I Can't Stand The Rain

NEW YORK'S TRANSPORTATION SUCKS ASS BIG TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, with that said, the rest of the trip overall was good, but I am so exhausted after dealing with all the random travel-related crap that happened. So, Saturday started out well. We slept in, then got ready and walked down to Times Square. I took the tickets for both Young Frankenstein and Adding Machine with me so that we wouldn't have to go back to the hotel, since that was the wrong direction. I went to Colony Records, and while they did not have the Evening Primrose TV soundtrack, Annie Warbucks, Woman of the Year, How Now Dow Jones, or New Girl In Town, they did have She Loves Me, which is disappearing from shelves pretty quickly and an appropriate buy since I'm going to see Barbara at Ravinia on Sunday, and The Me Nobody Knows, which has also almost completely disappeared. Then, as I was browsing, I came across Charles Strouse's Nightingale, featuring Sarah Brightman, which I had never heard of, so I grabbed that. They did not have the Adding Machine recording, so since I figured I could get that at the theatre that night, I just got those three CD's. I then met my companion at Ruby Foo's for lunch and then we headed towards the Hilton Theatre. We stopped in at the Broadway New York Theatreworld store, and I was hoping to get some magnets for my new refrigerator in my office. I wanted to get Gypsy and Xanadu, but the selection was rather disappointing. They didn't have much, so I ended up with a Wicked one, a Times Square souvenier one, and a kind of cool one that's a tile painted with the Marquis of the Plymouth Theatre advertising Passion. Hopefully I can find Gypsy and Xanadu online. They also did not have any Glory Days merchandise, apparently the producers hid it all or something to avoid further embarassment, completely erasing any trace that the show ever existed. I got the magnets and we walked over to the Hilton. We were in the very last row of the balcony, but dead center, so that worked pretty well. I looked through the program and was pleasantly surprised to see that Andrea Burns was still in the show. It was great to see her, but now I'm completely confused. I had read last fall that she was only doing YF until In The Heights re-opened in February. I never heard anything after that about her staying with YF, and she's on the Heights cast recording and performed with them at the Tony's, so is she running back and forth between theatres a la Elaine Stritch or what? Anyways, she was excellent, as was everyone else, but the big surprise was that the show was actually good! It was really good!!! For all my carping about enough movies having been turned into musicals, Young Frankenstein is an excellent addition to the group, and would have been a much more deserving Best Musical nominee than either Passing Strange or Cry Baby. While I haven't been a huge fan of the cast recording up to now, it makes a lot more sense now having seen it and I appreciate it a lot more. All the performers were excellent, and it was fabulous to see Megan live. Granted, her character was basically Karen Walker, but she totally should have gotten a Tony Nomination along with Andrea. She looked fabulous (at least as much as I could tell from the very last row), sounded fabulous, and her timing was dead on. Then, as we all know, I'm not a huge fan of Sutton Foster, but she turned out excellent as well. Given her back to back turns in Drowsey Chaperone and Young Frankenstein, I'd be inclined to say that she's fully atoned for Thoroughly Modern Millie and Little Women, but the fact that her next show is going to be Shrek means that she's back to square one with her atoning. Plot-wise, there wasn't much to the show, it was basically a farce, but it was entertaining and funny, so I don't know what most of the critics were carping about, it's really a terrific show and I urge you to go see it before Andrea, Sutton, and Megan leave over the course of the next two months.

After Young Frankenstein, things started going downhill. We hopped on the subway and went down to the Village to go to Strand. As we got out of the subway, we could see some darker clouds rolling in. We went to Strand, and it was so fucking unbelievably crowded, I gave up pretty quickly. I wanted to see if they had Lance Bass's autobiography, but I didn't see it on any of the tables and couldn't get in to any of the aisles to look for it. My companion found some stuff pretty quickly and paid, and we got out of there. However, as soon as we stepped out, the rain started. I stood under the awning with the homeless people eyeing the outdoor shelves of books, and he ran in and bought an umbrella. Before leaving for YF, I had made a reservation for 6:00 at Blau Gans. It was about 5:15, so we decided to stop in a cafe for some coffee and see if it would stop raining, and then walk over to the 6th Ave. 14th St. subway stop and go down to Chambers and walk to the restaurant. We got the coffee, and about 5:40 the rain stopped, so we walked to the subway, and that's when things went down the crapper. The subway station was completely fucked up. It took us 10 minutes of just walking around various tunnels, making u-turns, following apparently incorrect signs, before we finally found the 1-2-3 platform, and it was so fucking humid. The rain had not cooled anything down. There was a huge crowd on the platform, and it took almost 20 minutes for a train to finally show up. Actually, during that 20 minutes, two 1 trains showed up, but then dropped off all the passengers, and then backed up, going back the way they came instead of continuing on. A 3 train finally showed up, and we all pushed our way on. Even though it was supposed to be an express, it made every stop, but then when we reached Franklin, the stop before Chambers, the doors opened so that people could get on and off, and then. . .nothing. The doors stayed open and the train didn't move. After about 5 minutes, people started getting off, but then some would get back on, and there seemed to be a lot of general confusion. After about another 5 minutes (it was now about 6:15), the conductor came on the intercom and said that the train was out of service and all passengers had to disembark. So we did, but the train still stayed there, making it impossible for any other train to show up. So, we decided that since Chambers was the next stop and the restaurant was right there, we'd just walk. We went through the turnstile and up the stairs, and met the fiercest monsoon we have ever experienced. The umbrella did nothing, the rain was coming down almost horizontally, and the water was just gushing down the streets. It was coming down so hard, we could barely even look up at the street signs to get our bearings. We ran under a construction awning with about 10 other people just to catch our breath. Of course, by then we were already soaked, and I was worried that the Adding Machine tickets that I had in my pocket were ruined. My companion called the restaurant and got directions on how to walk there, but then we couldn't cross the street because the standing water at the curb was already several inches deep. We had to go west about two blocks before we could cross and then walk back, which just got us more soaked. The umbrella was not big enough for the two of us, and he kept moving it around, so I just got the runoff water dumped on my rather than keeping dry, and the books in his bag completely got waterlogged. We kept going, and then, all of a sudden, about two blocks from the restaurant, it stopped. It didn't taper off, or let up, or anything like that, it just stopped like a faucet had been turned off. Of course that would happen right as we were getting to the restaurant, it couldn't have stopped while we were under the construction awning. Fortunately, the restaurant was not busy at all, so we were able to get seated, but by then it was about 6:45, and the show was at 8, and since the subway apparently was not a trustworthy option for getting back up to the village, I was rather worried that we wouldn't be able to get a cab, since cabs in Manhattan all disappear when it rains. Then, my companion's friend finally called (the one whose partner does Patti's wigs and makeup), and wanted to meet, but he was still in the Village, and my companion told him to just come to the restaurant. So, we had to switch tables, and he didn't like the table they moved us to, so we had to move again, and then he wanted to wait until his friend got there before ordering, and I was so ready to throttle him. I was soaked, I was hungry, and we only had about 45 minutes before showtime. Fortunately, the friend showed up quickly and we got our order in, and the waiter was great about getting it out quickly. I checked the tickets, and while they were damp and the colors around the edge were bleeding, the barcode and printed information were still intact. So, I had some (ok, A LOT) of wine and tried to relax a bit. We got out of there at 7:45, and surprisingly, managed to catch a cab right at the corner and got to Minetta Lane by 7:55. We settled in, and the show began. Unfortunately, all the wine I had caught up with me by the 3rd scene and I spent most of the show waiting for it to be over so I could get to the bathroom. However, even with that distraction, it was phenomenal. We were in the second row, and off to the side, so our view wasn't very good, we saw it more in profile rather than straight on (that theatre design is very strange, but at least we weren't sitting in the seats facing the wall next to the stage), but the music was excellent, and the way they had the sets designed, we were able to see pretty well. That was truly a phenomenal show. However, my companion hated it, almost as much as he hated Spring Awakening and Sunday in the Park with George. So, he was ready to go by the time it was done. I did get a CD, which he grumbled about, but he wasn't paying so it doesn't matter. We braved the subway and got back to the hotel without incident, of course, with no rain this time when the subway was actually working. I was still completely wet, and was a little worried that after sitting in a heavily air conditioned theatre for an hour and a half that I'd wake up with a sore throat or a full blown cold. So, I got some more wine at the hotel bar, got out of my wet clothes, took a warm shower, and snuggled into bed. I was exhausted, so after I finished the wine, I was out pretty quickly.

