ALPHABET SOUP: EPISODE 15. "W"

ALPHABET SOUP
EPISODE 15 (15):

TODAY'S LETTER:

"W"

A musical where pies are a plot point. Dueling cosmetic queens. A child of Hollywood in a frank, hysterical discussion about life, love, mental illness, and addiction. A beautiful and stunning play about a horse named Joey. Joseph Fields, Jerome Chodorov, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Leonard Bernstein's 1953 Tony-winning homage to mid-30s New York City. Last, but certainly not least, an audience with Kate the Great. And they all begin with the letter "W."

Grab a cuppa. Let's begin.

WAITRESS – Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York

Even the show curtain was pie-inspired. The smell of baking pies infused the theatre, and pie was on sale at the concessions stands. The folks in front of us, when asked, said the pie was decent, but not spectacular, especially for the price.

October, 2017. I'll be honest. "Waitress" never especially appealed to me. I'd never seen the film the musical is based on, I wasn't familiar with composer Sara Bareilles, the Tony Awards selection didn't send me, and the brief Telecharge summary of the story didn't make me want to run off and buy tickets. But, Playbill Club had a great offer PLUS the show plays Sunday evenings, so we took the plunge. And we were pleasantly surprised. No, it's not a great show. Diction was sometimes iffy, the band was frequently over-amplified, the ensemble was often intrusive, the frequent 'celestial choir' vocal arrangements were annoying, and Ms. Bareilles' eleven o' clock number for her leading lady, the quite wonderful Betsy Wolfe, played out more like a ten-fifteen number. But the slender story was warm, often very funny, and, well, who doesn't like a happy, though improbably contrived, ending? The best thing about "Waitress" was its uniformly excellent cast. In addition to Betsy Wolfe, big kudos to Maia Nkenge Wilson and Caitlin Houlahan as her sassy co-workers, Drew Gehling as the hot adulterous doctor, Will Swenson as the hot abusive husband, Eric Anderson as an unbelievably easy boss, Christopher Fitzgerald as Ogie, who was probably the most endearing character in the show, and a true theatre icon, John Cullum, as Joe, who effortlessly demonstrated why he's been a star for nearly six decades. This is a "B" show, top to bottom. Everything is skillfully put together, but nothing is exceptional. But, it's an entertaining "B" show, and, in the end, one could do a lot worse. - at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York

WAR PAINT – Goodman Theatre, Chicago

July, 2016. Second preview. At one point during "War Paint's" interminable opening number, Christine Ebersole appeared at the top of a staircase like Mame, only without the costume or material. Co-star Patti LuPone's accent was so thick and unintelligible, you almost believed she was appearing in a Forbidden Broadway parody of her sometimes questionable diction. The creative team of Grey Gardens put together this train wreck of a musical, and it was a slog. The actors, bless their Equity hearts, all tried. Lord knows Misses LuPone and Ebersole used every trick in their considerable arsenals to make the weak material work, but except for the final song in Act One and a couple of pretty ballads in Act Two there wasn't much they could do. The final, fictional, scene where the two rivals meet was excellent, and an indication of what the show could have been. A riveting duet capped that scene and the curtain should have come down then, but, no, there was a coda that just dissipated the excitement of the previous scene. This had the potential of being a tasty morsel of bitchiness, rivalry and fun, but instead it was dull, uninvolving, and a waste of its talented cast, especially the intrepid leading ladies and sinfully underused John Dossett and Douglas Sills, who played the underwritten roles of the men in the ladies' lives. Back in the day, if this show had opened as a tryout in Boston, it would have closed at the end of the run. A major disappointment. - at the Goodman Theatre, Chicago

Chicago Critics: Surprisingly the Chicago critics and bloggers gave the show relatively high marks. Show business "bible" Variety called the Goodman production a "sophisticated and rewarding new musical." I'm wondering what show we saw? It certainly wasn't the same show the Chicago press praised. (Ponder: was the show by that point as good as they indicated or were the local critics and bloggers just too enamored with Misses LuPone and Ebersole?

Cosmetic Changes?: Receiving mixed, though modestly favorable notices, Marilyn Stasio's Variety review neatly, and rather brilliantly, summed up War Paint: "War Paint is a musical about Catherine Zuber’s fabulous costumes and magnificent hats, as modeled by the great Patti LuPone as Helena Rubenstein and her Highness, Christine Ebersole as Elizabeth Arden. And if those hallowed names mean nothing to you, this is not your show." It ran for only 236 performances, a relatively short run, considering the names involved, and closed early to accommodate hip surgery for LuPone. The show's box-office peaked early, then started a decline, a decline that I'm sure was unexpected. Let's face it. LuPone and Ebersole are musical theatre royalty in their own rights. Performing together, this should have been a sold-out smash. The Nederlander Theatre is a bit out of the way on 41st Street and not in the middle of things. Could that have played a factor? Or was it the show itself?

