Weekly Margin 2024, W29: JOB, Home, Suffs

7/17/24: JOB

What: The Broadway transfer of Max Wolf Friedlich's two-hander play about a therapy consultation for a woman placed on leave from a job to which she's desperate to return.

And? I really want to respect the playwright's wish to not spoil certain elements of the play (there was a talkback the night we attended), but I'll say this is excellent and tense theater that keeps you on your toes and questioning whether anything you're seeing or hearing is real. I thought it was great.

Peter Friedman and Sydney Lemmon in the Off-Broadway run, as Loyd and 
Jane. Photo by Emilio Madrid.

7/18/24: Home

a repeat visit

7/20/24: Suffs

a repeat visit

Weekly Margin 2024, W28: Hilma

Streaming Theater Related Content I Watched

• Wilma Theater's Hilma.

Weekly Margin 2024, W27: Cats: The Jellicle Ball

7/05/24: Cats: The Jellicle Ball

What: The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical about cats, reimagined for the drag Ballroom culture.

And? Believe the hype. This is my favorite musical theater production I've seen so far in 2024. It's so life-affirming, defiant, and joyous. Everyone in that space is in the same world together (a rarer thing than it sounds), waving fans, screaming, clapping, stomping, and roaring to their feet repeatedly over the talent on that runway. The production pays beautiful homage to Ballroom culture and its history, including honoring its Founding Mothers, and casting real Ballroom performers in the show (including Junior LaBeija, member of The Iconic House of LaBeija and MC in the Paris is Burning doc, as Gus the Theatre Cat) alongside performers with more traditional stage experience (including the legend himself, André De Shields, as Old Deuteronomy). Much like my experience last week with A Little Night Music, I found myself investing anew in a show I thought I knew all the ins and outs of. But with this new lens of Ballroom, the dynamics around Old Deuteronomy, Gus, and Grizabella deepen in such a powerful way that I suddenly, at the bitter old age of *cough*, have an emotional connection to this strange show.

It's a bit like the Deaf West revival of Spring Awakening, whose lens added new depths that felt almost inevitable and required for the show to work: now, in a Ballroom setting, with each cat's song part of their runway competition, Cats finally works for me in thrilling, vivid clarity. I kinda wish it would run ... okay, not "now and forever," but certainly a bit longer.

The cast of Cats. Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman.

Weekly Margin 2024, W26: A Little Night Music in Concert

 6/29/24: A Little Night Music in Concert

What: David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center hosts a concert staging of the musical adaptation of Smiles of a Summer Night. 

And? Sublime. I understand from reading online that the concert was on shakier ground earlier in the week (line flubs, etc), but it was in fairly good shape by Saturday night, when we saw it (I don't know if I'll ever not be anxious during a performance of "Liaisons," either for tempo or lyric reasons). Not every casting decision was ultimately ideal, but a lot of the important stuff worked really well. I don't think that I've ever been as invested in Desiree and Fredrik as a couple, as I was by Susan Graham's and Ron Raines's rendering of them. I cried during both "Send in the Clowns" and its reprise (and due to antidepressants, I'm not crying at the theater nearly as often as I used to). The star of the night is probably still Ruthie Ann Miles in the meaty role of Countess Charlotte--she's precise and perfect, delivering every line and lyric like succulent bites in a transporting meal. We do not deserve her (but aren't we lucky she's here?). Also marvelous were Jin Ha as Frid (they restored Frid's cut song and Ha sang it beautifully) and Cynthia Erivo as Petra (that high note in "Miller's Son"!). But what really struck me as well is how much it matters that the liebeslieder singers are well-cast. They often feel like an afterthought (especially in casting), but they have to be good--so much of their performance carries us through the thinner second act. These five are in marvelous voice, good concert with each other, and making real choices that help add more dimension to the lyrics. Thank you Ellie Fishman, Leah Horowitz, Jonathan Christopher, Andrea Jones-Sojola, and Ross Lekites.

Leah Horowitz, Jonathan Christopher, Andrew Jones-Sojola, Ross Lekites,
and Ellie Fishman as the Liebeslieder Singers. Photo by Joan Marcus.

Weekly Margin 2024, W25: Titanic, Follies in Concert

6/18/24: Titanic

What: New York City Center Encores! series presents the Maury Yeston and Peter Stone musical about the ill-fated ship.

And? This cast is unreal. So rich in talent that you can't imagine even if it got itself a commercial transfer, that the whole cast would journey with it. It's a gift to hear this score with this many glorious voices, though a show like this you really do feel what you're missing by having a concert staging rather than a full staging. Glad I finally got to see this done professionally, after all this time (I'd seen a high school production ages ago, but we don't need to count that).

