ABT's The Tempest

 Aaron asked out of the blue if I wanted to attend the ballet; my answer is always yes. We went to see The Tempest which was a 3 piece ballet, the last being The Tempest. Tempest happens to be my least favorite Shakespeare play but I've never seen it live so I was willing to give it a chance. Maybe it's the way I've always read it, that it doesn't come off the page in a realistic way. The ballet was enjoyable and it was easy to follow since I knew the premise, but Aaron didn't know it and was therefore in the dark. The choreography for the corps was by far the best of the night, absolutely beautiful chaos as wind and the sea's waves.

We also got to see a 4 person ballet of sections based on Othello. I loved it but Aaron didn't really like it. There was no pointe work. The only thing about it that bothered me was that the man playing Othello wasn't black. Normally I wouldn't care about race, especially in a ballet, but Othello is the moor of Venice, a character that is always black.

We sat in the 4th ring, row G. The seats were far, but ballet is something you can see from afar. I brought my binoculars and I was fine. The best part of the night was that since it wasn't the Nutcracker or Swan Lake, only hard core ballet fans went. There wasn't any phone conversations, texting, and even coughing was kept to a minimum. We also saw it on a friday night....pretty nerdy of us on a Friday, no?

First Date

 Man, I wanted to like this show so bad. The whole idea sounded like fun, though I was a little concerned that the show was only about 1 first date and not multiple couples. But no, it was only 1 couple, played by Krista Rodriguez (Smash) and Zachary Levi (whom I recognize as the voice of Flynn Rider in Tangled). I can say that honestly I did not even LIKE Krista, both in her acting choices and character, or her singing. After listening to her, I recognize the sound and she also did The Addams Family. Whenever I've heard the songs, I always thought she sounded weak then...so I guess it's her voice that I don't like.

We had great seats. Center section, last row....it was great because literally there were only 3 seats and we were 3 people, so we had our own private entrance. 

This was the whole show, thankfully only an hour and a half. The supporting cast was decent, but one of the guys was terrible. He was obviously hired because he can rap, but he can NOT sing. And he had 3 solos doing the "Bail Out" song. Ugh, someone should've told the writers in workshop that they didn't need that many Bail Outs. There were definite problems in the show, but it wasn't terrible....but I'd skip it.

Big Fish

I went to France for 2 months so I haven't seen a lot of theater. Dommage! When I got back to America, I tried to get back into the swing of things by hitting up Broadway. Broadway 2 for 1 week was upon us, and everyone has been talking up Big Fish, so I got us some nice seats during preview week. We sat in row M of the orchestra, off to the right. We could see everything. The last time I saw something in the Neil Simon theater.....who knows. I saw Hairspray and Catch Me if You Can.

Sigh, the costuming I loved. Norbert Leo Butz was magic and for sure, he'll be nominated for a tony. Kate Baldwin has a gorgeous voice as always. Aaron and I actually liked the same songs. Susan Stroman shows are always a good bet. She thinks about the show as a whole since she's both director and choreographer.

 Look at this witch scene. All the chorus girls were wearing large costumes with poles to have leaf like sleeves. (They're holding them up right in the shot)

 This last scene in Act 1 was perfection. Just look at the colors! Kate Baldwin's wig is LIVING in this spotlight. The song daffodils was gorgeous and this is definitely a moment on stage worth remembering.

Cinderella

Once again I found myself at the Broadway theater (by the way, can I just get it off my chest how much I HATE the name of this theater?! Not even remotely original.) to see Cinderella. I made sure that this time around, I would pay a LOT of attention to the costume changes! Laura Osnes was once again gorgeous and charming, and I really enjoyed Santino Fontana's Prince Topher. I enjoyed him last time, and he was very consistent. Victoria Clark once again was amazing as the Fairy Godmother, warming the entire room with her oozing vocals. I loved Ann Harada again. She has great delivery in her lines even if I knew what was coming next. 

