My Broadway Review

Antony and Cleopatra are on Broadway. Well, actually they are off-Broadway this year and are hoping to get on. But unfortunately, with the recession and several other issues going on, the New York City Opera’s production season is just compacted into two nights of this show. And unfortunately, the import of that doesn’t seem to be at the forefront of the players’ minds during the show. The music battles the singers a bit and the show isn’t the best anyway. Samuel Barber is always good, but sometimes it’s hard to imagine the combination of words of Shakespeare with the music of Barber. Of course, they are great singers, so you can always go to see that. It’s just not for the real opera lovers in your life.

Both the music and choreography are directly pulled from China for the innovative Broadway play “Soul of Shaolin.” Instead of focusing in on all those words, plot, character development and so forth (i know, yawn) like other plays do, this one offers the audience non-stop kung-fu action. The rough storyline of the play is that a young boy who is taken in by a group of monks, who then teach him all of the martial arts and high flying moves they know. The choregraphy on this play is exhilarating.

West Side Story is back! Well not quite yet. The 50 year old show is on its way back to Broadway, and is performing tryouts to make it the whole way. But it’s not exactly the same as the show or the movie you might have seen before. The main difference with this particular production is that it is bilingual. There are some songs that are done in Spanish now, “Siento Hermosa” being the biggest change that you’ll notice. It’s reviewed to be a very very well done revival, with strong choreography and good actors involved. And it couldn’t come at a better time. Broadway needs something big and beautiful to try to push back the tide of closing shows. Second, what could be more relevent than a show about Latin American immigrants having trouble with white Americans?

When Jeremy Piven suddenly fell ill to mercury poisioning in mid December, he was forced to withdraw from the David Mamet play “Speed the Plow.” Though there was an initial scramble for someone to fill the large shoes of Piven, a more than apt substitute has been found in Norbert Leo Butz. After being immediately questioned if he would take the part, Butz accepted without pause, hung up, second guessed himself, threw up, and then redoubled his commitment to the part. Now, he eats, drinks, and (thanks to his ipod) sleeps his part in Speed the Plow, in an effort to catch up with his role. So far, the initial reviews are all positive, accreditied to Butz’s incredible skill and determination.

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol had a great cast this year, including Christopher Lloyd, John Goodman and Jane Leeves. All these actors were good. But according to the Variety reviewer, that’s about the only thing that’s good in the show. I mean, it sounds like it was decent, but not quite up to par with what they would’ve expected from the cast and the cost. One of the big issues is the pre-recorded narration. It was recorded by a respected, but deceased actor. But it apparently doesn’t fit with the actual show very well, sometimes with laughing covering over the narration and some of the narration was unclear and inaudible. It’s such a good play as written, but it’s unfortunate that we can’t see it done a bit better than this.

The Tony-Award winning Broadway show Spamalot will be closing up shop in only a little over one week’s time. Though it was at one point one of the highest grossing shows, it has recently hit upon a rough patch and cannot afford to stay up any longer, despite bringing in alleged superstar Clay Aiken. Connection perhaps? I’m not saying, I’m just saying.

ReWrite: A Musical Comedy Triple Feature is a great show, according to Variety. The composer, who the reviewer considers one of the best songwriters at the moment, has finally got a real production out. This isn’t actually a Broadway show at the moment, it’s just Off-Broadway for the moment. But apparently it’s a really fun show. There is a half-hour feature about a teenager who wants to ask out a girl to the prom. The second part is called “Miss Marzipan” which is apparently the best part of the show. It is a short musical about the Stockholm Syndrome. How interesting it sounds, and I wish it would come to one of our local theaters, because it sounds quite fun!

In March of 2009, the late 60s musical Hair will be making its big comeback on the Broadway circuit. Hair was one of the most controversial musicals in American history–openly challenging the Vietnam war, societal norms, drug use, and many other “fopahs”of that time. Additionally, this rock musical was backed by some of the most psychedelic music of that time. Click here to learn more about Hair’s origins, development, cancellation, and revival.

Slava’s Snowshow is back and better than ever. In 2004, the Russian clown and his offbeat show were off Broadway and it was a rather odd show. This time around, it’s much more clamped down and organized. People really like it too. It’s funny, entertaining and cute. Slava has been trying to get on American stages for awhile and now he’s finally got it! It’s exciting to see and we hope that he will be there next year too. The show runs until January 4th.

I’m a little behind on this news but it’s still definitely worth posting. Will Ferrell and Adam McKay have joined forces once more to put together a one-man Broadway play entitled “You’re Welcome America: A Final Night With George W Bush.” The play, obviously a farce on the presidency of incumbent president George Bush, will have a limited one month run in NYC. Get the full scoop by clicking here.