After Midnight

I went with my friend Voon to see After Midnight, a revue of the 1930's in Harlem. We went specifically on this night because K.D. Lang was starting her 39 performance run and he's obsessed. The show was fun and hot, filled with great jazz songs, many of which I knew. Pat on the back! There was virtually no story line though a few characters came on and reprised their roles from previous skits. The dancing, specifically tap, was bomb! The lindy was a little "fake" and choreographed. All in all, a 90 minute show that was fun and family appropriate. 

 I loved many of the numbers including this one where all the men tried to stay in a line for the whole song.

 We were sitting in row E all the way off to the right and while we missed sight lines for entrances, we didn't miss anything else. Perfect! They were rush so I paid $37! Not bad! Also, Rosie O'Donnell was in the audience!

The show was electric and fun. My only issue would be is that there wasn't a story line and I prefer my shows to actually go somewhere, and to take me with them.

A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder

OMG what a treat this show was! I haven't laughed at such silly things in a long time, perhaps since seeing Peter and the Starcatcher. It's a British humor type show so if you don't like Spamalot/Monty Python you might want to skip this one. It's all about a man who finds out he's 9th in line to be Earl of a huge fortune, and realizes that if he "offs" the other 8 family members, he'll be rich. The kicker for this show is that all 8 family members are played by the same actor. What a feat this actor does in 2.5 hours! I was thoroughly impressed and he did the changes SO quickly.

The costuming was superb! Swoon! I loved Sibella's song about being dressed in pink. A character I'd love to play. She had so much sass and she was all about herself.

 Aunt Nancy and myself kept reenacting this ice skating scene, laughing the next day even. What a good time.

 And Aaron loved this charity woman that the multi actor portrayed. This was a hilarious scene.

I couldn't have asked for better seats. We were in row M, exactly center, and other than a tall man sitting slightly in front of me and Aunt Nancy, these felt like producer seats. I'd see this show again in a heartbeat and I think it's the front runner for best new musical so far!

Bridges of Madison County

This new Jason Robert Brown musical I had never heard of. I knew it was a movie and a book and the theater made sure you knew that too, pushing both products at the souvenir stands. I didn't know what to expect, only that the playbill had an article saying that this show was about an "affair to remember" so I had a feeling that the main characters were going to have an affair. Kelly O'hara played Francesca and I was happy to see her on stage again, this time not as an ingenue but as the adultress. The scenes were sexy and I remember saying to my friend at intermission "wow, now I want to go home and bone my husband." The show was slow, but the music WAS beautiful. My only real complaints were the people hired to play the children. I say people because the son kept saying he was 16 and he was clearly 36! lol

 I loved seeing Hunter Foster in a show again. He sounded great, looked sexy, and I felt bad for his character. The scenery was nice, but we both mentioned that the chorus has very little to do in this show. Not a bad gig, right?

We had perfect seats, sitting in row M of the orchestra. Nothing was blocked, we were in the center section, and other than the fidget monster in front of me, the people talking near us, and the fat woman eating candy and taking up a 1/4 of my seat, it was nice.