We slept very late on Sunday, having been worn out by the night before, but woke up to sun streaming in and what looked like a very nice day. We got ready, checked out, stored the luggage, and went to meet another friend of his at a Mexican restaurant (I forget the name) at 62nd and Columbus, across from Lincoln Center, for brunch. Fortunately, my companion had the presence of mind to bring the umbrella along even though there wasn't a cloud in the sky at the time. The food (and drinks) were excellent, and I got a lot of good stories from his friend. We took our time and left about 2:15. We stepped outside, and it was so dark. The grey clouds were almost completely covering the sky, so we started walking quickly. We walked down 8th Ave. and made it to 50th St. before the rain started. Just like the night before, it was a monsoon. It didn't start sprinkling and then get stronger, again it was like someone just turned a faucet on. So, up came the umbrella, and once again I got more runoff going down my collar rather than staying dry. We got to the Walter Kerr and fought our way through the mass huddled under the marquis and got into the lobby to get the tickets. However, they had a velvet rope stretched across the middle, so we had to go back outside and in the next set of doors, so we decided to just wait until the mass got in and then we could just duck out and back in without having to wait in line. As we were standing in the lobby, I noticed the "At This Performance" board and saw that Tom Wopat's role was going to be played by someone else, which was disappointing. My companion was extremely disappointed since he hasn't seen him at all before, I at least saw him in Chicago the last time it came through in late 2005. After everyone got in, we ducked out and went in, and the seats weren't too bad. We were off to the side, but pretty close up. I again was miserable, completely wet and once again in an over-air conditioned theatre, but once the show started, I got over it. What a terrific show, again, another far more deserving Best Musical nominee than Passing Strange or Cry Baby. Tom Wopat's replacement did well, although he flubbed some lines towards the end, and everyone else was fabulous, particualarly Faith Prince. Plus, our first view of Matt Cavenaugh as he jumped out of bed to get dressed certainly brightened up my day. He will certainly be getting an invitation for a personal meeting the next time I'm in New York if he's around (although that may be a while as my story is not over yet). I had paid much more attention to my liquid consumption prior to this show, so I didn't have to get impatient waiting for it to end, which was good because it was so elegant I would have hated to want it to rush. It was so heartwarming, and we both loved it. eMusic has finally added it, and I got about the first 1/4 of it after In The Heights before I used up all my downloads, so as soon as they refresh in mid-July, I'll be getting the rest of it. It may not have been too popular this time around (although the theatre was pretty full), but I'm betting this one will have a huge afterlife. Yes, the music was not traditional musical theatre, but it was so perfectly suited to the story. I just can't say enough good things about the show without sounding like I'm repeating myself, so just let it suffice to say that if you haven't seen it yet, go now before it closes at the end of July. Unfortunately, I don't think we're going to get a tour, and even if you're lucky enough for a regional theatre to pick it up, it's highly doubtful you'll get Faith Prince, who, if this hadn't been Patti's year (and I'll bet she gave Patti a run for her money among the voters), would have undoubtedly picked up her second Tony for this fabulous, touching, performance.

