A Weekend of Boys

What a nice theatre weekend this was, despite numerous attempts by the Powers that Be to get in my way. First of all, on Friday night I settled in to watch Ghost Whisperer as usual. I was thrilled, although a little wary when during the opening credits, one of the guest stars' names was Matthew J. Morrison (at least I think it was J, it was some letter that normally does not appear in Matt's name). Of course, I was immediately excited about the prospect of seeing Matty on screen since I just missed him in New York over the summer. However, the J, or whatever the middle initial it was gave me pause. He did not have a middle initial in his name in the credits of Once Upon A Mattress, so I was worried it might be a bait and switch, similar to how Melrose Place had a "Vanessa Williams" in the cast the first season, but it wasn't the real Vanessa Williams, it was some other actress trying to use the name and ended up not being invited back for the second season and hasn't appeared in anything else since. The real Ms. Williams then appeared in Eraser as Vanessa L. Williams a few years later but then dropped the L in all future screen appearances. So, I was worried that this Matthew Morrison might turn out to be some ugly old man. About 20 minutes in though, I was very pleased to see the real Matt in a very good role and, while he was made up to look somewhat ghostly, he still looked good, although I have to say that while I'm usually not a fan of guys with long hair, I do miss the curly locks he had for Piazza over the buzz he had for 10 Million Miles and which hasn't totally grown out yet. Still, he's just adorable no matter what and they left his character available for future appearances, let's hope they takea advantage of that.

