New York fantasy

I’m not going anywhere at the moment (except Las Vegas for the opening of Jersey Boys later this week — hope to be blogging live if technology cooperates, but if not, check in on Sunday afternoon).

Where I’d most like to go, of course, is New York to visit friends and SEE BROADWAY SHOWS! It’s been about a year since my last trip, and you might say I’m jonesing for the Great White Way. And there’s so much to see at the moment.

Below you’ll find my list of most desirable shows. If you’ve seen any and care to comment, I’d love to hear from you and share your thoughts with other Theater Dogs (you can comment on the blog or e-mail me directly at chiatovich@gmail.com).

Gypsy
August: Osage County
South Pacific
Sunday in the Park with George
A Catered Affair
Passing Strange
In the Heights

It’s amazing that #1 and #3 are golden oldies that have new life on Broadway, and #1 and #4 are both Sondheim-related. I’m dying to see Passing Strange again — it was so good at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. I’d love to see how the show has evolved and how it plays for a Broadway audience. It’s actually thrilling that, in spite of the big-ticket revivals, that four out of seven shows on my list are actually new work.

One thought on “New York fantasy

  1. Hi Chad! Love your blog. Glad you are free of the constraints of the puny-minded-corporate-print-media people. I just returned from NYC and was able to see Patti LuPone in “Gypsy”. I wasn’t eager to revisit this musical since I’d seen the Bernadette Peters version a couple of years ago and wasn’t much impressed. I actually thought it had a bad book. Well, I was wrong. Thanks to the finesse of Patti LuPone as Rose and Laura Benanti as Gypsy this show absolutely knocked me out. I don’t know what Arthur Laurents did but he was somehow able to strip LuPone of ALL of her LuPoneisms…the strange accent and the irritating covered top notes and open her up to give a completely honest portrait of that most fearsome/lovable of all stage mothers. Laura Benanti was perfect as Louise/Gypsy. The transformation from tomboy to stripper is usually done heavy-handedly but Benanti’s transformation seemed to flow organically from the script rather than being used only as a “gimmick”. Speaking of gimmick, those three stripper gals were something else all together. They were not only over the hill but seemed to be haunted. Right out of “Nightmare Before Christmas.” Loved them. Especially the Mrs Slocum (Are You Being Served) lookalike. She literally does nothing but switch on her lights!

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