Saturday, February 18, 2012

Venus in Fur

This show has been getting a lot of buzz around town. Newspapers and magazines alike are claiming that it's the sexiest show of the season (even Vogue, though why would I care what Vogue says about a broadway show?!) I am a huge fan of Nina Arianda, she being an alum of AMDA and even went to school there at the same time I was attending. I am also a humungous David Ives fan, having performed one of his short plays in high school (edited for content of course, but funny nonetheless). This play just didn't scream anything to me. Sure it was funny. It was also sexy. But was it the sexiest or the funniest? Hardly. I felt that Ives has written so much better stuff and Arianda shone more in Born Yesterday. I am sure she'll get some sort of nomination for this performance, however. I thought Hugh Dancy was fine. I don't have much of a history of him....so yeah. Would I send someone to this show? Maybe. Is it awful? No. Aaron was quoted "This is what Spring Awakening would have been without any music."
We were in row G in the mezz. The theater is really small so it's one of the more intimate settings for theater. (It's also the last theater I needed for "theater bingo". I have been in EVERY SINGLE theater on broadway at some point in my life!) They have a balcony, so maybe it's less intimate feeling up there. This theater is in a DIRE need of a renovation though. The minute you walk into the lobby, you see the old moldings, pictures hanging of actors long gone, etc. The seats were SO uncomfortable. Oh, and they might be the most uncoordinated and clueless ushers I've seen in some time.
The play is nice and short and has a couple of surprises, but it's not a MUST see. Well, if you like Nina Arianda in leather and lingerie, it IS a must see.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Sister Act

This show was enjoyable. A great one to catch on a Saturday matinee. I had been skeptical about this one too. For ages. But after many friends telling me "It's so good" or "it's a great time, you'll be dancing the whole time", I thought, "why not?" And it was pretty fun. I was smiling most of the show which is nice since I was in the front row. I wanted to dance with them (and I could've as the dances were not hard at all). Patina Miller sang her heart out (except for one song where me and my friend could definitely tell that she was lip synching). I found the best part of the show was the ensemble, aka the 10-15 nuns that don't really have any lines. They were fierce with their harmonies and jesus, these girls were mixing SO high. That, and the 4 villains. They were funny as shit!
My seat was in the front row pretty much almost dead center. You can't beat the seat for the price of $25! I couldn't even really miss anything. No excuses not to get these seats as opposed to full price.I've never seen so many sequined habits before! There wasn't any tap dancing which made me a little sad, but this show is totally a singing show, not a dancing one. And the script was very funny, having witty moments in every scene.