WISHFUL DRINKING – Studio 54, New York

WISHFUL DRINKING – Studio 54, New York

January, 2010. When you're the daughter of a beloved 50s film star, Debbie Reynolds, and a popular pop singer, Eddie Fisher, and whose step-mother for a time was one of the world's most famous and glamorous actresses, Elizabeth Taylor, well, you're bound to have an interesting life. In Carrie Fisher's case, "interesting" did not even scratch the surface. Like all good storytellers, Fisher had the knack for making you feel as though you were hanging out in her living room, enjoying some wine, and just having a good old-fashioned chin-wag. She also made the carefully planned and rehearsed material seem spontaneous, off-the-cuff. Toss in a wicked and sardonic sense of humor, an appreciation of the ridiculous, and a bracing honesty about your mental illnesses and addiction to drugs, and, you, lucky audience member, had a grand old time. Of course she talked about Star Wars and Princess Leia. Of course she talked about her family, even using a helpful family tree graphic to illustrate the rather convoluted six degrees of separation in the family. Of course she peppered the evening with some show biz gossip and fun facts. But what she did best of all was just show us Carrie Fisher, highs, lows, and in-betweens. Being bi-polar, a manic-depressive, and a drug addict does not need to define who you are, no more than being an iconic film character does, or being the child of famous parents does. Spending the evening with Carrie Fisher was inspiring, uplifting, and just damn funny. A tremendous talent gone far too soon. – at Studio 54, New York

Like Daughter, Like Mother or Vice Versa: Carrie Fisher wasn't the only one in the family who was a terrific storyteller, as Bob and I found out when we saw mom Debbie Reynolds in concert a few years after seeing Carrie's show. Reynolds was around 80 at the time and her dancing and singing days were, for the most part, behind her, but she could still tell a story, and, boy, did she ever! She did the figurative letting-her-hair-down, got the claws out and let it rip. Surprisingly gentle about Elizabeth Taylor, apparently they had made-up or something, she reserved her sharpest barbs for her ex-husbands, especially Eddie Fisher. According to Reynolds, Fisher was far from gifted in a certain area, a tasty tidbit that the largely elderly female audience ate up like candy. Who knew our Tammy had such a blue streak?

WAR HORSE – Cadillac Palace, Chicago

December, 2012. I've wanted to see this ever since Bob, Colleen and I went on a tour of the National Theatre complex in London and saw the cast of the National's production of "War Horse" warm up on the stage of the Olivier Theatre. Based on an acclaimed English children's novel (I had no idea until I did some "review" research upon its Chicago opening), this truly remarkable production touched me on many levels. At its most basic, it's a story about a boy and his horse. But though the story may be basic, its thrust is not. Yes, at its core, War Horse tells the story of Albert, a Devon farm boy, and Joey, his beloved horse. But there's much, much more. It's also the story of growing up, the horrors of war, the treasures of friendship, and these stories were told within the framework of a visually sumptuous production that was lit within an inch of its life to magnificent effect. I didn't expect to be so moved by this story, but curmudgeonly me actually got all misty-eyed at the show's conclusion when Albert and Joey reunited and returned safely home. Sentimental? Yes. Heartfelt? Most definitely. Deliberately tugging at the heartstrings? Absolutely. Effective? You bet. Beautifully performed by a cast of first-rate actors, singers, and at times, musicians, the 2.5 hours flew by. Kudos to the wonderful folks who brought the animals to vivid life and gave them all such distinct personalities. Some things that truly are worth mentioning: the rapport between Albert and Joey that made you truly believe how much this boy loved his horse; when Joey nuzzled his horse partner Topthorn in affection and concern just before Topthorn's death; the vivid scenes of human and animal carnage lit in stark white light contrasted with dark shadow; the comic relief of the goose; the very disturbing image of vultures picking at a dead soldier's eyes; the terror of the tank; the joyfulness of Albert and Joey's reunion. The Palace is not an ideal venue for plays and some of the dialogue was lost, but both are minor quibbles. This show was just pretty damn terrific. Full stop. – at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, Chicago

WONDERFUL TOWN

– Al Hirschfeld Theatre, New York

 December, 2003. Joseph Fields, Jerome Chodorov, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Leonard Bernstein's 1953 Tony-winning homage to mid-30s New York City and I have a connection that has spanned over fifty years. (!!) Wonderful Town was the first show I was in way, waaaaay back in 1967 at Waukegan Township High School. I was sixteen and played Speedy Valenti. So I was excited to see an old friend again. 

