Reviews - End of the Rainbow and Newsies

I got to see three shows this weekend (plus spend time with friends), thanks to the generosity of out-of-town pals.  Since one of the shows was a return visit to Death of a Salesman (where I found Philip Seymour Hoffman a tad more effective and Linda Emond less so), I’ll only speak on the other two.

Friday night, I went with a grad school chum to see End of the Rainbow (thanks, grad school chum!).  I was curious about seeing this, since much has been written about Tracie Bennett and her performance as Judy Garland.  I don’t remember hearing much about the play itself, which purports to be a dramatization about Judy preparing for concerts in London months before her death.

Well, I think the buzz on Tracie Bennett is certainly justified.  She’s giving an incredible performance, not just an impersonation.  She sounds uncannily like Garland (of course she doesn’t have the ineffable specialness of Judy, but who does?  you suspend disbelief on that and move on) and just tears into this icon, making her all-too human.  I’ll admit to thinking a couple of times, “oh, sister, dial it down,” but then she would do something so breathtakingly interesting, that I was back on board.  Though I’m firmly in the “Nina Arianda for the Tony” bandwagon, I wouldn’t quibble with Bennett taking the award.

Michael Cumpsty is his usually wonderful self as Anthony, Judy’s gay accompanist.  So much is going on behind that placidly kind face.  And the look on his face when Judy makes her choice at the end is heartbreaking.  Tom Pelphrey as Mickey Deans is less successful, but the playwright has also done him no favors.  I found his performance very shallow and surface-y.  I realize the character is probably shallow and surface-y, but it seemed to me an actor issue.  The set is gorgeous, the on-stage band is terrific.  The costumes are nice and seem appropriate to the period and the characters.

BUT, I think this play is kinda terrible.  It’s trying to be too many things – a docudrama, a lurid tabloid exploitation, a concert-within-a-play… and it fails at all things, I think.  Who wants to see Judy Garland crawling around on the floor as a dog, lifting her leg to pee?  Who wants to see Mickey Deans stuffing pills down Judy’s throat?  Who wants to hear more arguments about who loves Judy more – gay men or straight men?  Then there were the monologues with all the exposition we didn’t really need.  Judy’s children were not mentioned once (for legal reasons, I’m certain).  I didn’t find any of the dialogue to be dramatic or interesting, though Bennett and Cumpsty delivered so well (Bennett is especially good at the bitchy comeback) that I was caught up in the characterizations while simultaneously being repulsed by the dialogue.

I guess, on the whole, I’d say the show is worth seeing (via a discount only) for Bennett and Cumpsty, but if you will be offended by the disrespect (and bad writing) shown to Judy, stay away. 

Moving on.  When my other out-of-town friend was asking me which shows I’d like to see with him, he said something like, “well, I have tickets for Newsies, ugh, which you probably don’t want to see.”  I’m like, uh, YEAH I want to see Newsies!  Hello!  I’m one of those crazy gals who love the movie!  And, double hello, I’m a single woman of a certain age, of COURSE I want to see dancing newsboys!  Please.  ;)

Newsies is a bouncy, tuneful musical that surely doesn’t want anything more than to be a bouncy, tuneful musical.  There’s no great wit or point of view, but it’s warmhearted,  well-crafted and performed with good cheer.  The audience was filled with kids who were screaming with pleasure, so that was also fun.  I definitely had a good time.

I did feel the most successful songs were the ones from the movie.  Alan Menken's music and Jack Feldman's lyrics are quite exciting in those group numbers for the newsboys.  The newer songs seemed of a different style (which I guess makes sense, since they were written more than twenty years past the original impulse), plus they seemed to slow whatever dramatic build there is in the story.  I did, however, like the love song added in the second act, and the new love-interest’s character song.  Harvey Fierstein’s book seemed a bit subdued, though the waiter in the newsboys’ favorite deli had some choice zingers.

Jeremy Jordan is a charming leading man.  Though the script doesn’t ask much more of him than to be charming, he nevertheless holds the stage and commands attention.  Poor John Dossett has terrible scenes and an even worse song as Joseph Pulitzer.  Which he has to sing twice.  Blech.  Capathia Jenkins is also saddled with a terrible song as the music hall hostess with a heart of gold, and she must’ve been under-the-weather, because she delivered the song most underwhelmingly.  I've seen and enjoyed her before, so I can only assume it’s a big number that she just couldn’t do because of her illness.  Kara Lindsay as the love-interest (this is a new character, and I’m a tad conflicted on her – she’s a newspaper reporter yet has a relationship with a seventeen-year-old newsboy?) looks like a Disney princess come to life and sang nicely.

