this thread is SO [title of show] cuz it [you know what] ROCKS!!!- Page 23

[TulitaPepsi]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 11:40am

tgn, I've have friend who have done the lottery and they've gotten both great seats and 'ehh' sears, but [tos] is so concentrated with 99% of the action right out in front you won't miss anything. You'll be fine wherever you sit.

SweetSoprano - The stagedoor is not nearly as insane as it was that after that first preview. It's very do-able and the [tos] fans are the best-behaved fangroup I've ever seen (no pushing or engaging in assholean behavior). I know that fans of every Broadway show claim that "the cast of [your fave show here] is the nicest on Broadway!!", but the [title of show] quartet take the rice-krispies-treat. Everyone happily signs and are warm and appreciative to all their fans.

And everyone I know who has stage-doored (boy, girl, gay, straight) afterward wants to marry Hunter.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go shopping for rings...

Updated On: 7/24/08 at 11:40 AM

[broadwayjim42]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 11:55am

There's a discount code thru Playbill and probably other sources that might be about five or so bucks less than TKTS when all is said and done. $47.50...I plan on using that Saturday afternoon because my luck with lotteries sucks.

[TulitaPepsi]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 11:59am

A heads-up from Hunter on the [tos]blog:

"Hey tossers. We will prob get to some serious bloggin on our first day off in a while on wed to discuss the tosomeness that is being on bway, but just a little somepin somepin to hold you over. Seriously though our heads continue to explode every night and it is such a pleasure getting to meet you guys at the stage door...oh yeah and stage door alert peeps- you gots to go around to 46th street after the show to catch us. That's where we come out and say hey. We do not want our tossers to come all that way and stand on 45th street post show and then be all.."what the hell [tos]?" So come on round back to 46th street!

[title of show] blog

[SweetSoprano]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 12:44pm

Thanks Tulita! That's good to know!

[tgn915]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 1:23pm

Thanks so much for all of your help, guys!
If more than one of us wins, I guess I'll claim the one called closest to the middle.

[tgn915]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 1:23pm

x2

Updated On: 7/24/08 at 01:23 PM

[TulitaPepsi]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 1:33pm

My pleasure! :)

I wanted to share this exquisite, beautifully written and considered review by Roger Lakins. He posted it elsewhere and I thought it deserves to be spread around.

***********************************************
[title of show] a review
Posted by: RogerLakins ([e-mail]) 01:14 pm EDT 07/24/08

--------------------------------------

[title of show]
A review by Roger Lakins
([e-mail])

I think that Joseph Campbell would have loved this show. It is all about “following your bliss.” This entire play, which is intentionally a work in progress, tells a true story. From the very simple and unpretentious “Untitled Opening Number” the audience learns right up front that this show is something different and witty. In it, the two male leads, Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen, introduce the wonderfully gifted women, Susan Blackwell and Heidi Blickenstaff, who will fill out the vocal quartet. The blend and harmony of their collaboration is a joy to hear throughout the show.

Two struggling, young gay actors/writer and song writer are temping, catering and -- in general -- stuck in a holding pattern. They decide to break the fetters of writer’s block by entering a festival. Devices used in creative writing workshops become adapted to their purpose in a skit/song entitled “Monkeys and Playbills.” There are many wonderful things about this show. It deals with raising the bar after each goal is achieved. It deals with killing the “vampires” of doubt, insecurity and discouragement which can plague anyone who has ever felt the call to create anything. It deals with many of the disgusting aspects of the “business” of theater which have nothing to do with art and everything to do with egos and money. It asks whether it is more important to be true to your friends or to dump loyal collaborators when a “known commodity” shows an interest. It asks questions about the nature of art and the relationship of the artist to his public which were also grappled with by such minds as the great aesthetic philosopher Etienne Gilson, and the composer Roger Sessions.

I can not think of another instance in which two gay men are portrayed as so healthily at home in their own skins. They are not your screaming Harvey Fierstein, Truman Capote, Paul Lynde caricatures of what a gay man is supposed to be in the eyes of society. Nor are they the closeted, self-loathing, homophobic homos of the ilk of Merv Griffin, Clay Aiken, John Travolta(?) and Tom Cruise(who cares?). They are part of a new generation of gay men who are free of shame and able to embrace their talents and turn “camp” humor on and off as it suits them.