Sixteen. Was I ever that young?

This production originated in 2000 as an Encores presentation, so retaining its Encores roots, the show at the Hirschfeld had a bit of a spare, but entirely functional look, with spot-on period costumes, and its lush, jazzy twenty-four piece orchestra on stage. The show itself, fifty years old in 2003, showed its age and creaked at times, but the quips and jokes were funny as ever, and the ageless Comden/Green/Bernstein score was bright as ever. Wonderful Town's score, though, often seems lost in the Bernstein canon, overshadowed, unfairly in my opinion, by West Side Story and On the Town. Kathleen Marshall's direction and choreography was fresh and crisp and Rob Fisher's musical direction kept the beat moving. Supporting players David Margulies, Michael McGrath, Nancy Anderson, Peter Benson, Raymond Jaramillo McLeod were all excellent. Ditto Matthew Shephard as male lead Robert Baker, filling in for absent Gregg Edelman. But Wonderful Town is really about the Sherwood sisters, Ruth and Eileen. As Eileen, Jennifer Westfeldt had a sweet cluelessness that never grated and often enchanted. Older sister Ruth was originated by the inimitable Rosalind Russell back in 1953. At the Hirschfeld, the equally inimitable Donna Murphy took the part captive, shook off the Roz shadows, and gave a performance that was pretty damn freaking awesome. Her wrestling with a sofa bed was an object lesson in comic timing and audience capturing. We loved her; she loved us; it was a love-in. Vocally, she's a far superior singer to Russell, but, like Russell, she has the wiseacre, madcap soul of a 30s comedienne. She was a marvel. So was the show. – at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, New York

At This Performance…: Flu felled Donna Murphy during previews, cancelling several and putting the entire project at risk. During the run, she missed numerous performances, and then while on "vocal rest," with the P.R. folks advertising her final weeks, she didn't show up at all. I read somewhere that she missed over 100 performances. That's something like 13 weeks. That's a lot for a scheduled 10-month contract. Articles were written excoriating her behavior and, by association, a perceived lackadaisical worth ethic on Broadway. Murphy, perhaps wisely, never addressed the situation until a few years later when she revealed she had severely hemorrhaged a vocal cord, came back to the show too soon, eventually reinjured it again, and was in danger of completely destroying her voice. Since Wonderful Town, she's appeared in two limited-run musicals and was an ecstatically-received Dolly Levi in the Bette Midler-led Hello, Dolly!, where she filled in for Midler on Tuesday evenings and when Midler was on vacation. I feel she got a bad rap for Wonderful Town, but I also feel the situation could have been handled with more honesty and less speculation on everyone's part. Just my opinion.

– Goodman Theatre, Chicago

September, 2016. Preview performance.The star of Goodman Theatre's largely enjoyable "Wonderful Town" may well truly have been the glorious 17-piece pit orchestra under the baton of Ben Johnson. Those eighteen men and women make Leonard Bernstein's fabulous score sizzle. That Overture! Sigh! Not far behind in the kudos department were Bri Sudia as a wry Ruth, Lauren Molina as a sweet Eileen, and Karl Hamilton's somewhat thankless, but beautifully sung, Robert Baker. Not all of it worked. As mentioned in the previous entry, the show has its creaks and groans. The show curtain looked unfinished (apparently it wasn't) and was butt-ugly. The scenic design, while clever, often left far too much empty space on the Goodman stage, which gave the show a cold, unwelcoming look. Lighting was meh. While the show for the most part was competently directed by Mary Zimmerman (sorry, I just don't get why everyone faints over her), there were parts that were muddy. "Conversation Piece," which should be a comic delight, was a hot mess. It just didn't work. The secondary characters were played more like cartoons than real people. This was especially true of Jordan Brown's Wreck. Mr. Brown apparently played Spike in Goodman's Vanya, etc and it felt like he was still playing that part. His performance was so forced, it was almost painful, and, sadly, not helped by going up on lyrics and melody in a big way during his solo number. "Conga" could have used some heat. One the plus side, "One Hundred Easy Ways" gave Sudia a chance to eat up the stage and stop the show. "My Darlin' Eileen" and the entire scene before it were pure charm and great fun. I'm personally a big fan of "Swing!" and Sudia and the ensemble did it proud. Far better than "War Paint," the previous occupant, this was a tonic for these crazy times. - at the Goodman Theatre, Chicago

