New York City Theater

Seriously, BRAVO to Scott Siegel for the overwhelming artistic and popular success of the first-ever Summer Broadway Festival at Town Hall, which concluded tonight with ALL SINGIN! ALL DANCIN!, a night of pure song-and-dance entertainment staged by BROADWAY BY THE YEAR regular Noah Racey.

The three nights of the series successfully explored further three principle tenants of the BROADWAY BY THE YEAR concerts: operetta, which is always a favorite amongst the 1920s and 1930s shows; young performers, who are occasionally included amongst the more seasoned performers at such concerts; and dance choreography, which is used sporadically but spiritedly in nearly all the concerts.

I understand that all three concerts were well-attended, but tonight sold out thanks to the presence of over 30 performers, about half of which came from the cast of CURTAINS. Siegel also made a point of pointing out how the top ticket for tonight's concert was a mere forty bucks. Not bad for a big night of entertainment... Literally, a third of the cost of the top ticket at most Broadway musicals, and providing three times the fun of some Broadway musicals.

Seen in the audience were CURTAINS stars Debra Monk and David Hyde Pierce. The CURTAINS ensemble is of course made up of terrific song-and-dance performers, but making a terrifically funny cameo was Edward Hibbert as a guru, relentless choreographer, who forced his dancers to stick their faces in their crotches and then jump. He then whipped the girl who couldn't do it.

Also spotted in the audience were Tommy Tune, Tovah Feldshuh, Donna McKechnie, Tony Walton, John Kander, Jerry Mitchell, Richard Kind (sporting a black mustache) and so on. I also noted many, many folks from the cast of A CHORUS LINE including Nadine Issenger, who is now playing Cassie at select performances.

In a first, Scott Siegel's characteristic podium, where he delivers historical notes and introduces performers, was gone due to the space necessary for dancing. Also gone was Ross Patterson's piano, forcing him to use a keyboard instead alongside four other musicians. There were some microphone issues, especially since most of the performers were using hand-free head mics, but not enough for it to be something to complain about to detract from the fun...

The makeup of the songs came mostly from old-school Broadway, with many, many Kander & Ebb ditties. Some really old stuff appeared by George M. Cohan, Irving Berlin, De Sylva/Brown/Henderson, Fats Waller, Keith & Sterling and Eubie Blake. Perhaps that's why two of the more sedate numbers of Act Two, with no choreography and songs by Craig Carnella and Adam Guettel ("How Glory Goes"), felt totally out of place. Still, I really appreciated the opportunity to see Richard Blake do a deep, sincere song like "How Glory Goes," since he is so always typecast now as "the boyfriend" (Link Larkin, Glen Gulia, Warner).

What was the best moment? Probably "Inappropriate Melody," where Meredith Patterson and Shonn Wiley performed upbeat song-and-dance renditions of, as they put it, songs that should never be done that way: "Tomorrow Belongs to Me," "The Gun Song," "Seasons of Love," And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" and so on.

Here's the full program:

Act One:
"Nothing New Beneath the Sun" - Noah Racey, Lorin Latarro, Megan Sikora
"Button Up Your Overcoat" - Nancy Anderson & Kevin Bernard
"Tonight at Eight" - John Bolton
"Ten Minutes Ago" - Megan Sikora & Matt Loehr
"City Lights" - Rachelle Rak
"Can't Stop Talkin' About Him" - Julia Murney
"It Ain't No Sin" - Harvey Evans
"Keeping Out of Mischief" - Lorin Latarro, Marty Lawson, Joe Aaron Reid
"That Means Nothing to Me!" - Nancy Anderson
"What'll I Do" - Christopher Spaulding
"Educate Your Feet" - Josh Prince & Kevin B. Worley

Act Two:
"Cool" - Carolyn Doherty, JoAnn M. Hunter, Mary MacLeod, Jennifer Savelli, Amanda Watkins, Jennifer West
"A Quiet Thing" - Julia Murney & John Bolton
Inappropriate Melody - Meredith Patterson & Shonn Wiley
"Hot Feet" - Kendrick Jones
"Good Thing Going/Not a Day Goes By" - Julia Murney
"Pain" - Lorin Latarro, Matt Loehr, Noah Racey, Megan Sikora, Edward Hibbert
"Use What You Got" - Jack Noseworthy
"How Glory Goes" - Richard Blake
"What You'd Call a Dream" - Kevin Bernard, Ward Billeisen, Matt Farnsworth, Jim Newman, Joe Aaron Reid, Christopher Spaulding
"I've Got You Under My Skin" - Joyce Chittick, David Baum, Luke Hawkins, Noah Racey, Kevin B. Worley and Jason Yudoff
"And the World Goes Round" - Karen Ziemba

Forgot to mention in my last post, when I attended THE DAY BEFORE SPRING at the York on Friday, the program listed the four musicals to make up its fall Musicals in Mufti season, all of which have books of Joseph Stein.

1. Zorba - Sept 14-16
2. Enter Laughing, the Musical (formerly So Long, 174th Street) - Sept 28-30
3. The Body Beautiful (Sheldon and Harnick's first Broadway score) - Oct 12-14
4. The Baker's Wife (New York premiere of the final version) - Oct 26-28

So, today marked one of the most remarkable days of theatergoing of my life, consisting of the final performance of GREY GARDENS in the afternoon and the final performance of GYPSY at night. I paid for a single ticket for each, quite unusual for a person who typically takes advantage of comped press tix.

