudity in either the Public Theater or Cheetah production.

HAIR was a reflection of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, As described in Wikopedia, it “tells the story of the ‘tribe’, a group of politically active, long-haired ‘Hippies of the Age of Aquarius’ fighting against conscription to the Vietnam War and living a bohemian life together in New York City. Claude, his good friend Berger, their roommate Sheila and all their friends struggle to balance their young lives, loves and the sexual revolution with their pacifist rebellion against the war and the conservative impulses of their parents and society. Ultimately Claude must decide whether or not to resist the draft, as his friends have done.”

The main characters of Claude and Berger were autobiographical, Rado's Claude being the pensive romantic and Ragni's Berger the extrovert, and R + R played these roles in the original Broadway production. Also appearing in HAIR during its original Broadway run were Melba Moore, Ronnie Dyson, Diane Keaton, Ben Vereen, Keith Carradine, Barry McGuire, Ted Lange (the Love Boat bartender), Meat Loaf, and Heather MacRae.

The original Broadway production ran for 1750 performances at the Biltmore Theatre, from April 29, 1968 through July 1, 1972. It was nominated for TONYs for Best Musical and Best Director (Tom O’Horgan – who went on to direct LENNY and JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR), as was the revival, but lost out to 1776 in both categories.

There was a film version of HAIR in 1979 directed by Milos Forman and starring John Savage, Treat Williams, and Beverly D'Angelo. Rado and Ragni were quite upset by the film and never approved of it.

In 1990 Ragni, Rado, and MacDermot, with Steve Margoshes, collaborated on an environmental musical called SUN, also known as YMCA, which I saw as part of a series of staged readings of new works at the New Amsterdam Theatre (before it was refurbished). It never got to Broadway. Ragni died of cancer in 1991 before he and Rado could begin work on their planned musical sequel to HAIR.

Saturday’s performance did not disappoint. It was indeed a wild production, with the cast running up and down the aisles and truly interacting “in your face” with the audience, much like the cats of CATS. It was one occasion when I was glad my seat was mid-row on the side instead of on the aisle! The energy that I expect was present during the original 1968 production was certainly onstage Saturday night.

The tribe, led by the excellent Berger and Claude, were great, giving voice to the sentiments of the youth of the late 60’s on war, drugs, sex, pollution, etc. A black member of the “tribe” described the war as “the white man sending the black man to fight the yellow man to defend a land stolen from the red man”.

All the songs I revered as a teenager were there – “Hair”, “Aquarius”, “Let The Sun Shine In”, “Good Morning Starshine”, “Easy To Be Hard”, and “Where Do I Go”, as well as lesser known favorites “Sodomy”, “Colored Spade”, “Initials” (“LBJ took the IRT Down to 4th Street USA. When he got there what did he see? The youth of America on LSD!”), “Black Boys” and “White Boys”.

After the curtain calls the audience flooded the stage to join the cast in a rousing chorus of “Let the Sunshine In”. One sight that would have not been present at the original production – young audience members onstage taking pictures of those who remained in the audience with their cell phones.

Go see HAIR at the Al Hirschfield Theatre on 45th Street. Whether you are a child of the 60s or a member of the current generation you will enjoy it.

FYI, in my early years of Broadway theatre-going with my uncle a ticket for front row Mezzanine was $12.50. My Orchestra ticket for Saturday’s, after the various service fees were added, was $130.00!

This coming Saturday afternoon I am returning to NYC, as part of my "lusty month of ME", to see the comedy DON’T LEAVE IT ALL TO YOUR CHILDREN!, and next Monday night to Town Hall for a revue of the BROADWAY MUSICALS OF 1970 – both tickets purchased through TDF.

THREE DOWN - ONE TO GO

As a Silver Member of the New York Musical Theatre Festival I receive a ticket to four of the festival entries. This past week I saw three of my four selections.
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First up was BEDBUGS – “a Sci-Fi Thriller Comedy Rock Musical” with book and lyrics by Fred Sauter and Music by Paul Leschen – last Tuesday evening at the TBG Theatre on 36th Street. I had been at this theatre last year for one of the NYMF offerings. It is a very small venue – perhaps the smallest stage of all the NYMF venues I have been to.
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On that night, the show’s opening night, the audience was held in the equally small lobby – packed in like sardines – as a technical problem with a lighting cable delayed the opening of the theatre’s doors for seating. While waiting in the lobby I was reminded of a comment made by a friend, client, and volunteer at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn many, many years ago about the cast party for the theatre’s production of GUYS AND DOLLS – “I haven’t seen so much kissing and arse-grabbing in my life – and that was just among the men!

