Profile for benrimalower

Thanks, theaterkid1015! I thought I included the link...

Wow. "I saw a production of The Robber Bridegroom, and Patti LuPone was--and is, I would imagine--everything I wanted. Shattered from some particularly volatile and beautiful Italian marble, she was bold and barely controlled, but in the best way. All burners on. Genius, I have always believed, is terribly impatient, because it understands that its outlets are ephemeral. When an artist is working with a full commitment toward expression, nothing should be allowed to stand in its way. When you...

Love, love, love her. I made this video about it for Jeffery Self's web series:

Reginald, you're right. I didn't mean this season, although I would like to hear Patti make good on her claim (to be able to sing Evita better now than before) in the nearish future... LOL I don't think anyone would DREAM of shutting out Bob Gunton!

1.) It isn't like he said. You prob'ly hurt his pride. He's got to have it all, like a baby who's denied. 2.) I didn't see Mandy or Randy, but judging from bootlegs, Mandy was warm and stellar, if not as iconic and authentic as Michael Rupert had been. Randy was really wonderful and funny in a different way than Barbara Walsh, and impressively belty.

I broke down the Barbara love a bit in my new blog: http://www.akawilliam.com/the-new-new-old-gay-broadway-breezy-bright-and-gay/

That's right, theatre nerds - as opposed to theatre queens. A queen wears her crown with pride. Very few people get ALL the references. Most people would consider my obscure musical theatre knowledge to be expansive, perhaps to a fault, and yet I miss several of the references. I've read NOT SINCE CARRIE twice, but some of those Broadway flop titles mentioned in [title of show] weren't even familiar to me. The insider fun is NOT why I respond to the show. This is a story of real characters go...

"Call me a boob. Call me a schlemiel. Call me a brain with a missing wheel." I thought that was her real hair.

Hey Guys, Just wanted to make sure you all know about this show, I think it's not to be missed... NATALIE JOY JOHNSON AT VLADA MUSICAL DIRECTION BY BRIAN NASH DIRECTED BY BEN RIMALOWER TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23rd, 2007 at 11:00 PM no cover/no minimum Natalie Joy Johnson, audience favorite in Legally Blonde and Bare: A Pop Opera, debuts an exciting new club act at Vlada after sold out engagements of previous shows at Joe’s Pub, the Cutting Room, Feinstein’s and Ars Nova. Natalie will be in fine form...

GYPSY operates on a convention of the show being performed on a stage (the constant references to the conductor in the "pit" for example). The device of the characters changing the title cards takes this even further. If Rose is changing a title card, then she is, quite literally, on a stage. Just as an actor sneezing or dropping a prop is a real event which should be incorporated into the action onstage, so too should a stray playbill. How very perfectly "Madame Rose" to kick the thing off i...

“Patti LuPone lives! Oops, yes, of course Patti LuPone lives. We all just saw her and loved her in ‘Sweeney Todd.’ What I mean is that the Patti LuPone of 1980 lives again, at Joe’s Pub, in the enterprising person of Leslie Kritzer, above, a would-be, should-be Broadway diva paying homage to one of the last of the greats in a strange but wonderful new club act. Back when Ms. LuPone was flinging her arms skyward nightly as the title character in ‘Evita,’ she kept loose by performing on Saturda...

Lucian is brilliant - I LOVE this!!!!!!

She is doing a Joe's Pub show very soon, announcement coming this week. Be excited.

In GYPSY, Patti LuPone proves yet again that she is a fabulously dynamic singer with more than a little touch of star quality whose legitimate acting chops far exceed those of most performers in musical theatre. She hasn’t been this perfectly cast since EVITA and is now the definitive Rose. Consequently, GYPSY this weekend was not only nirvana for LuPone fanatics (of which I am proudly one), but, more significantly, a Major Event for all but the staunchest of detractors. It’s no overstatement...

Seriously, come see Natalie Joy Johnson with Our Lady J And The Pink Champagne Orchestra Featuring The Bubblies at Ars Nova, this Saturday, July 22nd at 8pm and/or Monday, July 31st at 8pm. Tickets are only $15 with NO MINIIMUM so it’s really a bargain. If you haven’t seen Natalie in concert yet, please don’t put it off (and if you’ve been before, now’s a great time to come back with about half new material and some great surprises…) Natalie is ready to cross over to a wider audience and she ...

Glad to hear we're pleasing John's fans. I know we're really close to selling out for this Monday's final peformance of SKINNY CORPSE at the Duplex. If you call and are told there's nothing, take heart - we'll most likely being announcing a new set of dates in the next few days.

Scott Nevins & Natalie Joy REPLACE (Postponed for MTV) John Hill's SKINNY CORPSE, May 22nd show “John Hill's got an outrageous and sidesplitting sense of humor!” - Wayman Wong, “The Leading Men” at Playbill.com Apparently, John Hill was not only a hit with audience and critics at last Monday’s opening of SKINNY CORPSE, but now MTV has stepped up to the plate, giving the official go ahead to shoot the pilot he’s creating John has had to fly to Virginia for the next week or so. Stay tuned for m...

"Who's Barbara Cook? Who's anyone?"

“It truly felt like watching a young Bette Midler, just on the verge of exploding.” – HX Magazine “Natalie Joy Johnson is a knockout who sings with a purity of spirit.” – New York Times Thanks to everyone who turned out for Natalie Joy Johnson’s Joe’s Pub show last month. It was a really exciting night and we’re thrilled to be booked at The Cutting Room for Wednesday, March 15th at 9:30pm, 19 West 24th Street. Tickets and more information are available at www.nataliejoyjohnson.com Hope to see...

Hey Guys, I could not be more excited to tell you about Natalie Joy Johnson’s solo debut which I am directing for a premiere at Joe’s Pub, Wednesday, February 1st at 7:30 pm. If you caught her breakout performance in BARE, then you know that, when Natalie sings a song, it stay sung. It has been thrilling for my producing partner, Marissa Kamin, and I to collaborate with Natalie and our genius musical director, Jonah Speidel, on a program which includes Natalie tearing up everything from Jill ...