THE WEST SIDE WALTZ – Shubert Theatre, Chicago

May, 1982. Katharine Hepburn, aka Kate the Great, played a feisty senior who is a concert pianist. Dorothy Loudon was a prim spinster who plays the violin. There were other characters and a plot in this fairly funny and sometimes touching piece of cantankerous senior citizen drivel by Ernest (On Golden Pond) Thompson, but let's be serious here. Hepburn AND Loudon? Together? Dudes! They could've read the phone book and the audience would have been deliriously happy. But, instead, they played their rather broadly-written parts in this modest and somewhat twee play with seasoned professionalism, dignity, and stopwatch-perfect comic timing, and the audience, including yours truly, was in theatre heaven. Katharine Hepburn. Dorothy Loudon. That's all anyone needs to know. – at the Shubert Theatre, Chicago

And that's it for now. Until later….

© 2018 Jeffrey Geddes

MISFILES! or WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THAT BOX? (2)

 MISFILES! or WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THAT BOX? (2)

More misfiles. Let's see what today has to offer.

VANITIES – Drury Lane Theatre-Water Tower Place, Chicago

A post-"Cinderella," but pre-"Victor/Victoria" Lesley Ann Warren opened the show in Chicago, but was gone by the time I saw it. Pooh.

Trying to convey an atmosphere of elegance. 

July, 1977.  High school best friends and cheerleaders talk about boys and plan parties and shit. Scene one ends. Five years later, college best friends and sorority sisters talk about boys and plan parties and shit. Scene two ends. Six years later, bitter and disillusioned with life, and they go on and on about that, it's revealed that one of the B&Ds (Bitter and Disillusioned) has slept with another's husband. Big fight. Aggrieved B&D storms out. Remaining two decide to drink their troubles away. End of play. Wildly popular during its off-Broadway run, racking up nearly 1800 performances, and wildly popular for a time among every amateur theatre group in the country, and a fan favorite for competition cuttings and audition monologues, Vanities has its share of snappy dialogue, but it's also very much a product of its time (late 70s), and I can't imagine anyone doing it today except as a museum/curiosity piece. It's not badly written, mind you, it's just, well, late 70s, you know, that decade that gave the world Nixon, Nik Nik shirts, Qiana, disco, and really bad hair. The reason, the only reason, I went to see this was to see the quite marvelous Elizabeth Ashley in the role of the "bad" girl, the adulteress. She did not disappoint. Mary Ann Chinn and Barbara ("Laugh In") Sharma completed the cast and together the three ladies made for an entertaining, if inconsequential, afternoon. Chicago embraced this little show, and it ran much longer than its originally-announced eight weeks to end up with a multi-month run. As a dramatic piece, it's pretty slight, but audiences ate it up and audiences don't lie. – at the Drury Lane Theatre-Water Tower Place.

Sidebar: Open only a year when Vanities played, this playhouse, across the alley from Water Tower Place shopping mall, was a pleasant, in-the-round theatre, that over time was sporadically successful as a theatre, then became a multi-plex (saw E.T. and the controversial Making Love there), then became a proscenium house, décor-wise similar to the ugly Drury Lane-Oakbrook, then underwent an ownership change and became the Broadway Playhouse. Broadway in Chicago puts its smaller, less desirable shows there. It's a small theatre, but still remarkably unattractive. Playwright Jack Heifner would write many plays in his lifetime, but only Vanities reached any level of success. For reasons unknown to man, Vanities was turned into a musical in 2009. It  quickly faded from view.