At GREY GARDENS, I sat in the last row of the mezzanine, which is still a pretty great seat. The performances, as expected, were more emotionally charged than the previous four times I've seen the show. Mary Louise Wilson and Christine Ebersole received warm, rapturous entrance ovations in Act One, but it was not till Christine's entrance in Act Two that she received a standing ovation. Luckily no cell phones sounded throughout the entire show!! At curtain call, composer Scott Frankel took the mic to do a long list of thank yous, while the rest of the creative team also joined the stage including Michael Greif and Doug Wright. Interestingly, Frankel made a point of giving a big thank you to the show's producers, who were recently ravaged in a Michael Riedel column.

Back at GYPSY, I sat in the front of the mezzanine. This being my fourth time at the show, it was as if I had not seen this production before at all. Every performance I've seen has been good, but tonight was INSANELY AMAZING, UNBELIEVABLY INTENSE. Had Ben Brantley seen tonight's performance, I guarantee he would have raved. At intermission, I spoke with BROADWAY: THE GOLDEN AGE director Rick McKay, who said he believes that the production is totally perfect, and he's probably right.

At curtain call, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents took the stage for a bow. In a most unusual move, Sondheim made a gesture to the audience to quiet down. He's going to say something?!? "HOW ABOUT A HAND FOR JULE STYNE," he asks us. Sure thing, Mr. Sondheim! And we clap away. Minutes later, with the audience not leaving and still intermittantly clapping, Patti took the stage again and began taking photos of her audience.

Also spotted in the audience at GYPSY: Frank Rich, Alex Witchel, Frank Langella, Barbara Walters, Harriet Harris, Edward Hibbert, George C. Wolfe, Marc Shaiman, Gerard Shoenfeld, Debra Monk, S. Epatha Merkson and Tonya Pinkins.

Say Mr. Schoenfeld, nothing's in the Imperial. Why not book GYPSY for three months in the fall?

How many musicals are closing today in New York? Let's take a look.

1. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST - So, what can we take away from the 13 year run of this artistically empty film to stage transfer? Never underestimate bad theater? Well, just look at what Broadway has become since Disney first took hold on Broadway. Of course, let's not forget that TARZAN flopped; and MARY POPPINS, though selling briskly, is not the same commercial cow as LION KING. What will happen with LITTLE MERMAID?

2. GREY GARDENS - It may be done on Broadway, but Christine Ebersole will certainly reprise the role either regionally or in London. What a truly special, well-made musical, lost on Broadway due to the overwhelming enthusiasm of SPRING AWAKENING.

3. 100 IN THE SHADE - this was Audra's first musical in how many years??? When will she be back again?

4. GYPSY - Will Patti LuPone again play Mama Rose? Will this production transfer to London or Broadway? Is this indeed the best GYPSY ever seen in New York?

5. THE DAY BEFORE SPRING - well, this is the most low key closing amongst the lot. After all, it only began performances on Friday night. But I would not miss this truly wonderful Musicals in Mufti production of Lerner and Loewe's long-lost, only recently reconstructed college reunion musical. This ought to be recorded. And based on how well done the reading was, maybe the show could have a future in full productions again. Maybe an Encores! production? Now wouldn't that be something: Musicals in Mufti inspiring Encores.

Before I begin to recount some recent theatergoing, let's take a look at three news items at The Times that are bound to catch your eye.

One: The 2008 Encores shows list!!!
1. Juno, directed by Garry Hynes (not mentioned in the article, but I hear Victoria Clark may be in it)
2. Applause, starring Christine Ebersole
3. No, No Nanette (1971 revival version) starring Rosie O'Donnell and Beth Leavel

Am I impressed with this year's list? Very. I knew that NANETTE would happen eventually, but it was unclear whether they would do the original 1925 version (does it still exist?) or the 1971 revival, which has superb orchestrations.

I have yet to receive the press release on this info. I assume they wanted to plant the news in the Times before anyone else got it.

Two: Article on the recreation of the score of THE DAY BEFORE SPRING, which will complete this summer's Musicals in Mufti series at the York this weekend.

Three: Ben Brantley's London blog

Anyhow, what shows did I see over this week since Part Two of Town Hall's Summer Broadway Festival?

On Tuesday night, I reverted back to New Jersey and went, for the first time, to the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, on the campus of Drew University, for their production of MEASURE FOR MEASURE, one of my fave Shakespeare plays. In this revival, the action was transplanted to the American Wild West, immediately following the Civil War, with shaky Reconstruction-era politics and manners. Think DEADWOOD meets Shakespeare. To my surprise, it was a fantastic production, with some really great acting choices. My favorite decision was to turn Lucio, the jokster who lies like crazy, into a journalist.

Tonight, Thursday, I finally checked out GONE MISSING, which has already received very positive reviews from everyone else. My review will run later next week.

Here's how my theatergoing over the weekend looks:

Friday night - The Day Before Spring, Musicals in Mufti at the York
Saturday night - The People v. Mona at Abington Arts
Sunday afternoon - final performance of Grey Gardens
Sunday night - final performance of Gypsy

The second installment of the Summer Broadway Festival, "Broadway's Rising Stars," where recent college grads will sing for our supper, sounded at first like a low-expense filler sandwiched between the more prestigious "Night at the Operetta" and "All Singin' All Dancin'."

