No Business Like Show Business: The first of a ....2? 3? part series
Lisa was here. We did lots of stuff. She left. I'll report more fully on that at a later date (I think). For now, I'm just going to start doing some theatrical reviews of the 5 shows we saw in the 10 days she was here...
Show 1: The Wiz (New York City Center)
Our first show was The Wiz at New York City Center. Lisa wanted to go see it because Ashanti was starring and the tickets were only $25, so I indulged her. Our seats were definitely in the nosebleed section, which wouldn't have been so bad if the theatre had been well-designed. Instead, the top section of the uppermost balcony is raked not nearly as steep as it should be, which makes seeing over the head of the tall gentleman in front of you or seeing far downstage difficult. It is a beautiful theatre, though, so perhaps I'll give it a little slack.
As for the show itself, it had it's ups and downs. The main downs were the weakness of Orlando Jones in his first number, Ashanti during the whole first half of the show, and the book of the play. The music is marvelous, but there is almost nothing to the book. The vignettes are barely strung together and there is almost no set up at the beginning as to why Aunt Em is singing to Dorothy about how much they love her and "The Feeling We Once Had", in what seems to be a conciliatory fashion. Orlando's first number just seemed to low for him, but he did better with the second. Ashanti simply...came up short. Her voice didn't fit the material for me and seemed a bit flat (more the timbre than the actual notes). Her three companions (Lion, Tin Man, and Scarecrow) were all marvelous, as were LaChanze (sp?) and the mother from "Everybody Hates Chris" as Aunt Em/Glinda and Evillene (the evil witch).
And MY GOD. The set was fantastic. It began with the "Kansas" set, which was mostly just the suggestion of a house (window, door, cellar door), a clothes line, and a curtain-ish backdrop. All of which were whisked away - each square of the window, item of clothing or plank of the cellar doors on its own - during the Tornado dance sequence (which was very good, despite the dancers seeming ever so slightly off) to reveal the real set of the show. And I was really on the verge of tears at how beautifully it was done. The whole opening bit, I had tried to figure out where the orchestra was - turns out it was behind the curtain. At the top of a twisting, glass tornado of a centerpiece. The "funnel" of the tornado was a fairly wide-stepped staircase that winds up and opens at where the conductor/keyboardist sat in front of the "cloud" of the rest of the orchestra. The planks, clothes and window squares (which were ingeniously perched on long poles that could be carried by dancers then propped against the set) were scattered on or about this for the rest of the show. That was the whole of the set, and it was used marvelously - staggering dancers and backup singers, highlighting certain lead singers, etc.
Overall: Fun and not bad for $25/head, if underwhelming.
Show 2: Toxic Avenger: The Musical
This was something I had been waiting and wanting to see since I moved to New York, but no one I knew really seemed interested. Lisa had already agreed to see it before she came and then they ran ticket specials (about $30/head) for the weekend she arrived through Twitter - it was meant to be! For those unfamiliar (which is probably everyone who reads this except for Scott), it is an Off-Broadway musical based on an 80s B horror movie about a young man in New Jersey who gets dumped in toxic waste and turns into a monster/superhero bent on cleaning up the city/state.
Everything about the show is absurd, over the top, and hilarious. People are dismembered and decapitated (including an old lady), the opening song features a nun and a nerd, multiple incidents of cross-dressing occur, there is a song called "Evil is Hot" and the female lead/love interest is a blind librarian. If you don't want to see it after just reading that, you should probably just go see Jersey Boys.