The choreography is so fun in this show. It's like the choreographer (Josh Rhodes) knew what everyone wanted to see; big show stopping numbers, lots of turns, double kicks, tricks, lifts, and all while wearing ball gowns. The costume changes were once again AMAZING, and I made sure to see how it happened. Laura is so smooth in her "choreography" to change her dresses. Everything is thin and fits nicely into her bosum of her dresses. When she unties the top, it all falls down to reveal her "under" dress, the beautiful ball gown. I still stand by my thoughts of Laura and Victoria getting nominated for tonys, though I am not sure if Ann Harada will get a nomination. 

 It's a fun show and we even saw a proposal happen the night we went. How does one go about doing that anyway? Do you just approach an usher?!

All in The Timing

 We changed it up a bit,  seeing an off broadway show. I was dying to see this as I LOVE David Ives. Aaron had a great time and we got to see some of the skits I've never seen performed. Primary Stages is a wonderful venue. I hope to return. Every seat was a great one. AND on Thursdays, they have live jazz at the bar after your show. I'm a fan!

 We got to see The Philadelphia, one of the most risqué plays I had ever seen as a teenager. As an adult, not so risqué, and actually not as interesting as I'd remembered.

 We saw Phillip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread. I didn't like it, BUT it was so nice to see it as opposed to read it since it's written in columns.

Words Words Words was still fun for me. I was happy to see this play and Aaron has been recommending it to friends.

Kinky Boots

 FUN FUN FUN! I had a blast at this show. Maybe it's because I love drag queens. Maybe it's because I love big showy numbers with high kicks and clap worthy beats. Or maybe it's because I went in with the correct amount of expectations. I wasn't expecting it to be Les Miserables or Next To Normal. I went in hoping to have a great time like when I went to see Priscilla Queen of the Desert or La Cage Aux Folles (seeing the trend?) Anywho, every dragette in this show WERKD! The show started out slow but as soon as Lola came on stage, it was a SHOW! I recommend it to anyone! Seriously!

 Annaleigh Ashford was amazing. I've heard mixed things about her in the past (she plays the same character, she's hamming it up) but I loved her. I think she'll get a nom for this little part though it was very small.

 We rushed this show and I had to arrive by 8:40 AM. I think I was about 25th in line. They didn't start selling tickets until 10 AM and it was cold as balls out so you can imagine how miserable I was. Tickets were $39 and we got partial view in the box, but I only missed a couple of things (not worth complaining about) and my mom had a great view. We were in the right box, and we were in the 4th row back. The theater was PACKED so we couldn't move! I want to see it again.

Pippin

I've never seen Pippin live. I've never seen the movie. I've never even heard the entire soundtrack...until now. Pippin's revival is a fresh take (I've heard) on the 70's musical. They've added a carnival/circus sideshow element to the story. It fit in really well and made me question what the heck was on the stage beforehand. The theater magic was so fun, having severed heads speaking, hands going through bodies, levitating bodies, etc. I would never want to do this show though. It's weird. First act is all about how Pippin doesn't know his purpose, he wants to fight, etc. Second act, he's having sex with women and ends up on a farm. No really, a farm, complete with suckling pigs and chickens. I wouldn't want to see it again based on the fact that the story bored me. BUT, and here's a big but; Every time I was bored, there was a circus act going on and it distracted me from the boring music. So yeah, go for the circus acts!

 Seriously, here's a prime example. The leading player and Pippin are having a song here and all the while there's two acrobatic men doing choreo above them, and if that's not enough for you, how about the woman in the hoop?

I wanted great seats for this show and I got them. Row D of the mezzanine. However, this theater is so small and I should never buy expensive seats again. It's not worth it. The absolute worst part about this seating arrangement was the smelly man sitting next to Aaron. It was vile. Reminiscent of the dirty haired boy at Glengarry Glen Ross, this man had some seriously stinky pants and looked like a homeless Santa. (Mom disagrees) He actually smelled like that awful piss odor you get on the L train at 6th avenue. And it wasn't a constant smell. You'd get a whiff of it every time he moved. (And he had a lot of jackets to remove off his gelatinous form)

We found Pippin to be weak but the chorus was working very hard. Patina Miller will get nominated for her role as the Leading Player and Andrea Martin will no doubt win for Best Supporting Actress. Phenomenal!