So, we were both in a better mood, until we stepped outside and saw that it was still fucking raining. It wasn't quite monsoon level anymore, but it was still coming down pretty good, and there was lightening and thunder to boot. We walked all the way back to the hotel (again with the runoff from the umbrella going down my collar, all the way from 8th and 48th to 10th and 57th), and got our luggage and a cab to LaGuardia. Traffic was terrible, as we knew it would be, and we got there around 6. We had been hoping to get on an earlier flight like we did in December, but out of the 4 flights before ours, the first one was delayed several hours, and the others were cancelled. Ours was still listed as being on time, so we checked in, got some food, and then went through security. Once through (which actually went very quickly, apparently everyone was standing in line at the ticket counters to rebook rather than going to gates to catch flights), we checked the board, and saw that our flight was now delayed an hour until 10. My companion belongs to the Admiral's Club, so we went in there and got a day pass for me and just hung out until they closed at 8:30. I was still soaked, but the club was nice (although they had a huge line to get in of members needing to rebook, and one of the women was very rude to eveyone that was unfortunate enough to get her), and relaxing, which was good, because when they closed and we went to the gate, there was a massive crowd. The plane that was supposed to take off before ours wasn't there yet, and apparently tons of people were trying to get rebooked on it. We managed to find two seats, and about 10 minutes later, the fire alarm went off. However, not one person blinked an eye. Everyone just sat there, the gate attendants kept working with people in line, and nothing happened as the alarm kept blaring. After about 5 minutes it shut off, and everyone just kept going about their job. However, around 9:30, their plane still hadn't arrived, and our flight then got bumped to 10:30. Fortunately, their plane showed up shortly after and they got on it (at least those who could) and they left. However, 10:00 came and went, which was supposed to be boarding time, and nothing was happening. Finally, about 10:20 one of the attendants got on the overhead and announced that our plane had just landed and was on its way to the gate, but we had to get everyone on the plane and away from the gate by 10:49 or one of the crew would time out and the flight would have to be cancelled. Talk about panic inducing. The crowd started to get very ugly, but the staff was pretty methodical. I was convinced that we were not going to get out, but they got the passengers off quickly, didn't bother doing any cleaning, and just started boarding from the back. They didn't care about carryons, they said just stash them anywhere you could and get to your seat so that we can get everyone on the plane and close the door by 10:49, and we made it with less than 2 minutes. However, the next hurdle was that we had to be in the air by 11:17 (which was about the time we should have been landing in Chicago), and they announced that the staff person that was going to time out was the pilot, so we really would have been out of luck. They got us backed away, but it must have been a battle with air traffic control to get us out, because we didn't take off until 11:15 and 30 seconds. Now, I'm glad they got us in the air and on our way, but this just goes to show how inefficient the airlines are and how much they deserve to fail. These storms had been forecast since at least Tuesay of last week. You'd think that at some point, someone at American Airlines would watch the weather forecast and think, "huh, there may be some bad weather on Sunday. We may want to make sure we've got some staff on standby and maybe look at how we can do some re-routing so that we can swap some planes among routes if we need to in order to keep things moving as smoothly as possible," but apparently no one did. They'd rather play it fast and loose, rush the customers, and then take off less than 2 minutes under the wire and over 2 hours late. Seriously, if they had cancelled the flight, I would have pitched a fit right there because where could we go at 11:00 at night? They may as well have just cancelled it when we didn't take off at 9 like we were supposed to so we could have at least gotten to a hotel at a decent time and been able to talk to someone at the ticket counter before they all left for the night to rebook. But, they did get us home, although by the time we got to the car and drove home, it was almost 2. Since I had called in sick on Friday, saying I had a migraine, I didn't want to miss today, so here I am at work, completely exhausted, but here, and listening to my new CD's. So, while it was a horrible way to end a trip, and a complete dis-incentive to ever travel by air again, it was a good time. I loved all the shows (even if my companion didn't), had some great food and drinks, got to meet some of my companion's college friends, went to a cool zoo, and just got away from work for awhile. Then, my friend called me shortly after noon today and said he got the Sarah Brightman tickets, so it looks like I'll be having a diva-fabulous fall to make up for my dis-inclination to take any more trips for a while. Now, if 5:00 will just hurry up and get here so I can go home and crash.

Snakes at a Zoo

Well, I have to say that an afternoon on my back on Cheyenne's mattress could not even come close to being as great of a day as yesterday turned out to be. Leaving my disappointment behind at Starbucks, I hopped on a train and went up to the Bronx Zoo, and that was quite a day. That place is HUGE and there was so much to see, I left a lot undone and have to go back sometime to see everything else. I was very impressed with their reptile house, while it was small, it was the great old school dark concrete building with small habitats for each snake behind a thick glass window. While Brookfield Zoo outside Chicago and Atlanta's Zoo have larger snake collections, the Bronx had the best specimens in the categories they did have. I'll post some pictures when I get home, I can't do it throigh email. After an afternoon tromping around the zoo, I hopped back on the train to the hotel, filled with a new feeling of having street cred now that I've set foot in the Bronx. I'm keeping it real, just like JLo.

After a quick shower, my companion and I had a great diner at La Rivista and then it was time. I have to say that the tone of this production was different than the Encores production, focusing more on the humor in the first act, it wasn't so dark from the get go, but it was just as fabulous. The focus was more on Rose and Louise's change over the years. Last sumer, Patti's Rose was driven and demanding from the start. Here, we saw more of her humanity at the start and she gets more driven as it goes on. It was once again a fabulous performance and I can't wait to get the cast recording in August. Now, it's about 11 on Saturday, and we're about to head out for lunch and some shopping, and then it's showtime.

Disappointing

OK, I got the Idina Menzel ticket (woo hoo), but now I'm sitting here at Starbucks with nary a hottie in sight. There's a few women, one professional looking guy and some borderline homeless people, but no Cheyenne, Max, Kyle, Matt, or Chad. So ok, Cheyene may be in rehearsals for Damn Yankees (and note to any cell phone camera wielding audience members, I will do ANYTHING to see what he looks like in his Washington Senators uniform), but really there's no excuse for any of the others. Now I'm glad I'm not seeing any of their shows this weekend. Well, it's off to the zoo.

