Nobody Else Will Do

Well, it's been a while, but there hasn't been a lot going on theatre-wise in my life right now. It's all been learning about how to assess and diagnose clients with psychopathology. Fun! However, last night I went to A Chorus Line and finally got to see what all the fuss was about. My only exposure to it prior to last night was seeing the god-awful movie, and after last night, I have to wonder even more how an Oscar-winning director could have fucked that up so badly. The movie is horrid, but the show last night was so wonderful. I was in the front of the balcony (and BTW, this was the first time in about 3 years that I've been in the Oriental since I saw Wicked early in its run here and it is such a gorgeous theatre, it's a shame they don't allow any photography at all inside, even just of the theatre itself) because when I went to buy the ticket about a month ago, most of the main floor was sold out except for the last couple of rows, but the way the theatre is constructed, I'm actually closer to the stage by sitting in the front of the balcony than I am from the back of the main floor, and it was about $40 cheaper. I think for that show too, it was a better view because it allowed us to see more of the dancers in the back and get a better overall view. Anyways, it is truly a great show. I have to declare a pox on both the Sun Time and the Tribune for their negative remarks about both the show in general (a couple years ago the Trib declared Chorus Line to be one of the most overrated shows ever, having completely lost all relevance due to the fact that it's set in 1975 (!?!) while the Sun Times really panned this production, for reasons that I completely disagree with. The reviewer likened it's confessional style to Jerry Springer while I see it as making the story universal to everyone, not just dancers. The dance is a metaphor for anything that brings life meaning). Having seen the movie I kind of remembered who got picked, but it was still so nerve wracking I felt invested in everyone. My favorite song, as always, is "Nothing," and it was performed in top form. Having had all the love of theatre but no actual talent throughout high school, I could more than empathize with Diana. I wish that I had had the maturity to come to her realization while I still had time to do something about it. Instead of wasting time trying to impress a choral director and music department chair who for his own unknown personal reasons was not going to cast me in anything nor give me any sort of helpful instruction, I should have realized sooner than I did that he was nothing and not worth my efforts to try to impress. But, were it not for all that pent up resentment, this blog would not exist, so everything works out.

With the marginally better weather heading our way, it must mean that it's awards season yet again. The Outer Critics and Drama League have announced their nominations and surprises abound. As expected, Billy Elliot led the OC nominations with 10, but shockingly, Shrek tied with 10 nominations of its own! I had totally forgotten that show existed. In further shocks, 13 and 9 to 5 were locked out of the Best Musical category while in addition to BE and Shrek, Rock of Ages and Tale of Two Cities made the cut. [title of show] and Next To Normal, two likely locks for Tony nominations were not eligible due to having been considered in their off-Broadway incarnations last year, and the addition of those will shake up the Tony race, although I'm really disturbed by the terrific reviews Rock of Ages has been getting and rather worried for how that could adversely shake up the Tony race. In the revival area, Pal Joey did indeed make the cut, which was a terrific surprise, I thought for sure it would get overlooked with the recent spate of better-received revivals, but it was Guys & Dolls that failed to make the cut there. Somewhat surprisingly, Daniel Radcliff was shut out, as was, less surprisingly, the rest of Equus, which only got 1 nomination for lighting design. However, I believe off the top of my head, that's one more nomination than All My Sons got. Lastly for the OC's, both Haydn Gwynne from BE and Martha Plimpton got nominated for featured actress, which shakes up that category. I was expecting Haydn to be up for leading, so it'll be interesting to see if one of them takes it or if they split and it goes to someone less deserving, a LaChanze. Haydn definitely plays a larger part in her show but Martha's part is showier and while Haydn proved herself creating the role in London, Martha's performance was a revelation, which favors her for the win. For some reason, despite the love for the show, Billy Elliot has always been somewhat weak when it comes time for awards. I think in London it only won for Best Musical and shared Best Actor among the three Billy's, and the same happened in Australia, and given the vast amount of material that's been on Broadway this year, I'm worried that could happen again, especially if the voters are still trying to punish Elton for Lestat, we could easily see [tos] or 9 to 5 walk away with Best Score, and I think that Hair's already a lock for director and a good deal of the technical awards, and if Alice Ripley doesn't win Best Actress for Next to Normal, there's going to be a riot in the auditorium on Tony night. But, I'm getting ahead of myself, we have to see who gets nominated. Last year there was so much potential for great nominees and the committee really fucked it up badly by giving most of Xanadu's deserving nominations to Passing Strange instead. This year more potential spoilers should actually mean that the most deserving ones will get nominated as the spoilers should cancel each other out.

Lastly, even though there hasn't been a lot of theatre, I've still been trying to stay culturally connected and am finally getting around to catching up on the Oscar nominees a few months late. I watched Milk over the weekend and that has become my posthumus favorite to win (which of course it didn't, but it did get Best Screenplay and actor, both highly deserved). RUN and get that movie. Seriously, the last movie that brought me to tears was Beaches, which I saw my junior year of high school, and this one is even more affecting. Part of it is because it's just so sad that the story should still be so relevant 30 years later when we needed another Harvey Milk and didn't get one. I have a feeling that while it didn't do so well at the box office, over time it's going to become one of those "lost" classics that gets a re-release 50 years later and blows away the box office competition, finally becoming a classic in its own right, like Vertigo did some years ago. If we're lucky, it might actually be a museum piece by then and still infuriatingly relevant. Next up is Clemenza di Tito at Chicago Opera Theatre next Friday and then trying to schedule dates for Curtains, Evita, Art and The History Boys before they disappear, and planning for Once on this Island and A Little Night Music later in the summer. I've given up on Pacific Overtures and Don't Dress For Dinner, I can only pull so many teeth to get to things and need to focus on what I haven't seen rather than re-seeing things I have. I haven't ordered my Ravinia tickets yet but probably will next week and it's looking like in addition to Camelot it's going to be Garrick Ohlsson, David Hyde Pierce and Victoria Clark, Patti, and Kelli O'Hara and Paulo Szot, so not a lot, but a fair amount, enough to keep me happy without becoming overwhelming. I can't believe we're looking ahead to September already. I can't wait to see what's on tap for the fall.