Looking Forward to Spring 2013

DON'T FORGET TO TAKE THE 1ST PART OF THE MOTOWN HOT OR NOT POLL!!

Where did the last three months go?  Actually it's been more than three months, as I'm a bit late with this quarterly blog entry.  It never ceases to amaze me how fast each season flies by.  Such is life.  As usual, I'll look back before I look to the future.  I didn't see either of the two plays I listed in my winter column, Picnic and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and I missed Golden Boy and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? altogether.  Musical-wise I did much better: I won't have missed any on the list - first up was Annie (C), then Bare (A-), followed by Passion (A+), and Hands on a Hardbody (twice! - see below), and Kinky Boots (see below).  Plus, I saw The Mystery of Edwin Drood again (A+) Not including the grade I will be giving Kinky Boots, that's an average of A, which is waaayyy better than the winter average. And I am optimistic that the rest of the spring will be interesting at least, captivating at best.  I'll be seeing Cinderella and Motown: The Musical this weekend.

And now to the future.  I will be considering all of the shows currently scheduled to open during the months of March, April and May. And, typical of the time of year, there are way more new shows than I'll ever have time for!  But here are the ones I really want to see!

PLAYS (I want to see as many as I can, but there are only so many I can get to...)

The Assembled Parties (On Broadway at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre)
I enjoy the writing of Richard Greenberg, and I am huge Judith Light fan.  Whatelse do I need?  Well, how about the best thing about Clybourne Park, Jeremy Shamos?

The Nance (On Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre)
Another writer I love, Douglas Carter Beane + an actor I love, Nathan Lane + an era I know little about, but would love to know more about, vaudeville/burlesque = a show I really want to see!

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (On Broadway at the Golden Theatre)
It's mostly the casting - who can resist David Hyde Pierce AND Sigourney Weaver?

Lucky Guy (On Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre)
Duh. (Tom)

The Trip to Bountiful (On Broadway at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre)
Duh.  Duh. and Duh. (Vanessa, Cuba and Cicely)

Orphans (On Broadway at the Schoenfeld Theatre)
The idea of the play intrigues me.  And who doesn't want to see if Alec Baldwin can live up to the Twitter hype?


MUSICALS (I make it a point to see them all, so here's what I'm interested in each...or not...)

Kinky Boots (On Broadway at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre)
Saw it!  Will tell you what I though when it opens.  But... I will say that the draw for me is the Cyndi Lauper score and Stark Sands (LOVED him in American Idiot)...

Motown: The Musical (On Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre)
What interests me is that I enjoy the Motown sound.  What I fear is another Jersey Boys, Baby, It's You and Million Dollar Quartet... seeing it Saturday.

Matilda (On Broadway at the Shubert Theatre)
What interests me is the story...I grew up loving the books of Roald Dahl.  And I know I'll probably love the staging.  What I fear is that I'll enjoy it, not love it, like Billy Elliot.  But I hope I'll love it like another very British musical, Blood Brothers.

The Last 5 Years (Off-Broadway at the Second Stage Theatre)
Full disclosure: I've seen this show before and was very underwhelmed... bored, even.  I find the "trick" of the show contrived at best, manipulative at least.  Since then, I've come to appreciate Jason Robert Brown's works (even 13), and am a HUGE Betsy Wolfe fan.  (Adam Kantor is pretty easy on the senses, too.)  If anyone can change my mind about it, they can.  I'm seeing it soon.

Pippin (On Broadway at the Music Box Theatre)
I have been in love with this show since I was a freshman in high school.  The score.  The Fosse dancing.  The boy who played Pippin (my first real crush...).  I've loved Terrence Mann since Cats, and his wife, Charlotte d'Amboise, too.  And it's been no secret that Matthew James Thomas was my favorite Spidey... I can't wait to see this one!

Jekyll and Hyde (On Broadway at the Marquis Theatre)
Despite a near obsession with the song "Facade," Jekyll and Hyde is one show I cannot stand.  I find it banal, cloying, obvious and barely creepy, let alone scary, and so laughably unromantic as to cause impotence.  And well, Constantine Maroulis is best heard and not seen.  (Spare me your nasty emails...)  I hold out some dim hope for the staging abilities of Jeff Calhoun and the song stylings of Teal Wicks.

Jeff
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