A LITTLE BIT OF THIS, A LITTLE BIT OF THAT

A LITTLE BIT OF THIS, A LITTLE BIT OF THAT

Earlier this week I started sorting over four decades of theatre programs. The aim was to have all the programs and other theatre memorabilia in one place to make writing this blog a little easier and to perhaps suggest "theme" blogs. I'm nearly finished with the basic A,B,C sort. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to go really anal and alphabetize everything. It really does suit my personality (grin), but I think just having them in A,B,C order will suffice.

This week's offerings are a mixed bag of shows from 1968 to just last month (February, 2013).  Please join me in another trip down theatre memory lane.

July, 1968. This comedy is still a sassy bit of fun. Make no mistake, David Merrick knew how to send out a national tour: don't skimp on any of the production values and cast it with quality, A-List stars. Hugh O'Brian (a Chicago suburbs boy) was primarily known at this time as television's Wyatt Earp, but surprised me with the amount of theatre credits to his name, and gave a suave, sophisticated, hilarious performance. Elizabeth Allen, a delicious Stephanie if there ever was one, was the "Away We Go" girl on the Jackie Gleason show, but, for me, the star of "Do I Hear a Waltz?" which was then one of my favorite scores. (An underrated show in my opinion and the score is still terrific.) I loved the show and about ten years later directed it for Waukegan Community Players and had a ball doing it. (see an earlier blog) — at Shubert Theatre, Chicago.

Fall, 2005 (London); November, 2006 (NYC). I'm going to combine the two productions for one very good reason: I only vaguely remember the London production. Let me explain. You see, Bob and I had arrived in London from Chicago that morning and since we were using my flight benefits, the trip there probably had been a Chicago-Atlanta-London routing, which makes for a long travel day. Now normally when we travel overseas, arrival day is pretty much a wasted day. We get to the hotel, nap, wake up, go to dinner, then back to the hotel and to bed. I know it may sound like bad use of a perfectly good day, but it works for us and by the next day, we're rested with no jet-lag and ready to go. For some reason, we decided to nap, go to dinner, and then go see Mary Poppins. What were we thinking?  Big mistake. We were both knackered by the time we found ourselves at the Prince Edward and, as a result, didn't fully appreciate the charms of the wonderful cast (I do remember they were all excellent) and familiar story. We were just too exhausted. Bob was so tired, he was sobbing when Mary flew over the audience at the show's conclusion. Yes, it's a great moment, but…  We learned our lesson and have returned to our low-key arrival day routine.

Now jump ahead a year. A matinee at the gorgeous New Amsterdam. Mary Poppins had just opened and was a red-hot ticket. As I type this, it's getting ready to close after over 6 years on Broadway and this marvelous musical will be missed. As the song goes, it's "practically perfect in every way."  In fact, I prefer it to the much-loved movie. Julian Fellowes ("Downton Abbey") wrote the book, which took much of the saccharin out and replaced it with a slightly more adult, slightly darker and much richer story. The added songs seemed like they were always there and of the deleted songs from the movie, the only one I missed was "Sister Suffragette."  Superb production values and outstanding choreography by Matthew Bourne (yes, that Matthew Bourne!) made the show visually exciting. And at our performance, we even got a wonderful live theatre moment. The scenery for "Jolly Holiday" was moving off-stage when suddenly there was a loud crash and a backstage voice asked loud enough for the audience to hear, "Is everyone all right?"  An announcement from the stage manager told us the show would stop for a bit while they fixed the problem, the curtain fell, the house lights came up and the theatre buzzed with excitement. ("This never happens at the movies!") After about ten minutes, the SM told everyone the show would continue, the house lights went out, the curtain rose and Michael and Jane were sitting on the park bench where we had last seen them. Michael's next line was priceless, and under the circumstances, was absolutely appropriate, something along the lines of "What just happened?" or "Well, that was fun."  Whatever the exact line was, the audience loved it and gave Michael a huge round of applause. Ashley Brown was a tart, layered, yet loving, Mary Poppins. Gavin Lee was simply wonderful as Bert, a vast improvement over the film's Dick Van Dyke. (Okay, I'll admit it. I can't stand Dick Van Dyke in the movie. The horrible accent, the cloying portrayal….yuck!). And both Daniel Jenkins and especially Rebecca Luker gave added depth to Mr. and Mrs. Banks. Rebecca Luker is pretty wonderful in anything she does and her "Being Mrs. Banks" was a highlight. The kids in the audience were in total awe and when Mary Poppins flew over the audience at the end, it was a thrill to realize that this wonderful show had made life-long theatergoers of the hundreds of children in the audience that day. This was, and is, a joyous show. - at the Prince Edward Theatre, London and the New Amsterdam Theatre, New York.

