STEPHEN SONDHEIM: "HOW ABOUT A HAND FOR JULE STYNE"
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?
