Greetings

Well hello again. It's been another eventful weekend with American Airlines and O'Hare. They both suck. I went to Montreal over the weekend and had a fabulous time, but it was bookended by horrible travelling experiences. Going there on Friday was a little bit better than coming back. The flight was technically American Eagle, which is basically American's Ted-type service, and the gates are in the basement of O'Hare where it smells like homeless people and there are no cell phone or wireless signals. The plane was only about 20 minutes late, but then once we got on, the plane smelled like a litter box and they realized that the bathroom was completely backed up. They had to get a crew on board to come and fix it, which took about another 40 minutes, and then because it was such a small plane (about 20 rows with one seat on the left and two on the right, very rickety which I don't like) and people had moved around to get as far away from the smell as possible, they had to reshuffle people around to balance the load (again, not reassuring at all), and one guy who had apparently had a few before getting on board was rather non-cooperative. Fortunately someone else jumped in (I would have myself except I was already in the area they needed more people to move in to), and we got on our way and made up about 20 minutes of that in the air, so we weren't too late arriving.

Montreal was beautiful, but I got horrendously sunburned Saturday early afternoon, and then rained on and soaked Saturday late afternoon. It went from hot and sunny to cloudy and rainy about as quickly as New York, although it did not rain nearly as hard and was actually pleasant to walk in. It also helped that I was not carrying a bag full of books, theatre tickets, and dressed in khakis and a dress shirt. Shorts and a t-shirt are much more preferable when walking in the rain, they don't cling to you when they're wet and they dry out much quicker when the rain stops. The only slight disappointment was that there was almost no cultural activity that night, no theatre, no symphony, no opera, or anything. So, instead, we had a leisurely, wonderful dinner at a French restaurant (called Le Grill) in the old town area, had some wine at the hotel after, and called it a day fairly early, which was fine because we were exhausted after walking all over the place. Sunday we went to the Fine Art Museum and saw their Yves Saint Laurent exhibit, which was very cool, I really felt like a Top Model, they even had a catwalk through one of the exhibit halls. Then it was time to head to the airport to come back, and everything was fine until it was about time to take off. It's a very nice airport and very well set up. Heathrow and Charles DeGaul could really do to take notes from Montreal. The only annoyance was that we had to play musical gates about 3 times because all of New England was being deluged with rain and all the flights were cancelled. We were fine however until about 20 minutes to boarding when we were informed there would be an hour delay, for no reason. After about 15 minutes they told us we were going to board because there was a window to get out, so we boarded, and were then informed that we were going to have to pull out to the tarmac and wait about another 50 minutes (again on a rickety little jet that did not inspire confidence) because O'Hare's radar system had gone out and they were working on sight, which meant the entire airline system was getting backed up. Now, this happens like every other week, you'd think O'Hare would stock up on radar parts or just buy a new system. It's so ridiculous, but we got out in 50 minutes and again made up some of it in the air. The nice thing was that we went through customs in Montreal so we were able to land at one of the regular terminals, my companion could get his suitcase, and we could leave without jumping through any more hoops. He then saw my new car for the first time and loved it, and we rode home. So, as usual, it was a great weekend marred only by the country's sucky air travel system. Somebody's got to do something about that.

Other tidbits that I've been forgetting to mention:

I did get the magnets and the Glory Days shirts. The front of my fridge at work is now very nicely adorned, I've actually got room for maybe 1 or 2 more, or 3 or 4 if I put a couple on the sides. But, it's very nicely spaced out without being cluttered, so it would have to be something good. The Glory Days shirt is very nice and very comfortable, I did wear it to Mamma Mia so I could show off my showtune pride. I was worried it would be one of those scratchy almost polyester-like ones, but it is very soft and light. It's a keeper, and I've got another one wrapped up in cellophane for safe keeping.

Paging Michelle Pfeiffer, New Line announced plans to make a movie musical sequel to Hairspray, penned by John Waters and involving the same creative team as Hairspray, with hopes for the original cast to return. Grease 2 anyone?

