Let's start with the York's concert production of THE BAKER'S WIFE, which I caught on Sunday night, and concluded the Musicals in Mufti tribute to the librettos of Joseph Stein. (Other works presented included ZORBA, SO LONG 147TH STREET, and THE BODY BEAUTIFUL.) Not only was this easily the best production of the series (though they were all good productions), this was probably the best Mufti production I've yet to catch altogether. Even long-time York subscribers were questioning whether this was the best thing they had ever seen there.
Now why is that? Well, to start, a good plurality of the York's cast had already done the show three years ago at Papermill Playhouse. (The York's director also staged the Papermill one.) So in spite of James Morgan's claim that the cast had only seen the material about a week earlier, most of them had in fact not only seen it before, but memorized the songs/book and performed them to perfection. Plus, unlike say THE BODY BEAUTIFUL, which is an artifact essentially, THE BAKER'S WIFE still plays extraordinarily well onstage. It's a show that has, for whatever reason, yet to receive a Broadway revival by say Roundabout, or even commercially. And the production I saw at the York was better than many, many recent Broadway musical revivals.
So if MERRILY or BYE BYE BIRDIE at Studio 54 in Spring 2009 doesn't pan out, why not BAKER'S WIFE?
Next - Verdi's MACBETH at the Metropolitan Opera, which I caught on Friday night. Again, a stunning, overtly theatrical production (staged by RSC's Adrian Noble) and exquisitely conducted by James Levine. This is not exactly Verdi's best work, and with one exception (replacing the England scene with the refugee scene), it pales in comparison with Shakespeare's tragedy itself. But again, another great new Met production, following LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR and preceding HANSEL AND GRETEL.
THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE - this is the second production I've seen by NYU's Steinhardt School at the Provinceton Playhouse, as part of their Musicals a La Carte mini-series, which will be followed by THE GOLDEN APPLE in two weeks. In truth, this is more or less a variation on the York's Musicals in Mufti, with a full-size cast performing without a set and in street clothes. The pit consisted of a conductor plus three pieces, and they sounded quite good. The cast was more than adequate, and I enjoyed it more than a number of the fully-staged Steinhardt shows I've seen in the past. Come to think of it, I really wonder how many colleges are doing fully-staged readings like BOYS FROM SYRACUSE of old musicals. Not only does this serve to get more of the students involved in performing a musical, but it also helps introduce them to classics that might not otherwise merit a fully-staged production.
SPEECH & DEBATE - I really connected with this play at Roundabout Underground because: 1) I did Forensics in high school; 2) I performed in THE CRUCIBLE in high school; 3) I performed in ONCE UPON A MATTRESS in high school. I'll go on further about this in a later installment.