  

October, 2005. Officially Monty Python's Spamalot. Bob and I took our niece Colleen (16) and nephew Greg (14) to New York for their first time and their introduction to Broadway. This was their first Broadway show. The Tony-winning musical was a sold-out hit; tickets were impossible to get. So we did what savvy theatergoers do. We stood on line and were rewarded with 8th row center seats. Perfect. This show is just wacky fun: silly, at times juvenile, at times lewd and often uproariously hilarious. We were so fortunate to have seen David Hyde Pierce, Tim Curry, Christopher Sieber, Michael McGrath, Christian Borle, Alan Tudyk and the brilliant Sara Ramirez, in her Tony-winning performance. A show with no agenda except to thoroughly entertain the audience, we all enjoyed this enormously and waited afterwards at the stage door where we met and chatted with many of the performers, an added bonus for our Broadway newbies! (Footnote: the kids were especially excited to see Tim Curry, but were, I think, expecting to see "Rocky Horror" Tim Curry and not the older, heavier, middle-aged Tim Curry-  Colleen was especially disappointed.)  - at the Shubert Theatre, New York  

December, 1983. Along with "The Little Dog Laughed" and "Is He Dead?," this is one of the funniest plays in existence. Played to pitch-perfect hilarity by an incomparable cast that included Victor Garber, Paxton Whitehead, Deborah Rush, Brian Murray, and headed by the one-and-only Dorothy Loudon, Steve and I, along with 1000 other lucky patrons, laughed ourselves to the point of exhaustion. Act Two literally left me with tears running down my face, I was laughing so hard. Dorothy Loudon was a true theatrical treasure. She left us far too soon. "Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats!" — at Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York City

December, 1970. Let me state right off that I am not a fan of Mr. Shakespeare. Never have been. I've tried. I really have. I even took a course in Shakespeare in college, which I did miserably in. I don't find the language necessarily poetic. To me, it's just plain stilted and hard to wrap my brain around. People have said if I saw a well-produced Shakespeare, I'd change my mind. Well, perhaps, but this production wasn't it. I didn't go to this willingly. It was a school assignment (perhaps for the Shakespeare course?). I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it, either. It didn't make me a convert. Interestingly, in the cast was Eric Berry, a highly respected actor who would be an original cast member in Pippin a couple of years later. Is it time to give Mr. S another chance? - at the Goodman Theatre (Art Institute), Chicago

March, 1982. I guess I should've been jotting down things way back when since I can't remember a thing about this show. I can't remember even seeing it, but since I have a program, I guess I did. I don't know whether or not I liked it. Reading a short synopsis of a TV version of Resnick's play, I assume it's about waitresses at a restaurant and their hopes and dreams. Usually not my sort of thing at all. I'm sure the draw for me was Janie Sell, who I adored in "Over Here." But look who also was in the cast….Megan Mullally! Apparently she did a chunk of Chicago theatre work before heading off to bigger and better things. Who knew? The Civic Theatre was a glorious, beautiful jewel box of a theatre with a seating capacity of about 1000 at the other end of the Civic Opera building at the corner of Wacker and Washington. It closed in the early 90s and is now used by the Lyric for rehearsals, storage, etc (I think). — at Civic Theatre, Chicago.

October, 2005. Another show with Colleen and Greg. Brooke Shields as Roxie was great fun. Yes, she's tall and yes, she's Brooke Shields, but she was also quite good in the role. Good sense of comic timing, a decent voice, and she danced the role competently. She also had a great rapport with the audience, especially during "Roxie."  For Bob and me, however, the draw was Debra Monk as Mama Morton. Monk is another of those wonderful actors who we will see in pretty much anything. And she didn't disappoint. She killed as Mama Morton. We had an understudy as Velma and during bows, Shields told us that we saw the understudy's first ever performance as Velma. Couldn't prove it by us; she was terrific. Chicago is in my top ten musicals and it has been since I first saw it in 1975. Let me set the record straight once and for all. There is virtually no difference between the revival and the original. Got that?  The revival has fewer set pieces and costumes and the ensemble's costumes exude a bit more sex, but there isn't any real change in the show itself. It's not as though Walter Bobbie and Ann Reinking reinvented the wheel. The show has always been a biting satire about justice, celebrity and the American way starting with the original 1927 play by Maurine Dallas Watkins. In 1996, however, when the revival opened in New York, the OJ Simpson trial was fresh in everyone's minds and made the show even more relevant and timely than when it first opened…and it still is timely and relevant. As I type this, it's the third longest running show in Broadway history and has accumulated a run that is more than 7 times longer than the original run of 936 performances. A marvelous, well-crafted musical featuring a stunning score by Kander and Ebb. I never tire of seeing it. - at the Ambassador Theatre, New York

February, 2013.  "Cathy Rigby is Peter Pan" the marquee at the Palace proclaimed.  Not "in." Not "as."  "Is."  At 60, Rigby is literally decades too old for the part, but you'd never know it in her athletic, high-flying performance.  She's been playing this part off and on for over twenty years and she's clearly got it down pat.  Nicely acted and sung and with plenty of charm, she worked hard to make sure the audience enjoyed themselves. The show looked good and sounded good with a terrific orchestra in the pit to play the charming, underrated score, but the show itself remains a bit clunky and sometimes, well, dull,  with a very slow beginning that clearly could use some judicious trimming. The talented Brent Barrett was given "also starring" status, but make no mistake: this was Rigby's show.  She and her husband own this production and it's all about the star. Barrett, although he sang wonderfully as always, played the usually scenery-chewing Captain Hook with an odd restraint.  It was as though the director deliberately reigned him in so as not to detract focus from the star. A mistake in my opinion since Hook provides the fun for the adults with all the part's winks and innuendos. The male Darling children were played by girls.  Why? And at least one of the Lost Boys was played by a female. Again, why?  If you don't want age-revealing pit hair to show, costume the actor in a tee-shirt instead of a tank top. It's the Lost Boys, not the Lost Boys and Girls. Odd.  Kim Crosby as Mrs. Darling did what she could with the thankless role.  It was too bad the house was only half full. We enjoyed it. - at the Palace Theatre, Chicago 

Back to sorting.  See you soon!!