Profile for mikem

I went to the first preview of The Queen of Versailles, and the stage door was the most chaotic stage door I have ever experienced, because there were multiple things going on at the same time, there were probably a couple hundred fans crowded together (the barricades were set up vertically rather than horizontally in relation to the sidewalk, if you know what I mean, so the front row of the barricades was short and people were kind of pressed together to be closer to the front), an

In this case, I can understand why investors are frustrated.  Within a couple of weeks of Billy Porter and Marisha Wallace starting, it was clear that they weren't going to increase the box office enough to have any breakeven weeks between that point and the end of their run two months later.  Billy Porter being out made it worse, but even if he had stayed, the fiscally responsible thing to have done would have been to close the show by Labor Day at the latest.

The s

Sadly, there are a lot of people like this stalker.  It sounds like McDonald is staying close enough that she probably walked to the hotel, but I'm guessing she's going to start getting into a car to be driven a couple of blocks to make it harder to be followed.  She shouldn't have to do something like that, but there are other stalkers.

I may be misremembering, but I believe Gypsy is the first Broadway show McDonald has done where she hasn't do

I think some of the premium center orchestra tickets were held back, but otherwise, I believe all of the orchestra was on sale today except for the last couple of seats on the sides, which I imagine will be held back until they know how obstructed the view is from those seats.  So I don't think there will be cheaper options available next week.  If anything, prices will be higher.  Dynamic pricing happened just in the first 90 minutes of the pre-sale today, where some ticke

The opening number was really weird.  It didn't sound or look "Broadway" at all.

In Hell's Kitchen, I'm pretty sure the actors drumming on stage aren't actually drumming.  It was weird they did a close-up there to emphasize that the drumming sound was coming from someplace else.

Jay-Z and Alicia Keys haven't performed that song together for probably 13 or 14 years.  That part was fantastic and sold a lot of tickets, but the audience m

The rules for principal vocalists change quite a bit pretty often, but the current rule is that there can be no more than four principal vocalists.  They are designated on the entry form as those with "significant contributing performance(s), defined as a lead performance by a featured vocalist."  The winning principal vocalists get a statuette and are considered to be Grammy winners.  If there are no principal vocalists, then it's considered to be an "ensemb

I think the combination of Rosh Hashanah and the iffy weather made the in-person turnout lower, which was a good thing considering the scaffolding made it really hard to get close to a lot of the tables (and created the pushing and shoving issue -- which, believe it or not, was much much better than usual). 

The auction prices seemed as high as usual, except that a lot more items were won by people on the phone or the Internet.  And anything to do with Phantom or Sondheim wen

In a weird coincidence, Les Dix Commandements (The Ten Commandments), which came out in 2000 and was the next big French musical after Notre Dame de Paris, also had its New York debut a couple of months ago.  I'm not sure what the history and tradition of the French stage musical tradition are, but both shows seem like they are staged very similarly -- relatively bare stage, lots of ensemble dancing around in similar costumes, much more of an emphasis on lighting than set or costume