NOISES OFF

 – Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York

(revised from an earlier post)

December, 1983. Arguably one of the funniest plays in existence, this madcap backstage farce by Michael Frayn was designed and directed with consummate skill and played to pitch-perfect hilarity by an incomparable cast that included Victor Garber, Paxton Whitehead, Deborah Rush, Brian Murray, and the one-and-only Dorothy Loudon, the anchor of the show. Many comedies, unless they are period pieces, don't age well. "Present-day" comedies are too often tied to the period in which they were written and tend to get stale over the years. Not so with Noises Off. The onstage/backstage nature of the show keeps it fresh and lively. But, it's a show that relies on exquisite, precise timing. And exquisite, precise timing was exactly what we got. 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. A trouper, an uninhibited creature of the stage with an impeccable ability to make us feel as though she is doing this just for us. Remarkable. She left us far too soon.  Even after over 33 years, this remains one of the best comic performances I have ever seen. "Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats!" – at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York

Sidebar: Other comedies I consider among the funniest are Is He Dead?, The Little Dog Laughed, The Comedy About a Bank Robbery, and The Play That Goes Wrong. The late Dorothy Loudon was adept in drama as well as comedy and musicals. She gave Annie a welcome brace of wholesome nastiness; she was every bit Katharine Hepburn's equal in The West Side Waltz, and touched my heart in Driving Miss Daisy, even though the production as a whole left me a bit indifferent. To make your heart soar, watch her perform the song "Fifty Percent" from Ballroom on My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies. Flawless. You can keep your Idinas. Dorothy Loudon was the real deal.

- Paramount Arts Centre, Aurora

February, 1986. Back when many bus-and-truck tours were Equity, hell, back when most touring shows were Equity, and back when many tours, even the bus-and-trucks, had stars attached to them, Pace Theatricals brought Noises Off to Aurora's Paramount Arts Centre, now known as the Paramount Theatre. Starring Noel Harrison in the role of the exasperated director of Nothing On, the play-within-a-play, this delicious farce tasted somewhat less delicious in the Paramount, a gorgeous theatre, yet one with an enormous main floor and a balcony set back a considerable distance from the stage, making it feel like, well, a beautiful barn. An ex-movie house, the Paramount looks and feels like one, despite its role as a leading Chicagoland producer of musicals, and poor Noises Off just sort of got swallowed up in its vastness. Though bringing all the design and directorial elements that made it a New York hit, the hard-working cast just couldn't overcome the vastness of the facility. We were in row AA, the first row after the main floor's crossover aisle, dividing the massive main floor into two very large sections. It was like watching the play unfold from across the street. We had raved about the play to our friend Gerry, who was with us that night, but sadly that evening didn't live up to our praise, and Steve, Gerry, and I were all disappointed. – at the Paramount Arts Centre (Paramount Theatre), Aurora, IL

Sidebar: Noel Harrison was, as you might suspect, Rex Harrison's kid, and that, probably, was his biggest claim to fame, though you wouldn't know that by reading his, well, pretentious Playbill bio. And I quote: "A superb actor and entertainer, he is also a musician, composer, singer, director, builder, farmer and champion skier." Whew! His PR person must have worked overtime on that puppy!

- Quadracci Powerhouse (Milwaukee Rep), Milwaukee

December, 2013. Even the ever-reliable Milwaukee Rep can have a miss, and, surprisingly, their production of Noises Off was one of them. Oh, all the design excellence one expects from the Milwaukee Rep was there, if perhaps a bit more muted than normal, and, for the most part, the acting talent was there, a notable exception being the actor playing Selsdon Mowbray who just seemed miscast and lost, but something was missing…a delight in the ridiculousness of the whole thing, a lack of pacing and clarity that was especially missed in Act Two (Bob had trouble following it.), and in general a feeling of ennui that infected the production. It wasn't bad; it just wasn't up to Rep standards. The audience laughed a lot and seemed to enjoy it; our niece thought it was quite good. However, Bob and our friend Pat agreed with me that it misfired when it should have been a comic blaze. Disappointing, especially since I had high expectations for it. – at the Quadracci Powerhouse, Milwaukee

  

APPLICATION PENDING – Westside Theatre/Downstairs, New York

March, 2015. I have long been a huge fan of off-Broadway. Less flashy than its Broadway sibling, it often holds little treasures within its far-reaching borders. Application Pending was one of those treasures. The day was a nasty, crappy, snowy day in New York City, but where theatre is concerned, nasty, crappy, snowy weather doesn't scare us, even with a nasty fall on the ice for Bob on our way to The Audience earlier that day. We're old school.  And we were rewarded with a hysterical 90-minute romp with a true tour-de-force by its star and sole cast member, Christina Bianco. I know "tour-de-force" is probably overused, but in this cast, it's absolutely the only way to define Ms. Bianco's towering performance as the Pre-Primary Admissions officer at an elite private school in Manhattan, as well as a myriad of other characters, too many to count (I read somewhere she essayed forty-three (!!), characters and voices both changing at lightning speed. Breathlessly funny and on-point, Greg Edwards and Andy Sandberg's script poked delicious fun at the high-stakes school admission wars engaged by the rich and famous and the wannabe rich and famous for those coveted admission slots. This was not some cheapie production, either. With a full-on set, costumes, and lighting and tight direction, this was the perfect antidote to a dreary, cold Sunday evening in New York. Sadly, the performance was sparsely attended, but that just made Bianco's performance even more remarkable as she made us all feel as though we were her special and valued guests. Totally delightful. – at the Westside Theatre (Downstairs), New York

