Wrapping up

Well, it's been another long week. However, this was finally THE week, Barbra went ahead and released her concert CD, and it's just as thrilling as I remember. I went to the Best Buy near work and picked up a regular (ie, non-limited/exclusive) edition. I know Barnes & Noble and Borders each have their own special editions with an extra song, but I wanted something as close to the actual experience I had and didn't want to risk getting jealous, although we did get Stoney End and no other audience did, even the second Chicago audience. So, I picked up the regular one, I'm sure the extra tracks will be available via download at some point in the future. I still think it would be a good idea if 6 months from now she'd put out a companion CD with all of those extra "one night only" songs, as well as the Bush routine and duet version of Happy Days Are Here Again, and, if not all, at least a sampling of the best, of her Q & A sessions. Anyways, this CD is definitely enough for now, I'm on Barbra overload already just listening to it. So, I had a coupon for 10% off the regular price of up to 3 CD's. The Barbra CD was on sale, so I looked around to see what other CD's they had, and low and behold, they had the Bernadette Peters Legends of Broadway CD!!! Of course I grabbed it, but then looking at the track list, this is the one that I have been most ambivalent about getting. I have the vast majority of the songs on that CD from the same cast recordings, performed by her; Annie Get Your Gun, Sunday In The Park With George, Song & Dance, and Into The Woods, plus her take on Anyone Can Whistle on a compilation CD and the Mack & Mabel cast recording (but it turns out the song from M&M is from a concert recording in the mid-80's, so there was some differentiation). However, I felt it was still important to get it, so that I could hear the other ones, and to show the label that there is an audience for these CD's and hopefully they will release more artists, like the ones I suggested a while back. So, I got home and stuck them in the computer to put on my mp3 player, and while I (correctly) expected the Bernadette CD not to have a CDDB entry, neither of the Barbra discs did (it's a 2 CD set). So, once again I typed everything in. I really should be getting paid for this. Then I got to watch Bernadette on Boston Legal. Great use of a guest star, and I was thrilled that her character felt the same way I did about the issue she was hearing. I feel kind of bad I'm missing her concert Thursday at the Paramont, but going to Aurora on a weeknight is kind of tough, I'm not sure I'd do it for anyone other than maybe Barbra. Oh, but anyways, I was expecting the Barbra CD to ring up at the sale price, and then get 10% off the Bernadette CD, but instead it took 5% off the sale price of the Barbra CD and 5% off the Bernadette CD, so I ended up getting a slightly larger discount, although still only by a few cents. Go figure, Best Buy still doesn't quite know what they're doing, but this at least worked in my favor.

It appears that Spring Awakening is gaining steam in the awards race, racking up Lucille Lortel and Drama Circle awards. It also appears that while Deuce did not make itself eligible for any of the critics and guild awards, it has a major shot at Tony gold. Word of mouth has been ecstatic, although we'll have to see if Angela can hold her own against Marian as well as Vanessa Redgrave to go 5 for 5. I doubt the Tony voters would nominate her just to break her streak now, if they don't want her to win they probably won't nominate her, but they did it to Mary Martin, and Angela's previous 4 Tony's are for musicals. This will be her first play nomination. Speaking of unsure things. 110 in the Shade opened last night, and suddenly Christine Ebersole is no longer the front runner for Best Actress in a Musical. Audra got raves, and even though it's because she's always good, she has the sympathy vote on her side. However, her one loss was in the leading category, all her wins are for supporting roles, in plays and musicals. She lost her one leading nomination, for Marie Christine, to Heather Headley, for Aida, which, even though it was a tough loss, is totally understandable. We'll have to see how it plays out. For now, all eyes are on Tuesday, nomination day. It's a sure thing Curtains, Grey Gardens, and Spring Awakening will get nominations, but the fourth slot is up in the air. Will it be Mary Poppins or Lovemusik, the top recipients of earlier critics and guild group nominations, or could we have a repeat of last year, when The Wedding Singer inexplicably ended up in the fourth slot, and even the nominating committee couldn't explain why, and see Legally Blonde slip in under the radar. Given the number of potential nominees, will they allow 5 nominees this year? It's been a long time since they've done that. There's also a slight chance that The Pirate Queen could take the slot, but High Fidelity and The Times They Are A'Changin can pretty much only count on being shut out. Due to their unsentimentality and almost mafioso mindset against certain shows/people, the Tonys are the most unpredicatable of all the awards. We'll see how it plays out, and of course you'll get my commentary, sooner or later on everything.