It's been another good weekend for Mamma Mia at the box office, shrugging off those bad reviews and hauling in another $17-some million. You go dancing queen!

Check this out: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/119885.html Nothing shocking, but still very revealing, and I'll never get tired of seeing that picture. Still, remember anyone who caught Damn Yankees, I mean ANYTHING for a picture of him in the Washington Senators uniform.

I did get the rest of Catered Affair from emusic and as I was going for Kelli O'Hara's album, I came across a link to a compilation she contributed to of Jule Styne's music called Jule Styne in Hollywood. As luck would have it, it contained just as many tracks as I had downloads remaining, so I got that instead. Next month I'll get Kerry Butler's and Kelli O'Hara's and then start on The Frogs. Now that I've got the actual Evening Primrose recording, I don't need the earlier studio recording, I can get the Broadway Cast Recording with Nathan Lane instead, since that's the one emusic has, and not have to worry about losing out on Primrose.

So, I think that's about it for now. I know I still have to post a picture of Lucille, and I'll throw in a picture of my fridge in its showtune pride glory, but that takes some doing, so I'll get to it later. A week from tomorrow is Idina. Hopefully I'll keep next week in a Wicked theme if my friend will get around to getting the Wicked tickets he's been promising. I think she's coming here from one show and heading right out to another, so I don't think Tuesday night's Wicked audience can expect any surprises, but you never know. I just hope she does Defying Gravity or I'm Not That Girl for us on Wednesday. And with that, it's time to work, so talk to you all later.

The Blair Witch Musical

No, I'm not referring to a harebrained (although given the reality of Shrek the Musical, not altogether unfathomable) scheme of some opportunistic yet artistically bankrupt producer, but rather to the camera work of the otherwise FABULOUS Mamma Mia. First off, a pox on critics!!! The vehemence of most of the reviews I've read has been staggering, yet the same critics who have it in for this warm and fuzzy feel-good family movie raved about the ultraviolent Dark Knight. Now, I'm all for ultraviolence in my movies, but, as evidenced by the strong box office returns for MM, there is certainly more than enough room for both in an opening weekend. One of the common themes of all the reviews was mediocre to incompetent directing and cinematography. Now, we all know my feelings about creators of stage versions being allowed to create the movie version (other than Sondheim, who was limited to approval or disapproval, no one from any of the stage incarnations was involved in Sweeeney and that turned out to be a classic while meddling from Andrew Lloyd Webber ruined Phantom and Evita, and JC Superstar for that matter, and the less said about Susan Stroman's film version of her The Producers the better, and even Hairspray didn't fully live up to i's potential), but other than some very shaky camerawork designed to give the illusion of being on a yacht, I thought it was very well done. The cinematography was anything but dingy as all the reviewers complained, everything was well framed, the only problem was the insistent camera jerking throughout the first half of the movie. I know Phyllida was probably trying to avoid the cardinal sin of movie to musical adaption of simply focusing the camera on a single point and filming the scene as it was happening on stage, but she went a little too far in the other direction. I should have brought my leftover dramamine patch from the cruise, at least it's a good thing I didn't eat beforehand. However, everything else about the movie works so well it really doesn't even matter. Again, ignore the reviewers, while Meryl is superb, she is not the only one. Of course Christine Baranski is fabulous as is Julie Waters, Amanda Seyfreid (if a little too wide-eyed innocent at times) and all the men. Speaking of men, the strength of the show is that it knows its audience, and this is where having Phyllida helm the movie after having created the stage show was a good idea. While it takes a little longer, there is just as much gorgeous island boy eye candy in the movie as there is on stage, and the gay reveal at the end is ramped up a notch in a very definite nod to the core audience that has kept the show so successful for so long. Good for you Phyllida! Also as with the stage show though, it takes about 20 minutes for the story to really get going, and apparently trying to be 100% opposite of Lord of the Rings, there are about 8 or 9 false starts in that 20 minutes where someone says something a little over the top, the music picks up, and then all of a sudden we cut to another scene without a song. However, once they finally get to the Chiqitita/Dancing Queen number, the movie takes off like a rocket. I dare you not not applaud after Dancing Queen. The movie flies by and works as a whole, avoiding the other big stage show to movie sin, maintaining two separate story arcs of the first and second act but cutting out the intermission, causing a mid-movie lull as the first arc winds down and the second has to pick up. Yes, Sound of Music and West Side Story did have intermissions, so their two act arc worked, but Evita really got bogged down at the moment it should have soared with Don't Cry For Me Argentina, and Phantom fizzled as soon as Masquerade stole All I Ask Of You's thunder, the retiming of the chandelier crash notwithstanding. Then there was Dreamgirls which got so stagebound but we're not going there. Think Chicago, Sweeney, and even Hairspray, all of which told one continuous story from beginning to end. Anyways, it's a fabulous movie and I see a few more trips to the theatre over the summer for me. Oh, and by the way, I am now the proud owner of a brand new Toyota Yaris. They finally called me on Friday and said it had arrived, which of course was horrible timing (I would have just gone to see Mamma Mia Friday night if I had known, but having bought the ticket for Sunday on Thursday night, there was nothing I could do). I went out and got it after my clients on Saturday, and the only even slight letdown was that I got my second choice color, so instead of a Tobias, I have a Lucille (I still had to go with an Arrested Developoment theme, and I felt that the Jessica Walters and Liza Minnelli characters would be an appropriate name, and I can nickname her Gangy as well, maybe when my companion gets back from Europe I'll have Pop-Pop in the car too). Anyways, time to get back to work, I've still got papers and disucssions do before heading of to Montreal for the weekend.