Collaborating with them are two healthy, heterosexual women. This portrayal is a first. The despicable monicker for women who enjoyed the company of gay men was an f.h. This degrading label, in the past, was one given to women who were afraid of heterosexual men, unpopular with heterosexual men, were often plain or ugly, and became fawning sycophants to gay men of some talent who usually treated them poorly and were the objects of their unrequited love. Sometimes these women would set them up in business and mother them, put vehicles under their asses and in numerous ways accept the unacceptable because deep down they believed that they were unacceptable. Think back even to Mary Louis Parker in “Long Time Companion.” Her character, though intelligent and profoundly loving, was afraid of straight men. Think of Emma Thompson as Carrington. That poor soul ended her life in the grief that followed Strachey’s death. No, these are two vivacious young women who have their straight men in their “real” lives and enjoy creative and playful collaboration and the humor that comes with it with their two gay male friends.

The music is derivative. It draws upon formulas of recitative that are reminiscent of modified “psalm tone” patterns from plainsong in places and choral repetitive formulae harkening back to Russian and Anglican chant in others. If you have to be derivative, you could do one helluva lot worse. It also has some wonderful, catchy “big” tunes: “Original Musical,” “I’m Playing Me,” “Die, Vampire, Die!” ”A Way Back to Then” and “Nine People’s Favorite Thing.”

Let’s zero in on the players: Susan Blackwell has an extended background off Broadway and in television. Despite the lack of confidence in singing she portrays in the play, she has a perfectly fine singing voice. She is always in tune and sings properly from the diaphragm. She is capable of blending beautifully with Heidi and the gang. She also has one of the richest speaking voices I have heard in a very long time, which she knows how to use as with a paint brush, and eyes that really know how to work a room. At one point in the play, she tells a true story about the late Kitty Carlisle’s visit to the show and the Green Room in an earlier setting. Her impersonation of that wonderful and distinctive voice is uncanny. She is an amazing stage presence and a comedienne of impeccable timing.

Heidi Blickenstaff has appeared as understudy, ensemble and swing in Little Mermaid and The Full Monty on Broadway. She has a radiant stage presence and a glorious voice. One of the songs written for her, “A Way Back to Then,” has already found a life of its own outside the show. It tells the story of the super confident child, just discovering her talent and basking in the love and approval lavished on her as a result. It also bemoans the loss of that confidence that comes with maturity and working in the “business.” It will induce goose bumps.

Jeff Bowen won a 2006 Obie for the music and lyrics of [title of show]. (Hence the joke about dreaming of winning an Obie.) On stage he is boyish and disarming. He is presented as a grammar policeman, which makes his character every English teacher’s wet dream. Investigation into the matter revealed that it is actually Hunter who is known to correct other people’s grammar. Well, it is a play.

Hunter Bell is a big hearted, big voiced Southern boy. He also pocketed an Obie for his work on this play. He has a great range of dramatic and comedic expression and plays well with others, including his audience. His writing for this show is nothing short of quirkily brilliant. The son of a distinguished school headmaster, his grammar is Southernly aristocratic.

You do not need an orchestra if you have Larry Pressgrove. His credits include being musical director of the Broadway and national tour productions of Cats. This guy is an absolutely top of the line musician with chops to burn. He is also funny and lovable. It is hard to imagine anyone else who could have contributed what he has to this show.

The show’s direction and choreography are by Michael Berresse, who also won an Obie for his work on the show. Michael adds directing to his already very impressive list of accomplishments on Broadway, on tours, on television and in concert. His talent is so indisputable that even John Simon had nothing negative to say about him in his review of this play.

Who should see this play? Certainly, anyone who is in the arts as a writer, painter, actor, or performer of any sort. Anyone who has suffered from self-doubt. Anyone who has had a dream and felt too intimidated to follow it. Any student of the arts. This play has broken historical ground by developing a following through a series of nine episodes and a bonus Christmas installment of the [title of show show] on You Tube. Last week the participants of a national convention for teachers of drama meeting in New York all came to the show. They seemed to enjoy it thoroughly. They might tell their students. They might decide to see it when they come to New York on pre-graduation pilgrimage to the Big Bad Apple or the League Auditions. The message of this show is refreshing, honest and extremely healthy. In the past I have spent $150 an hour for therapy to overcome performance anxiety and perfectionism-paralysis that has plagued so many of my generation. No, that is not true. I spent $175 an hour most recently. The point is that this show got through to me more deeply than all the cerebral angst did. If your heart was warmed by the Little Engine That Could, or Jacques Brel’s song Jackie, you will love this play. If you are deeply hurt by the business and bitter and jaundiced, you should see it several times. Your scar tissue may be that thick.