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As described on the show’s website, BEDBUGS is “’80s rock excess meets the Creature Feature. It’s 2012 {apparently according to ancient prophesies 2012 is the year the world will end – rdf} and Carly, an exterminator hell-bent on avenging her mother’s freak death {caused by Yugoslavian bedbugs - rdf}, has accidentally mutated NYC bedbugs into bloodthirsty killer Hair Metal Rock Gods. Sweet {read ‘gay’ - rdf} sidekick Burt has a plan, and troubled Canadian chanteuse Dionne Salon has stumbled onto the scene. But will Carly listen to them and save NYC—or be seduced by her own creation?

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The show was a silly mix of comedy, sci-fi, heavy metal and celebrity parody. I especially enjoyed the celebrity parody portion – a side-plot dealt with the Canadian singer and her bald manager-husband with an interest in much younger singers. The singer was performed in drag

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Actor Chris Hall looked menacing as head mutant bug Cimex – somewhat like Dr Frank “N” Furter in green make-up and antennae.

This past week-end I booked 1:00 PM matinee performances for both Saturday and Sunday.

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Saturday was COLLEGE: THE MUSICAL, book and lyrics by Drew Fornarola and Scott Elmegreen, at the Chermuchin Theatre on 54th Street. A new to me venue, bigger theatre than the one at 36th Street, but frankly almost too far of a schlep. It was next to the 18th Precinct and upstairs from a Courthouse. The entrance was difficult to find.

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The show was written while the authors were students at Princeton, apparently about their own experiences in a college dorm. The show does not identify the college – only that the dorm is in Gauss Hall (I do not know if that name has any significance).

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The “playbill” was bigger than the usual 4 or 8 pages. This was because the “Who’s Who” had a page for each member of the cast in the format of what I expect is a Face Book webpage (I have no experience with, or interest in, such “social networking” sites). One learned not only their professional resume but also their personal likes preferences, favorite movies, tv shows, books and quotes, etc.

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The story involves a new “Dweeb” freshman who attends his first dorm keg party and becomes involved with the roommates of Dormitory 211 and their friends. It seems that only one of the group actually studies and goes to class – the others spend their time playing violent video games, watching sports, going to the gym, partying, and throwing up in their room. In general, as female campus security guard Officer Alice, who lusts for the groups’ burnt-out upper-classman social leader, “College Kids are Idiots”.

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The basic apathy of the students (the extra-curricular organizations referred to include a Face-to-Face Facebook Club and the Redhead Club – no political or social activism) is apparently common of “Generation Meh”. The kids sing, “Democrats are stupid and Republicans are evil!”, so why should they get involved (hey, there is a glimmer of truth in the lyric).

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As I went to a local college, living at home for the four years, I could not personally relate to the dorm antics. However, it was entertaining with good group and individual musical numbers and a talented cast.

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The show was 1½ hour without an intermission. To break up the schlep back to 41st Street I stopped for a late lunch of my usual Caesar Salad, Meat Loaf, and Banana Cream Pie at an empty Joe Allen’s (there were only two tables occupied) on Restaurant Row, counting the number of flops on the “Wall of Musical Failures” I had seen over the years.

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Sunday was HEAVEN IN YOUR POCKET, music and lyrics by Mark Houston and book by Houston, Francis Cullinan and Dianne Sposito, at the kind of run-down 45th Street Theatre. Another small theatre, although with a slightly bigger stage than 36th Street, at which I had seen a prior year’s festival production.

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This schlep was “more better”. Eighth Avenue from 42nd Street up was closed off to traffic as there was a street fair in progress. No wonder I noticed signs all up Eight Avenue stating “No Parking on Sunday” during my Saturday schlep.

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The show’s promotional blurb explains, “En route to musical stardom in Nashville, The Heavenly Belles – a female family singing trio {mother, daughter and mother’s best friend – rdf} from Heaven, Oklahoma – take an unexpected detour to Kansas City where an unusual inheritance wreaks havoc with their plans. A handsome cowboy, a kindly Miss-Fixit and a "can-do" decorator {the show’s apparently obligatory gay character – rdf} all chime in with the Belles as they face the music (and each other) in this lighthearted, tuneful romp!”

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The “unusual inheritance” is the “Starlight Lounge”, a broken down honky-tonk on the shores of Lake Wannalotta on the outskirts of Kansas City, which was left to the daughter by her father, who had abandoned the family years before. The trio fixes up the theatre, supposedly so it can be sold, and uses it to showcase their act. The plot concerns the daughter’s desire to break out on her own as a solo country music singer-songwriter in Nashville.

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Excellent performances, both in the acting and singing categories, by the cast. Of the three shows I feel this has the best promise for a life after the festival.

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A humorous exchange in the 2nd Act – it appears that the daughter and the gay decorator were childhood friends who went beyond friendship during their teens. “You were my first,” the daughter reminisces. “You were my last,” replies the decorator.