Evening Primrose

Just a very quick note as I am trying to wrap up for the day and get out of here, but I think I mentioned awhile ago that I tracked down the Evening Primrose soundtrack online and ordered it direct from the label. It arrived yesterday and I've been listening to it repeatedly all day today and I just have to say how fabulous it is. The label did a terrific job transfering the soundtrack from the video onto CD. There's only a couple very short places where you can tell it's a recording of a recording, otherwise it's very pristine and very well done. Of course the music is fabulous and as much as I love Loesser, Sondheim's music is really much beter suited for Anthony Perkins' voice. Too bad he was never able to write anything for Vincent Price. I highly recommend that you track down a copy while they're still available: www.kritzerland.com There were only 3000 copies pressed and from whst I gather, there's only a few remaining.

Replacements and more

Ok, I forgot a couple of things yesterday in my haste to get back to class work, and got some important (although not necessarily good) news about a few things last night and today.

Most importantly, it appears the producers of Spring Awakening are committed to having a hottie in the role of Melchior. While the gorgeous, Gorgeous, GORGEOUS Kyle Riabko is leaving next month to go on tour, there will not be any lack of eye candy on the stage as the equally gorgeous and slightly more hunky Hunter Parrish of Weeds has been cast as the replacement. As long as he can sing, and the producers are confident that he can, that will be worth seeing. Now if they could just cast Mary Louise Parker as the adult woman. . .

Another replacement that has me somewhat more worried is happening in Xanadu. Jackie Hoffman is going on vacation for 6 weeks and will be replaced by . . . Sasquatch, oops, I mean Whoopi Goldberg. That's very interesting casting as Whoopi looks about 30 years older than Jackie. Still, since the show is so goofy anyways, it just might work. However, bad things happen to Xanadu when Whoopi is around and I'm worried that Jackie may not have a job to come back to after her vacay. Here's hoping for a roller skate malfunction.