Peter and the Starcatcher

 I took mom to see PATS, which has now been moved off Broadway to New World Stages. We rushed it and lucky for us, we weren't seeing Avenue Q, because apparently everyone else in line was trying to get tickets for that. We arrived 45 minutes early and got seats for the 2nd row, partial view. I of course took the worser of the seats but really, I only missed 1 thing  (lucky I have already seen it) and mom had a great time. And who could complain about only paying $26.50 to see it. It's a steal! This was by far her favorite show she saw this time around.

 The cast is pretty new, some of the actors reprising their roles (Smee and Slank) and some returning but taking on different roles (The original Lord Aster was playing Black Stache) It was very fun to see yet another Black Stache! They kept the staging exactly the same as before. I actually liked it better in this setting because it's more intimate. I hope PATS has a long life off broadway here. It seems to fit in well.

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

Holy hell, was this show ever funny! I bought the tickets on a whim for my cousin, my mom, and myself. They had a "Youth rush" so I got the tickets for $37 a piece. I had to ask some kind Canadien man on the street to assist me in buying them as I was only allowed 2 tickets. Yeah for him, whoever he was. This show had everything you could ever want from a Christopher Durang play; outrageous characters and scenarios, and a HOT ass actor half naked for the entire show! Sigourney Weaver was hilarious as a selfish Masha, David Hyde Pierce was great as a tired and angry Vanya, Kristine Nielson was superb as Sonia (not to mention Maggie Smith), and Billy Magnussen was the best eye candy on stage since Nick Adams! 

 We sat LAST row mezzanine which was fine. Sure we were far back, but the Golden is one of the smallest broadway theaters and therefore gives off a super intimate feel. For the price you can't beat it. I've sat in this theater many times now and never had a bad seat.

 One of the best scenarios on stage was deciding on what costumes to wear to a costume party. As the picture shows, there's a lot of Snow White theme going on. I loved every character and I'm planning on going back in less than a month.

Cinderella

A Lovely Night, A Lovely Night...Yes, I had a great time at Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. But oh, has it changed. Yes it has. So much in fact that I left a little disappointed. The changes that were made to this musical were the book and a few songs to include new characters and their motivations. They added a revolutionary character and I COULD.NOT.STAND.HIM! He had a lame ass song DURING "The Prince is Giving a Ball", a song that I normally detest, but I LOVED this version and every time he sang I wanted him to shut up because he was legit ruining the song! Also, it is no longer about Cinderella vs her stepmother and 2 evil stepsisters. Oh no! One of them is sweet to her and actually finds love. WTF, whoever wrote the book?! No one gives two shits over whether or not the stepsisters find love. Ann Harada played the only evil stepsister and her one liners were HILARIOUS! (I hope she gets a tony nomination for this role) Laura Osnes was magical as Cinderella.  But again, the changes to the book were my only complaint. They changed her name to "Ella" and it was "Prince Topher" instead of Christopher. The best part of this show hands down was the costume changes. Whoever did costumes for this show is definitely getting a nomination and very well may win.

Seriously, the costume changes were flawless. Victoria Clark as the fairy godmother had a wonderful quick change and Laura Osnes did not 1, but 3 quick changes. The chorus was WORKING it out! I loved every big choral number! LOTS and LOTS of high kicks and pirouettes! Just what I like.

 I sat in row K of the mezzanine and it was a bit far away. I brought my binoculars for once and I was all good. At intermission, I moved up to row F of the rear mezz and it made somewhat of a difference. I tried to move to the right box which was CRAZY close, but the usher said no. I noticed that she let some other people move down there after me. How lame!