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Three entertaining musicals at three small and intimate theatres. And one can’t go wrong with a ticket price of $20.00!

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Next up, in early October, is I COME FOR LOVE, another 1950’s sci-fi spoof. It seems that there is at least one each year. The only problem is that it is also at the 54th Street Theatre. Maybe I will break down and take a taxi.

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TTFN

S’WONDERFUL, S’MARVELOUS

Wednesday afternoon I ventured into “the City” (NYC) to see a matinee performance of THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES upstairs at the Westside Theatre on 43rd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues (as someone sitting behind me observed before the show began “not a bad seat in the house”). The show was 3:00 pm, not the traditional time for a matinee, but then this was off-Broadway. I was pleased that my “schlep” was minimal and that there was a cool breeze on both sides of the Hudson.

The first I heard of THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES was when I received a promotional flyer in the mail advertising a “limited-time offer” (available online, by phone or at the box office) for $39.00 tickets (regular price $75.00). Of course the $39.00 ticket actually cost me $46.00 after adding the various processing fees – but still a nice discount.

The flyer described the show as “a cotton-candied, non-stop musical blast from the past! Featuring your favorite songs from the fifties and beyond, THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES takes you to the 1958 Springfield High School prom where we meet the Wonderettes, four girls with hopes and dreams as big as their crinoline skirts and voices to match!”

The show does indeed begin at the 1958 senior prom (theme = Marvelous Dreams) held in the gym of Springfield High School (“go chipmunks!”). The Wonderettes are four members of the school’s award-winning glee club who have joined together at the last minute at the urging of their faculty advisor to replace the original entertainment for the evening – the Crooning Crabcakes – when the lead Crabcake (a son of a preacher man) is expelled for smoking behind the girls’ locker room.

Included in the playbill is the prom program, reminiscent of the days of mimeograph (now there is a word that I haven’t heard in close to 30 years). The four girls in the group are also each vying for the title of Prom Queen, along with another student who has been excused from attending the prom due to a doctor’s appointment. The program included a ballot and we were each given a small #2 pencil so we could vote for our selection for the queen near the end of Act One (although I doubt our votes were actually counted).

Farah Alvin, Beth Malone, Victoria Matlock, and understudy Melissa Robinette were Wonderettes Missy, Betty Jean, Cindy Lou, and Suzy. A member of the audience was coaxed onstage to portray glee club faculty leader Mr. Lee being sung to by the girls. They harmonized well as a group and each also shined in their solo numbers, performing popular juke box hits of the day like “Mr. Sandman”, “Mr. Lee”, “Secret Love”, “It’s My Party” and “Lipstick on Your Collar” – the song often reflecting the character’s “back story” (especially in the 2nd Act).

The set was wonderful – a high school gymnasium full of banners exclaiming the achievements of the school’s various “extra curricular” clubs and activities, including the Chess Club and Future Farmers of America.

While both the playbill and the pre-show announcements made mention of an intermission, the story of the 1958 prom seemed to run its course and ended as the lights went up. What would be in the 2nd Act, I wondered. It turned out that Act 2 took place in 1968 at the 10-Year Reunion of the Springfield High Class of 1958, with the Wonderettes reunited to once again be the evening’s entertainment. The banners that decorated the gym during the prom were replaced with ones that read “Welcome Back Class of 1958”. We learned what had happened to the girls since graduation while they sang popular songs of the 1960s – “Wedding Bell Blues”, “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” and “Son of a Preacher Man” included.

To some degree a sort of female version of FOREVER PLAID, as suggested in one of the rave reviews quoted in the publicity, THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES was originally created by Roger Bean, who also directed the NYC production, for the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre. It had a successful run in LA before coming to New York.

All in all it was a very entertaining afternoon – with great music and humorous antics. And to top it off the price was right, the theatre close to the bus station, and the weather cool. Two thumbs up!

The special discount ticket price offer is good for performances through December 18th. You can order online at www.broadwayoffers.com or by phone at 212-947-8844. The code is MADRM01.

Next week is my first selection of the New York Music Theatre Festival.

TTFN

HAPPY LABOR DAY

As is my custom I will be laboring away today on the GD extensions.

September will be a busy month. The New York Musical Theatre Festival begins and I have booked three of the shows so far for September. FYI, tickets for NYMF offerings are now on sale to the general public. I have also booked a ticket for THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES (as opposed to the Wondrous Marvelettes), a new off-Broadway offering, via broadwayoffers.com (code MADRM01), and expect to be returning to Hawley for an overnite to see another silly farce at the Ritz Company Playhouse. And then there is the NJ chapter of NATP’s seminar on September 18th.

I vow that next year all the GD extensions will be completed, or red-filed (and hopefully even all red files will be completed), well before Labor Day!

TTFN