Good Morning New York

Well, it's about 10:15 and I'm finally getting around to starting my day. Everything was going fine at O'Hare last tonight until we got on the plane. We pulled away from the gate and then sat there for almost an hour, inching up a few feet every 10-15 minutes or so. Finally, the captain came on and said that air traffic was being delayed getting into NY but that we should be on our way soon. About
10 minutes later the engines fired up again and we finally took off. The flight was a little bumpy but not bad, but then when we landed, we had another 20 minute wait because there was another plane at our gate waiting to take off. I find it hard to believe that at 12:15 in the morning there was not one single empty gate at LaGuardia that they could have diverted us to. Finally, around 12:30 we got to the gate and got off the plane, and sure enough, walking through the terminal, there were plenty of empty gates. However, there was one bright spot. I got a glass of wine on the plane, and the very friendly flight attendant gave me a second one for free. So, we didn't get to the hotel until around 1. Then, I had to wake up around 8 to call in sick with a splitting migraine. I laid around but couldn't quite fall back asleep. Fortunately, my companion needed to go online before going to work, so he went ahead and paid for the hotel's wireless, so at 11 I can just log in to ticketmaster here for Idina's tickets and not have to lug the computer to Starbucks. However, I will still stop by right after that to get a pick-me-up on my way to the Bronx Zoo, so be patient guys, I should be there shortly. So, it's time to get ready and get out and enjoy my favorite city.

Gettin' Ready Rag

Ok, before the trip update, let me provide the explanation tying my preparation for tonight's trip with a song from Ragtime. Apparently, Winnetka's Park District does a free summer theatre festival, and had decided to present Ragtime, a terrific choice, and they put a lot of time and energy into getting it ready for this weekend's premiere. Well, somehow in the pst couple days, the uptight citizen's brigade decided the subject matter was inappropriate for Winnetka and successfully pressured the town council into cancelling the performance. I can't even begin to describe how many levels this is wrong on. Apparently the north shore burbs are planning on continuing to vote Republican in November.

Anyways, it's about 3:15 and I can't wait to get out of work and be on my way. I'm working at our downtown office today, so I can pick up my companion at 5 and we can drive to the airport together, avoiding a repeat of last spring's fiasco. At least this time we're not checking anything. And, we're going one better than our December trip, we managed to get all our stuff into one carryon suitcase, so I just have my little bag with books and music to lug around and if we go shopping I can make that bag my carryon. My companion is bringing his laptop, which works well for me because in a case of horrible timing, Idina Menzel's tickets go on sale tomorrow morning at 10. That's 11 NY time, which was just about the time I had wanted to be on my way. So, boys, I will be at Starbucks on 57th between 8th & 9th tomorrow morning at 11 with a laptop ordering Idina Menzel tickets. I'll see you there The only concern right now is the weather. It's been looking like there's about to be a huge thunderstorm all day, but it hasn't struck yet. I'm a little worried it will wait just until I walk out the door and then unleash it's day-long pent up fury, mangling traffic (and the Cubs game ending right around then isn't going to help) and wreaking havoc with the aviation system. Plus, it looks like NY's dealing with some weather of their own. Still, as long as we can get on the plane, we should be able to get out sometime tonight so I'm not too stressed out yet. Signing off for now, see you in New York.

Fabulous Memories

Well, Ravinia owes Betty Buckly a HUGE debt. She was SO FABULOUS, I got over being pissed off and am not pursuing venting my anger at them. No shitty emails or anything, just understanding that now I know there is no more free parking for Martin Theatre concerts and I will plan accordingly. I do have to wonder though, how come for the concert that I didn't care about, everything went so smoothly, even with the anxiety around my car, but for the concert I was really looking forward to, it was like having to brave the 9 circles of hell to get to it? The first time I saw Madonna was the same way, as was the Barbra Streisand concert, Mika, and to a lesser extent, Liza. Would there really be anything wrong with having an easy time getting to a concert I'm looking forward to and having the concert turn out fabulous so that I really have a fantabulous experience? As Princeton says, "Why does everything have to be so hard?" Anyways, enough dwelling on the sucky part of the day, the important thing is that Betty was fabulous. There wasn't much of a crowd in the theatre, which was disappointing (she was sold out in 2000 and about 3/4 full in 2005, but this time I don't think the theatre was even half full), but there was a huge ass lawn crowd. I don't think I've ever seen so many people on the lawn for a Martin concert, so that was nice to see, I just wish they would have coughed up the money to come inside and packed the place. I guess that's one of the side effects of forcing people to buy a subscription series instead of allowing them to get individual tickets. However, the benefit to me was that I was about 10 rows back from the stage and dead center, so it was perfect. She was so wonderful. In 2000 she was very chatty, telling lots of stories from her career, and did a great selection of mostly Broadway songs with some of her jazz and contemporary songs thrown in, that all mixed well. Most of the music has been preserved on her Stars and the Moon, Live at the Donmar Warehouse CD, although they cut out all the stage chatter and some of the Andrew Lloyd Webber songs. However, when she came back in 2005, it was a very different Betty. She did very little talking and focused mostly on jazz and contemporary songs, and most of them were downers. I appreciated what she was trying to do with the show, but the audience got pretty restless, and after she finished the second act, a lot of them got up and left before she even came back to do Memory as her encore. That could have a lot to do with why the crowd was so sparse this time. This time, she was back to her 2000 self. She was very chatty (and told a great story about Patti getting peeved with her doing Meadlowlark), and while she did do some jazz/contemporary songs, the focus was back on Broadway. She opened in full Barbra mode with As If We Never Said Goodbye (knocking it out of the park) and just kept going. She did Mama from 1776, which was fabulous, as well as He Plays The Violin, and best of all, she did When No One's There from Carrie, which was the highlight of the show. It was such a great night, she is truly a musical theatre treasure. I just wish at some point she'd come back and perform in the pavilion with a full orchestra, which she hinted at in 2000 but has yet to actually follow through on. She wrapped up around 6:15, and I trudged back to my car, and noticed that they finally had buses running, I don't know when they would have started, but they really would have been cutting it close to the beginning of the concert. Of course, I didn't realize this until I was halfway back to my car and couldn't catch one, but I'll keep that in mind for next time. Now, on to New York and some more divas and terrific shows. See you on Friday at Starbucks boys!

