Hamlet! the Musical!

Sally and I finally got back together with Sandy and John to go see Hamlet! the Musical! at the Shakespeare Tavern. Sandy and John are a neat couple and it's always a treat to see a show with them.

The Good: The new musical numbers are good. Bad (remix) was a showstopper. The actors were all in fine voice and the songs were sung clearly so my aging ears could hear the words. The performances were excellent as well. It helped that a fair number of the actors had played the same roles in the recent dramatic production of Hamlet. Jeff McKerley has amazing comic timing.

The Bad: The play doesn't work as a cohesive mass. Individual bits were excellent, but the setting just didn't gel.

The Indifferent: The old material has aged a bit. We saw Charm School a while back, which was also by Eddie 'Levi' Lee and it was even creakier. Or maybe I'm just jaded.

Most Vital News, Indeed

Sir Ian McKellan's King Lear is available online.

{H/T Instapundit}

+1 literary geekery points for anyone who can identify where the headline came from.

Theatrical Advice

So you have a church and you're putting on a play. In San Francisco. And you're aiming your production at mature audiences. From all that I've read, there is only one thing your production lacks for it to reach its full potential.

So here is my best advice:




H/T StandFirm

Saturday Broadway

I'm not really a fan of Stephen Sondheim. He has written some good stuff (West Side Story and Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum), but his later work is very much hit or miss.

This is one of his hits. The singer is Dean Jones of Disney fame. The song is "Being Alive" from Company. I loathe Company. But this performance hits a chord. There are better singers than Dean Jones (although he is a fine singer), but this is my favourite version of this song. He owns it.

Midsummer's Night Dream

Our friends Tom and Kathy, Greg, Anne and Sarah, Andy, Scott and Elizabeth, Marty and Jeri as well as Sally and myself all went together to see the Shakespeare Tavern's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" last night. We had a blast. It's a fun, raucous production, which as Andy pointed out, is exactly the way Shakespeare probably played it.

The only weak point to the Shakespeare Tavern is the menu. They have recently added some Greek dishes to it, but it is still not the best. The staff and the actors more than make up for any culinary deficiencies!

Anita Morris Remembered

I had a major league crush on Anita Morris since I saw her in the Magic Show. When my brothers and I saw her in the Magic Show on Broadway, midway through one of her numbers the power went out (New York City was having periodic brownouts at the time). Naturally the theatre's audio system died as well. The theatre went dark and quiet. I heard someone drawing in a deep breath, and then, a capella, Anita Morris continued singing. She exemplified true professionalism as well as talent (she was a legitimate triple threat) and unbridled sexiness.

This number has a wardrobe malfunction in it (You won't see anything you ought not to). But look how she handles it. The lady was a trouper.

[Addendum: More about Anita Morris here.]

In Honour of Tonight's Festivities

Wonderful