Prompt Devotion, Delayed Post

Well, it's been, and will continue to be, a busy week. Pearl Fishers at the Lyric was excellent. For being a fairly slight opera, they really turned it into an all-out event production. It was nice to see Nathan Gunn this time around (he was out sick for Barber of Seville in February, which apparently was just a cursed production, the Lyric's version of Macbeth), and the homo-erotic subtext matched that of Iphigenie en Tauride from two years ago. All in all a fabulous production.

However, the event of the week was Monday night when I saw Duffy at the Vic. I love her CD. Of course Mercy is an awesome song, but Delayed Devotion is probably my favorite. Still, knowing that this was her first tour and she only has one (very short) CD out, my expectations were not that high, but man did she come through. First of all, I have not been to the Vic in over 10 years, and that place is just disgusting, so there was kind of a flowers of the mud type of feeling to show, but that just helped the overall ambience. She is so beautiful, much more than you would expect from the photos in the CD booklet which make her look kind of working-class British (ie, not attractive), but in person she's got kind of a Charro crossed with 60's-era Jane Fonda look going on and it really works. Her voice is a little more chipmunk-y/Kristen Chenoweth-y in person than on the CD, and that kind of threw more for the first song, Syrup & Honey, but once I got used to it, it was great, and I could totally see her playing Glinda if she ever wanted to take a break and try something different. For that matter, I could even see her playing Elphaba, but then the Glinda would need a different tone to provide the vocal contrast. Anyways, she did all the songs on the CD, and I've got two words for Distant Dreamer--Dance Mix. That was her last song and she started it very subdued and really worked it up in intensity, even though it's a ballad it could be a killer dance mix the way Whitney Houston's My Love is Your Love and I Learned From The Best turned out to be. She also did 3 new songs, one of which is a B side (Today) and two other new ones, one of which should be the upcoming single from the next CD, called "Rain on Your Parade," which is kind of a Mercy sound with a little more club/dance-y feel to it, it really got the audience going and I sure liked it. It was a short concert, she was on for about 70 minutes, and even with the opening act (which was not that great, some guy named Eli "Paperboy" something or other from Boston doing kind of a 60's-ish blues/rock kind of sound), it was over before 10. But, it was the kind of show that then makes you want to go out for a couple drinks after and then a few more somewhere else, and make a whole night of it, going home around 4:00 am, as opposed to more established divas who put on such a spectacle that you're exhausted just watching it by the end and just want to get home. Ten years ago I would have hit Spin or Roscoe's afterwards, but now I'm responsible and went home and went to work the next day.

This weekend I've got Candide on Saturday at Porchlight and the big one, Madonna, on Sunday (and yes, she's kind of one of the one's I'm referring to putting on a big spectacle that wears the audience down, but she at least makes the wearing down process enjoyable, it's usually the audience that ends up driving me nuts at her shows, although it is nice not to be the gayest person around, it's not that often that that happens). I'm very excited about her, although a little worried that at any minute she's going to decide the stress of the upcoming divorce is too much and just chuck the rest of the tour the way Britney did with her Onyx hotel tour in 2004. Madonna's a little more with it though, and her Kabbala advisors will definitely encourage her to keep going because the more money she rakes in from the tour the more she'll donate to them. I've almost got my outfit picked out, I just have to decide between two shirts. It's going to be fairly cold on Sunday, but she always has it hotter than the fiery furnace with her air-conditioning phobia, so I want to dress cool enough to be comfortable but warm enough that I don't catch a cold on the way there or back. Of course I'm going to end up going for fashion and wear something skimpier that will be more comfortable at the show and just deal with the cold afterwards. Now, if she can just start something reasonably close to on time this time. . .

It looks like New York is going to get delayed just a couple of weeks, but after all this busy-ness lately, I certainly don't mind. It looks like we'll be flying out Friday morning November 14 and the coming back in the evening on Monday the 17th, so even though it's short, I'll still get one more show than we had last time if I can find something to see on Sunday night. If there's nothing I may see what the Met is doing and do an opera, which would work out well if we see South Pacific Sunday afternoon. We could do that, go to dinner nearby, and then come back across the Lincoln Center plaza for the opera and then we're only about 4 blocks from the hotel. Plus, even if Sunday night doesn't work out, it's still one more show than we would have gotten had we gone next weekend because we would have flown out Saturday, so I can get Equus, August OC, South Pacific and hopefully Mindgame, which will have officially opened instead of still being in previews. My companion is actually much more excited about Mindgame than I would have expected, but Keith Carradine in a Ken Russell directed play is exactly why you go to New York for theatre. Speaking of New York theatre, what's up with the sudden rash of Best Musical winners announcing closing dates? In less than a week, Spamalot, Hairspray, and Spring Awakening all announced that they will be closing in January. Granted, I'm not broken up at all about Spamalot and hope that Clay will follow it up with a super gay gay gay project that will finally live up to the potential he showed on Idol, and Hairspray has had a good run and is getting Harvey back to send it off, but it seems kind of soon for Spring Awakening, and it's disappointing that Hunter's run is getting cut short. Maybe he'll need some consolation while I'm there? Still, the tour is going strong and plans to continue on with it's original schedule. It can't bring Kyle to Chicago soon enough. Phantom, Jersey Boys, Lion King, Avenue Q and In The Heights need to watch out, they're the last winners remaining. I'm sure Phantom and Jersey Boys are fairly recession-proof (Phantom's going on it's third and still going strong), but Lion King, Avenue Q and especially In The Heights could be vulnerable, their numbers are trending down, and if that accelearates, Ave. Q may not need to worry about coming up with a new lyric for it's second to last line once Bush is out of office. For that matter, Chicago and South Pacific may want to watch out, this trend may spread to the Best Revival winners.

Patti countdown: A week and a half until the CD comes out, and as a bonus, Jackie Hoffman is releasing her live CD on the same day, which will make for a very diva-licious afternoon as I enjoy the CD's after picking them up at Borders on my lunch. Anyways, that's all for now, just wanted to get a quick posting out on a rare break. See you after Madonna!