The other stars of the show are the ensemble, though, and their rough-and-tumble athletic choreography (by Christopher Gatelli) is really engaging.  There’s leaping and somersaulting and backflipping (and a tap number!  hurrah!), with enough energy to lift the spirits of even the biggest curmudgeon.  If some of the more balletic choreography looked out of place (as did the tallest newsboy who just couldn’t un-classical himself enough), those moments were few and far between.  Their group numbers were really terrific – their voices blended nicely in the songs and their dance chemistry was excellent. 

I didn’t love the scaffolding/rolling set, though it was effective in one number in the second act, and the projections were used maybe too sparingly.  They just looked like accidents rather than part of the set, and I’m sure they weren’t visible to many parts of the audience at any given time.  The costumes were good and the lighting was especially fine. 

So, thumbs up on Newsies from me.  If you’re not, however,  a fan of the movie or of dancing newsboys, I’d say stay home.  lol   

Food photos I've neglected lately

For some reason, I've been neglectful of several restaurants I've vistited recently where I had really tasty food.  I'll try to remedy that now.

I finally stopped by the new wine bar in Astoria - DiWine.  It's only a couple of blocks from my apartment and I've meant to go for...forever.  Usually, when I pass by the restaurant, it's packed with loud people.  For some reason, on this night, it was completely empty.  Yay for me!  So, I dropped by and had one server all to myself.  Unfortunately for me, it was not the devastatingly attractive young man who waited on the couple who came in after me.  Oh well...

I started off with a glass of malbec, which was delicious, then I got a personal pizza.  The menu here is very meat-heavy, and I wasn't really in the mood for a big fish entree.  So a mushroom and basil pizza sounded good to me.  And it was.  It might've been a little too cheese-y (yes, there is such a thing), but the crust was good and the mushrooms were tasty.  I'd definitely order it again.  The vibe of DiWine is nice--the music isn't too loud and the lighting is all by candle (to loosely quote The Nanny, after a certain age, a woman's best lighting is by candle and/or moon...).  So thumbs up on DiWine.  I'll definitely be back, though, again, it's not an everyday place.  The prices are a little high for my neighborhood, in my humble opinion.

For my birthday, some pals and I went to West Bank Cafe.  I love West Bank Cafe.  They always have a nice wine list and very tasty food.  When we got there, our server promptly informed us that the deep fryer was down, so no fried foods.  Hmmmm.  Well, I guess we wouldn't be getting the risotto ball appetizer.  Oh well.  Instead we shared the guacamole and the truffled mac & cheese.  Yummmmm!  That mac & cheese was to die for.  I know it looks like soup in the photo, but it wasn't nearly that runny.  The pasta was orzo and it had gruyere, fontina and parmesan cheeses, with a little truffle oil on top.  It was rich and earthy and delicious.  I don't think I could ever eat an entire dish of it by myself, but it was great to have a third of it.

I was going to be a good vegetarian for my entree and get their spaghetti squash dish, but I just couldn't resist getting scallops.  Hey, it was my birthday!  :)   And boy, was I glad I got this dish!  We have another candidate for best dish of 2012.  It was yum yummy.  The scallops were served on top of a velvety celery root puree, along with some pan-roasted brussels sprouts and butternut squash.  All around the dish was a pomegranate vinaigrette along with some pomegranate seeds.  Wow!  The acidity of the vinaigrette really cut through the richness of the puree and the meatiness of the scallops.  And the seeds were a great crunch element.  It was really just a perfectly balanced dish for me.  Thumbs WAY up.

For dessert, I got my uber-favorite, the frozen lemon mousse with a toasted meringue on top, and candied pistachios and fruit compote on the bottom.  I LOVE this dessert.  Plus, look how prettily they decorated it for my birthday!!   Sorry about the bite being missing, I just had to have a taste immediately.  :)

When I got back from my work travels, I met with my darling GNO angels for a dinner at Pigalle.  We used to go to Pigalle a lot, so when we went this time, we were a little startled to see the prices were significantly higher.  So we probably won't be stopping there as we used to.  Maybe it's our fault the prices went up - their volume went down when we stopped going more regularly...

