Eurobeat

A musical based on the Eurovision? How would that work? Sounds unlikely but it does.
It's all there the costumes, the dance routines, the corny songs,the presenters being over the top.Audience participation,its all there.
I would warn you this is NOT, I repeat, NOT a show for the prudish, the innuendos fly thick and fast, its all good fun though, and I defy you not to come away humming at least one of the tunes on display. If you get the chance grab a ticket or two and get to the Lyric Theatre @ the Lowry. Shows on till Saturday including a matinee show on the final day.
Don't forget if you are a Eurovision Fan The Semi Finals Start tonight at 8pm. With another on Thursday and final on Saturday night.

Broadway's 2008 Tony Nominees

This year the 62nd annual American Theatre Wing's Antoinette Perry (Tony) Awards will take place on June 15th in New York's Radio City Music Hall hosted by my good friend (in my own mind) Whoopi Goldberg. Since The American Theatre Wing has not extended me a ticket, I must observe from afar, although not as far as most of you. Alas, I am a loyal Broadway afficionado and am happy to be in this position, wherever it may be. The following musicals and plays have received nominations and I will put them in order of the number of nominations received:

In the Heights 13
South Pacific 11
Sunday in the Park with George 9
August: Osage County 7
Gypsy 7
Passing Strange 7
Boeing Boeing 6
MacBeth 6
The 39 Steps 6
Les Liaisons Dangereuses 5
Cry Baby 4
Rock and Roll 4
The Seafarer 4
Xanadu 4
A Catered Affair 3
The Homecoming 3
Young Frankenstein 2
The Little Mermaid 2
Come Back Little Sheba 1
Cyrano de Bergerac 1
Grease 1
Is He Dead? 1
Mauritius 1
November 1
Thurgood 1
Top Girls 1

I've seen Cry Baby, A Catered Affair and Grease, and have tickets for Young Frankenstein. I really know how to pick 'em. But I like what I like and rarely go by critic's reviews. I think critics look at different things, maybe more technical things, than the general public. I prefer to go by recommendations from friends and gut feelings and my instincts for me are usually good.

For a complete listing of the nominees and everything else you ever wanted to know about the Tony Awards, go to TonyAwards.com where on Tony night you can watch Broadway and Hollywood celebrities walk the red carpet. Their arrivals will be webcast live from the sidewalk of West 50th Street beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET (11:30 p.m. UK time).

......And Why is it Called "The Country Girl"?

I went with my husband last week to see The Country Girl starring Morgan Freeman ("Driving Miss Daisy", "The Shawshank Redemption", "The Power of One", Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for "Million Dollar Baby"), Frances McDormand (Academy Award for Best Actress for "Fargo") and Peter Gallagher ("While You Were Sleeping", "American Beauty", "Titanic") and directed by Mike Nichols ("The Birdcage", "Charlie Wilson's War" and Academy Award for Best Director of "The Graduate", Tony Award for Spamalot, as well as Barefoot in the Park and The Odd Couple). With this superb cast and director, how could it miss? The critics didn't like it. Felt it lacked passion. Come on guys. Morgan Freeman? He could just stand there and I'd be entertained. So what if he missed a few lines. Who cares that he called the character Larry by the actor's real name, Lucas, and in the last scene forgot to zip up. He was playing an alcoholic after all. (I'm sorry Mr. Freeman if I have embarrassed you. It is not my intent). He has such a presence. He's very tall and in wonderful shape for a man of 70. He changes clothes several times in the play so we see him in his undershirt and boxers and wow, ugly he ain't. And McDormand and Gallagher are no slouches either.