Since the songs chosen lacked any thematic or historical motif, the night resembled the impact of "Broadway Unplugged," where Broadway performers sing off-mic any songs of their choosing. Surprisingly, two songs were performed off-mic tonight. And Siegel's hosting/commentary, which usually consists of historical facts and info, instead served to introduce each performer, usually by listing what his/her first show was (Annie, Wizard of Oz, ect).

I'd group the kinds of material performed into three categories:
1. well-worn showtune classics ("Till There Was You," "Don't Rain on My Parade," "Mr. Snow")
2. rarities ("Maybe I Like It This Way," "What'll I Do?," "New Man")
3. songs from shows now on Broadway or touring (""Wicked," "Millie," "Phantom," "Mary Poppins")

Had I been performing tonight, I would have performed something from a show now on Broadway or touring, especially since casting agents attended the show tonight. The rarities were nice to hear, but those who chose to sing well-known songs were at a big disadvantage. Take "Don't Rain on My Parade." Not only is that song attached to the Streisand label, it's been heard CONSTANTLY on the Town Hall stage alone.

I feared at first that tonight would be something along the lines of a college grad showcase, and in its weaker moments, it did feel like that. But about halfway through Act One, a new energy invaded the production, the production values increased, and more and more ensemble staging showed up in what could have otherwise been straightforward solo songs. I am not going to individually grade/criticize each performer, but on the whole they presented great enthusiasm and vocal strength, often bringing great acting chops too to the songs.

One final thought before I proceed with the running order: Why did they close with "Our Time" from MERRILY? And for that matter, why do so many of these kinds of events showing off youngsters end with that song? Sure, it's a haunting, beautiful song, a paean to unbridled positivity and optimism. But let's remember how it's used in MERRILY: it's an ironic, depressing reminder of how the main characters later lost their way. For that reason, I always feel depressed when I hear the song, even out of context.

Anyhow, here is the running order:

Act One
I'm the Greatest Star (FG) - Company
Waiting for Life (Once on This Island) - Stacie Greenwall
Younger than Springtime (SP) - Jared Weiss
Till There Was You (MM) Stephanie Barnum
Writing on the Wall (Edwin Drood) - Paige Hutchison
Think of Me (Phantom) - Sara Sawyer
They Can't Take That Away from Me (Gershwin) - Justin McConnaughy
Sailing (A New Brain) - Michael August
Mister Snow (Carousel) - Lauren Marcus
Dancing Through Life (Wicked) - Mike Cruz and Natalie Hall
Maybe I Like It This Way (Wild Party, Lippa) - Laura d'Andre
Gimme Gimme (Millie) - Dayna Grayber
Beauty School Dropout (Gypsy) - Chris DeCristo

Act Two
The Man That Got Away - Erica Jacob
Love, Look Away - Elizabeth Daniels
Practically Perfect (MP) - Katie Babb and Jared Weiss
New Man (Grind) - Reggie Headon
14g - Natalie Hall
Le Jazz Hot (Victor/Victoria) - Darcie Champagne
As Long As He Needs Me (Oliver) - Kirby Burgess
What'll I Do? - Stehpen Bel Davies
Don't Rain On My Parade (FG) - Abby Baum
Proud of Your Boy - Alex Arroyo
Our Time (Merrily) - Company

Now that I've attended GYPSY three times, let's go over some specific moments that stick out in my memory, whether for better or for worse.

I really like how Encores! dealt with the issue of the onstage orchestra, a traditional feature of Encores! shows, by hiding it with a double scrim for the whole show, except for the overture, "All I Need Is the Girl" and the first half of "Rose's Turn." Still, it was awkward to have Patti and later Laura look down to the bottom of the stage, an orchestra not there, to address the absent conductor.

The first time Rose mutters "I Had a Dream" during "Some People," a blurry blob of lights shows up on the scrim for a few moments. What does it mean? Is it supposed to be a foreshadowing or a beginning blur of the "Rose's Turn" logo to appear later on?

Before singing "Small World," Patti goes over how she wants SHOW BUSINESS, and poor, stomach sensitive Herbie doesn't. Patti says "SHOW BUSINESS!" with zeal and desire and optimism. Herbie has already done show business for 20 years and knows that it's not all "No Business Like Show Business" and "The Lullubye of Broadway." It'll take Rose two and a half more hours, till her emotional climax, till she can make the same realization.

During the time transition sequence after "Let Me Entertain You," why do they do it in front of a traveler curtain? The choreography is the same, but it looks crowded that way. When I first saw the curtain, I thought they were going to open it up, revealing the older cast.

In the Broadway revival, they had a real, live lamb for "Little Lamb." Here, we get a puppet lamb manipulated by sticks - manipulated by a guy in 1930s attire. Why is that???? If this had happened in the Mendes revival, that would have worked in synch with his Brechtian motif. But here, it was totally out of touch with the rest of the staging.

In the dialogue preceding "Little Lamb," the mini-sequence where the hotel manager invades the rooms, causing Rose to feign panic, has been cut. As such, the lead-in dialogue for "Mr. Goldstone" makes less sense, in which Rose is supposed to be talking to Goldstone in a flurry before she knows who he is. Her new motivation is supposed to be that she's pissed that Herbie didn't show up to Louise's birthday.

During the audition sequence for Mr. Granzeger's Palace/Caroline the Cow, Patti goes onstage more than once to add scenery, or a costume piece, and then proceeds to dance alongside the cast. It's funny to see Patti camping it up, but it also emphasizes how Rose, though acting ridiculous, is completely oblivious to such ridiculousness in her all-consuming desire for stage attention.