Bad Vibes

OK, Ravinia is now on my shit list. I got here fine, but when I pulled into the parking lot around 2:45, there were attendants there and they tried to charge me $20 for parking even though Betty is a Martin Theatre concert for which parking is supposed to be free. I tried to tell them this and they were insistent that that is no longer the case. I had the little information brochure with me and tried to point out that it clearly states that parking is free for Martin Theatre concerts, and they still continued to try to charge me. At this point there were several cars behind me, so I politely told them in effect to shove it and turned the car around and went to the remote parking lot in downtown Highland Park. Well, usually when they are charging for parking, they run the buses for free from the free remote lots, but apparently not today, there was no bus, so I had to trek about a mile back to Ravinia where I found the gate closed and a huge crowd assembled even though the concert was by now less than an hour away. Fearing the worst, I asked one of the people at the members' table if Betty was cancelled and she appeared a little confused as to why I would be asking that and assured me that no, the concert is still on and that the gates would open shortly. So, I'm sitting on a bench by the train tracks typing this out as I plan what to say in a shitty email to Ravinia when I get home tonight. I do not appreciate this opportunism that they are showing by changing their parking policy not only mid-season but without any notice. Really, is the money they are going to make from a Martin Theatre-sized crowd really worth the staffing expense? This may be the last year I subscribe to the Martin series. At least I got her in plenty of time to go to the remote lot and walk back, and I know to make time for that for Barbara Cook's concert in two weeks. As pissed as I am, if I had decided to cut it close, and got here with 15 minutes or so to spare and had to chose between mising Betty's first few songs while I drove to the remote lot or paying the $20, I would be even more pissed. At least I know that Betty will be worth the aggravation, which makes it easier to handle.

Fiorello!

What a weekend it's turning out to be, and it's only halfway over. First, when I got home on Friday, I found our Entertainment Weekly waitimg in the mailbox, with the cover announcing their pronouncement of the "new classics." New for them means anything in the last 25 years, but their definition of classic is much, much looser. They picked 100 movies, albums, books, TV shows, and video games, and 50 Broadway shows, to be the new classics, and I knew as soon as I saw the cover graphics that it would be in my best interest to just burn the magazine without ever opening it. Unfortunately, curiosity got the better of me, and what it did to the cat, it's been doing to me all weekend. I thought I was going to have a stroke as I read through it, not only are some of the best in each category completely ignored (Kiss of the Spider Woman, Ragtime, Parade, Carrie the Musical, all of Linda Eder's, Audra McDonald's, Sarah Brightman's, and Betty Buckley's CD's, the movie versions of Chicago and Sweeney, A History of Violence, AI, Amadeus, Supernatural, Boston Legal, and the list goes on and on), but some of what they consider classics leaves a lot to be desired, including Pulp Fiction, Titanic, Rent, Naked Gun, Casino Royale, The Breakfast Club, Blue Velvet, Lord of the Rings, The Emancipation of Mimi, Sheryl Crow, Achtung Baby, Dangerous in Love, Jersey Boys, The Producers, The Lion King (stage musical, the movie totaly deserved its inclusion), Noise/Funk, just to scratch the surface. Really, who picked these, the Frat boys of Animal House? About the only bright spot was the inclusion of Chess at number 50 in the stage classics. I could go on and on and on, but I think my doctor would prefer it if I stop here and focus on something that doesn't send my blood pressure through the roof. So, Saturday night I went to see Fiorello, and that restored my confidence in the state of the arts. It was a terrific show, and I highly recommend it. The entire cast was excellent, although PJ Powers as Fiorello came across as somewhat affected at first, but that grew on me as the show went on. It was so great to see an honest to god real book musical, it's about time for them to return. Concert style shows are more of a novelty, exciting the first time, but without strong characters and a compelling story, they don't hold up to repeated viewings. Anyways, other standouts in the cast included Andrea Prestinario, who played Violet in Side Show last summer, as Thea, who rocked When Did I Fall in Love, Rebecca Finnegan as Marie (and the program contains snippets of a fascinating interview with Sheldom Harnick who talks about meeting the real Marie and her opinion of Thea), Michael Kingston as Morris, Fiorello's very loyal assistant, and cutie Andy Schmuckler, who was one of the hot brothers in Shenandoah last summer, as the other assistant, and who is welcome to be my assistant any time his cute little heart desires. Anyways, it was a great night, and I strongly encourage everyone to head over to Timeline Theatre before July 18. On the way home, we picked up the Sunday paper, and as usual, I grabbed the Arts section, and halfway through was a full page ad for Sarah Brightman's Symphony tour, coming to the Allstate Arena on December 4, which will make a nice, slightly belated birthday present to myself. Tickets go on sale Monday the 30th at noon, so hopefully our flight back from NY the night before will go smoothly and I won't find myself stranded there with no computer access at sale time. Given her history, it's a sure bet this will sell out quickley, and I intend to finally be there. Now, it's time to head to Ravinia for Betty B. See you tomorrow with my thoughts.

Divas

As if the Tony awards were not enough of a fabulous diva fest, not one, but two more divas are making their way to Chicago this fall, although still no word about Sarah Brightman's promised tour. Janet Jackson will be here in late September, and while it is not nearly as exciting as it would have been 10 years ago, since she's always managed to come on nights that I've had class (across her janet., Velvet Rope, and All For You tours), this is finally my opportunity to see her before her career so fully implodes that she can't even tour. So, I'll get her and then about 5 weeks later Madonna, for a complete stuck in high school themed fall. More related to this blog is Idina Menzel's announcement that she's expanding her tour beyond her northeast home base, and will be in Chicago on Wednesday August 6 at the House of Blues. I'll have to put up with the TSA-styled security, but it will be worth it to see her up close. Janet's tickets go on sale Saturday, and I'll probably just get a balcony tickets (she's at the Allstate arena so those aren't too bad) since I'm already shelling out big bucks for Madonna and as I mentioned, it's not like she's still supporting her janet. cd, which was her best, or even her All For You CD which was still ok, this is really more just about seeing her while there's still a chance. No word yet on when Idina's go on sale, the Chicago date is not yet on Ticketmaster, but I'll be keeping close tabs on that.

