Happy Friday

Good morning and happy Friday! What a week it's been. Of course, I've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of today all week because I finally get to see Ragtime tonight. Look for a post tomorrow morning with a full wrap-up. I also got my tickets for Jerry Springer The Opera yesterday. The Bailiwick ran a 2 for 1 promotion mid-week, so I was finally able to light a fire under my companion to agree on a date to see it. All the Saturdays are already sold out so I'll be going on Sunday May 10, the day after I take the CADC exam, which will make for a nice celebration.

Keeping our local scene theme, congrats to all the Jeff Award nominees. This is the first time in quite a few years that I have not seen any of the major nominees, although not because I didn't want to. Most of the nominees are fairly recent productions and it has been so brutally cold here that other than the opera, which I subscribe to and have to go, I really haven't braved going out of the condo for anything other than Doubt and Legends. It's just been much more pleasant to lay on the sofa under a blanket with a movie musical in the DVD player. Hopefully starting tonight that will change. I am glad that Timeline will be doing Fiorello again over the summer and I hope to catch it then. I didn't hear about it the first time until its last couple of weeks. I'm also hoping to catch Sparrow. I've seen 2 other House productions: The Terrible Tragedy Of Peter Pan and Death And Harry Houdini and immensely enjoyed both of them. The problem is that the House is so popular it's hard to get tickets, and then you have to show up really early or else you end up sitting on the floor, and as you know from my New York trip, that is very hard to do with my companion. I also had wanted to catch Side Show, but my companion was adamantly opposed to seeing it. They're doing it this summer as part of the theatre on the lake series, so I will be sure to catch it then, along with Gorey Stories. Tickets go on sale in June. The only nominees that I've seen are Scott Gryder (such a hottie) in Thrill Me, Jeremy Trager in Flora The Red Menace (for my money the best production of the season, I'm disappointed it didn't get more nominations), and Danielle Brothers for Flora. I hope they all win, they were excellent and hope to see more of them in the future.

I was very disappointed in today's Sun Times review of The Color Purple. Just because there's a strong Chicago connection doesn't mean you automatically have to give a pile of crap a glowing review.

In a related vein, I know I've complaining vociferously lately about the trend of turning any random movie into a musical, so I was glad to hear that Shrek is running into some difficulties. However, my curiosity was piqued by news that the best movie of 2004, Saved! is going to get the musical treatment in 2008, directed by Gary Griffin (Chicago native and director of the awful Color Purple, but also some really great shows as well). It's going to be produced by Playwrights Horizons, the same company that created Grey Gardens, so it could be good. We'll have to see how it goes, I'm not completely sold but I'm not opposed to checking it out later.

It seems ABC is attempting to corner the queen audience. After lining up numerous divas on Ugly Betty, the network has also managed to entice Bernadette Peters to make an appearance on Boston Legal on Tuesday. I'll be watching. Maybe she can team up with Shirley's ex-husband's wife for a duet.

Lastly, Judy Kaye will be taking on the role of Mrs. Lovett in the national tour of Sweeney Todd, which starts later this year. If Patti can't do it, I can't think of anyone better to replace her (and apparently the producers can't either, Judy was Patti's replacement last summer when Patti took her vacation to come to Ravinia to do Gypsy). My only complaint is that Chicago is not on the schedule. However, Atlanta is, so maybe I'll take a trip to see my cousin, who saw Porchlight's production with me when she was here a few years ago. Anyways, I have almost depleted my phone's battery with this long entry, so if I want to get it posted, I need to say goodbye for now. Look for my assessment of Ragtime tomorrow.