Two great acting choices using hands: June and Louise squeezing each others' hands throughout "Mama Get Married Today," and Patti ripping up June's letter at the climax of "Everything's Coming Up Roses."

At the top of Act 2, after Laura delivers her "Hola everybody! My name is Seniorita Louise, What's Yours?," she gives a look to Patti. It's not a look of despair or helplessness. It's one of sly sarcasm. She knows how horrendous the act is, and how bad she must be. The audience knows too, and it's clear how Louise is maturing. Earlier in the show, in her dialogue with June, she expressed optimism about the "act." Now Louise is experiencing first hand the frustrations that led to June walking out.

The transitions between the strip sequence are too slow, as the name of each city Louise is appearring in is jettisoned in slow-motion across the curtain.

You know, I'm not too sure how Louise's line to her mom "I thought you did it for me, momma" should be delivered. On Friday night, Laura delivered it with pissy sarcasm. On Saturday night, it was less forceful, as if to say that way back when, growing up, Louise really did believe that her mom was doing all this for her and June. Which did I prefer? I think the latter.

BEFORE I FORGET - I attended the last performance of CAROUSEL at NJPAC today, which was made up of New Jersey theater students from middle school to college ages. With a full orchestra pit playing the score, except for some volume issues, it sounded wonderful. The cast was almost perfect vocally. The acting was mostly good, though I felt no sexual chemistry at all between Billy and Julie. I also realized that this was the first live production of CAROUSEL I've seen since 2001, when Papermill Playhouse did it with Christine Noll as Carrie, Glory Crampton as Julie and Matt Bogart as Billy.

Here's a thought - for a 2008 follow-up to Encores! Summer Stars series, why not Hugh Jackman in CAROUSEL? He did the Carnegie Hall concert in 2002, and it's certainly a role he was "born" to play, just as Patti was "born" to play Rose.

I feel like I deserve a t-shirt saying "I sat through the entire damn Ring Cycle." All 18.5 hours over 4 evenings.

The reviews by myself, the Times and Post speak for themselves. This was a pretty disappointing production, but at least it gave me the opportunity to see the four works all at once, something none of us will get to see again for at least four years or so when the Met does its new production by Robert Lepage.

So, why did I bother? I mean, I'm trying to get into opera, but Wagner isn't exactly the most fun guy around, not exactly Bel Canto frivolity and arias. I did take an Opera History class last year at NYU where we spent about three weeks discussing The Ring. Perhaps I went out of a sense of obligation. Hell, at first they didn't even want to give me press tix due to the high demand for them. If not much else, it can stand out as somewhat of an accomplishment or highlight of sorts amongst my summer theatergoing.

So, Friday, I rewarded myself by reattending my two favorite things from last week: the Hairspray movie and Gypsy at City Center, trip no. 2 for each of which there will probably be several more.

Let's consider what makes the HAIRSPRAY film so good, and so much better than the films of RENT and PRODUCERS. Maybe it really helped that they did not use the original Broadway cast, or more or less anyone associated with that production besides its composers. Arguably, the film is better than the stage show. The placements of songs have changed, but the score is almost entirely intact. "Cooties" and "Mama I'm a Big Girl Now," more or less the only cut numbers, appear during the credits. "The Big Jail House," which is entirely cut, deserves to be.

And the most brilliant small plot change they made? Having Little Inez win Miss Teenage Hairspray Baltimore instead of Tracy. In the show, when Tracy wins, she shouts "The Corny Collins Show is now and forever integrated!" Okay, but how?? In the film, when Inez wins, what they means is that she's won a permanent spot on Corny's show, which forces them to integrate it. THAT makes more sense.

In terms of GYPSY, I bought a $25 rear mezz ticket but was able to move up to the second row of the mezz before the overture even began. As those who've attended can see, though its selling pretty well, GYPSY has not exactly sold out. Why? Maybe its cause they're doing eight times as many performances as a typical 5/6 performance Encores show.

Last week I raved about Patti's performance, which almost all the critics did, except for Brantley. Upon my second viewing, do I still believe it's an absolutely thrilling performance? Yes, I do. But does it need to move to Broadway? Probably not, but mainly because GYPSY was revived merely four years ago. Were it not for the Bernadette revival, I'd bet you that not only would this surely move to Broadway, but that Brantley would have been far less harsh in his review of Patti.

Let's start with some news. Tonight's program at Town Hall revealed the four Broadway By the Year concerts of next season:

Broadway Musicals of 1947 - Street Scene Finian's Rainbow, Brigadoon, High Button Shoes, Allegro

Broadway Musicals of 1954 - The Golden Apple, The Pajama Game, The Boy Friend, Peter Pan, Fanny, House of Flowers

Broadway Musicals of 1965 - Do I Hear a Waltz?, Flora the Red Menace, The Roar of the Greasepaint The Smell of the Crowd, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Skyscraper, Man of La Mancha

Broadway Musicals of 1979 - Sarava, They're Playing Our Song, Sweeney Todd, I Remember Mama, Evita

I've written a review of A NIGHT AT THE OPERETTA for Theater News Online, so check that out there. Meanwhile, here's tonight's running order:

Act One
1. Mark Jacoby - "Maxim's" (The Merry Widow)
2. Christiane Noll - "Italian Street Song" (Naughty Marietta)
3. Karen Murphy, Paul Schoeffler - "Talk About This, Talk About That"
4. Douglas Ladnier - "I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now"
5. Milla Illieva - "Giannini Mia"
6. Karen Murphy - "Art is Calling for Me"
7. Manu Narayan - "Song of the Vagabonds" (The Vagabond King)
8. Rebecca Eichenberger, William Michals - "Indian Love Call" (Rose Marie)
9. Sarah Jane McMahon - "One Kiss" (The New Moon)
10. John Easterlin - "Serenade" (The Student Prince)

Act II
1. Marc Kudisch - "Donkey Serenade" (The Firefly)
2. Mark Jacoby, Sarah Jane McMahon - "Wanting You" (The New Moon)
3. Gavin Lee - "The Streets of New York" (The Red Mill)
4. Mark Jacoby, Paul Schoeffler - "When You're Wearing the Ball and Chain (The Only Girl)
5. Doug Ladnier - "One Alone" (The Desert Song)
6. Rebecca Eichenberger - "Romance" (The Desert Song)
7. William Michals - "Strange Music" (Song of Norway)
8. Christiane Noll, John Easterlin - "Deep in My Heart, Dear" (The Student Prince)
9. Company - "Toyland" (Babes in Toyland)

And this is the list of performers for next week's BROADWAY'S RISING STARS: Alexander Arroyo, Michael August, Katie Babb, Stephanie Barnum, Abby Baum, Stephen Bel Davies, Kirby Burgess, Darcie Champagne, Mike Cruz, Laura D'Andre, Elizabeth Daniels, Chris DiChristo Jr., Dayna Garber, STacie Greenwall, Natalie Hall, Reggie Headen, Paige Hutchison, Erica Jacob, Lauren Marcus, Justin McConnaughy, Sara Sawyer and Jared Weiss.

My weekend of theatergoing began on Friday night at the Met Opera with DAS REINGOLD, the first of four parts of Wagner's Ring Cycle, as performed by Russia's Kirov Opera. I studied Wagner and the Ring extensively my final year at NYU in an Opera History Survey class. Word on the street beforehand was that this is a merely adequate production, and that seems to be the case. Still, the score is performed with power and grace, and I really look forward to attend the final three-fourths of the Ring this Tues, Wed and Thurs.

Saturday night was the big show of the summer - Patti LuPone in GYPSY. As previously reported by every ATCer, it's a great big WOW. And is anyone surprised? It's an Encores production, which are consistently well produced; with a great big orchestra playing one of the best scores in Broadway history; plus a cast including Patti, Laura Benant, and Boyd Gaines. I look forward to seeing it at least two more times.

Sunday afternoon I went back to GREY GARDENS, which was my second-to-last time seeing prior to the final performance, for which I bought a mezzanine ticket. I intend to write a final review of the show to run Friday of next week alongside a new interview with Mary Louise Wilson I did by phone on Saturday morning. Megan Lewis was in as Little Edie in Act One. I've seen Lewis a number of times in FORBIDDEN BROADWAY, where she played everything from the car of CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG to Ethel Merman. She gave an especially affecting performance that, along with the rest of the show's amazing cast, brought never-ending chills.

Sunday night I attended the final performance of the York's Musicals in Mufti production of BAJOUR. Unlike GYPSY, this show is really about Gypsies. In 1964, when the show was first produced, an NYU anthropology student takes up the habit of studying a clan of gypsies, who, as it turns out, intend to con her mother out of ten thousand dollars. It's a ridiculous show, too ridiculous to merit a real revival. But the score has some really decent stuff in it, and made for a pretty fine Mufti reading, far better than the recent I AND ALBERT. (I was wondering why Donna McKechnie was in the audience. Then I remembered that Teri Ralston was in the cast, who appeared with McKechnie in the original production of COMPANY.)

Monday night - A Night at the Operetta/Broadway Cabaret Festival at Town Hall.

For an extensive discussion of the flop 50s musical WHOOP-UP, which received an energetic staging earlier this week at the Duplex compliments of Opening Doors Theatre Company, check out Peter Filichia's blog.

WHOOP-UP not only marked the first production by the Opening Doors Company I've seen, but also my first trip to the Triad, an intimate cabaret space on Stonewall near Christopher Street. Opening Doors, which premiered earlier this year with stagings of ITS A BIRD ITS A PLANE ITS SUPERMAN and BRING BACK BIRDIE, of course falls into the tradition of bringing back barely revivable musicals already done by Encores, Musicals Tonight and Musicals in Mufti.

What set's Opening Doors apart? For one, the fact that the actors performed without scripts, though I think Musicals Tonight does that too. However, Opening Doors is the first company to set these revivals in a small cabaret space rather than a theater. This resulted in a kind of intimacy that really aided this kind of small-set piano production. The way its creators described, the objective of Opening Doors is not to create a fully formed concert or new production, but a "living cast album."

In addition was Bill Charlap, son of the show's late composer Moose Charlap, Charlap's widow, and Eddie Lawrence, who wrote the one night flop KELLY with Charlap. Upon introducing these individuals, it was mentioned that KELLY will probably be performed by the company eventually.

I really enjoyed the production, found its humor fresh, and now really want to listen to the show's hard-to-find, out-of-print original cast recording. For more info on the group, visit their website.

Wednesday night I checked out FABLES DE LA FONTAINE, the first show at Lincoln Center Festival I've checked out this year. It marked the second live production I've attended directed by Robert Wilson, though I've seen many recordings of his productions. As is characteristic, it featured slow mass movement and a light scrim behind the actors. As the critics have attested, this dramatization of animal fables is pretty well done. I found it occasionally moving, occasionally boring, but overall very impressive.