One week from today I'll be in New York, getting ready for Gypsy. It looks like my companion will be working Friday morning, so Cheyenne Jackson, Max Crumm, Matthew Morrison, Kyle Riabko, and Chad Douric (not sure if that's spelled right, but it's Chad from Grease. . .YTOTIW and now Altar Boyz), any or all of you are invited to meet me Friday morning at the Starbucks on 57th between 8th and 9th, and we'll take it from there. I'm not quite sure what time I'll be in, the plane lands at like 11:30 at LaGuardia, so I'm probably going to be sleeping in, but I'd say around 11-ish. It looks like we chose the right show for Sunday afternoon, A Catered Affair will be closing at the end of July, so this was our one chance to catch it. Cry-Baby is also closing, but I've got no tears for that one. I'm not sure yet how I'll be spending Friday afternoon, although it partly depends on the weather. If the weather is crappy I'll probably have lunch at Carnegie Deli and then head over to the Met to see their Superheroes and Fashion exhibit. If it's nice I've got a choice of either lunch at Carnegie and going to the Central Park Zoo, or just hopping on the subway and making my way up to the Bronx Zoo. I'm leaning towards the Bronx because that's the granddaddy of all zoos, but I may not have enough time to fully appreciate it, depending on how late I sleep in. We'll see, maybe one of the boys will have some suggestions. I can hit Colony Records and the Broadway New York stores on Saturday either before YF or between shows. I'm hoping to find some Glory Days souveniers. Since any Carrie souveniers are long gone, Glory Days is now the one to get. Before New York though, I've got Fiorello tomorrow night (finally) and Betty Buckley on Sunday at Ravinia, so look for my posts. Then next week I should be able to get my ticket for Carol Lawrence. Now if we can just get Sarah to confirm her tour, it will be the most diva fabulous year ever!

Thank God

I don't have to throw a brick through the Tony Awards Committee's window when I'm in New York in two weeks, Justice has finally been served, Patti has her lomg overdue second Tony, and that was a terrific speech. It was great to hear her throw in a shout out to Ravinia, especially since they rescusitated her career back in 2001, I'm sure it will get plenty of mention on WFMT tomorrow morning. She looked great, and I can't wait to see the show, her reception is going to be astonishing as long as she plays the role. Plus, to all the naysayers who've been claiming that Gypsy was only revived to nab her a second Tony, Boyd and Laura's awards should finaly dispel that crap. This Gypsy deserves its place on the stage Then to follow that up, I'm thrilled that In The Heights made it to the home stretch, I just wish they would have let them do a full speech instead of cutting them off. Overall, this was the best Tony night I can remember since 1996 when Chicago and Titanic swept the show. Now, one more glass of champagne and it's off to bed, to dream of a classwork-free lunch break tomorrow.

Hour Two

Well, things have been shaken up here in the second hour. Best Actress in a Play has been decided (Deanna Dunnegan), and not only did Laura Benanti win, Boyd Gaines won too. If Patti doesn't win, I'd give anything to be backstage Tuesday night. The Catered Affair performance didn't thrill me, but Young Frankenstein was actually pretty good, Megan had better not be on vacation in two weeks.

More pressure

And we finally have our first shock of the night with Boyd Gaines's well deserved win. Patti really better fucking win now, but with two wins for the show, it's actualy looking good.

Quick Note

Patti had better win Best Actress now or backstage life at Gypsy is going to be hell!

First Hour Thoughts

One third of the way through, and so far no huge surprises. Whoopi's doing good and the show's moving along at a good clip. Other than Passing Strange wining Best Book (which was not unexpected), there's not a lot to complain about. The only kind of a surprise was Best Featured Actor in a Play. I was expecting Raoul to get it as a consolation prize for last year, but since August wasn't a contender in this category, it was really pretty up for grabs. I was not impressed at all with Cry Baby's and Passing Strange's performances, but how fabulous was Patti? However, where was Matt during South Pacific's performance. Ok, Kirstin's on with Best Featured Actress in a Musical, so it's time to go, see you in another hour.

The Drama Continues

At least for a short time. I went car shopping today as planned, but the Toyota dealer did not have any hatchback Yaris's in stock, they have to order one for me, which could take 1-6 weeks. One week I can deal with, I can run out next Saturday and get it and have a new car for Betty Buckley on Sunday at Ravinia. However, in two weeks I'll be in New York, and then it's a holiday weekend and then we're well into July, increasing the chances of running out of oil again. They were pretty confident it would be sooner rather than later, but sooner includes a potential compromise on the color, which I'm not thrilled about, I really want Blue so I can name it Tobias. However, if I get red, which is my alternate color, I can name it Ariel. Twenty and a half hours to go until the other big drama celebration. My fingers are crossed and the champagne is chilling. Let's hope I get a reason to drink it.

Done

Alright, I have officially finished my two classes for the term and have about 3 weeks all to myself. The papers have been written and turned in, the final discussions have been posted, and the end of term evaluations completed. With that, it's time to turn our attention to the Tony Awards! I'm sorry I haven't been able to provide my usual scintillating analysis, but hopefully we can recapture some of the magic in a brief discussion here.

As I mentioned earlier this week, August: Osage County will sweep all the play categories. Best Actress in a Play is completely up in the air between its two leading ladies, but maybe there will be a tie. I have not seen one single critic come out and make a prediction for the category, everyone is hedging their bets. There are only a couple play categories that A: OC is not nominated in, one being Best Sound Design, which should give Rock 'n Roll its single win. Otherwise, it's a big night for Chicago.

