Catching Up

It seems an eternity since my last posting on Friday. A lot has happened since then that I've been dying to post. However, the royal palace is currently being re-painted, and my computer is not only surrounded by brain-killing paint fumes if I go anywhere near the room it's in, it's also hidden under layers of plastic sheeting. So, I've had to wait until getting to work this morning to update my readers on my eventful weekend. I've never looked so forward to getting back to work.

First of all, on Friday, my shipment from BMG arrived. I've now added
to my collection:
The Likes Of Us

Funny Girl (Broadway Cast Recording)

The Sound Of Music (Motion Picture Soundtrack)

The Music Man (Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Build A Bridge - Audra McDonald

Selections from all of these will find their way onto my internet radio
station when I get it up and running, hopefully soon.

On Saturday, I went to the Library and picked up a few more CD's:
Marie Christine

South Pacific (1986 Studio Cast Recording)

Tovarich

As usual, with most library CD's, they are all extremely scratched, but seem to be mostly useable. I was hoping to pick up a few additional CD's, but as usual, the CD section at the Harold Washington Library is so disorganized that even though their electronic card catalog may say that a CD is not checked out, that is no guarantee that it can be found. Hopefully when I return these ones I can find the additional ones I wanted. One other note, about the South Pacific recording, I'm usually not a fan of opera singers attempting to do Broadway, although Bryn Terfel and Renee Fleming's Under the Stars CD is a glorious exception. I love both opera and showtunes, but they tend to be mutually exclusive genres. However, the Broadway recording of South Pacific was one of the CD's that was supposed to be on the shelf but was nowhere to be found. So, I picked this one up as a consolation prize and actually enjoyed it. The opera singers (Kiri Te Kanawa and Jose Carreras) were not too over the top and affected, which usually happens when an opera singer tackles Broadway, and the addition of Mandy Patinkin to the cast helped provide balance.

On Sunday, I saw Die Fledermaus at the Lyric Opera and it was absolutely fantastic. I saw the 1999-2000 production, and while this one uses mostly the same sets (with some changes to the 3rd act set), this production was all in the original German, while the earlier production was all English. I think this actually added to my enjoyment of this wonderful operetta. Operas in English tend to come across as contrived and trite, and foreign language productions easily overcome this since even with the supertitles the mundaneness of the lyrics is hidden behind the incomprehensibility of the original language. This production is certainly worth braving the rain, snow, ice, and freezing temperatures for. Anyone in the Chicago area should make every effort to catch this while there's still time. Any opera that ends with a praise to champagne is worth seeing.

Sunday night (the opera was a matinee) I caught Grease: You're the One That I Want, and was much more impressed. I now have my eye on a few contestants, although I still feel the choices for Danny are fairly weak, with Austin (the guy from Hairspray) and Matt (the guy whose bitch girlfriend dumped him when he made it and she didn't even though with the mix of men to women, his odds of getting chosen were better than hers even though she was the better performer) being the most promising. They finally gave us some contestants to root for that actually made it through, and the talent in New York was much better than Chicago. New York is actually opposite of Chicago when it comes to talent and opportunity. While Chicago has far more opportunities than available talent, New York, despite the Broadway industry, has far more talent than available opportunities. Broadway is such a high-stakes industry anymore that producers don't really want unknowns and won't take chances on them. Then, once you get past Off-Broadway, there isn't much of a local theatre scene. People go to New York for Broadway, they're not going to trek to the middle of Queens for a local troupe's production, while audiences in Chicago are willing to travel around the city, and the layout of the city is more conducive to being able to do so. So, there are always more hopefuls in New York than there are opportunities, which worked to Grease's benefit. I'm actually looking forward to next week. And, while I probably won't see the final show, I'll at least buy the cast album.

On Monday, to get away from the painting drama, I saw Notes on a Scandal (excellent all around, I highly recommend it) and then went to the Borders across the street and using yet another emailed coupon (what a great marketing idea) picked up the CD of Singin' in the Rain, the original movie soundtrack.

Then, unfortunately, the holiday weekend ended with a big downer, the Golden Globes. Other than wins for Ugly Betty and America Ferrara, and to a lesser extent Meryl Streep (she was good and I love her, but Toni Collette deserved it more), there were no bright spots in the entire ceremony, and that is all I'm going to say on that subject.

Lastly, back at work, I checked Playbill's website and got the biggest thrill I've had in weeks. Avenue Q is finally going to tour!!! I saw the Vegas Production last March and LOVED it. Of course, I was familiar with the cast recording, but finally seeing it live was such a thrill. Idragged my brother to it, with the help of his wife, and while he is not a fan of musicals (it was his first Broadway musical), he ended up liking it. Don't get me wrong, Wicked is still the better show and deserved the Tony, but Avenue Q is still one of the best shows in years, and in a year with two great shows, it's hard to fault Tony voters, and after years of movie adaptations, it was nice to see a completely original show win. So, when Avenue Q comes to your town, don't hesitate, it's a must see, guaranteed to give you a good time, and it's got the best second to last line of any show ever (it got rousing applause from a strongly red-state audience). Don't miss it.
So, I think that brings us up to date. Until the next post-worthy event, Happy Theatre!