The Play's The Thing

A Chorus Line

Where: Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre
With: Tom, Colleen, Sean
Snack: Slivken's (pre the show @ the Ritz - no intermission)

Wow - what a fun show! From the songs to the dancing to the story - it was thoroughly engaging and wonderful. The only parts that were a little boring were the long Cassie & Paul sections. I guess they were supposed to be emotional, touching, whatever - but I had a hard time caring (or staying awake). I think it's a must see & I'm glad that I finally got a chance to enjoy this legendary show in the setting that inspired its creation.

The Play's The Thing

The Pirate Queen

Where: The Hilton Theatre
With: Kevin
Snack: Champagne

Oh... how I wanted to like this. I really did. And it seemed like it was going to have so many perfect ingredients: Pirates! Queens! Music! Dancing! A FREE Ticket! And, it was from the people behind Les Miserables and Miss Saigon - two musicals I love. Unfortunately, my hopes and expectations were not enough to keep me from leaving at intermission. It was just un-fun. The characters were uninteresting, the story was cliche, the songs were full of stupid/obvious rhymes, and the staging was pretty much blah, blah, blah. The best part of the show actually was the dancing (It was river dancing, and I wanted more, more, more!) Luckily, hanging out with Kevin and laughing about how bad the show was turned out to be a BLAST - and, our early exit meant that we were able to meet up with Tom & his friend John who were just finishing dinner. We headed back to Brooklyn, dropped John off at his hotel (yes, there are hotels in Brooklyn!) and grabbed a nightcap at Excelsior. In the end, it was a fun night despite my disappointment in Messers Boublil & Schonberg.

The Play's The Thing

The Apple Tree

Where: Studio 54 (yes, THAT studio 54!)
With: Tom & Marit
Snack: Tequila & club soda

We had GREAT seats for this... 5th row center. The show was goofy & silly, and the performers were fantastic. Most people know the star Kristin Chenoweth from Broadway's "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" and "Wicked," or from TV's "The West Wing," but the only thing I had seen her do was play Jeff Bridge's fun-lovin' white-trash wife in the horrible Robin Williams' movie "RV," in which she was one of the few good things. Based on that performance (and her reputation,) I expected to see someone charming and bubbly, and I wasn't disappointed. She commanded the stage and was thoroughly engaging and enjoyable to watch. The male leads were big Broadway names too and they held their own, but it was definitely Kristin's show. The show itself is a revival (it originally starred Barbara Harris, who won a Tony for the role, & Alan Alda,) and some of the dialog felt a little dated. Regardless of that, it was a fun night and I had a great time.

The Play's The Thing

Prelude To A Kiss

Where: American Airlines Theatre
With: Tom
Snack: Bourbon & a Junior Mint

When Tom told me that John Mahoney from "Frasier" was in this play, I was honestly hoping that he would be bringing that cute little dog with him - but to my disappointment, he just brought his limp. Luckily he did a good job, so it turned out ok. I stayed awake for the whole show, which actually says quite a bit about the production, but I think this was mostly due to the play itself. As I said, John M was good, and so were all of the supporting characters (including the guy who kind of looks like the farmer from "Babe," but is actually the guy Michael Douglas confronts in the zoo after realzing he's being set up in "The Game.") On the other hand, the 2 young leads were a little odd. I didn't recognize the girl, but she had sort of a Julie Haggerty (from "Airplane") thing going on that was hit or miss throughout the show. The guy was the actor who played the pirate in "Dodgeball" (as well as the cult-leader Father in a couple episodes of one of my all time favorite shows, "Strangers With Candy.") He did a good job, but kept taking his shirt off to show a RIDICULOUSLY cut set of abs. It was distracting. It did not fit in with his character at all. He also looked a lot like a Greg Kinnear knock-off, which bothered me for no justifiable reason (it just did.) In the end, I was glad that I went & I'll keep an eye out for the movie, which I've never seen, but it's probably good that this is a limited run.