Thursday night: Metropolitan Opera, THE BARBER OF SEVILLE. This marked no less than the third time I've seen Bartlett Sher's absolutely stunning production at the Met. Tonight marked, overall, the best cast I've seen. Sher's clever use of stagecraft is indicative of the overtly theatrical style the Met is now gunning for in most of its new stagings. Might he be the guy to stage the next TOSCA or CARMEN?
Friday night: Metropolitan Opera, CARMEN. And speaking of CARMEN, I saw Zeffirelli's production for the first time on Friday. And to be frank, I was very disappointed. Knowing Zeffirelli's other work, I knew that I was in for a pageant of costumes within a traditional staging. But I found this pretty lackluster compared with Zeffirelli's LA TRAVIATA, which I adore, or even his overdone but still sumptuous LA BOHEME. The cast was decent, but nothing to write home about. Still, CARMEN is CARMEN. And it's hard not to have at least a decent time listening to Bizet's thrilling score.
Saturday afternoon: New Jersey Performing Arts Center, THE WEDDING SINGER. I saw the Broadway production of WEDDING SINGER and grew to like it more with each successive time, until I finally became a fan. The production at NJPAC through the weekend is the non-Equity tour, which includes YOU'RE THE ONE THAT I WANT finalist Ashley Anderson in the ensemble. I must say: this was easily the most accomplished non-Equity staging I've ever seen. In fact, if you told me it was Equity, I would have believed you. It was essentially a recreation of John Rando's staging, complete with replications of the original sets and costumes. The size of the cast and even orchestra was the same.
And they even improved the script, dropping "Pop the Question" and the Glen-Julia engagement scene, making the show about 10 minutes shorter. (So, now from the beginning of the show, Glen and Julia are engaged, but at the beginning Julia is frustrated that Glen has yet to set a date.)
WEDDING SINGER is a truly crowd-pleasing show. No, it is not HAIRSPRAY, but it's charming and fun. And it's opening number anthem is so enjoyable that it's almost hypnotic. Where did the show go wrong? I think it was both John Rando's staging (decent, but not amazing) and the fact that they employed the screenwriter of WEDDING SINGER to write the libretto. They needed someone to totally take apart the sequence of events of the movie if necessary.
Saturday night: City Center, APPLAUSE. For the past couple of days, news has spread about Christine Ebersole's flu sickness. But tonight she was totally fine, thankfully. But even if she hadn't been, this is not a challenging score. Her role was written for Lauren Bacall, a non-singer.
A lot of griping has been going on about whether Encores! should have staged APPLAUSE at all, which is an admittedly mediocre musical. (Funny, are these the same people who gripped when Encores! did FOLLIES, complaining it's a show too well-known for the series?) I think it's clear we will never see a full-scale Broadway revival of this once modest hit. But it was fair enough for an Encores production. After all, the series is now reaching its 15th year, and they are going to need to think creatively to find more musicals for production.
Frankly, ALL ABOUT EVE was not meant to be a musical - at least a musical by Adams and Strouse. It's almost as if the basic storyline is totally at odds with their score, which is spiked with 1970s light rock orchestrations.
Was the worst Encores! show I've ever seen. No. The worst was 70 GIRLS 70. This instead was the second to worst Encores! show I've seen. Funny, but both APPLAUSE and 70 GIRLS 70 were directed by Kathleen Marshall.
In the show's title number, the "gypsies" (i.e. Broadway chorus singers and dancers) are supposed to suddenly parody various famed musicals. In the original, they did shows like OKLAHOMA and OH CALCUTTA. Here, they referenced instead Encores shows. I tried to keep track of all the Encores! productions they referenced: CHICAGO, WONDERFUL TOWN, THE NEW MOON, OF THEE I SING, PROMISES PROMISES, FOLLIES, STAIRWAY TO PARADISE, CAN CAN, BYE BYE BIRDIE, HAIR, BOYS FROM SYRACUSE. Did I miss any?