It was co-developed by a member of Bon Jovi, so it's laced with marvelous NJ jokes (that express a love for something it recognizes as ridiculous), some Bon Jovi references, couple of jabs at Manhattan, and even a rock folk ballad in the style of NJ's other favorite son - The Boss (and the impersonation by one of the cast members is one of the high points of the show). The score is fun and clever and the book makes the most of the ridiculous premise and plot. I knew about the blind librarian going into it, so I'm not sure why I didn't steel myself for the blind jokes. I've become a lot more aware of issues around disability and portrayal in society/media in the last few years (not least because of having a blind classmate in college and a blind traveler on one of my Ventures trip), so it did make me a little uncomfortable. ...but it was also quite funny a lot of the time. They do a great bit with a Helen Keller joke, which I usually abhor but found quite cleverly used here. I'm going to spoil the actual joke for you, but, I assure you, the delivery when you see it will make it just as funny as if I hadn't:
Sarah (the blind librarian) is harassing Toxie (the superhero) to just tell a joke, any joke. She yells at him, so he bursts out:
Toxie: How did Helen Keller burn her hand?
Sarah: [pause, slight gasp. very quietly:] Did she try to read the waffle iron? [bursts into tears] [after a little while] That happened to /me/ one time! [continues crying]
While the book, score, and set (which made great use of small, rotating bits) were all great, the most impressive thing about Toxic Avenger was the performances. The cast is only 5 people - three of whom play multiple rolls. The older female lead (who would be categorized the "featured" actress in awards terms, most likely) played three characters - the nun mentioned earlier, the nasty, pollutin' mayor of the town, and the male lead's elderly mother. She is bloodly brilliant - voice, physicalizations of the different characters, everything. There is even a scene in the second half of the show where the mother and mayor characters are in the same scene and confront each other. It is a piece of comic brilliance, both for the show's writers and the actress. The two men (Black Dude and White Dude - seriously, that is how they're billed) played the rest of the characters - from the illiterate high school jocks, mayor's strong men, the scientist, and the Springsteen balladeer (complete with bandanna headband) to the little old ladies, school girls in braids, and blind librarian's big haired, tackily/scantily clad Jersey gal pals. They were absolutely amazing, particularly Black Dude. His Scientist is the epitome of that B movie white labcoat clad staple and his LaFonda (or Sheniqua, I can't remember) has better legs than I do! I am a fan of any show where a small number of players creates an inordinately large number of characters (Reduced Shakespeare, Hitchcock's The 39 Steps, and Stones in His Pockets, to name a few), and this show did it particularly well. All the players knew how to hold and extend pauses and glances to achieve the most laughter and awkwardness humanly possible, which is a great advantage in the post-Family Guy comedic world.
I also geeked out over one technical aspect of the show - the transformation of the nerdy Melvin Ferd into the mutant Toxic Avenger. It was done so expertly and quickly that it still amazes me. They drop him, head down, into a toxic waste barrel (on top of a pile of other "barrels") looking like your average nerd and he emerges only a very short time later looking like this:
Absolutely brilliant. The costume/prosthesis design and the skill of the stage crew are fantastic to be able to get a change like that done so quickly. It reminded me a lot of the witch's change in Into the Woods, if you're a theatre buff. My mother played that role when I was a youngin' and I still remember how amazing it was to watch her go into that tree a horrible old witch and emerge gorgeous in a sparkly, 1940s-style dress, complete with crinoline petticoat. That same feeling came back when I saw this change. Also, "brain matter" spewed from his head onto the first few rows of the audience at one point. Awesome.
Overall: They're running another cheap Twitter ticket special this weekend and I'm trying to justify going to see it again. I think that says it all. Ask me about Scientist School the next time you see me and I'll bust out what I think is one of the show's funniest moments (which, sadly, will just not transfer to the written word). Also, the cast album is good, but definitely doesn't do the live show justice. The music sounds so much better with the live 3 or 4 piece rock band jammin' above your head.
Next up: Next to Normal, In the Heights, and The Philanthropist.
...really, the only show left that I reallyreallyreally want/have to see before I leave here is Rock of Ages. And I will totally blow half my paycheck on it my last week here if that's what it takes. I mean, the show is all 70s/80s rock or hair metal and they just broke the world record for air guitar with 810 people in their theater shredding at once. Lisa and I tried to get the cheapy lottery tickets (and lost), but I new every word to every song playing outside the theater on the PA while we were waiting. If I don't get to see this, I fail at life.