The musical category is far more interesting. Again, as I mentioned earlier, South Pacific will sweep most of its categories: Best Revival, Best Director (long overdue for Mr. Sher, he should have won for Light in the Piazza), Best Featured Actor, most likely Best Actor (although this Stew guy could be an upset, while Lin-Manuel has completely faded out of the race), and all the tech awards, except for Lighting Design which should go to Sunday in the Park. However, there is a chance that Xanadu could get Best Choreography, but don't count on it, the Tony Committee has made its disdain for the show clear. With all of the attention on the Best Revival category (it's like the late 90's all over again, maybe the economy and White House occupant will soon follow suit!), Best Musical is something of a snooze. In a just world, Xanadu would win, and having won the Drama Desk (or was that Outer Critics Circle, I can't keep them straight but it was won of them, although it was a tie), it does have a slight chance. However, Passing Strange has been racking up the wins while In The Heights has been Grey Gardens-ed to the sidelines since it was a big winner last year when it was Off-Broadway, which has seriously blunted its momentum. Cry Baby's nomination is a joke, leaving Passing and Heights to duke it out. Experts are still predicting that Heights will take it, but keeping in this year's spirit of equivocating, I'm going to stay on the fence and say it will be one of the two. I think they'll split book and score with Heights getting book (and a pox on the Tribune for saying the book is incomprehensible, how much did you drink before going to see it?) and Strange getting score, the voters love to appear hip (remember Noise/Funk winning Best Director over Rent? Not that either of them deserved it, but on a night when Rent was supposed to sweep it was a shocking choice), which will give Strange the edge.

That leaves us with the two most highly anticipated categories: Featured and Leading Actress in a Musical. Laura Benanti has done pretty well in the pre-Tony's awards, which should give her some momentum going in, and she's my personal fave. I've loved Andrea Martin's solo CD, but she's up for the wrong show, and with the exception of Audra, no one has ever had multiple wins in the Featured Actress category. Since Andrea's already got one (granted, for a show about as deserving as YF), she'll be empty handed tonight. However, if South Pacific is truly on a role, look for Loretta Ables-Sayre to take it. But, if Passing Strange goes on a role, it could be de'Adre Aziza as this year's LaChanze. Speaking of the bitch, let's turn our attention to Best Leading Actress. Of course, we all know who deserves it. However, this category is rarely about who deserves it for that performance, it's usually about who deserved it 10 years ago and was robbed, or who will deserve it 10 years from now but we'll go ahead and give it to them now. Yes, Patti has swept all the pre-Tony awards, but she did that 2 years ago too. Granted, she now has a lot more sentimentality on her side this time around after that loss, but she had a lot her side then, and these are the same people that screwed her over, so there's a very good chance, especially if South Pacific goes on a role, that Kelli O'Hara will win, especially because she deserved the Featured Tony three years ago for Light and lost to Sara Ramierez for fuckin' Spamalot. She also fits nicely into the will deserve it in 10 years but we'll give it to her now category. Fortunately, other than Faith Prince, no one can come close to splitting the vote with Patti this time around the way that Chita did three years ago, and it is more likely that votes will be split between Kelli and Kerry Butler, another will deserve it in 10 years person. Faith's musical was pretty much hated so she doesn't have a chance. However, the real threat is Jenna Russell. She is the dark horse ingenue that the voters also love to recognize in this category. There's still a lot of conviction that Sunday was robbed the first time around, and a win in one major category (lighting design alone isn't going to cut it) could go a long way towards making amends, and this is the category to do it. As much as I favor Patti, keep an eye on Jenna, should could be the night's one truly shocking moment.

So, I think that wraps it up. I'm on my way home in a few hours to get a new car, which should clear out the rest of the drama in my life. Notice that the title of this blog is Theatre Queen, not Drama Queen, and I can't figure out how my life gets those confused. I'll be back in shortly before the awards start (which, by the way, despite some performances from awful shows, should be pretty good, Whoopi's always been a solid Oscar host and generally excels in live situations. However, the theme of Xanadu getting screwed when she's around is likely to continue). Then in two weeks it's off to NY to see some of these shows for myself.

The Bitchery is Back

No, I'm not referring to myself, I had a great time at Ravinia last night with nothing to complain about. The concert was actually very enjoyable, it was a lovely evening, and my car did not break down, plus the GPS got me around the Edens construction very nicely, although I think I single-handedly brought down the property values of several neighborhoods in Winnetka and Glencoe just by driving my piece of crap car through them. I'm also not referring to the fact that when I went to buy my Gypsy tickets on Saturday, the third row seats I had seen Thursday night were gone and the best they could get me was row O (about five rows from the back) way off to the side, but that's still better than the balcony seats I had at City Center last summer (and by the way, it is A Catered Affair for the Sunday show). No, I'm referring to an announcement today that The Little Mermaid, Young Frankenstein, and A Catered Affair will all be performing at the Tony Awards even though none of them were nominated for Best Musical. Remember last year? It was announced a few weeks before the ceremony that Lovemusik and Legally Blonde would perform since they had gotten so many nominations even though Best Musical was not one of them. There was an immediate outcry that that was breaking 50 years of Tony tradition, and within 48 hours their invitations to perform were rescinded. However, the awards show's producers managed to get in a backdoor performance by including an almost full number from each show in the video montage of "all the other musicals on Broadway this season" that traditionally gets shown, otherwise known as "the crap we refused to nominate but contractual obligations force us to acknowledge." There was 30 seconds of High Fidelity, 2 and a half minutes of Lovemusik, 15 seconds of The Times They Are A Changin', and 2 minutes of Legally Blonde. It was pretty obvious what they were doing. Apparently they got their point across if they're feeling bold enough to try for the real thing again this year, we'll see if it sticks. I'd rather have an outcry about performances from Rent and The Lion King, but those are at least Best Musical winners. Hopefully the Lion King number will be one of Elton's and not one of the boring-ass ones by the other guy.

Curses!

