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“Liza's At The Palace...!” December 2008 for a Limited Engagement The Palace Theatre New York City Liza Minnelli, the Oscar, Emmy and Tony Award-winning singer-dancer-actress and sometimes tabloid news staple, returned to Broadway after an absence of nearly ten years. Yes there were a few apparent shortcomings, but after all this is a star. The audience was in a spell and showered with love the legendary 62-year-old entertainer. Yes at times she seemed out of breath, and yes you could not always understand her banter, but her heart was out on display for all to see and enjoy. I was certainly caught up in the magic of the evening and turned off the often-critical ear. Liza came to bring her unmatchable magic to Broadway, and she delivered. Produced by John Scher/Metropolitan Talent Presents & Jubilee Time Productions and directed and choreographed by Ron Lewis, the evening featured an incomparable Minnelli songfest including many of her personal favorites and signature hits, followed by a dance-filled tribute to the groundbreaking late-1940s nightclub act of Minnelli's godmother, Kay Thompson. The direction and choreography by Ron Lewis was on point. The four male dancer/singers were extraordinary with nice voices and harmonies and tight choreographic execution. The lighting design by Matt Berman was wonderful and the set design by Ray Klausen was pleasant. My only negative comment was that during the second act some of the lights were not working properly and two stage hands entered upstage left stage wearing jeans and white t-shirts to fix the electrical problem. They were more of an issue than any light. What ever happened to the crew wearing black? Even in high school they teach that. However, the night belonged to Liza. This is the sort of performance triumph of which show-business legend is made, and this reviewer was happy to be part of it all. “Liza's At The Palace” was a huge hit!
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"The Drowsy Chaperone" Marquis Theatre New York City The best way to describe this incredibly entertaining show is “charming”. Yes, it is not a masterpiece, but yes it is a good time. Who would think this simple but ever so charming little musical could entertain today’s jaded society… but it does. “To chase his blues away, a die-hard musical theatre fan drops the needle on his favorite cast album– the 1928 musical comedy The Drowsy Chaperone. From the crackle of his hi-fi, the outrageously funny musical bursts to life in his living room. What follows is the rip-roaring tale of a pampered starlet determined to give up show business to get married while her ruthless producer is intent on sabotaging the nuptials! Add to this a Latin lover, a debonair groom, an English butler, a pair of gangsters disguised as pastry chefs and a very tipsy chaperone and all manner of mix-ups and mayhem are set to ensue.” Bob Martin as “Man in Chair” is purely deliciously funny. This character of a lonely, musically obsessed theatre queen is someone many of us in theatre can relate to. We all know a “Man in Chair”… a person that can quote the lyrics of any musical, and one who knows all the musical theater jargon and anecdotes. This little show within a show works not because the cast is brilliant or because of earth chattering direction and choreography by Casey Nicholaw. It works because of Mr. Martin’s charm and commitment to the work and because this little show is what our society needs… a little bit of escapism. And what’s wrong with that? This reviewer loved it and would go back and see it again.