My husband and I both liked the play which is a drama about a has-been actor, Frank Elgin, who lost his dream and his sense of self many years earlier to alcohol after a personal tragedy and has been given the chance by director Bernie Dodd, played amusingly by the stunning Peter Gallagher, to star in a new play much to the resistance of the producer and playwright who feel he is too big a risk. Frank's wife, Georgie, played subduedly by Frances McDormand refers to herself in an amusing, self-effacing way as the country girl. There is a psychological mystery in play here when we hear Frank and Georgie's opposing perceptions of what their life together has been. And Dodd perceives Georgie as an obstacle, albeit an enticing one. In this role Freeman plays a lost and uncertain man which is against type for him because he rarely, if ever, embodies uncertainty. He usually plays very stoic, all-knowing characters, even playing God in "Bruce Almighty" and again in "Evan Almighty". The critics are right in that it is not a passionate play, and if anything Freeman does underplay it, but the touching scenes between Frank and Georgie show us that although she has thought of leaving him because Frank's self-doubt has cost them both so much, there seems to be a loving bond and a need to stay with him to protect him from himself. The question is who needs who more, Frank or his country girl?

A Catered Affair - An Affair to Remember

I took my 12 year old daughter to see Harvey Fierstein's latest musical A Catered Affair which opened on Broadway on April 17th. I had asked her which show she would like to see and she chose A Catered Affair because she loves Harvey Fierstein. I really wanted to see it and I was surprised that she chose it over Legally Blonde and Xanadu. Lucky for me, I loved it. It was so poignant and addressed the many family issues that surface when a family plans a wedding. First of all, financial. Should the family spend their life savings on an affair that will be over in four hours or invest it in a new business which will keep on making money for the family? And the guest list. Immediate family only? What comprises immediate family? What we get from this is that you can't make everyone happy.

It's the Bronx, 1953. The daughter, used to taking a backseat to her brother who has recently been killed in Korea, has planned a small town hall wedding with immediate family. The mother wants her daughter to have a big lavish wedding, something she did not have because she was a bride "without a waistline", and she feels it is something to remember and hold onto once you've become an oppressed wife as she has. The father wants to use their savings to buy a share in a taxi medallion to insure their future.

It's not an extravaganza like Hairspray or Wicked. The music is not that memorable, although there were three songs that I really liked because of their message, "Don't Ever Stop Saying I Love You", "I Stayed" and "Immediate Family". The sets are minimal but effective, just a gray building which comes alive with scenes cleverly projected on it in sepia tones, and movable kitchen, living room and bedroom sets. What I loved about it was that it dealt with a real family with real problems that almost anyone could relate to. And the acting was superb with Faith Prince as the mother, Aggie, Tom Wopat as the dad, Tom, and Harvey as the "confirmed bachelor" Uncle Winston living with them on their couch until he realizes he is not considered immediate family and leaves to "keep house" with his long time companion, Keith.

Unfortunately, my daughter was bored and restless through the whole 90 minute play, and in fact I think annoyed the young man she was sitting behind who kept looking back at her. I kept whispering to her to sit still but I knew early on that this was not a show for kids. The highlight for Jade took place before the show when we ran into Harvey Fierstein on the street. He was deep in conversation and totally ignored us. What a cheek! Haar-vee, it's me, Suko, from The Matinee. It's a liberty!

Austin Powers Goes Bollywood

I had to share this ridiculously hilarious movie trailer with you. If you loved Austin Powers, and who didn't, and if you swoon over Justin Timberlake, and who doesn't (you know you do), and if you love Schnauzers, you'll love this. It's Mike Myers searching for enlightenment as "The Love Guru" as only Mike Myers can. And Mini-Me is back too. Opening in the US in June. So check this out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPz5e9TvYIs

Gala Night Of Stars

Wow what a night, was I star struck? you betcha sweet patooty i was, my head fair span, I thought at one stage I was in a remake of Carrie it span so much, All those Stars and all such realy nice people, We had the man of the moment Richard Fleeshman in fine voice, Meg Johnson (What do ya mean who) Pearl Letherbanks to you Philistines.Repreassing her role as Matron Mama Morton from Chicago joined as Roxy for the night by Corries own knicker nicker Tupele Dorgu (Kelly Crabtree) realy peeps do you know nowt!!!!!! now Tupele has a fine future ever she should forsak the cobbles and head west, WESTEND that is, Caberet and the German cafes of the 30's could be a goal . We were treated to Evita, Les Miserables,Little Shop Of Horrors. Aformentioned Chicago & Caberet, Fidler on the Roof, with David Fleeshman replacing Topol very well indeed. The Brat pack,the end of act one had a cast of over 80 do the rocky horror hits including the timewarp, there was one creaky joint, an aged Drag queen in a minnie PVC nurses uniform tottered on and almost had to crawl off, Oh the shame of it, I almost Came Of me Heals.

