I saw it 3/24 (3rd JCM show, one pre-injury, one the week immediately after the injury). Although advertised as 100 minutes, it was almost two hours long. JCM's added so much new material and was ad-libbing and was just on fire. I wonder if he would have loosened up the show to this extent if he hadn't injured himself and was still wedded to the choreography and blocking.
The new dynamic JCM introduced between Hedwig and Yitzhak is really wonderful to see, even in the ad-libs. Hedwig tripped over the crate and then later in the show when Yitzhak was kneeling in front of her with the crate, Yitzhak put a band-aid on a visible scrape on JCM's shin. There are all kinds of interesting new things going on in this show. (One change I haven't seen mentioned here is that Hedwig sings the "luther darling" line in a falsetto.) I love it. It's never been funnier or more moving. I was in C1 and got to give Yitzhak a high five, which was such a high point that I thought I'd stop with that show. But I think I may have to go to one of Lena's last.
(During the BCEFA speech, Lena was stumbling verbally, so she said she can't talk unless she's pretending to be someone else. She started talking like Cyndi Lauper and wouldn't stop carrying on. JCM kept trying to get her to stop and said, "it's been two hours. Everyone needs to pee. I need to pee." It was all very adorable.)
Agree with everything you said, Mariel. The Luther darling voice kills me. I hope JCM is having as much fun as it seems.
The last Lena shows should be great. She’s been pretty emotional the last couple of days on Twitter as well as in the two interviews of her that came out today. The company even put a “Thank you Lena Hall” in the Times.
I think that pantyhose was the original lyric there and at some point it was changed to camisole. No idea why as pantyhose actually rhymes...if Jane2 is lurking she might remember and confirm? The old school Hedwig fans in the audience get very excited when he uses the pantyhose lyric :)
I'm pretty certain that "camisole" is from the original production and "pantyhose" is from the film and movie recording. I've spent entirely too much time of my life with this show. Never understood the change for the film. "Camisole" is back in the Broadway show. They also seem to change the arrangement of Sugar Daddy every time there's a new production.
It's been "camisole" since the Jane Street, but it was "pantyhose" before that--at Westbeth, I think. There's some old footage of a pre-Jane Street show in the documentary on the movie DVD and John sings "pantyhose" there (which I also prefer, for the record!). And that part of "Sugar Daddy" isn't in the movie.
saw john last night. third time seeing the show and first time seeing john, who was of course amazing. we sat center orchestra row b and the seats couldn't have been better (john pointed at us on the "YOU'RE the bitch who stopped my on the way in" line!) the crate added so much to the show, and the new dynamic between h/y is my favorite one thus far by a MILE. during the wiab quick change (which yitzhak now does because of john's knee) the zipper got caught, so at the end of the number, hedwig started to whine and moan "wardrobe malfunctiioooooooon" until yitzhak finally came over and fixed it...ADORABLE!! all the changes made by john only enhance the production and im in love all over again. ALSO! we heard rebecca rehearsing before the show and she sounds aaaaahhhmazing. definitely worth a trip to see her.
Saw John last night as well. I did think his performance was good, but I'm in the minority on here who thought Neil was better.
"The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world." - F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Hi, some seating advice would be much appreciated!
My sister and I were thinking about buying 2nd row orchestra seats 101 and 102. Some people have said the stage is pretty high and we're kind of short (both around 5'2"), would we better off sitting a little bit farther back?
My husband and I actually sat in those exact seats for both the 7pm and 10pm shows tonight! I thought they were amazing, but it depends on what's most important to you I guess. We'd seen the show before, but if you haven't, further back will give you a better overall view (especially during Origin of Love). But in those second row seats, you get unbeatable closeup detail of John, you get an up close view of the car wash, you get to high five Yitzhak when he leaves the stage... And during the 7pm, I got the shroud of Hedwig!!
"saw john last night. third time seeing the show and first time seeing john, who was of course amazing. we sat center orchestra row b and the seats couldn't have been better (john pointed at us on the "YOU'RE the bitch who stopped my on the way in" line!) the crate added so much to the show, and the new dynamic between h/y is my favorite one thus far by a MILE. during the wiab quick change (which yitzhak now does because of john's knee) the zipper got caught, so at the end of the number, hedwig started to whine and moan "wardrobe malfunctiioooooooon" until yitzhak finally came over and fixed it...ADORABLE!! all the changes made by john only enhance the production and im in love all over again. ALSO! we heard rebecca rehearsing before the show and she sounds aaaaahhhmazing. definitely worth a trip to see her.
He had that wardrobe malfunction at the 4/3 7pm show too (and almost at the 10)! He just kept spinning and flailing and eventually got help from Yitzhak. He also almost couldn't get the last wig completely off during Exquisite Corpse. Yup, still so much elevated interaction between him and Lena, and it's amazing. There was extra making out and face licking and grabbing... But also these really sweet looks from John to her during the Midnight Radio and the curtain calls like acknowledging that she's almost done. It was heartbreaking, she was actually crying at the 10pm right before she was ready to leave the stage for her transformation. And then after his final bow, John pushed her back out in front for more applause and hugged her really tightly from behind.