A.J. Shively, Emilie Kouatchou, Jose Llana, Chuck Cooper, Brandon
Uranowitz, Andrew Durand, and Samantha Williams as Charles Clarke,
Caroline Neville, Thomas Andrews, Captain E.J. Smith, J. Bruce Ismay,
Jim Farrell, and Kate McGowan, with the cast of Titanic.
Photo by Joan Marcus.

6/20/24: Follies in Concert

What: Transport Group presents a star-studded concert of the Sondheim/Goldman musical about nostalgia and faded dreams.

And? Apparently this concert sold out within an hour of the tickets going on sale. I feel a bit bad I didn't clock how lucky I was when I bought my ticket, but don't think I took it for granted once I was there in beautiful Carnegie Hall. Preshow, I even broke from my usual sit-there-quietly-and-read to talk with fellow patrons, knowing we were all equally excited to be there, and enthusiastic about theater.

Hosts Ted Chapin (author of Everything Was Possible) and Kurt Peterson (Young Ben in the original Broadway cast of Follies) kept the night flowing between songs with some choice anecdotes as well as brief context for each song (and introducing each performer, as the program did not indicate who would be performing what, outside of the Mirror dancers). It feels foolish to try to pick highlights from such a special night, but I'm gonna do it anyway. Full list of who performed what is below as well.

Highlights:

• Seeing Michael Bennett's original choreography for the Mirror dance in "Who's That Woman" -- show-stoppingly good (and standing ovation worthy), and I finally understand what makes that song so special.
• Norm Lewis and Nikki Renée Daniels sounding heartbreakingly beautiful as they duetted "Too Many Mornings." How lucky we are to hear them sing.
• Thom Sesma reminding us how charming and charismatic he always is.
• Michael Berresse's emotional dance/breakdown in "The Right Girl," so effective that everyone onstage applauded as he slowly walked off.
• Jennifer Holiday doing what she does best with "I'm Still Here."
• Seeing the kids from Kimberly Akimbo (three of the teens, one of the understudies) be adorable with the Loveland quartet "You're Gonna Love Tomorrow"/"Love Will See Us Through."
• Kurt Peterson wielding John McMartin's original cane as he graduated to play Old Ben and sing "Live, Laugh, Love."
• Kurt Peterson's final anecdote: when he spoke to Hal Prince days before his passing, Prince said that Follies was his favorite show (and McMartin his favorite Ben); then in a private Zoom reunion of Follies, Sondheim said that it was his favorite score; and finally, the actor who originated Young Buddy said to him that he hoped his tombstone said "Here lies Harvey Evans. He was in Follies." There wasn't a dry eye after that.

Michael Berresse performs "The Right Girl." Photo by Carol Rosegg.

Borrowing the collected list from my friend Michael Dale (who sourced his list from Seth Christenfeld):

Act One

Weissmann monologue: Hal Linden

"Beautiful Girls": Christian Mark Gibbs

"Don't Look at Me": Katie Finneran and Marc Kudisch

"Waiting for the Girls Upstairs": Thom Sesma, Stephen Bogardus, Barbara Walsh, Carolee Carmello, Grey Henson, Ryan McCartan, Julie Benko, and Hannah Elless

"Rain on the Roof": Klea Blackhurst and Jim Caruso

"Ah, Paris": Isabel Keating

"Broadway Baby": Adriane Lenox

"The Road You Didn't Take": Alexander Gemignani

"In Buddy's Eyes": Christine Ebersole

"Who's That Woman?": Karen Ziemba with Mamie Duncan-Gibbs, Ruth Gottschall, JoAnn M. Hunter, Dana Moore, Michele Pawk, and Margo Sappinton, as well as Lauren Blackman, Julianna Brown, Jessica Chambers, Candice Hatakeyama, Alicia Lundgren, Abby Matsusaka, and Erin N. Moore (original Michael Bennett choreography, restaged by Mary Jane Houdina)

Act Two

"I'm Still Here": Jennifer Holiday

"Too Many Mornings": Norm Lewis and Nikki Renée Daniels

"The Right Girl": Michael Berresse (choreography by Mary Jane Houdina, based on the original staging by Michael Bennett)

"One More Kiss": Harolyn Blackwell and Mikaela Bennett

"Could I Leave You?": Beth Leavel

"Loveland": Vocal Ensemble with two unnamed soloists speaking the unsung lines

"You're Gonna Love Tomorrow": Fernell Hogan and Olivia Elease Hardy

"Love Will See Us Through": Nina White and Miguel Gil

"Buddy's Blues": Santino Fontana with Lauren Blackman and Sarah King

"Losing My Mind": Kate Baldwin

"Lucy and Jessie": Alexandra Billings

"Live, Laugh, Love": Kurt Peterson