Saturday was fairly uneventful, but Sunday was quite an exhausting day. As I mentioned, I had tickets for Altar Boyz with my sister in law, a friend of hers, and a friend of mine. The plan originally was for my sister in law and her friend to take the Metra in from Aurora and arrive at Union Station at 11:42 am. I would meet them there and my friend would pick us up in his car and drive us to Water Tower where he would park and then we would all go have lunch at the Grand Lux Cafe and come back for the show. Afterwards he'd drive back to Union Station to drop them off and then drive me home. Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans. I got a call from him early Sunday morning, around 9, saying that he was having car problems and was taking it in somewhere and would just meet us at GLC at 12:30. I figured, no problem, we'd just cab it from Union Station and still get a ride back afterwards. Around 10 I jumped in the shower to start getting ready, and when I got out, the phone was ringing, so I ran out and picked it up and it was my sister in law stating that their train was indefinitely delayed due to a maintenance problem, so they were driving in and would just park at Water Tower and meet me at GLC around noon. So, that gave me some more time to relax, and around 11:15 I left to hop on the el. It managed to show up fairly quickly, which is very rare on a Sunday, and just as we were pulling into the tunnel after Armitage, my phone started ringing, and it was the friend, but when I answered I had just enough time to hear him say hello, and it lost the signal. About 10 minutes later we got to Chicago, so I got off and ran out of the station and back above ground and got the signal, and immediately got about 4 text messages and two voicemails. I just ignored them and called my friend back directly. He stated that the repairs were taking longer than expected, so he was just going to meet us at the theatre. At this point, I was almost over the entire afternoon already, so I just said fine and headed on to GLC. When I got there, the line was out the door just to get a name in. Apparently the weekend before Thanksgiving is now the new Weekend after Thanksgiving, and the north Michigan Avenue area was flooded with shoppers and impossible to navigate, quickly reminding me why I avoid downtown Chicago at all costs for the last 6 weeks of the year. I managed to find my sister in law and her friend and we decided to just go get a snack, see the show, and come back to GLC afterwards when it should be less busy for an early dinner and then they could drive back. The whole point of trying to eat before the show was so that they could get the 4:30 train instead of having to wait for the 6:30, but since they had driven, that was no longer a consideration. So, we headed over to Water Tower and decided to try Foodlife. There wasn't much of a line, which was good, but the last person standing in line was, of all people, my friend, who had just gotten down there and had had the same idea. So, we were able to eat together and walked over to the theatre around 1:30, which was just around the corner. I got the tickets and a large glass of wine, and we headed into the theatre around 1:50. Upon entering, I was very disappointed at the small size of the audience (there were about as many people as there had been at Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, although at least the theare is only about 1/3 the size so it didn't seem quite so sparse), and there was a large contingent of children (and I mean very young childre, like 5 and under) for some birthday party, and we were right in the middle of them. Surprisingly, they were well behaved for the most part, they got a little chatty in the middle of the show, but the parents did a good job quieting them down, which, sad to say, is so surprising anymore. However, they did provide one moment of entertainment near the end of the show. They had been very responsive to the group onstage, treating the show like a real concert, and towards the end, one of the Boyz yells out something like, "Who's still a sinner out there" or some such thing, and one of the 5 year old boys near me yelled out "Yeah" which got the whole audience laughing. It was very cute and really funny. Anyways, the important thing was, the show was FANTASTIC. I actually liked it better than the New York production. The smaller stage worked to the show's advantage (the slightly larger New York one seemed to swallow up the performers at points, which while that may have been intentional to show how cluessly inept the Boyz are, it still made it feel like the show was a little lacking), and the cast was tight. They all did a fantastic job, but the standout was definitely Brian Crum as Mark, he out-Marked even Tyler Maynard, who I did get to see in the role in New York. He really brought out every personality tic and his dancing was dead on, and he culminated it by bringing the house down with "Epiphany." What a fabulous voice, I'm sure he's going to go far. The rest of the cast was right up there with him. It was nice to see Devin DeSantis again, after small parts in Shenandoah and The Most Happy Fella, in a much bigger role this time as Matthew, and I think he was better than Jason Ceyala, at least physically he fit in better with the rest of the group which gave the show a more cohesive feel. Of course, having seen it before, I knew the story and have heard the songs on the CD countless times, but it really just reinforced how clever the lyrics are and how catchy the songs are in this context. The lyrics, and even the dialogue, really never let up, there's so much to catch that it really was like seeing the show for the first time again. The parent next to me got a little agitated during Juan's exhortation to a confessee not to covet his neighbor's donkey, and instead bring it gifts and maybe the neighbor would let him get physical with it, but for the most part there was nothing offensive for the kids (they re-choreographed the "Rhythm in Me" number so that Mark's "Put it in me" refrain isn't quite so obvious unless you're looking for it), and at their age, the double-entendres went right over their heads. The group really performed together well, and brought it to a very satisfying conclusion with I Believe, which could be a hit outside the showtune circuit with the right marketing. It was a wonderful performance, and it totally made up for the morning's craziness. I highly recommend the show and urge everyone to go see it and beef up the audience numbers, a show this good should not have a one third full theatre when the theatre only has 500 seats to start with. Everyone else loved it too, and afterwards we all went our ways and I headed back home and just crashed in front of the TV for the rest of the evening, recuperating from all the running around.

One last quick update, apparently the talks in New York over the weekend did not go at all well and all shows, except for the few exempted, are now cancelled through next weekend already. According to what I read on playbill.com this morning, it sounds as if it's all the union. I'm shocked at their tenacity when they are so in the wrong, but it will eventually come back to bite them when they do start working again. Still, this really could work in my favor since other than Chorus Line and Little Mermaid, which should still be around if I go back next spring as usual, everything I want to see is either still playing or Off-Broadway, so I can see them, sightsee, and shop, without having to push through crowds in Times Square (seriously people, you're in the restaurant capital of the country, why are you standing in line to get into Bubba Gump, Olive Garden, or TGI Fridays?). Tentatively we're on for a trip the weekend of December 28, although I'll have to call in sick that Friday morning so I can use sick time instead of vacation time. I'll have to do some acting of my own all that week to set it up! Anyways, it's now a few weeks off, although I may try to push my companion to do The Sparrow on my birthday, but we'll see. There's enough non-theatre stuff going on.