Profile for Andergoat

Randall's "Donny Osmond as Gaston" t-shirt kills me dead.

Eh, a movie producer tried this several years ago and it never panned out. I'm of the belief that crowd-funding works best when there is a common community or strong shared belief. Is that really the case with a revival of Godspell?

The Lunds grocery in northeast Minneapolis is the "hotbed" of seeing Broadway stars who are in town working at the Guthrie. I saw Hunter Foster, who was in "The Government Inspector" and my co-worker saw Kathleen Chalfant while she was in the new Kushner play last summer.

I saw it a couple months ago at the Guthrie. Aesthetically, it's gorgeous, but my theater mate and I both thought it lacked warmth. Discounting the merits of the writing, for those impressed with Enron's visuals, Brief Encounter is much more innovative and lush. Vastly different plays, of course, though. The supporting players were great, but I'd like to see a re-cast of the two leads, as I think either they or how they were directed were a large part of the emotional disconnect.

The "It's Turkey Lurkey Time" t-shirt is a hit amongst my co-workers. I bought it at the theater.

Add me to the list who thought Kristin did a great job. I read posts that say she lacks toughness and vulnerability and I'm, like, "wow, I thought exactly the opposite". She might still be miscast, but I thought her performance was lovely.

I don't even remember this being in the show, but one of the strategies or shell companies or something was named JEDI by Andy Fastow, so I'm guess that's where that came from. I think Cax's first post in this thread neatly sums up my overall feelings in two words: "mass oversimplification"

I'm thrilled for N2N, which I just saw last Friday. Also seeing finalist "The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Diety" Wednesday here in Minneapolis. Wooo!

I was at the first preview and was a bit disappointed. I wouldn't say I didn't enjoy it--there are some really great visual elements and some of the dialogue, especially Skilling's, is fantastic. {spoilers ahead} I have somewhat of a wonkish interest in the Enron case and have read quite a bit about it, including "The Smartest Guys in the Room", which Prebble seems to have used as a primary source. I also saw the documentary. It felt like Prebble went through "Smartest Guys" and thought, "how...

He's also a writer--he wrote the book for "Bonnie & Clyde" which was in NYMF last year.

I had a very similar reaction, chad2. I also thought about the similarities, especially in Act II, with August: Osage County and agree that by Act III, it's getting a little long. Up until then, though, I can't say I was bored for 3+ hours--it's engaging and the actors are almost uniformly brilliant. I also went on the first preview and didn't feel the actors had found their rhythm yet. I plan on seeing it again after it opens. Oh, and I went on Thursday night--a preview before the preview, I...

Yeah, it was a long night. I can't say I was bored, though. The play needs some work, especially the last act, which started to feel like 'night Mother. Very Kushner, though, in that it explores interesting, universal themes on a broad spectrum. The cast is brilliant--the standout for me was Stephen Spinella. I want to go back after it opens as I'm interested to see any changes and to see it when the cast gets its rhythm. Technical mishap in the first 10 minutes. Michael Greif came out and wa...

"Caroline, or Change" is absolutely spectacular. I didn't see the B'way production, but this one is glorious. I'm seeing "The Intelligent Homosexual..." tonight.

I was also there last night and wrote a lengthy review (link below). The show was pleasant enough and I think the nostalgia factor could make it successful on the road, but if they are aiming for Broadway, they need to do a lot more work. The show is pretty much a series of vignettes from the books (structured much like the books as a matter of fact) and each scene has its own little ditty. The music is fine, but unmemorable. I'd encourage everyone in the Cities to get tickets, as the cast is...

Yeah, maybe you're right--Spelling Bee, Ave. Q, and Rent all used what was weird about them as a hook (although they all got strong reviews as well and Rent had the added aura of Larson's untimely death). [tos] really needs to come up with a better marketing angle--maybe the whole meta-ness of a show about writing a show about writing a show is unique to theater (although I can think of a few "behind the scenes" shows), but it's certainly not new to TV or movies and I don't think as a unique ...

To preface, I'll say that I haven't seen the show yet. I have the OOCR, but thought the music was a little weak, but I did enjoy the [tos] show, even if I felt it was a little too self-aware at times. My thoughts are that the "insider-y" feel of the show will not be the problem. The most vitriolic responses I've seen about the show have been from self-proclaimed theater buffs (not so much here; more the turds at ATC) and several posters, albeit anecdotally, have posted about taking their clue...

Thanks for the review. It's funny you should mention the Schoolhouse Rock parody as a standout. I always HATED that number and wished they would have dropped it for the transfer.

New York's cover this week is "This is New York, 1968-2008". They weren't listing the best musicals, they were listing the musicals that are definitively "New York".

Is Robin de Jesus really going to leave Heights so early? Would love to see Joshua Henry in this. I didn't see the PaperMill Godspell, but I saw Joshua go on as Benny when I saw ITH last summer and then saw him as the lead in Serenade this winter. He is the real deal--can sing, act, dance. And he's hot. Ridiculously hot.

Aqua. You know, of "Barbie Girl" fame. I'm obsessed and have always found their music very theatrical. I don't want a jukebox musical, but I wish Ben Folds would compose an original.