All in all, I'd see it again, but I would be cringing with the book. The music is really just so good and now that I know what to expect with the costume changes, I'll be sure to keep my eyes wide open.

Hands on a Hardbody

" A new musical?!" is what I thought when I saw this listing on tdf. "No way!" We very quickly got excited about this show. Also, it helped that a guy I went to high school was one of the set builders.  It's based on a true story and also a documentary about said story. Pretty basic story; 10 people trying to win a truck. Last person to lift their hands from the truck wins it. I was a little worried about what the choreography would be, since it would include a huge ass truck and no one could let go of it. But I was pleasantly surprised when they did a "Stomp-esque" number and did aerials. However, this show falls flat. I couldn't tell if it was trying to be kitschy or dead serious. NY audiences I feel will be just as confused as I was. Aaron had a good idea. "What if they opened on Broadway with the intention of closing early just so they could tour?" I could definitely seeing this show having a place in Middle America.

Here's the truck and some of the hopefuls. Hunter Foster was in the show but I don't think he added much. Maybe I was just really bothered by his shitty hair cut, tie dye shirt, and fanny pack. Pretty run down looking. 

We sat in the rear mezz which I found odd to be that far back in the 3rd day of previews! C'mon TDF! I would've loved to have been closer! Most recently, we saw Peter and the Starcatcher here.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

I love this show. I had a blast the last time I came. Interactive and filled with laughs. However, this time around, it was not so fun. I brought Aaron and my friend Betsy to see it and there were about 20 teenage French girls sitting directly behind us. This show is hard enough to understand when English is already your first language. I can't imagine trying to see it in another language....so yeah, there was talking throughout the EN.TI.RE thing. Pivotal points were pretty much lost because of this. I had a great time but even with having seen it before, I still lost stuff. I guess it's the type of show where you won't get it or the lyrics until you do it (or look it up online)

We sat in the rear mezz, row F I believe and I would've definitely liked to have sat closer and farther away from the frenchies!

Evita

 I'm so glad we got a chance to see this show on Broadway before it closes next week. We arrived at the theater all excited to see Ricky Martin on stage and we learned in the will call line that he had just called out. You should've seen the disappointment in that line. So many people were refunding their tickets. Poor understudy! No matter. I would've liked to have seen him (even though I heard he was horrible and the understudy is actually better) but I wasn't about to go home because he wasn't in it.  I'm glad we stayed. The Evita was very powerful, though she was a terrible dancer. I could only focus on her crappy footwork whenever she did a tango. Peron was wonderful (Michael Cervaris) and yes, the Che was good as well. The cast didn't really wake up until act 2 but when they were awake, they were great.

 We had excellent seats (row J in orchestra) so we were close yet far enough away that I couldn't see any lace fronts on those wigs.

I like getting a history lesson whenever I go to the theater and promptly after leaving, looked up Evita's wikipedia page. So sad that she died at 33 years old. Previous to this show, we saw Follies, Wonderland, Crybaby, and Thoroughly Modern Millie here.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Wow, what a magnificent show! I laughed my ass off and was pleasantly surprised at how this show works. This is the show where the audience chooses the ending. Based on Charles Dicken's last novel (he never finished because he died and they make sure to point that out in the show) with the same name, the show comes to a halt when it becomes the audience's responsibility to pick out 3 things; who is the mysterious man that's been lurking about, who killed Edwin Drood, and who should the lovers of the show be? The night we went, Bazzard (the man who wants a bigger part) was awarded the role of mystery man. The killer was Helena Landless. And the lovers (ah my favorite part of the night) were Princess Puffer (Chita Rivera) and Neville Landless who upon hearing this news, stared at each other and it became very apparent that Neville forgot his lines and just said "we don't do this very often."

 We had excellent seats in the mezzanine. Row C in the house left side. Aaron was supposed to go with me but he got sick last minute so I took Lauren instead, which just means that I have to go again because I had a marvelous time!