Anyway, I got the fish special of the evening, pan-seared tilapia, with basil mashed potatoes and sauteed spinach.  It was very yummy, if nothing really special.  In fact, the spinach was VERY underseasoned, so I didn't finish it once the delicious buerre blanc was gone.  But the mashed potatoes were tasty and the fish was well-cooked.  Plus, sorry to be coarse, but it was $10 less than the other fish entrees on the menu!  That's crazy!

Prices did not deter us from getting the chocolate mousse cake for dessert.  We just shared it.  In the interest of fiscal responsibility.  ;)   It was rich and delicious.  We also got a scoop of coffee ice cream, which came with a little container of hot fudge.  Jeepers, that hot fudge was amazing!  I immediately put a mini-spoonful of it in my cappuccino!  Sorry I didn't get a photo...

That's all the food stuff that's fit to print for now.  I'll just end with some photos I got on various planes lately.  Not that they have anything to do with food.  I just like plane photos.  Enjoy!

I guess I can't fill out a certain kind of survey anymore! (TMI alert)

You know the kind of survey I mean - the one that gets e-mailed around your circles of friends and asks questions like: who was your first prom date, do you prefer vanilla or chocolate, what is your favorite color and DO YOU HAVE ANY TATTOOS??  Now that I have to answer 'yes' to that last question, no more surveys for me...

Yes, the saga of my new breasts is (hopefully) complete.  I made a visit to Dr Vera Wang's tasteful office on the East Side yesterday and had my nipples tattooed.  For some reason, I had sort of forgotten about this appointment.  For one thing, I made it in January.  And for another, I guess it's part of my denial/avoidance thing.  I'm just tired of thinking about it.  And I'm not looking forward to another period of breast high-maintenance...

I got to the offices early and was ushered in quickly.  As I was changing into the lovely peach-colored robe, I took a couple of photos - one of yet another syringe, and one of a color wheel and Spirograph-looking wheel guide.  Interesting!  Dr Vera Wang came in and made small talk.  Then she showed me, on the Spirograph thing, which sizes she thought would be appropriate for me (I ended up choosing a circumference a bit smaller than the 'normal' size), then we decided which shades would be good for my skin tone.  I thought it was funny she thought a combination of beige 2, beige 3 and rose would go well with my "red" hair.  I didn't remind her that my red hair is fake.  Just like my breasts, I guess.  :)

The process was pretty painless.  She did numb me, since I'm starting to have some sensation, especially at the top of my breasts (which she said was excellent news - uh, ok).  Then she got out a little machine that looked and sounded like a dental drill.  She drew the circles on, colored them in with the custom-mixed pigment, then drilled/tattooed it on.  I felt a little pressure, but that's it.  It took her a couple of tries to get the colors quite right.  She had me take a look and, yes, I got a little teary.  There they were.  Breasts that almost looked as they did last year.  Not really, but close enough.  The color looks a little dark right now, but she said that's because the tattooing brought blood to the surface and the colors will lighten over the next week or so.  More gauze bandages, antibiotic cream and the return of my stupid surgical bra that makes me look like I have the chest of a pudgy twelve-year-old boy.  Oh well.  I can stand it for one more week.  The whole tattooing process took about a half hour.

I see Dr Vera Wang next month, to make sure the tattoos are right, then I'll only see her once a year after that.  It will feel strange, seeing these doctors occasionally instead of all the time.  But it will help me get back to feeling like myself, I'm sure.  She took one last look before she left and said, "You look beautiful."  Thanks to you, Dr Vera Wang.

One more fun photo.  I admit I was a little anxious walking from the subway over to her office this morning.  Imagine my happiness seeing this billboard on my way.  Imaginary boyfriends always make a day better and put a spring in a girl's step... :)

**Six years ago, I reviewed the hideous stage production of Festen; five years ago, it was the Kevin Spacey Moon for the Misbegotten; four years ago, I saw Candide at New York City Opera; three years ago, I greatly enjoyed the Lincoln Center revival of August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone.  April is always a big theater month for me...

Review - Judith of Bethulia

Clearly, I don’t even need to do a review of this show.  It’s the new Charles Busch play.  You all KNOW what I’m going to say:

THUMBS UP!!!!