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Michael McGrath and Tim Curry in Monty Python's Spamalot presented at the Sam S. Shubert Theatre New York City Hysterical show! The acting and singing were great, and I laughed the entire time. It's not just for Monty Python fans though -- I think anyone can appreciate the humor. Definitely worth seeing! This show continues the trend of returning to musicals of yesteryear where comedy played and important part in the musical genre known as musical theatre. This trend is a far cry from recent decades where we were getting one dark musical after the next, and certainly is very well received by today's audiences. In otherwords, there's nothing wrong with a few laughs to lift us out of our everyday doom and gloom as seen on television and action films. Spamalot delivers beautifully. The show has six clowns at its dizzying vortex; Monty Python fans know that the iconoclastic original troupe was six-strong and that the property is, according to the title page, "a new musical lovingly ripped off from the motion picture Monty Python and the Holy Grail". Skipping through the comically addled proceedings are top-billed Tim Curry as a nonplused King Arthur, David Hyde Pierce as a timid knight, and Hank Azaria as a Lancelot with sexual-identity challenges. Billed below them but no less delighfully goofy are Christopher Sieber as a vain Galahad, Michael McGrath as Arthur's put-upon servant "Patsy", and Christian Borle as the effeminate son of a gruff laird. As an ensemble, most of them doubling, are as effective as the silly sextet that originally populated The Producers. The latest in a series of shows adapted from box-office-tested movies, Spamalot repeats some of the source flick's sequences but isn't entirely true to its origins. King Arthur, miming horsemanship while Patsy knocks two halves of a coconut shell together, roams Middle-Ages Britain collecting knights. Having collected a motley cadre, he's ordered by God (John Cleese in voice-over) to locate the Holy Grail. Along the way to finding the elusive vessel in an unlikely place, Arthur repeatedly encounters The Lady of the Lake (the big-voiced Sara Ramirez, living up to advance hype). And so it goes under the ever-canny direction of Mike Nichols, Casey Nicholaw's lively, babe-alicious choreography races our pulses as Tim Hatley's sets and costumes wow our eyes, their efforts enhanced by Hugh Vanstone's lighting and Acme Sound Partners' sound design. The storyline of the show isn't truly a storyline. Rather, it's an excuse for librettist-lyricist-composer Eric Idle to dispense routines ranging in subject matter from avian aerodynamics to flatulence. Working with co-composer John Du Prez, Idle spoofs aged-in-wood musical comedy conceits, just as the source material knocks certain film conventions. Idle and Du Prez make sport of formulaic B'way ditties in "The Song That Goes Like This," which goofily pokes at the sort of power ballads that Andrew Lloyd Webber and Frank Wildhorn know something about. Firing politically incorrect shots with the fervor of Mel Brooks, the madly winking songsmiths go so far as to offer "You Won't Succeed on Broadway," which nods at Jewish influences on the Great White Way. (Will some saucy cabaret singer soon do a mini-medley of this Spamalot pseudo-aria with "Springtime for Hitler"? It could happen!) The Spamalot score is one aspect in which the show differs from its early-musical-comedy predecessors. Though the scores of those shows naturally included comedy numbers, they were also intended to show off the abilities of outstanding melodists and wordsmiths (not to mention outstanding singers). Mocking everything in their wake, Idle and Du Prez set out to be no more sincere than two riverboat gamblers. They are masters of the throwaway ditty; while their tunes are almost unfailingly delightful, they give the impression of having been written in a flash and are instantly forgettable. Except, that is, when they sound very much like something else -- as, say, the number titled "The Holy Grail" pays homage to John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads." Since Spamalot derives its drive from situation gags rather than dramatic thrust, its effectiveness relies on the tightness of each sequence. As a result, the show's second half -- highlighted by David Hyde Pierce's "You Won't Succeed on Broadway" -- flags. Adding to the detriments is the accumulation of self-referential jokes. When Sara Ramirez sings "The Diva's Lament" about having nothing to do so far in Act II, she unfortunately recalls Joanna Gleason's Dirty Rotten Scoundrel first-act line about assuming that her character will have some further purpose after intermission. The slackening of the writing does begin to dampen the show, but not enough to let it be forgot that once there was a spot with many shining moments that was known as Spamalot.
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"In The Heights" presented at the Richard Rodgers Theatre New York City "In The Heights" is a Broadway show that almost was not. This is a show about relationships, family, and community without an ounce of cynicism that tells stories of Latinos living in a section of uptown Manhattan know as Washington Heights. The main reason why I might recommend this show is to go see show creator Lin-Manuel Miranda onstage as "Usnavi". When Miranda is onstage, everything lights up. He is completelly connected to the material, and as a performer, delivers wonderfully. The show doesn't have one central plotline, but is a mixed narrative involving a lot of different characters (like Rent). The show includes a taxi dispatch, a bodega, a hairsalon, and other neighborhood types. The performers are all top-notch, and the direction by Thomas Kail is on the money. The choegraphy by Andy Blankenbuehler was mesmerizing. The dancers were certainly put to the test having to perform the typical jazz acrobatic Broadway fair, but also hip-hop and incredible Latin rhythms. This show has heart, a great message, and a talented cast. However, the music is not memorable and the story line has no real relevance. The production is Broadway caliber, but this will not become a classic by any stretch of the imagination. However, it's great to see that Latinos are finally getting the opportunity to perform on Broadway. This is a good beginning. |
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