Broadway Trip: 15 shows in 9 days

OK, so being a huge theatre buff out west, I don't get many opportunities to go to New York...but when I do, I make sure I really do it! Just got back from this year's trip where I saw 15 shows in 9 days: Happiness, Next to Normal, Exit the King, Tony Awards, Rock of Ages, Billy Elliot, Blithe Spirit, Our Town, Mary Stuart, Hair, Norman Conquests: Table Manners & Living Together, 9 to 5, West Side Story, and Twelfth Night in the park. My thoughts follow because, well, I need to tell someone

HAPPINESS: Saturday, June 6 matinee (no significant understudies)
Overall, I wish this would have done more for me. I liked the idea of exploring 'the happiest moment of your life,' but it seemed like they could have dug deeper with it. Enjoyed (but wasn't blown away by) performances from Sebastian Arcelus, Phyllis Somerville and Fred Applegate. Thought Robert Petkoff and Pearl Sun were cute together. Thought Hunter Foster was a bit awkward in the role but not always in a good way, and Jenny Powers seemed to be forcing acting instead of just letting it come...plus I thought her happy moment that was built up to the entire show was a bit of a let-down. Joanna Gleason and Ken Page were OK, but nothing special in their roles (on second thought, maybe just the roles aren't all that special...) and I thought Miguel Cervantes was bad. I felt like he was acting and trying to be funny the whole time... Didn't like the ending...I enjoyed Stroman's staging for the most part, but wished the show would have added more insight than it did, or blew me away in some other way. It was just OK. Sat next to Roger Bart though...

NEXT TO NORMAL: Saturday, June 6 (no understudies)
I know there is a lot of discussion on these boards regarding this show...and a lot of polarized opinions. Well, I guess you can add mine to the list. I thought the show was PHENOMINAL. It was the most emotional evening in the theatre I have ever had. Now, you must understand, my little brother passed away a couple years ago and my family is still dealing with the grief of that, so it had a special poignancy with me. All 6 performers turned in amazing performances...so nuanced and thoughtful. I appreciated it so much! I really felt like Alice Ripley and Aaron Tveit were reaching out to me with their souls. I love those rare times in the theatre when that happens. It was Tveit's final performance, and his portrayal was unforgettable. Enough has been said about Ripley, but I don't care if she is hitting every note or not (I never noticed she wasn't) because it was one of the greatest musical theatre acting performances I have ever seen. J. Robert Spencer was heart-breaking and solid and the moment between he and Aaron at the end was unforgettably touching. Jennifer Damiano was good, and I thought Adam Chanler-Berat was perfect! Loved the music, and the set and sound designs were especially good. I was 100% engaged the entire time. Thank you so much to everyone involved with the production. It changed me. Met some friends at Junior's after the show and watched the cast meet with fans for over an hour and a half...they were leaving as we were, and so I thanked Aaron and Alice on our way out. Both were so nice and said inspiring things to me. Alice just kind of went off for a couple of minutes about her feeling like she connected with us and what-not. She's great!


UP NEXT: Exit the King & Tony Awards

Updated On: 6/16/09 at 03:42 PM

ROCK OF AGES: Monday, June 8 (Amy Spanger & Constantine Maroulis both out)
Wow. What a disappointment. Granted I saw understudies in both lead roles, but I doubt they would have changed the experience for me. My main issue is not that rock doesn't belong on Broadway. In fact the music was the best part of the evening. My main issue was with the apparent thoughtlessness with which the show was put together. Were we purposely making a statement that all black people will sell-out and whore other people away (as the only 3 black characters were such people)? Were we purposely saying that women are objects (Calling characters Bar Girl 1...pretty sure all the men got real names...and the excessive number of strip scenes when they did little develop character)? The choreography was amateurish and the 3 girls couldn't seem to dance it in unison ever! The use of projections were hokey and distracting, and worst of all: I didn't have any fun! I loved the music. They seemed to pick all my favorite songs from the 80's, but they never really added any insight or anything to the songs like Jersey Boys and Movin Out did. I could have got the same thrill by listening to an 80s mix CD. In fact I wish I had, because now these songs are tainted with a bad memory of a horrible show. I know there are other opinions on the matter (as it received nominations for Best Musical and Best Director) but in my mind, it was the most disappointing and irresponsible piece of theatre I saw all trip. Jeremy Jordan as Drew was a little endearing and Lauren Molina was kind of good, but that's all I remember. Bleah...

BILLY ELLIOT: Tuesday, June 9 (David Alvarez as Billy, David Bologna as Michael, understudies for Mum and George)
This was the show's first performance after winning the Tony. I'm so glad I saw David Alvarez, as he was the one I was hoping for. Maybe it was just because I saw this after Rock of Ages, but I was blown away by the directing and choreography. Choices were being made that assisted in telling the story and getting across the theme in such creative ways. I loved it. This almost beat out Next to Normal for my favorite show of the trip. Almost... Alvarez was fantastic. His passion in Electricity was awe-inspiring. Once again, I felt him vomiting his soul out to me in the back of the orchestra. I didn't understand why Jbara beat out Swenson at the Tonys until I saw this performance. He was so great...and portrayed a large range of emotions impeccably. Haydn Gwynne was expectedly fabulous, and David Bologna was adorbale and sympathetic (although the giant dancing clothes was a little trippy). Carole Shelley was good, but nothing spectacular. I got emotional a couple of times in the show. Very nice work from everyone involved...from the costumes, to the lighting, to the sound, to the acting, and especially the directing and choreography. So good! Thanks for making good, thoughtful theatre.

