my trip to nyc (Chicago, Drowsy, Grey Gardens, Mary Poppins)

[dfwtheatreguy]

Posted: 5/18/07 at 1:13pm

i got back from a vacation to new york and wanted to share my brief thoughts on the shows i saw.

CHICAGO: the production was still sexy and full of Fosse even 10 years out but the leads, aside from Bianca Marroquin's Roxie, were bland and flat - Joey Lawrence's Billy Flynn made me want to fall asleep (which is difficult in this high-energy show) - Bianca as Roxie had it all packed into tiny frame, she was funny, sexy, dark, intense, and popped the Fossse movements with panache and style.

THE DROWSY CHAPERONE: WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! i was worried that the absence of Sutton Foster and more importantly of Bob Martin would make this show less than perfect but no such luck! THIS SHOW WAS FANTASTIC FROM START TO FINISH! a smile spread across my face and a guffaw escaped my lips from the opening and did not leave until my hands were sore from clapping so much at the final curtain - the mixture of comedy, pastiche musical numbers, the show within the show played by actors playing actors playing characters, and the clever and witty observations on the art of theatre created a unique piece - eddie korbich's tap-dancing was wonderful, john glover's man in the chair was divine, joanne worley knows how to work a spit-take, and janine lamanna was a sexy, cute janet - how did this show NOT win the tony for best musical?????

GREY GARDENS: it was good, i was expecting to rave about this show, but in the end it was okay - christine ebersole was fantastic but the disjointed-ness between the 2 acts was so jarring that i spent most of act 2 trying to make a connection in my mind but all that appeared was tenuous at best - doug wright marvelled with "i am my own wife" but here he stupefies and confounded me - erin davies seemed to be pushing it in every scene she inhabited - bob stillman was wonderful, but under-used in the first act - the second act, based on the documentary, would have been good by itself and expanded, but tacked on to the end of act 1 it lost something

MARY POPPINS: the last show i saw was unfortunately not the best - where did the magic of the movie go? it was sucked out and drowned by the blandness of ashley brown and then exploded into little pieces by the overblown production - it was kind of odd that the main set, the massive house, not only had 2 rooms never inhabited, but also dwarfed the attic nursery where most of the action takes place - gavin lee saved this show with his gangly physicality and appropriate comedy - matthew bourne's choreography was exquiste and wonderful but it seemed that he and richard eyre could not come to a consensus on a directing path, leaving this disney show both overblown and stale where it should be bright, bubbly, and magical

[jordangirl]

Posted: 5/18/07 at 1:50pm

Glad you enjoyed your trip! And YAY for Drowsy!! I adore it!! Such a fun show!!

[dfwtheatreguy]

Posted: 5/18/07 at 1:53pm

really wishing i had seen "curtains" instead of "mary poppins" - although for a 6'7" guy from texas the new amsterdam theatre is a treasure of leg room and comfy seats...

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 5/18/07 at 1:54pm

Right on with my opinion of POPPINS.

[obsessedjb]

Posted: 5/18/07 at 2:00pm

why do I feel like I´m the only person on the planet who really disliked Drowsy...

[Spacedog78]

Posted: 5/18/07 at 2:02pm

i saw drowsy and really didnt love it either

you are not alone obsessedjb

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 5/18/07 at 2:07pm

I didn't love DROWSY either. I was mostly bored to tears.

[dfwtheatreguy]

Posted: 5/18/07 at 2:14pm

drowsy caught me off-guard, i thought it would be cutesy and not much too it, but it was a total shocker to be laughing - and beth leavel was a scream.

and how could you not love the "act 2 opener" with "message from a nightingale"? when man in the chair stopped the record and the cast walked off stage it cracked me up!

[folkyboy]

Posted: 5/18/07 at 2:29pm

aww i love Drowsy :)

[BroadwayPhil]

Posted: 5/18/07 at 2:45pm

Took my Mom to Drowsey last night (late Mom's day present) Loved it... whole lot of fun. Saw Grey Gardens few weeks ago... blah.. almost walked out, was just too long and book was very weak.

[BroadwayEnthusiast2]

Posted: 5/18/07 at 4:37pm

erm...but drowsy is one act? i was debating poppins, but i may still see it this summer.

[popular_elphie]

Posted: 5/18/07 at 5:57pm

BroadwayEnthusiast2, he means the show-within-a-show's act 2 opener - the actual show's opener.

Glad you enjoyed the trip, and to hear that Drowsy's holding up without Bob and Sutton.

[sarab]

Posted: 5/18/07 at 10:29pm

Very glad that you enjoyed yourself!