Seriously, Charles Busch deserves an Obie, Drama Desk, Tony, Olivier, Emmy, Oscar, Grammy, Kennedy Center Honor, Sarah Siddons Award, Nobel Peace Prize and whatever hell else we can give him.  To me, the man is a treasure.  A TREASURE, I tell you!!  J

Following The Divine Sister and its witty take on films featuring nuns,  Judith of Bethulia is a ‘celebration’ of biblical epics.  The preshow music even included tunes from The Ten Commandments.  Oh yeah.  I love that movie!  This play is everything you expect from a Charles Busch piece: high brow/low brow comedy, wit, camp, warmth, affection, craft and joy.  It was tons of fun and full of laughs.  If it didn’t have quite the sustained giddiness of The Divine Sister, well, that’s ok.  It’s early and they’re still playing.

Charles is playing Judith, a wealthy Jewish widow who isn’t quite what she appears to be.  How she evolves into the woman we see at the end of the evening is a tons-of-fun journey.  As always, Charles is gorgeously attired and wigged (seriously, I need to have my hair and makeup done by Charles’ peeps – he’s gorgeous!).  His first entrance is frankly worth the price of admission!  I won’t spoil it for you.  Regarding his co-stars, Charles has again surrounded himself with actors who are as fast and funny as he is – Mary Testa, Jen Cody, Jennifer Van Dyck and Christopher Borg were my favorites.  And another reason to love Charles (as if I need one):  after the curtain call, he steps forward and gives such a lovely thank-you to the audience.  It’s genuine and heartfelt and reflects exactly how we all feel watching him.  Love-fests are so few and far between, I say indulge in them when you can.  J

Of course I urge everyone to see this show.  Now, truth be told, the entire run at Theater for the New City is sold out, BUT they have a waiting list and I can tell you with absolute certainty that there were empty seats last night.  Two of them were in front of me.  So don’t give up!  

I guess I’m unable to write a very critical review.  Sorry, but I have next to no objectivity about Charles or his work.  I just love him.  I knew very little about him or his work when I moved to New York (shame on me), then I happened to see him speak on a panel.  He was so charming and so delightful, I immediately decided to read all his plays.  The first play of his I saw was Queen Amarantha at the WPA in 1997.  And...I was hooked.  I’ve seen them all since then.  I just love his very sincere, very real love for the movies, theater and women/actresses.  It all shows in his work.  I don’t enjoy camp for camp’s sake most of the time, but his stuff transcends.  Plus, it's just joyfully fun.  In my humble opinion, of course.  Your mileage may vary.  J

It's almost ballet time!!

I'm so excited - I have my ballet tickets!  Only four-plus weeks to wait!  This season, I'll be seeing Giselle, La Bayadere, Onegin, Thirteen Diversions/Apollo/Firebird, Romeo and Juliet, The Dream, Swan Lake and Le Corsaire.  If casting holds true to the current schedule, I'll be seeing all my favorites - my Julie (Kent), the divine Marcelo Gomes, Natalia Osipova, Polina Semionova, Diana Vishneva, Roberto Bolle, Herman Cornejo, and Ivan Vasiliev.  And my uber-favorite, David Hallberg, three times!!  Whee!  I'm thinking I may need to also pick up a ticket to Ethan Stiefel's final performance with the company in July.  Hmmmm.  Perhaps I should send an e-mail over to ABT asking everyone to please wrap themselves in bubble wrap so they stay happy and healthy the whole season.  :)

[In case you were ever wondering, no, at any given date, I have no savings, no money, no nothing.  Just soul-satisfying artistic happiness.  And debt.  :) ]

Ballet time also means Summer Friday time!  Hooray!  I can hardly wait for summer Fridays, either.  This year, I'm thinking of doing the museum thing again, since there are so many I still haven't seen.  Since my Diners Deck has expired, I'm also thinking of having lunch at restaurants with chefs I've seen on Food Network and/or Top Chef Masters.  There are so many to choose from!  I'm definitely going to be trying Geoffrey Zakarian's Lambs Club, since it's practically across the street from my office, and hello, he IS my boyfriend.  Ha ha.  But I also for sure want to hit Alex Guarnaschelli's Butter, Marcus Samuelsson's Red Rooster, Aaron Sanchez's Centrico, and Marc Forgione's Forgione.  I also want to try the restaurants of Jonathan Waxman, Floyd Cardoz, Susur Lee, and Maneet Chauhan.  I seriously need to get a second (and third?) job, and should probably start working out now...