UP NEXT: Blithe Spirit & Our Town

Aloha, thanks for the reviews and taking your time to write them. Looks like you had a great time while in nyc. I was at the same show as you june 9th, the only main understudy was Maria Connelly as Debbie.

Updated On: 6/16/09 at 05:30 PM

This sounds like my kinda trip.

WEST SIDE STORY: Sunday, June 14 matinee (Kat Nejat in for Anita, John Arthur Greene as Riff, Kaitlyn Mesh as Anybodys, Manuel Santos as Chino, and a bunch of others filling in where there were holes)
I was supposed to see this Wednesday night but when I heard Olivo was sick, they let me exchange my ticket for Sunday hoping she would be better. No luck. Box office lady said she has an upper-respiratory infection. So disappointed was I. What is going on with this show that half of the lead characters can't perform for weeks on end? I'm not mad, but something needs to be evaluated if I were a producer of this show...It would have been better if ANY of the understudies had done ANYTHING with their roles...but none of them did. The riff was just bad...as I saw him obviously checking out emotionally multiple times. George Akram also made no impression whatsoever. The Bernardo/Riff death scene wasn't nearly as heart-breaking as it should have been. The show got a lot better in the second act due to the amazing chemistry between Josefina Scaglione and Matt Cavanaugh. Cavanaugh is NOT a good actor. In fact his scene with Doc was one of the worst I saw all trip, but when he was with Scaglione, there was magic. I love Josefina. So good! And so beautiful! She brought me into the story when no one else would. Curtis Hobrook was good, but kinda one-note in his characterization. The lighting was fabulous, and the choreography and music are legendary for a reason. I was grateful to see professionals dance this. So it wasn't all a lost cause, but I hope the cast gets healthy soon! I didn't understand why the Jet gang members were so large and their mannerisms were so 2009...oh well. Strange casting, but I liked Laurents' version of the ballet. The boy was a nice touch. There were definite sound mixing problems as I couldn't make out anything anyone was saying in the quintet. Loved "Cool." "Gee Officer Krupke" was not heart-breaking like I think it should be. Oh well. Not bad. But not as good as it could have been.

TWELFTH NIGHT: Sunday, June 14 (no understudies)
My friend is in the production, so we didn't even have to stand in line. Cool! As has been mentioned, Hamish Linklatter is the standout in a really great cast! His choices were so unique and so appropriate and he has great comic timing. Audra McDonald is so talented! She was funny in ways I've never seen her before. Julie White, Jay O. Saunders and David Pittu were fabulous supporting comedic characters, and Michael Cumpsty was solid as Malvolio. For me, Raul Esparza was a bit forgettable. Stark Sands was very good as the twin brother though. As for Anne Hathaway, I was impressed. She didn't blow me away, but she was very good. And for once I actually saw how they would mistake her for a boy. I actually thought the music brought down the pacing a bit which was the only major problem with the production. It needed to be quicker. Hated the underscoring, but oh well. The set and costumes seemed a bit thrown together...but hey, it's free! Defintiely worth seeing. Fabulous cast all around.

AND THAT'S IT! So, here's the summary:
Phenominal Must-sees: Next to Normal, Billy Elliot, Mary Stuart, Norman Conquests.
Runners-up: Our Town, Twelfth Night, Exit the King, West Side Story.
Didn't do much for me: Blithe Spirit, Hair, 9 to 5, Happiness.
Horrible Excuse for Theatre: Rock of Ages.

I'm so glad such a variety of theatre is available. Yay for NYC!

Thanks so much for all your reviews! Especially glad to hear you loved Norman

Thanks for your reviews.

Sad to read about your little brother who passed away, my brother also passed away round the same time, I am also in New York next week and hoping to catch Next to Normal, hope it will bring back the same poignant memories for me!

Good reviews, it's a shame you didn't get Hair... but I'm glad you got to see all these great shows!

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I got the idea Roger was there to support Susan Stroman (at least that's what I got from his conversations with the person he was with)...also interesting was that he repeatedly called her Ms. Stroman and not Susan. Still showing the due respect even after working closely with her on multiple shows. Pretty cool I thought.
In answer to your question about Happiness: Uh, I think any theatre is 'worth seeing' but I wouldn't reccomend it over any of the other shows I saw except Rock of Ages and maybe 9 to 5. Its closed now any way...

Thanks for your reviews. I also live far from NYC (Tennessee), but I try to get there twice a year and see 6 to 8 shows at a time. So I'm really interested in the logistics of your trip as well. How did you decide what shows to see? Did you stay in a hotel and can you recommend it? Restaurants? How did you get tickets? Any recommendations for spending time waiting for shows? I'm trying to refine my NYC experience.

Thanks,

Anne

Sounds like a wonderful trip. Thanks for the reviews!

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Heads up about WSS: The leads being out didn't make this flat. It just is. The direction is horrid. (But Karen is lovely.) If the actors are truly sick (or hurt) there isn't anything the producers can do. It's just bad timing for all involved.

Sorry you didn't feel Hair. It's a a beautiful production, one that I'm passionate about.

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