JOKING JOKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A great night was had by all, as the smiling faces in the Circle Bar Can atest to.



CONGRATULATIONS TO SUE JENKINS FOR A WONDERFUL PRODUCTION


AND HEARTFELT THANKS TO HER FOR ALLOWING MYSELF AND Mr JAMES DEAN TO BE A SMALL PART OF IT, a night never to be forgotten,and one I will treasure as long as I shall live.

The Champion 2007-2008 Broadway Season

It's hard to believe but there's only six weeks left to the 2007-2008 Broadway season. It's been a banner year for Broadway but it's not over yet. There are ten more shows officially opening before the Tony Awards which will take place on June 15 at Radio City Music Hall.

To top off an already great Broadway season, the ten shows opening are:

• Gypsy, starring Patti Lupone opened March 28th to raves not only for Patti and the show itself but for Laura Benanti as Gypsy Rose Lee and Boyd Gaines as their manager, Herbie.
• South Pacific, one of the many brilliant Rodgers and Hammerstein collaborations, opens today, April 3rd. This is the first Broadway revival of this wonderful musical since it's original staging from April 1949 to January 1954.
• MacBeth starring Star Trek's Captain Picard, the very sexy Patrick Stewart, which moved to Broadway from the Brooklyn Academy of Music opens officially April 8th. This modernized British production was hailed by West End critics where it ran for a limited engagement before heading to America. The critics agreed that this is Patrick Stewart's finest performance.
• Les Liaisons Dangereuses opens for a limited engagement April 12th to June 6th at the Roundabout Theatre Company's American Airlines Theatre on Broadway. Starring two time Academy Award winner (You Can Count on Me and Kinsey), Laura Linney. This is a story of revenge while depicting the decadence of the French aristocracy shortly before the French Revolution.
• A Catered Affair, Harvey Fierstein's latest contribution to Broadway musicals opens April 17th. It's about a Brooklyn family who faces the dilemma of spending their life savings on a family business or their daughter's wedding. Fierstein not only wrote it but stars in it as the bride's Uncle Winston.
• Cry Baby, the next John Waters movie to musical stage production officially opens April 24th. I saw it in previews and found it a lot of fun. Although not of the caliber of his first movie to musical adaptation, Hairspray, it had enough going for it that if it were tweaked a little before the official opening, could make it a force to be reckoned with at the Tony Awards.
• A Country Girl, starring, get this, Morgan Freeman, Frances McDormand and the gorgeous Peter Gallagher opens April 27th. With direction by Tony Award (Spamalot) and Academy Award (The Graduate) winning director, Mike Nichols, it would take a really bad day by all concerned to miss the mark.
• Thurgood, opens April 30th, a one-man play starring Hollywood star and Tony Award winner, Laurence Fishburne, gives us some insight into the intellect and wit of Thurgood Marshall who rose from adversity to become the first African-American to serve on the United States Supreme Court.
• Boeing-Boeing, the West End smash comedy of errors arrives on Broadway straight off the plane from London. It's a revival of the 1960 Broadway show and will star Christine Baranski (appearing in the movie Mamma Mia with Meryl Streep opening this summer). In previews starting April 19th with the official opening on May 4th.
• Top Girls opens May 7, (in previews beginning April 15th) starring, among others, Martha Plimpton and Academy Award winner (My Cousin Vinny) Marisa Tomei. This play looks at the challenges facing working women in 1980's London.

So it ain't over till it's over and it ain't over yet. When I look at what's opening and what's playing on Broadway, and off for that matter, I'm like a kid in a candy shop. My funds are limited but I do have tickets for A Country Girl and A Catered Affair. I just had to see my favorite actor, Morgan Freeman, live on stage, and I adore Harvey Fierstein so it was kind of a no-brainer but as I said on air last week, so many shows, so little time and money.