My next Festival show: The Ring Cycle! All 16 hours over 4 different nights.

Thursday night I checked out a press preview of the HAIRSPRAY film. Now, I hardly ever go to press film screenings, but I try to organize being able to attend one as theatrically linked as HAIRSPRAY. The security at these events is TOTALLY INSANE. Before entering the theater, a guard had to inspect my bag for over a minute, taking all my books out, I was forced to turn off my cell phone in front of the guards, and finally had to pass through a metal detector.

Anyhow....as has already been reported by those who've seen the film even earlier than I, it's totally, expectedly wonderful. In a way, I think it's the most artistically impressive new millenium movie musical. Why? Because it refuses to apologize for allowing its characters to sing. Barely a minute into the film, as in the stage musical, Tracy Turnblad is singing her heart out to "Good Morning Baltimore." The result is that the songs that follow, most of which are in a non presentational/diegetic manner, are not awkward. And hard to believe now, but back in the movie musical's heyday in the 30s, though social commentary was used, those musicals were about showcasing dance and bright songs. HAIRSPRAY shows that, if done well, we can reharness that kind of positive energy into more new movie musicals.

Adam Shankman, who I had never heard of before, has done a truly great job at adapting the musical for film, far better than a mediocre film like RENT and a total waste like THE PRODUCERS.

3.5 Stars

‘Xanadu’ Does Broadway…. Seriously. We’re not kidding.

How does one even begin to describe “Xanadu”? Is it a musical, a movie parody or merely a roller disco? One character calls it “children’s theater for forty-year old gay people.” In other words, it is a trippy, kitschy, totally guilty pleasure.

The show’s ad campaign slogan, “Xanadu on Broadway,” reminds us how unbelievable it is. After all, this is a stage show of “Xanadu,” the notoriously trashed, magnificently bad 1980 cult film fantasy. Its nonsensical plot concerns a hot, roller-skating goddess, originally played by Olivia Newton-John, who jumps out of a neon street mural to befriend a hot, frustrated painter in Venice, CA of 1980. Some say it killed the movie musical genre for a while.

But even if you hated the film, fear not. Douglas Carter Beane’s new script brims with broad comedy and constant mythology, replacing the film’s stale dialogue and unmotivated plot. And in place of the film’s awkward special effects, the show is surprisingly intimate, performed at Broadway’s smallest theater with only roller ramps and disco balls for scenery. But luckily, all the Electric Light Orchestra songs from the film are still intact, including hits like “I’m Alive,” “Suddenly,” “All Over the World” and “Magic.”

Sporting a fake Australian accent and gliding on roller skates, Kerry Butler is hilarious and dynamic as Kira. Cheyenne Jackson, who plays Sonny, is a temporary replacement for James Carpinello, one of two cast-members injured in rehearsal. As the role demands, Jackson excels at playing a blissfully ignorant idiot. The small cast is rounded out by a band of background dancers, a five-piece rock band and veteran comedians like Tony Roberts, Mary Testa and Jackie Hoffman.

At a jam-packed 90-minute length, “Xanadu” provides the giddiest dose of silliness to be found on Broadway this summer. Like watching “The Rock Horror,” “Xanadu” is proudly theatrical, flamboyant and tongue-in-cheek. Half of the audience may look on in confusion, but it’s sure to bring the rest into endless bursts of happy hysteria.

Theatergoers will probably gaze at its marquee and wonder why in the world anyone would do a stage version of “Xanadu.” It’s as if its creators smiled back and answered “Why not?” What may been a total trainwreck is instead a perfectly fun, charmingly retro evening of theater.

Helen Hayes Theatre, 240 West 44th St, 212-239-6200, $51.25-111.25. Tues 8pm, Wed 2 & 8pm, Thurs-Fri 8pm, Sat 2 & 8pm, Sun 3pm. Open Run.

Press are not invited to readings or workshops or other developmental productions. Roundabout does a few readings each year of potential contendors for future productions. They are meant primarily for its subscribers. As it happens, I got an email a few months ago from some theater group I was associated with offering free tix to their reading of the Kaufman-Ferber play STAGEDOOR. And last week I got a similar email offering tix to Monday night's reading of David Rabe's Vietnam play STREAMERS.

Directed by Scott Ellis, the reading cast included Daniel Eric Gold (Richie), Nick Westrate (Martin), Ato Essandoh (Carlyle), Benjamin Walker (Billy), JD Williams (Roger), Roert Clohessy (Sgt. Rooney), Michael O'Keefe (Sgt. Cokes), Matte Osian (M.P. Lieutenant), and J.T. Arbogast (Clark).

I read the play two years ago in an NYU American Drama class. Like HURLEYBURLY, its essentially devoid of plot, more of a dialogue-infused character study. This could make for a pretty good revival, but maybe its too gritty for the Roundabout audience. The talkback session afterward had most of the subscribers pondering the play's view of gays in the military back then as well as today.

After the reading, I took the subway down to Astor and saw Old Spring Pike, John Gallagher Jr.'s (SPRING AWAKENING) band, play Joe's Pub to a sold out audience. I was pretty impressed with the four-person (3 guys, 1 girl) folk/alternative rock band, especially their careful use of four-part harmony. They mentioned that their next show will be next month at the Zipper Theatre, and that they do have a CD in the works.

