To add a little meat to my original post:
Thursday July 3, the Lyceum was open for a general admission invite-only dress rehearsal. These are usually done for most shows, to "test" a show in its entirety with tech, lines, costumes before a true paying-audience (First Preview for [tos] is July 5)
The house was filled mostly with industry people, theatre stars and friends and friends-of-friends. All huge [tos]ers at heart.
Original [tos] merchandise being sold included T-shirts with images of Rice Krispie Treats, others reading [t-shirt] and hats reading [hat]. There are also "downtown" and "uptown" shirts for girls. Some clever ones.
The entire center orchestra was roped off, exclusively for the director, tech guys, sound board, and photographers. People sat on the side-orchestra and the mezzanine. I was front-row mezz.
Before the show, Director Michael Berresse made a brief statement (wearing awesome jeans!) The second he walked on stage, his eyes were sparkling with a "Holy F*ck! We have an audience. This is real" kind of look. He thanked us for coming, painted a brief picture of what the journey has been for [tos].
Lights down. Lights up. There was Jeff and Hunter (applause explosion). A-D-D-D-D-F#-A, show starts, in comes Heidi and Susan (applause explosion). Cute as hell choreography. All four of them appeared to be in Utter Bliss-Town. As much love they were sending us, we were all sending right back. Incredible loving dynamic.
I won't delve too much about the show. It ran about 110 minutes (which I'm sure will tighten itself). For those familiar with the show, you're in for some delightful surprises and new lines/lyrics/scenes. For those who only know the cast-recording, you're going to love seeing how the beloved songs tie-together with the scenes.
No major changes to the songs... an added bridge here, an extra stanza there. Largest change is in "September Medley" which has been broadened to include the NYMF Fest,O'Neil workshop, Off-Bway run and the various gigs [tos] hosted before embarking on "the [title of show] show" and Bway announcement.
No major mishaps either. A wayward spotlight here, an early sound-cue there... Typical tech things. Notable accident, that ended up being kinda cute: Hunter got tied-up in his microphone-cord when trying to remove his shirt. Susan came to the rescue. I'm sure they'll work it out. And besides, seconds later Heidi and Jeff were topless (which helped distract the entanglement).
Plenty of tears during the last 90-seconds of the show. Embodiment of what it LOOKS, SOUNDS AND FEELS LIKE to have your dreams come true in today's dog-eat-dog world of Broadway.
Congratula[t]i[o]n[s] times one-million to an incredible foursome of talent, plus Michael, Larry, and the hard-working creative team. What more can be said?
See you at Opening Night!
PS: Don't race to leave the theatre when the curtain comes down... [tos] pulls a Pixar ending
Updated On: 7/5/08 at 09:33 AM