NYMF 2009 — Page 3

^ Whoa!

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I saw Whatever Man last night as well, and I was hugely disappointed. The general concept had so much potential that I was really looking forward to it, but even after opening number, I realized I had no idea where they were going with the plot... and I don't think I ever really figured it out. The book was all over the place and the songs were rather lackluster. The presence of the superbeings was sadly under-utilized, which was confusing as to why it was necessary for them to be there at all.

I'm optimistic about some of these other shows, though. There's a lot of potential this season.

I'm seeing 7, which is the most I've seen in a few years... some I'm familiar with or chose based on the cast, others I know nothing about. I'll probably hate myself by the time it's over, but I'm looking forward to them!

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I agree that Jack Noseworthy's performance was great. His voice is, dare I say, among the best among the living male NY theater actors today. I really hope he is on Broadway again sometime soon. What a tremendous talent...and such a nice guy too. Go see UNDER FIRE if you can...

I really wanted to see Mo Faya, especially since part of it is performed in Swahili, which I think is such a beautiful language, but I can't make it to any of the performances. I'm really bummed.

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Besides N2N and [title of show] , what other NYMF shows have made it to Broadway?

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So far, I've seen :

THE CURE
GAY BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN

and loved them both. Both are certainly Rock shows, but GAY BRIDE is comic, more like Rocky Horror, and THE CURE is edgy, dark drama, like Spring Awakening, but with fangs!

Yeomansden- Pay no attention to hazellflagg, as he/she is just a troll.

The problem with "hazellflagg's" rant is that NYMF isn't "community theater," but rather a stage of the developmental process of these shows. I believe that NYMF states over 50 of their productions have gone on to other life in theaters around the country. They may not all end up on Broadway, or even off-Broadway, but NYMF provides a wonderful platform for these productions to receive feedback from an audience.

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Saw two more shows today: Marrying Meg and Fantasy Football.

Marrying Meg featured a trio of former 9 to 5 actresses, Lisa Howard, Kathy Fitzgerald and the incomparable Tory Ross, who stole every scene she was in.

Unfortunately the show was kind of hit or miss. It was a little Brigadoon, a little Finian's and a peppering of Greenwillow. The songs were pretty decent, but some of the book scenes were dragging. A lot of stuff could cut.

There was also a focus problem in that they couldn't decide who to musicalize the most/who the main character was. It almost felt like they were trying to pull a Fiorello! and have the main character barely sing.

There was also a play within a play structure that was I guess necessary, but sometimes got in the way.

Still, the actors were all solid, and I had fun win the show came alive during the score.

The second show, Fantasy Football, was AMAZING!!!

This should easily be one of the hits of the fest. Pure camp, but still very, very funny. It almost reminded me of a [tos], but instead of esoteric musical theater references it was all about the early 90s, sports and technology.

A joke that killed me was they were going to a Christian musical festival called the Christ-bilee (kind of the opposite of a Jubilee!).

Another time a character bought his girlfriend City of Angels tickets and she looks out at the audience and says, "What? It IS 1991!"

The actors were great, especially Nick Splanger and Christine Pedi. I had a ball (Ms. Morrow) from beginning to end, and couldn't endorse this show more!!

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why was it "amazing"?

I love how members of a show's team make up a screen name, come on here and post positive things about their own show. I've done it before in the past, however, I wasn't as obvious in JUST creating a screen name the day of the posting....

A note to would be writers/producers. Create a Broadway World account MONTHS before your show opens. Then post a couple times a week. It will give you more cred and not show you to be posting plant reviews.

Okay, so I saw last night's performance of The Cure. And aside from some major sound issues that performance, I had a really good time. The show is not perfect by any means (in particular, the opening is a mess and hard to follow...), but overall, it's a pretty strong show. I have to admit, when I read the description of a rock and roll fable about vampires, I had my doubts...but writer Mark Weiser does a great job of mixing the dark and edgy with the light and fun to create some involving characters and an interesting plot...

I also really liked his music. A couple of songs didn't work so well, but mostly they fit the story well, and it was varied enough to be interesting (there were two duets that I can't get out of my head...they were amazing...)

And some of the performances were absolutely incredible! Michael Buchanan as Alex gives a stellar performance, and both his acting and his singing were top notch. From the minute he came on stage, I was like, wow! Hope I get a chance to see him in more (his bio mentions that he is going to play Hunter in [title of show] for the Arizona Theater Company...maybe I'll get to see him there)

Another impressive performer was Jen Sese as Unique. Her acting was really good, but her singing? Wow, this woman has a voice!

Most of the other performers are really good as well (though there were one or two I wasn't impressed with...) Overall, I really recommend going to see this one. Is it the best show I've ever seen? No. Will you have a good time? In my opinion, yep, you will. Is it worth the $20 for a festival ticket? Absolutely.

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I just got in from seeing this evening's performance of Max Understood, and wow. I'm speechless in a good way. With Max you enter the world of a moderate to severely autistic seven year old boy as well as that of his parents as they try to deal with life with a special child. And it is done brilliantly and with poignancy and true heart. I was not surprised at all to learn that this comes from the creators' life experience as they perfectly capture our best guess at the mind of an autistic child. (Autism is growing in prevalence and with the new DSMV (which will be published in 2012), it is likely to be as high as 1 in 100 children will be diagnosed somewhere along the spectrum.)

The cast is brilliant. Marlon Sherman portrays Max, and he blew me away with how completely he became autistic for this performance; so much so that even as he left the theater, he had difficulty making and maintaining eye contact. Mary Mossberg and Michael Winther play Max's parents who are truly at the end of their ropes trying to cope with their special child and what his persence in their lives means; and how they come to appreciate exactly what Max does mean to them. Tricia Burns, Ramiz Monsef, Everett Quinton, and Ali Stroker make up the ensemble and they portray kids and others in the neighborhood who, in a parallel to The Wizard of Oz, Max's favorite movie, become "others" who help Max along on his journey from his home.

The music ranges from more traditional ballad to rap (including an amazing recitation of all the presidents of the United States up through Obama by Max - well-earned mid-song applause on that one!), and it's largely soundscaped to really take us into Max's world.

I found myself on the verge of and in tears on more than one occasion through this brief, 70-minute show. I honestly don't remember being this moved and affected by a first viewing of a show in a long time.

There are two performances left - tomorrow at 1pm and Wednesday at 8pm. I'd definitely recommend checking this one out. Brilliant!