9 to 5

 – Marquis Theatre, New York

September, 2009. Had the exuberant and ecstatic audience reaction following 9 to 5's opening number, the smashingly good "9 to 5," been an indication of the show's future, 9 to 5 would still be running today. Unfortunately, though many good things happened during the next 2 ½ hours, this was the indisputable high point of the show, and 9 to 5 clocked a disappointing run of only 148 performances, not even six months. (Allison Janney's "One of the Boys," a production number that could easily pass for Woman of the Year's "One of the Boys," Stephanie J. Block's eleven o'clock emancipation power ballad "Get Out and Stay Out," and the call-to-battle "Change It"  elicited their share of hefty applause, but nothing like the opening number.) Though hewing closely to the beloved, iconic, and damn funny 1980 film, original screenwriter and now librettist for the musical incarnation Patricia Resnick, and original star, composer of the title tune, and country legend Dolly Parton muddied up the waters by adding a love interest for the Lily Tomlin role, eliminating the wonderful short segment in the film where Lily Tomlin's character solves a myriad of problems during a series of phone calls, which establishes quickly and succinctly just how indispensible she is, and expanding the role of Roz to a full supporting character, which gave too much importance to a wonderful minor role. Parton's score was overall pleasant and tuneful and often reminiscent of other composers (see note about "One of the Boys"), but it wasn't particularly memorable. The show's biggest asset was the divine Allison Janney in the Lily Tomlin role. Regal, commanding, and just plain fun, she looked like she was having a blast on the Marquis stage. Megan Hilty, all boobs and country frills in the Dolly Parton role, and Stephanie J. Block, all uptight in the Jane Fonda role, brought skilled professionalism to their parts, though Hilty's much-praised "Backwoods Barbie" was a garbled miss at the performance I saw, and Block's "Get Out and Stay Out" was more American Idol belting than singing with interpretation. Marc Kudisch was wonderful as the oversexed, misogynistic boss (the Dabney Coleman role). Andy Karl did what he could as the awkwardly added love interest for Ms. Janney. Kathy Fitzgerald beat Roz within an inch of the character's life, and I found her interpretation both cloying and over-indulgent. This was the penultimate performance, but you would never know it from the enthusiasm and opening-night freshness of the performance. It could have been better, but having said that, I enjoyed it a lot. – at the Marquis Theatre, New York

Sidebar: During the interval, I was reminded that, by the same time the next day, 9 to 5 would be over, the strike most likely already underway, when I walked past the merchandise stand and saw everything at least 75% off. Everything must go. I bought a sparkly "Dolly" pin that now resides in our china cabinet.

– Bank of America Theatre, Chicago

January, 2011. With a new, leaner, more tour-friendly physical production than its Broadway original, a revised book, tweaked score, and new direction and choreography by Jeff Calhoun, 9 to 5 hit the road with the wonderful Dee Hoty, whom I will see in just about anything, in the lead role of Violet. And as an added "bonus" for the hinterlands, Dolly Parton made a guest appearance. Not in person, of course, but instead in a video that bookended the show and introduced the leading ladies. It was a gimmick, not really necessary, but the audience liked it and actually gave Dolly "entrance" applause. The major missteps that I thought worked against the New York production, Violet's unnecessary love interest and the expansion of the character of Roz, were still there and still worked against the show. But the show's general good will and eagerness to please made this trimmer 9 to 5 a thoroughly delightful way to spend a wintry Sunday afternoon. Dee Hoty, delicious as always, made Violet her own. Mamie Parris, as Judy, gave "Get Out and Stay Out" the requisite belt, but she also made the lyrics shine, which made it more powerful than at the Marquis. Diana DeGarmo played Doralee, and she was quite good, even if "Backwoods Barbie" still didn't impress. While 9 to 5 will never be an "A" musical, it's a good, solid "B" musical that has become popular on the regional and amateur circuits. – at the Bank of America Theatre, Chicago

That's it for now. Up next….more misfiles!

© 2017 Jeffrey Geddes