[ Post a Response | Much Ado About Douglas: It's All About The Sills ]
Posted by english on 2/10/2009, 10:11 pm
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So, a quick run-down of my weekend. A more detailed post (with pictures) will follow eventually.
Saturday matinee: The Story of My Life (Will Chase, Malcolm Gets; musical)--new show in its first week of previews, so I hesitate to write anything too negative. It just wasn't for me.
The basic gist of the musical is one of the characters (a writer) is preparing the eulogy of his oldest friend (the owner of a book shop). The musical unfolds as a series of stories about the two friends meetings as six year-olds, growing up in a small town, and then growing apart as adults. Unfortunately, as talented as the leads are, it absolutely failed to resonate with me. Not a single song stuck with me to the point that, as I walked past the theatre in Shubert Alley (an awesome short cut between 44th and 45th) multiple times over the course of my 48-hour trip, "In My Life" from the Beatles would start to play in my head instead. Someone on ATC board brilliantly renamed in Sunday in the Park with George Bailey since it seems to marry It's a Wonderful Life with Sondheim's SITPWG. And not necessarily in a good way.
(sorry, k)
Saturday evening: Love Songs with James Barbour @ Sardi's (cabaret)--I adore James. I've seen him many times--Jane Eyre in La Jolla and NYC; Enter the Guardsman in San Diego (waves to k); Assassins in NYC; The Ghost & Mrs. Muir in NoHo; 1776 in Sacramento; and Camelot at both the Hollywood Bowl and on tour in the Bay Area. I purposefully travel to see him perform despite his somewhat...messy off-stage personal choices. He has a beautiful voice. Unfortunately, he totally knows it too. So every so often, he's not so much lost in the melody as he's obviously thinking, "Wow--I'm totally rocking this song." Still, fabulous, fabulous show. He sang songs old ("If Ever Would I Leave You" from Camelot, "On the Street Where You Live" from My Fair Lady) and new ("Sarah" from The Civil War, "Loving You" from Dracula) and unknown (2 songs from a non-Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame and something from The Count of Monte Cristo). Plus I got to go to Sardi's. And spent a few minutes hunting down the caricature—which is still hanging, almost prominently, in the main dining room.
Sunday matinee: Speed-the-Plow (Raul Esparza, William H. Macy, Elizabeth Moss; play)--I saw the show in November with Jeremy Piven, and it just didn't gel for me. I couldn't quite buy Piven as someone who could get played. Still, Esparza rocked the house, so I left the theatre quite happy.
And then Piven od'ed on sushi.
And Norbert Leo Butz and William H. Macy were announced as replacements.
And I died a little. And checked my bank account. And weighed my options.
And then Music in the Air was announced.
And then James Barbour was announced.
And then I bought plane tickets and play tickets and booked a hotel room and counted down the weeks and days and minutes.
And so that's how I ended up in NYC.
So, StP with William H. Macy taught me how much can bend and change on a single actor. He was equally heartbreaking and hysterical in the role of Bobby Gould. there was concern that his age would be an impediment but I think it added to the role--it was easier to understand how he got played and his realization at the machinations around him was note-perfect. Plus he was gracious at stage door and gave me an autograph and stood still for a picture.
And Esparza still rocks the house.
Sunday evening: Music in the Air (Douglas Sills, Kristen Chenoweth, Sierra Bogess; musical/Encores concert)--Dull, dull, dull. And then (approximately 35 minutes in) Douglas and La Chenoweth arrive on stage and it's a total blast. And then they leave for a little bit and I drift off. And then they come back and everything lights up again.
Trifling little operetta-type show that rightfully hasn't seen the light of day since the 1950s. It's essentially a country mice versus city mice story in lederhosen and dirndl skirts. With discussions about mountain climbing and going from Eisendorf to Munich and how linnets inspire choral songs. Seriously, it's hard to write about without yawning just a tad.
But this show was my real reason for going. I hadn't seen Douglas on stage since 2006 (!) and that was too long. Silly boy kept doing occasional, silly little Monday-night only concerts. Which simply doesn't work for someone on the West Coast cuz that's two days I'd have to take off from work. And this was worth it--to see him up on stage, to see him so obviously thrilled to be performing, to see him easily get the entire theatre eating from the palm of his hand, and most importantly, to see him after the show and get a huge hug and a delighted smile that we had come to see him in his show. He's such a doll, such a sweetheart, and such an amazing performer. Totally made my weekend.
I know, I gush.
Plus I had a chance to connect with people I hadn't seen in ages. A huge group of us ended up in NYC for this concert, so there was dinner and dessert and catching up. And reminiscing and laughing and much teasing. Which made for a very unusual trip for me--I'm so used to going to NYC alone or with one of my best (non-internet) friends. So, I'm used to being anti-social. It was quite different to have lunch plans and dinner plans and dessert plans with various people. I felt like quite the butterfly. It was weird.
So I'm back home now, once more my hermit-ish little self. I have 4 days to get over this cold before I head off for my next round of traveling and socializing. I need to rest up for that because talking to people is not something that always comes easily.
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