Back to Broadway

[Ritterskoop]

Mom and I just finished our first visit to NYC in six years. The High Line is past its under-construction vibe, though some stations are indeed under construction. It's worth adding to a visit.

The Oculus is an architectural marvel. I'm not a shopper, really, but did need a jackety shirt, so we actually spent money there, as they intend.

Museum of Broadway is worth a ticket, as is Rise NY across the street.

Show reports:

See Gypsy if you like classic Broadway. Audra McDonald is a force of nature, and she reminded us of my dad's mom, who was the same kind of stage mom vibe. My grandmother had earned a scholarship to Juilliard, but her parents wouldn't pay the monthly stipend for books, or something small. Bu then they paid for her brother's tuition and everything, and she spent 65 years being mad about it, and yelling at the rest of us. Balcony box seats in box C were terrific. Audra is center stage a lot, so seats to one side wouldn't be a terrible problem in this production.

For pure fun and great dancing: Pirates: The Penzance Musical (which is not strictly the operetta you know). Pirates closes in late July due to another show already being booked in the fall, but it's worth a lot to hear David Hyde Pierce's Model of a Major General. The younger cast members can barely contain their admiration for him, and I think he may tinker with the words a bit each time, is why they are giggling. Plus, the Pirate King is a longtime Broadway star who is having a blast. Either orchestra aisle might get you some interaction with the cast.

Also for pure fun and some great dancing, and some neat technical effects switching from black and white to color: Boop! I think this show may not be selling well because people think they need to know something about Betty Boop, but we don't. They tell us everything we need to know, and Jasmine Amy Rogers is outstanding! Also there is a marionette dog named Pudgy, who steals many scenes. We got rush tickets the day of the show for $40. The seats were not way comfortable, but we were re-seated at intermission into box seats, which were way more comfortable, and we didn't think we missed anything.

Our final show was Maybe Happy Ending, about which I cannot tell you anything, because you want to go in as cold as possible (don't listen to the cast album or read anything about it, if you can help it). It's pretty important at this show that you sit near the center of the theater, and the mezzanine is primo. Do NOT buy tickets with partial view if they are off to the side in the front rows. I mean, if that's all there is, do it, because you can HEAR a lot, and you don't actually miss that much visual stuff. You want to see this show. It's 100 minutes with no intermission. I would say that this one, of those we saw, has the most issues with lights and sensory triggers.

This is the show that we will still be talking about in ten years. I think it would be a challenge to tour, due to a lot of tech that would be tricky, but we'll see.

I find A View From My Seat to be a useful tool for this stuff (plus baseball tickets). Best wishes.

[Beebs52]

Love your grandma description!

[Ritterskoop]

By the time we could think for ourselves, she turned into a dictator. She was a pretty good grandma until then.

I did grieve for her, when I heard her sing on a vinyl album at our big downtown library. She shoulda been given a shot, but women coming up in the 20s didn't get a shot.

I asked my dad one time which church they went to, and he said, "Whoever was paying." She soloed all over town on Sunday mornings for pocket money.

[BackInTex]

Our final show was Maybe Happy Ending, about which I cannot tell you anything, because you want to go in as cold as possible ...

Can you at least confirm it is not about a massage parlor?

I've haven't seen any of the others in all the years we've been going to musicals. Those are classics, so I hope to see them locally soo. I doubt I'll ever get to Broadway for mor than 1 or 2 shows.

[Bob Juch]

Scoop! Since you seem to be a G&S fan, please give me your opinion on this ditty I wrote some time ago:

https://bobjuch.fans/track/4269975/the-earl-s-delight

[Ritterskoop]

I’m actually not a G&S fan. We liked Pirates because it was not pretentious.

Good luck with your writing.

[Bob Juch]

I’m actually not a G&S fan. We liked Pirates because it was not pretentious.

Good luck with your writing.

I wrote that to be over the top pretentious!

[silverscreenselect]

I'm hoping someone in Atlanta will put on a production of Girl from the North Country since I did a review of a book by a Broadway cast member. (It had the misfortune to open on Broadway one week before the COVID shutdown.) It was on PBS Great Performances a month ago but it's not available for streaming on their app now.

[Ritterskoop]

We had that show last season, but I dislike Bob Dylan's singing voice and they said the book (of the show) was a complete mess, so I skipped it.