From what I hear, as of next week, John Gallagher Jr. will be the only person in SPRING AWAKENING who has yet to miss a performance, since Jonathan Groff will miss like one performance. How does he maintain his voice with all that emo rock high pitch screaming?

I attended three American Ballet Theater shows over the past month: ROMEO AND JULIET, SWAN LAKE, CINDERELLA. I've been trying to expand my critical vocabulary by seeing more opera, dance and music stuff over the past few months, which can be pretty tough. But one thing I've found with ballet in particular is the trouble describing - and analyzing - what I see when I myself lack a solid education in ballet dance.

I think I came upon a revelation seeing CINDERELLA, which was pretty bad. When I saw ROMEO and SWAN LAKE, I thought each was pretty beautiful and enjoyable, but I wondered whether I was missing some kind of critical forethought. But with CINDERELLA, which was gaudy and just downright bad and misconceived, I re-realized that the key for any good critic is - no matter what you're reviewing, just trust your gut instinct, and expand from there. In other words, trust how you feel, and go from there in explaining and describing and justifying everything else.

I doubt that I'll have time to review more dance stuff in the fall, but I will continue to make time for Met operas.

Tonight was XANADU. My original press night was like two weeks ago, but was then reassigned to tonight due to James Carpinello's injury and the ushing in of Cheyenne Jackson. As of the moment, I can't really yet discuss my like it-or-not opinion on it, but I am pondering whether it really was a musical. Is it something else? Like a camp concert a la ROCKY HORROR? At one point, Jackie Hoffman's character joked that it was children's theatre for 40 year old gays. Perhaps, but that sounds a little harsh. Kenita R. Miller was also out tonight, who is a featured dancer. And in one of the more interesting moments, Tony Roberts began his first scene of dialogue, and his body mic was obviously out. So, Cheyenne eventually roller skated to the side of the stage and brought him out a hand-held mic. I assume this is not a regular part of the show???

A lot of the ALL THAT CHAT people are buzzing over whether there is some duplicity going on at the $21 front row lottery at A CHORUS LINE. Well, not only have I almost no doubt that something like that is probably going on, it's already been happening at nearly all the lotteries. I've heard stories about it happening at WICKED, DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS, and other productions.

But what do you expect?? Producers are not doing these lottos for the sake of being generous. There's always got to be a business bottom line. Besides these potential/supposed scandals, the main reason for their existance is to fill seats and to get people's butts to the box office. That way, if they lose, perhaps they'll buy full price tix.

The CHORUS LINE one, in particular, was set up in a particularly weird fashion. Usually, someone picks the numbers out of a bucket or hat or bag in front of us. At CHORUS LINE tonight, a woman picked them out while alone in the theater's lobby, while the rest of the potential theatergoers waited outside. Was she looking at whose names were on each of the papers?

As You've probably guessed, I tried the lotto and did not win.

So, it was 6pm and I was still without a show to see tonight. I made it to Chatterbox at DON'T TELL MAMA by 6:08, just in time. Tonight Seth's guest was Victoria Clark, and it proved to be unquestionably the funniest Chatterbox I've ever seen. I've only seen Clark onstage in PIAZZA, and I really didn't know how insanely funny she was.

You should check out Seth's weekly column at Playbill.com for a complete recount of everything she said, but from what I remember, here were some highlights.

1. She started on Broadway as an understudy in the original SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE. At the time, she was a directing grad student at NYU and spontaneously was offered the chance to audition as an understudy, and she nailed it - but alas never went on.

2. Classic H2$ story. She was onstage as Smitty in the HOW TO SUCCEED revival during "Been a Long Day," alongside Matthew Broderick as Ponty and Sarah Jessica Parker as Rosemary. Her son, about one and a half at the time, was in a box seat with her husband. He screams repeatedly "HI MOMMY!" The audience is laughing it up. Finally, they exit out of the elevator by the number's end. We hear a whispered "BYE MOMMY!"

3. Most significant of all, the story of what led to her using that awkward hand-held microphone during the opening of the PIAZZA song sequence at the 2005 Tonys. Seconds before going on, a stagehand informed her that her body mic was dead, and handed her the hand-held. From across the Radio City stage, Kelli O Hara could see Clark's face of panic. O'Hara screams that it'll be okay. So, that leaves Clark carrying this huge mic, alongside her character's hand bag and red journal. Then about twenty seconds into her monologue, the stagehand tries to take the mic away, as her body mic is now working. Meanwhile, Clark's eyes are going wild, looking back and forth between the stagehands and the TV audience. Of course, Seth then screens the clip for us.

The show ended with a nice finale - Seth took to the piano and Clark sang a church hymn her grandmother once sang, with new music by Jeff Blumencrantz. This will be featured on her upcoming solo CD, which she noted will come out sometime in the fall.

Unfortunately, the matter of whether she was ever supposed to be in SOUTH PACIFIC was not addressed, nor was how/why she is going to be in IPHIGENIA 2.0 at Signature Theatre.

So - when Chatterbox ended at 7:25, I still had no show to see for 8pm. So I thought, hey, let's go back to ROMEO AND JULIET. I walked out of the nightclub and it was drizzling. But I thought to myself: it's not drizzling too badly. And if I try the standby line at the Delacorte, perhaps not too many people will be there. Well, there was a fair crowd there, but I did luckily snag a standby single ticket, getting into the show about five minutes after it started.