Making a tenuous connection from one topic to the next along the lines of movie adaptations, a new producing entity is planning on bringing Rebecca to the Broadway stage, with a target date of Spring, 2010. Here's hoping they have better luck than the producers of Tanze der Vampire. At least the name translates the same and they don't have to worry about random 80's pop songs being interpolated into the score. As fantastic as Vampire was in Berlin, listening to it in German kind of blunts the impact of being immersed in a gorgeous score and then suddenly getting jarred back into reality by the cast singing Total Eclipse of the Heart. I can't imagine that worked well in English at all. However, I do have to ask that they keep "Mrs. DeWinter Bin Ich" in German, there is no topping the campiness of Mrs. Danvers shreiking out "Nein, NEIN!" and then a heartbeat later hearing something shatter and the new Mrs. DeWinter changing keys as she belts out the chorus. Please don't change that song. Also, with a more well known source, hopefully the producers won't be tempted to hire a new script writer to completely alter the script into something unrecognizable and incomprehensible as reportedly happened with Vampire.

And lastly, I keep forgetting to ask, is anyone else having problems playing playbillradio.com on Windows Vista? I can play it on my phone for pete's sake, but when I try it on my new laptop, the player pops up but nothing plays. The track information keeps updating as presumably the tracks change, but there is no sound or anything. I tried it on my older, crappy laptop after I reinstalled the operating system, and it plays fine on XP, although when the player popped up, a separate Windows Media Player popped up as well and the stream seemed to be playing through that rather than the pop up player. On Vista I don't get Windows Media Player popping up. There's no support documentation about this on the site and I was wondering if anyone else was experiencing this. Otherwise the new laptop has been running great lately (knock on wood), but I'd like to be able to use it for Playbill Radio, they've got a better selection and more original content than Accuradio, which does play fine. Oh, and my downloads refresh on Thursday so I can finish getting Catered Affair and follow it up wiht Kelli O'Hara's solo CD. They just added Kerry Butler's so I'll start on that with the remaining downloads and then finish it up next month.

Ok, so that reminds me I've got one more topic. Just aboute every diva in New York has released a solo album lately (Idina, Victoria Clark, Andrea Burns, Lauren Kennedy, Kerri, Kelly, Betty Buckley), but how come none of the guys have? This would be a great time for Cheyenne or Matty Mo to put out a CD (with some shirtless liner photos), or even Jonathan Groff, Christian Borle, Gavin Creel, or even Michael Cerveris (as long as it's better than his last alt-rock-lite snoozefest). Even Mandy Patinkin's only done children's songs and Yiddish folk songs lately. What's the deal guys? It's great that you're all into contributing to compilations, but don't be shy, we want to hear more of you. With all the crap in record stores right now, we could use some fresh voices. At least think about it. And with that, it's back to work. I'll let you know my thoughts about Mamma Mia on Monday.