Show 1: The Wiz (New York City Center)
Our first show was The Wiz at New York City Center. Lisa wanted to go see it because Ashanti was starring and the tickets were only $25, so I indulged her. Our seats were definitely in the nosebleed section, which wouldn't have been so bad if the theatre had been well-designed. Instead, the top section of the uppermost balcony is raked not nearly as steep as it should be, which makes seeing over the head of the tall gentleman in front of you or seeing far downstage difficult. It is a beautiful theatre, though, so perhaps I'll give it a little slack.
As for the show itself, it had it's ups and downs. The main downs were the weakness of Orlando Jones in his first number, Ashanti during the whole first half of the show, and the book of the play. The music is marvelous, but there is almost nothing to the book. The vignettes are barely strung together and there is almost no set up at the beginning as to why Aunt Em is singing to Dorothy about how much they love her and "The Feeling We Once Had", in what seems to be a conciliatory fashion. Orlando's first number just seemed to low for him, but he did better with the second. Ashanti simply...came up short. Her voice didn't fit the material for me and seemed a bit flat (more the timbre than the actual notes). Her three companions (Lion, Tin Man, and Scarecrow) were all marvelous, as were LaChanze (sp?) and the mother from "Everybody Hates Chris" as Aunt Em/Glinda and Evillene (the evil witch).
And MY GOD. The set was fantastic. It began with the "Kansas" set, which was mostly just the suggestion of a house (window, door, cellar door), a clothes line, and a curtain-ish backdrop. All of which were whisked away - each square of the window, item of clothing or plank of the cellar doors on its own - during the Tornado dance sequence (which was very good, despite the dancers seeming ever so slightly off) to reveal the real set of the show. And I was really on the verge of tears at how beautifully it was done. The whole opening bit, I had tried to figure out where the orchestra was - turns out it was behind the curtain. At the top of a twisting, glass tornado of a centerpiece. The "funnel" of the tornado was a fairly wide-stepped staircase that winds up and opens at where the conductor/keyboardist sat in front of the "cloud" of the rest of the orchestra. The planks, clothes and window squares (which were ingeniously perched on long poles that could be carried by dancers then propped against the set) were scattered on or about this for the rest of the show. That was the whole of the set, and it was used marvelously - staggering dancers and backup singers, highlighting certain lead singers, etc.
Overall: Fun and not bad for $25/head, if underwhelming.
Show 2: Toxic Avenger: The Musical
This was something I had been waiting and wanting to see since I moved to New York, but no one I knew really seemed interested. Lisa had already agreed to see it before she came and then they ran ticket specials (about $30/head) for the weekend she arrived through Twitter - it was meant to be! For those unfamiliar (which is probably everyone who reads this except for Scott), it is an Off-Broadway musical based on an 80s B horror movie about a young man in New Jersey who gets dumped in toxic waste and turns into a monster/superhero bent on cleaning up the city/state.
Everything about the show is absurd, over the top, and hilarious. People are dismembered and decapitated (including an old lady), the opening song features a nun and a nerd, multiple incidents of cross-dressing occur, there is a song called "Evil is Hot" and the female lead/love interest is a blind librarian. If you don't want to see it after just reading that, you should probably just go see Jersey Boys.
It was co-developed by a member of Bon Jovi, so it's laced with marvelous NJ jokes (that express a love for something it recognizes as ridiculous), some Bon Jovi references, couple of jabs at Manhattan, and even a rock folk ballad in the style of NJ's other favorite son - The Boss (and the impersonation by one of the cast members is one of the high points of the show). The score is fun and clever and the book makes the most of the ridiculous premise and plot. I knew about the blind librarian going into it, so I'm not sure why I didn't steel myself for the blind jokes. I've become a lot more aware of issues around disability and portrayal in society/media in the last few years (not least because of having a blind classmate in college and a blind traveler on one of my Ventures trip), so it did make me a little uncomfortable. ...but it was also quite funny a lot of the time. They do a great bit with a Helen Keller joke, which I usually abhor but found quite cleverly used here. I'm going to spoil the actual joke for you, but, I assure you, the delivery when you see it will make it just as funny as if I hadn't:
Sarah (the blind librarian) is harassing Toxie (the superhero) to just tell a joke, any joke. She yells at him, so he bursts out:
Toxie: How did Helen Keller burn her hand?