For the most part, I really enjoyed it more the second time around, having first seen it precisely thirteen days ago. Most importantly, I realized that I seriously misjudged Lauren Ambrose's performance, which was wonderful. The first time around, I thought her performance was good, but too emotionally mature, and I didn't buy the 29 year old playing a 13 year old. Though I still think she didn't look the role, I stopped caring about the technicality, and enjoyed her multi-layered, extremely intriguing performance. The rest of the ensemble cast has also gotten better. I strongly advise anyone who hasn't caught the production yet to do so before it closes on Sunday.

ORIGINAL CAST - SIT DOWN JOHN, MOLASSES TO RUM, FINALE

REVIVAL CAST - LEES OF OLD VIRGINIA

REVIVAL CAST - SIT DOWN JOHN AT TONYS

FILM CAST - COOL, CONSIDERATE MEN

FILM CAST - HE PLAYS THE VIOLIN

FILM CAST - PIDDLE, TWIDDLE AND RESOLVE

FILM CAST - BUT MR. ADAMS

Trivia: what is the only Broadway musical that Kenny Ortega, director/choreographer of HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL and NEWSIES, is associated with? In an ABC News behind the scenes featurette on HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2, they introduced him at "Broadway veteran Kenny Ortega," which made me almost instantly log onto IBDB to check it out. Turns out, he directed and choreographed the 1980s musical bomb MARILYN. That's all that came up.

Anyhow, tonight I checked out Nancy Anderson's show "Ten Cents a Dance" at Birdland, which she has already performed there on a number of occasions and I believe she has already recorded. I saw her last night in the York reading of ALBERT AND I, as well as numerous Broadway by the Year concerts, the PBS recording of KISS ME KATE in the West End, and her featured comedy role in the Broadway revival of WONDERFUL TOWN. Anderson, as many can attest, is a very meticulous, supremely undervalued performer who could be great I imagine in anything from an operetta like THE SONG OF THE VAGABOND to a rock opera like TOMMY. As the ATC crowd has pointed out, she would have made a great Nellie in the Lincoln Center revival of SOUTH PACIFIC, but word on the street is that Kelli O'Hara has indeed grabbed the role. O'Hara of course will be fantastic, but Anderson should definitely do it regionally sometime.

In "Ten Cents a Dance," she performed a number of hit and rare songs from the 1930s, accompanied by an 8 person band led by Broadway by the Year's Ross Patterson on piano. Anderson actually gave an anecdote that accurately describes her extremely unique voice: it's Snow White from the 1930s Disney film. The show will assumedly be performed again at Birdland, and I recommend it to fans of either Ms. Anderson or of 1930s jazz, big band or Broadway scores.

Let's begin with COMPANY. This marked the fourth - and obviously, last - time I've seen the actor-musician revival. As others on ATC have already attested, the audience was totally electric, though I sensed that maybe half of it was made up of a tourist crowd that had yet to see the show.

A cell phone rang once - and it could not have been in a worse moment - immediately following the tail end of THE LADIES WHO LUNCH, during the long pause sequence.

Compared with other times I've seen it, I felt like John Doyle's staging of the book finally worked for me. I accepted some of his odder staging choices - like having Harry and Sarah fight in Act One while facing in different directions - under the consideration that all of this is still taking place in Bobby's memories, and we're looking on these memories via his hand in a past sensory vision.

Raul's curtain speech lasted maybe ten minutes. He discussed how when he began working on the show, he considered COMPANY to be a good show, but not a masterpiece, and that - of course - he now considers it the latter. He acknowledged that Sondheim was not in the audience, that he saw the show again on Wednesday, and that he is now in Australia for a different production of COMPANY.

In Raul's best moment, he invited the show's understudies onstage. In his oddest moment, he declared that we are now living in another golden age of musical theater. Why? Because the show's producer was willing to let the show live on through the winter to the present in spite of its half full houses - and apparently beause, as Raul saw it, so many different kinds of shows can be on Broadway at once, or something to that sentiment.

Well, Raul, how could we be living in a golden age when the kind of Broadway environment which you were praising is the same one where your great revival couldn't survive financially? Just a thought...

I AND ALBERT, the Charles Strouse-Lee Adams musical about Queen Victoria that received a London production in the 70s but never premiered at all in the US, received a York Theatre reading this weekend starring Nancy Anderson, with a dozen person ensemble portraying dozens and dozens and dozens of small roles. Act One was pretty great, with some solid numbers, and Act Two it just collapsed, essentially thanks to an awkward book setup.

Still, this was a great choice for the York's MUFTI reading series, breathing life to a show that otherwise we'd never have heard of. It also felt quite different from other MUFTI shows we've seen recently, where an older show we're probably familiar with gets a reading with two-person instrumentation. Here was a show that was designed to be huge - but because nearly no one in the audience was familiar with it, we really had no basis of comparison in terms of orchestra size or set design.

And as for HAIR, I saw this weekend long non-Equity revival at the Neighborhood Playhouse on 54th Street, where I had never been before. The cast was made up primarily of Neighborhood Playhouse students and alumni. Since they did not cut a single number from the score - they even did "Dead End" and "The Bed" - it ran three hours. Luckily, it was a very good production. And the more I think about it, it was eerily authentic. Why? Because HAIR is not meant to be a polished show. It's supposed to be a happening, an Off-Off-Broadway piece of alternative theater, though once on Broadway. Here was a production in a small intimate space, where most of the cast was not vocally outstanding, but totally committed physically and dramatically. It is this kind of authenticity that professional concert productions of HAIR - Actors Fund, Encores - all lack.