Catching Up

Well, it's 2 weeks into the new term and I'm already sick of being back in school. I'm ready for this term to be over and to have a few more weeks off. 8 more to go! Anyways, I know this is so late, but I've been busy once again, but I did go see Barbara Cook last Sunday at Ravinia and it was fabulous. Once again, there was no bus service from the remote lot which pissed me off and did not seem to make a few other people very happy. I am suprised though, how many people just sucked it up and parked in the main lot, but since the average age was about $85 and the average income probably $300,000 more than mine, they may not have cared, even though for me it's all about principle. Regardless, Barbara was fantastic. It was fairly short, only about 80 minutes, no intermission (shorter than the Gershwin queen's even), but packed wiht fabulousness. She did a lot of Richard Rodgers (partnered with both Hammerstein and Hart) and Sondheim, but did also did a lot of other great songs as well. She did not really do any of her standards though (there was no Goodnight My Somone, Till There Was You, or Ice Cream), but the program said this was her 3rd or 4th Ravinia appearance since 2001, so she may have figured the Ravinia audience had had enough of those and opted to give us something new. It was a really great night, and it's hard to believe that this summer's concerts are almost over. I've got the 5 Browns on August 13, and then I just bought my Carol Lawrence ticket today for September 4, and then that's it for the year. Already!!! I can't believe it. However, that disappointing realization was put to rest when I went looking online for some more magnets since I didn't get everything I wanted in New York. I did find a Gypsy magnet, but it sucks. It only has the Gypsy logo in spotlights on the pale blue background, there's no Patti or anything. Personally, I liked the Encores art design better, but there are only posters available now. There were no Xanadu magnets to be found, and all I could find of Cheyenne Jackson were some All Shook Up souveniers, which should be burned rather than sold. But, I did find an A Catered Affair magnet, and then found a nice stash of Glory Days merchandise at playbill.com's store (www.playbillstore.com). I ordered a magnet, an opening night Playbill, and a t-shirt. Actually, I got 2 T-Shirts, one to keep in pristine condition and one to wear (they were almost half off so it was a bargain, they're obviously priced to move). So, I got all the Glory Days stuff and the Catered Affair magnet at Playbill's store and then went to Broadway New York's store. They had a Barbara Streisand magnet that was a replica of a poster for her 1968 concert tour, so I got that, and then got two more of those cool ceramic tile magnets. One is similar to the Passion one I have, but is of the theatre Evita was at and shows the huge Evita logo on the marquis. I figured that's the closest to a Patti one I'll find. Then I got one that had the Ragtime logo since that is one of my all time favorite shows. That brings me up to 8 magnets which will seriously crowd the front of my little fridge, so I ended it there. It makes for a nice, eclectic collection that says just as much about me as it does the magnets themselves. So, that's about it for now. It's Mamma Mia all weekend this weekend!!!

Catching Up

Well, it's been a busy week, with clients just about every night, so I didn't get to catch up on my sleep until last night, and I slept almost 12 hours!!! It's been a nice relaxing day, although with my new classes starting on Monday, I've been perusing the syllabi and starting the readings for next week. I am so not looking forward to another 10 weeks, but at least it's just 10 weeks and then another few weeks off, which should be good timing. The Met is doing La Giocanda with Debbie Voigt, Olga Borodina, and James Morris at the end of September and I'd love to see it, and then we may be able to catch South Pacific and possibly Billy Elliot (although since I've already seen it in London, if there's something else by then, I'd go see that, but Billy makes for an excellent standby). Speaking of Billy Elliot, ever since I saw Young Frankenstein and Catered Affair last weekend, I've been rethinking my opposition to movies turned into musicals. Yes, stuff like Legally Blonde, Shrek, and now Dirty Dancing are wastes of time produced with a cynical eye towards profit, yet there are plenty of non-movies turned into musicals produced for the same reason, such as Three Days of Rain and the upcoming My Three Sons, where they think they can stick a high powered movie star in it and people will flock to it (which they do, further reinforcing the trend). But, this trend, which started with the powerful adaptation of Shenandoah in 1975, has also given us Nine, Grand Hotel, Xanadu, The Light in the Piazza, YF, Catered, Hairspray, and of course, Billy Elliot, and all of those do outweigh such crap as the aforementioned ones, plus The Producers, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and High Fidelity. So, I say, keep the quality movie adaptations coming. I would say let's see an adaptation of Muriel's Wedding, because that would make such a fabulous musical, but Mamma Mia kind of renders it unnecessary. However, there are plenty of other great ones to chose from. Jukebox musicals on the other hand, are getting very tired, and unless someone wants to do a Cher or a Carpenters musical (and how fabulous would either of those be?!), I can't see any need for any more of those. Lastly, it looks like while the rest of the country is getting lucky, Chicago is once again getting screwed. It was announced this week that Kyle Riabko has been doing such a fantastic job in Spring Awakening that he's been tapped to head the national tour starting this fall. So, he may be gone from NY by the time I get back, and, as usual, Chicago is the dead last stop of the show, it's not coming here until August 2009, by which time there's a good chance Kyle will be gone and we'll have someone else. It happened with Drowsey Chaperone (while we did get Georgia Engel, Bob Martin was long gone), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Light in the Piazza. At least though, we are getting Xanadu first and that's something to be proud of.