Bring on the summer!!!

Review - Leap of Faith

Hi everybody!  I’ve got a jam-packed theater week coming up!  I’m getting tired just thinking about it!  ;)   Last night, I saw Leap of Faith via a TDF ticket.  My seat was great, about twelve rows back, on the side/off-center aisle.  Word of warning: it is FREEZING in that theater!  Thank heavens I had a trusty scarf with me!

Well, really, all I need to say about the show is—Raul Esparza wears leather pants.  Thumbs up.

Thank you.  I hope you enjoyed the review.  J   OK, OK, I’ll go on.  But Raul is beyond hot. 

Anyway, I had a good-enough time at the show, but I think it could be a whole lot better.  I’m not sure the framing device that they’re using really works; it might make more sense to just tell the story chronologically.  But maybe not.  I don’t know.  I’m actually puzzling over why the show wasn’t totally successful for me.  I like the basic premise.  I like the actors.  The songs (by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater) were fine, though (oddly enough for a musical) I think there may be too many of them.  At least, there are too many songs that sound alike.  The gospel numbers all ran together for me.  I preferred the gospel music in Menken’s Sister Act to this, though Leap of Faith’s quieter numbers, away from the revival tent, were quite nice.   There were a couple of times, though, where I understood and agreed with the sentiment and placement of the song, but I didn’t like the actual song.  Does that make sense?  And at intermission, I found myself humming “Skid Row” from Little Shop, which may mean I got a generic Menken feel out of this music.

Apparently, the earlier production that they did of Leap of Faith in LA caused the producers to bring in Warren Leight as a co-librettist.  I generally like Warren’s work, but I didn’t really get a sense of him here.  The book was pretty generic.  And though I appreciated the script’s not going with the “laughline-a-minute” technique that a lot of movies-to-musicals use, I could’ve used a bit of a lighter touch.  And more character development.  We’re thrown a lot of character information and are just supposed to run with it.  One or two more book scenes might’ve helped with that.  As it was, I didn’t really get engaged until about fifteen minutes before the end of the first act.  That’s a long wait.  The second act works better, I think, because there are more character songs and less gospel songs.  I will say I was moved at the end – even though you can see the ending coming a mile away (I didn’t see the original Steve Martin movie).  I was also a tad confused with the character monologues (which didn't really illuminate the characters) - some of them seemed to take place in the 'now' and some seemed to be in the 'then,' which I found odd.  Perhaps it's because I wasn't fully on board with the framing device...

I thought the direction was pretty disjointed – actors seemed at times to be wandering around the stage aimlessly and without a sense of space co-existing with the set design.  The choreography was hot and cold for me – I really liked a couple of the group numbers, but I didn’t like the choir choreography.  And I hated the costumes.  HATED them (well, except for the leather pants, of course).  And I’m normally not one to really notice costumes.

The cast was excellent, starting and ending with boyfriend Raul.  He’s just electric and has a wonderful character arc and lovely chemistry with his co-stars.  His 11:00 number is amazing.  He owns the stage and this is really his show, all the way.  I think he flubbed some lyrics towards the end of the show, but charmingly kept going until he was back on track.  Jessica Phillips (who took over for Brooke Shields from the LA production) is fine as our leading lady, though she could use a little more character development.  Her big solo in the second act is terrific, though.  A friend of mine from undergrad is making her Broadway debut in a small role, so hooray for her!  I got pretty choked up seeing her beautiful face on that stage.  Leslie Odom Jr as the rival evangelist was terrific, as was Kecia Lewis-Evans as his mom.  I also thought the boy playing the disabled son, Talon Ackerman, was quite good.  Maybe that character is the way into the story.  Hmmm.  Let me think on that…

So, to sum up, I had a perfectly pleasant evening, watching tremendously talented people share their talent and work their butts off.  If the material wasn’t yet quite up to their talent, well, ok.  I hear they’re still working on the first act, so maybe Warren can find a way to strengthen those characters without slowing down the story.  The show doesn’t open until April 26, so there seems to be time to tinker.  I will take a leap of faith with Warren.  :)  But Raul, and those leather pants, are rocking the house.  


Happy Easter!

To celebrate Easter, I present some of my favorite shots of flowers or other Easter-y type poses.  Have a happy day, all...