[WonderRobbie]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 1:54pm

That is SUCH an awesome review!!!
Thanks for sharing!

Is anyone else going tonight to Chatterbox?

PS: Happy Birthday, Lynda Carter!!!

[ilovebroadway3]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 2:48pm

I found this picture:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dannimiller/2217528437/sizes/o/

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 2:53pm

[fvalle24]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 3:14pm

Wow, that was a well written review! I love to read positive reviews!!!

I wished I lived in NY....Haven fun, whoever is going tonight!

[TulitaPepsi]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 3:48pm

Fantastic Wonder Woman images, guys! And Lynda Carter's Birthday today...the harmony of the spheres!!

I'll def. be there tonight!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 4:01pm

I'll be Chatterboxing with the [tos] tots tonight.

"If you'll have me," as Eve Harrington says.

[Trekkie2]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 10:59pm

Anyone want to share about the Chatterbox? By the way, I saw [tos] on Sunday, and Hunter remembered me from facebook and said he loved my muppets t-shirt. I died.

Updated On: 7/24/08 at 10:59 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 11:03pm

Thanks for including me, Robbie. It was a wonderful evening.

And Tulita and I got a nice little chat with Michael Baresse there after the show. Mmmm...

[TulitaPepsi]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 11:20pm

Michael was a doll (as was PJ). Very sensitive and appreciative of the [tos]fans (I like PJ's name of [tos]tots) and made very interesting points about his direction. And he's got the biggest blue eyes!

Most of the CHATTERBOX discussion was about the very beginning of Jeff & Hunters careers in regional theater, and the very beginnings of [tos]. I think it was Hunter who made the comment that "everybody thinks we are all silly and peppy together offstage, but we actually are pretty serious when we're all together" (I'm of course paraphrasing).

Updated On: 7/24/08 at 11:20 PM

[taylorPHENOMENON2]

Posted: 7/25/08 at 12:59am

So...I finally saw it tuesday.
I was so blown away, I have never laughed so hard.
And I kind of proposed to Hunter. And kissed him.
Susan was ****ing awesome! When Jeff was walking away she flipped him off and was hanging out and just being her amazing self with us. What a great group they are.

[pattilupuppy]

Posted: 7/25/08 at 3:03am

It was so nice to meet you boys this evening at Chatterbox, we sure did have a great time!!!! :)
Updated On: 7/25/08 at 03:03 AM

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 7/25/08 at 6:52am

Incredible:

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/119789.html

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/25/08 at 7:16am

I am obsessed with "Die, Vampire, Die!" so I loved hearing Susan talk about it:

===

Blackwell: ...I also want to say, there's an artist and a writer and teacher named Lynda Barry, who has been enormously influential. Hunter Bell and I studied writing with Lynda Barry, and she actually is the person who taught us the concept of "Die Vampire, Die!" She is what I call an excellent weirdo. Anyone who has any interest in writing or just being an artist, I would recommend that they Google "Lynda Barry," read anything that she has written. She just wrote an excellent book on writing. Or, go take a class with her. She is extraordinary.

[taylorPHENOMENON2]

Posted: 7/25/08 at 10:09am

Great article, I'm glad they decided to interview Susan as well.

"Now the real question - are Jeff and I eligible for diva talk?"

[pattilupuppy]

Posted: 7/25/08 at 10:38am

Susan said what i have been saying to many nay-sayers

"Even if it closed next week — I hope it doesn't. I hope it has a healthy run. Even if it did close next week, it has been such an extraordinary adventure that I just feel like I will forever be changed by this experience in a very positive way. . . ."

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/25/08 at 11:27am

Word.

[TulitaPepsi]

Posted: 7/25/08 at 12:28pm

Susan's information about Lynda Barry was fascinating. I had only known her as a good friend of Matt Groening and as the creator of Ernie Pook's Comeek which ran in THE VOICE about 15 years ago.

Updated On: 7/25/08 at 12:28 PM

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 7/25/08 at 12:32pm

I was kind of surprised when I finally saw the show a few weeks ago, that credit wasnt given to Lynda in the book leading up to
DVD.

Is anyone worried about the box office? I know they have low costs, which is great, but attendance and box office are so low for a show that just opened to good reviews.