Foiled again! I haven't been this frustrated since I tried to see Avenue Q over the course of about 3 trips to NY in late 2004/early 2005. My trip has been confirmed for the 26th-29th, we've got the plane tickets and hotel room. We're not leaving until about 8:00 pm on the 26th and getting there about 11:30, so we don't get a show, but since I don't have much vacation time yet, that's fine. We're staying at the 57th St. Holiday Inn again, which is also fine, it was very nice and conveniently located. However, I was planning on the biggest convenience being on Sunday the 29th, we could go see South Pacific at Lincoln Center four blocks away then be able to quickly come back to get our luggage and hop in a cab to LaGuardia for a 9:00 pm flight back. Well, I was doing my pre-ticket-buying ritual last night, checking to see what availability there was on each day for each show, and was able to find tickets for Gypsy on Friday night (3rd row!), Young Frankenstein on Saturday matinee (there are orchestra seats but I think I'm going to save money and just go for balcony since I'm not crazy about the show, I just want to see Megan), and Adding Machine on Saturday night (5th row), but then when I went to South Pacific on Sunday at 3:00, I got a message that there were no tickets available. Ok, that's why I do this checking before I actually buy the tickets so I don't get to the last day and get a nasty surprise and am unable to rearrange my schedule. I plugged in Saturday matinee thinking we could start there on Saturday and then make our way downtown for Adding Machine, and again, no tickets. I checked Saturday night, although that would require some more serious rearranging, and again, no tickets. I urgently typed in Friday's date, crossed my fingers, and. . . no tickets. Since it's already sold out for the entire weekend, I don't think I can count on TKTS. Apparently a lot of the queens coming in for gay pride that weekend find Matt's bare torso a bigger draw than the parade. I am extremely disappointed, but maybe later in the summer or fall I can try again. He just seems to have a habit of leaving shows as soon as his contract is up, so if he has a standard 6 month contract, that will only give me until about August to get back and try again. For this trip, I may have to content myself with Harvey Fierstein, which is not quite the same. I told my companion and gave him the choice of Little Mermaid (almost certainly a no for him, he's not a Disney queen like I am), Sunday in the Park with George (another almost certain no, he hated Ravinia's production a few years ago), August: Osage County (most likely), or A Catered Affair (the one I'm hoping for, since it's only an hour and a half we can see it and still have plenty of time to get back to the hotel and get to LaGuardia and maybe get on an earlier flight like we did last time). I'm very disappointed, but it does give me a good reason to go back.

I'm Alive

Good morning readers. Yes, as the title states, I'm not dead or ill or disinterested, just very busy. Over the past two weeks I've seen Stone Temple Pilots in concert, The Ballad of Emmett Till, Avenue Q, and eighth blackbird in concert plus had exasperating car troubles and school projects. Fortunately, the term ends a week from Sunday and I can celebrate by toasting Patti's long overdue win with a cold glass of Galena Cellars sparkling. However, that doesn't mean the business ends anytime soon. In addition to two papers I have due by Tony time (which have not been started yet), I've got my first Ravinia concert this Sunday, Fiorello to schedule, a new car to buy, and a trip to New York.

The Gershwin queen's concert is Sunday at Ravinia and I'm a little miffed at them. Apparently, there were two Martinis in the Martin packages, one for the queen, Betty Buckley, and Barbara Cook, and one for Betty, Barbara, and Carol Lawrence. This information was not on the website, it arrived in a flier the day after tickets went on sale. Apparently the package does not include all four tickets as I logically assumed from the information presented on their website. So, I could have just gotten tickets for the concerts I wanted, but instead I'm stuck with the Gershwin queen and have to wait until after Betty's concert and can then buy a ticket (for another $75) for Carol. I always like to get my tickets as soon as they go on sale, but next year I'm waiting for the flier.

Fiorello has been extended again until July 20, which means that I may actually be able to catch it if I can get my companion to pull out his calendar and schedule it. However, we'll have to work it around our trip to NY. Since I need a new car sooner rather than later, I'm going to go home and get it the weekend of the Tony's, so we're pushing our NY trip to the last weekend of the month. It coincides with Pride weekend, but after having way too much to drink last year, I'm not too upset about missing it, although I am already starting to get a little miffed about having to deal with it in NY. At least we've got plane tickets and a hotel room, so I'll just have to avoid the Village, which shouldn't be too hard, although we may have to trek through it to catch Adding Machine Saturday night. I'm going to try to do Gypsy on Friday night, June 27, Young Frankenstein Saturday matinee (hopefully Megan will still be around), Adding Machine Saturday night, and South Pacific Sunday matinee, which works out well because we're staying at the 57th St. Holiday Inn again, so we can quickly rush back to get our bags and get to the airport. The best part is, I finish classes on the 15th and don't start again until July 7, so the entire time in NY is my time. Matt, Cheyenne, Max, and Kyle, here I come!

Of course while I'm there I'll have to stop at Colony Records again and see what I can get. eMusic has In The Heights, which will be my download on the 16th when they refresh, but it does not have Catered Affair, so I'll probably pick that up along with the Annie 30th Anniversary double disc with songs from Annie 2, and hopefully Little Mary Sunshine, I Remember Mama, and maybe something else. We'll see if they have The New Girl In Town, although since they didn't have How Now Dow Jones or Woman of the Year, I doubt they'd have that. I'm sure they'll have something though, maybe the Evening Primrose soundtrack.

Alright, that brings us to the important topic, awards. Since I've got two papers due next week, I may not be able to do my extensive predictions, so in case not, I'm shorthanding it here. South Pacific and August: Osage County will sweep most of their categories, although my money is on Patti for Best Actress this time. However, it looks like In the Heights may end up getting Grey Gardens-ed this year after all as Passing Strange has been on a Spring Awakening-like roll. Lin-Manuel is now the underdog in the acting category to Paulo Szot for South Pacific, and he may end up losing his music awards to this Stew guy as well. The one ray of hope is that after having voted for Spring Awakening last year, voters may be wary of another offbeat show and decide to go more traditional. While In The Heights is hardly a fully traditional musical, it does make a nice alternative to Strange's edginess, which may be too out there for most voters. Of course, in a truly just world Xanadu would win, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards. See you next Sunday.