The rest of my marathon

[pab]

Posted: 10/16/04 at 1:09am

Well, I've been back home, from New York, since Sunday but I'm just getting around to writing about the rest of the theatre marathon that I started in the following thread:

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?thread=432798#432798

As I mentioned, Tuesday night we saw "Wicked" and I must say that I enjoyed it more this second time around. I think that Jennifer Laura Thompson was as good, if not better, than Kristin Chenoweth. It's a pretty good show but I still don't understand this obsession that many people have with it.

Wednesday was matinee day and we went to see one of my wife's favorite shows, "Fiddler On The Roof". When we arrived at the door we saw a notice saying that Alfred Molina was out sick. We wondered what the understudy (Mark Lotito) would be like and we were quite pleased with his performance. We also enjoyed Randy Graff Nancy Opel and John Cariani. It was good to finally see some real choreography on stage for a change. Jerome Robbins lives! We enjoyed this production.

Between shows, we went to The Drama Book Shop to see Bobby Lopez and Jeff Marx:

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?thread=435961#436139

Wednesday night I went back to see "The Lion King" which is not a show that I would have chosen to see again but since my wife had not seen it, I went again. The opening is still brilliant but the rest of the first act was a little tedious. The kid playing Simba was really not good and he got on our nerves (he also sang flat). The second act was better but we were not sure if that was because there was now an older Simba and the annoying kid was done for the night or if it was just a better second act. The show has some good moments but it's not in the same league as the other Best Musicals on Broadway.

Thursday night we saw "Hairspray". This was my third time seeing this show and it was also my third Edna. I have enjoyed them all and I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite. The show is still as tight and as energetic as it was the first time I saw it. We had a great time and Carly Jibson is such a ball of energy - great performance!

Friday night was another show that I had been to twice before and that was "The Producers". We had such a fun time and my wife kept saying afterwards "I could see that again!". I must say that Hunter Foster was a good Leo Bloom but I think that my favorite Bloom, so far, has been Roger Bart.

When I was purchasing tickets my wife had asked me to see if I could book some dance. There was no ballet available so I got tickets to "Forever Tango" which we enjoyed. Not a typical Broadway show at all so if you choose to go to this, don't expect your typical Broadway fare. There is a really good eleven piece band on the stage and the dancers are all brilliant at what they do. Maybe a third of the Shubert Theatre was occupied. I don't ever recall being in a Broadway theatre with so few people.

Our final show was on Saturday night and it was a preview performance of "Reckless". Mary-Louise Parker was great! She is such a good actress. We enjoyed the production and ALL of the performances and it was a good way to end our trip.

Nine nights - Thirteen shows. Great trip! I would have to say that my most memorable theatre experience during this trip was the play "I Am My Own Wife" and the performance of Jefferson Mays.

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 10/16/04 at 1:24am

nice reviews

[pab]

Posted: 10/16/04 at 12:17pm

Thanks. I could have gone into more details about each of these shows but I figured that the post was already too long.

[QuiteSo]

Posted: 10/16/04 at 11:33pm

*bows to you* Yay for the Roger Bart as Leo praise!

Sounds like you had a great time!

[pab]

Posted: 10/17/04 at 2:21am

When I saw him in "The Frogs" I thought that he was quite versatile. I'm looking forward to seeing his Carmengia in the movie version of "The Producers".