Sarah: [pause, slight gasp. very quietly:] Did she try to read the waffle iron? [bursts into tears] [after a little while] That happened to /me/ one time! [continues crying]
While the book, score, and set (which made great use of small, rotating bits) were all great, the most impressive thing about Toxic Avenger was the performances. The cast is only 5 people - three of whom play multiple rolls. The older female lead (who would be categorized the "featured" actress in awards terms, most likely) played three characters - the nun mentioned earlier, the nasty, pollutin' mayor of the town, and the male lead's elderly mother. She is bloodly brilliant - voice, physicalizations of the different characters, everything. There is even a scene in the second half of the show where the mother and mayor characters are in the same scene and confront each other. It is a piece of comic brilliance, both for the show's writers and the actress. The two men (Black Dude and White Dude - seriously, that is how they're billed) played the rest of the characters - from the illiterate high school jocks, mayor's strong men, the scientist, and the Springsteen balladeer (complete with bandanna headband) to the little old ladies, school girls in braids, and blind librarian's big haired, tackily/scantily clad Jersey gal pals. They were absolutely amazing, particularly Black Dude. His Scientist is the epitome of that B movie white labcoat clad staple and his LaFonda (or Sheniqua, I can't remember) has better legs than I do! I am a fan of any show where a small number of players creates an inordinately large number of characters (Reduced Shakespeare, Hitchcock's The 39 Steps, and Stones in His Pockets, to name a few), and this show did it particularly well. All the players knew how to hold and extend pauses and glances to achieve the most laughter and awkwardness humanly possible, which is a great advantage in the post-Family Guy comedic world.
I also geeked out over one technical aspect of the show - the transformation of the nerdy Melvin Ferd into the mutant Toxic Avenger. It was done so expertly and quickly that it still amazes me. They drop him, head down, into a toxic waste barrel (on top of a pile of other "barrels") looking like your average nerd and he emerges only a very short time later looking like this:
Absolutely brilliant. The costume/prosthesis design and the skill of the stage crew are fantastic to be able to get a change like that done so quickly. It reminded me a lot of the witch's change in Into the Woods, if you're a theatre buff. My mother played that role when I was a youngin' and I still remember how amazing it was to watch her go into that tree a horrible old witch and emerge gorgeous in a sparkly, 1940s-style dress, complete with crinoline petticoat. That same feeling came back when I saw this change. Also, "brain matter" spewed from his head onto the first few rows of the audience at one point. Awesome.
Overall: They're running another cheap Twitter ticket special this weekend and I'm trying to justify going to see it again. I think that says it all. Ask me about Scientist School the next time you see me and I'll bust out what I think is one of the show's funniest moments (which, sadly, will just not transfer to the written word). Also, the cast album is good, but definitely doesn't do the live show justice. The music sounds so much better with the live 3 or 4 piece rock band jammin' above your head.
Next up: Next to Normal, In the Heights, and The Philanthropist.
...really, the only show left that I reallyreallyreally want/have to see before I leave here is Rock of Ages. And I will totally blow half my paycheck on it my last week here if that's what it takes. I mean, the show is all 70s/80s rock or hair metal and they just broke the world record for air guitar with 810 people in their theater shredding at once. Lisa and I tried to get the cheapy lottery tickets (and lost), but I new every word to every song playing outside the theater on the PA while we were waiting. If I don't get to see this, I fail at life.