A Rude Awakening: Don't Miss Forbidden Broadway

Now in it's 25th year, Forbidden Broadway is still a hot, hot ticket off-Broadway at the 47th Street Theatre located right in the heart of midtown New York at 8th and 47th Street. First I'll give you a little overview of what it's all about. The show is a four-person satirical caberet revue which spoofs current and classic Broadway shows. The cast is made up of two men and two women who sing, dance, act and mimic about a dozen shows and a dozen characters each. It was created and written by Gerard Alessandrini who periodically rewrites it to include parodies of newer shows. The latest incarnation is called "Rude Awakening" obviously a parody of this year's Tony award winner for Best Broadway Musical "Spring Awakening" which is served up several times in this 97 minute performance. Although it is a plus to be familiar with the shows they are mocking, I don't think you'll miss much of the humor. Just a little sampling of what's in store: Les Miz's Eponine singing "On My Phone" bemoaning the amount of time spent backstage with nothing to do but text message, the tribute to A Chorus Line: "Kiss Cliches Goodbye", and Mama Rose ineptly coaching a soft-spoken Phantom from backstage to project his voice and then exasperatingly making her way on stage to join him in a climactic duet.

So if you can't decide whether to see Spring Awakening, Mary Poppins, Jersey Boys, Curtains, Grease, Xanadu, Legally Blond, A Chorus Line or Les Miserables there's always Forbidden Broadway where you'll get a hilarious taste of 'em all. And with ticket prices a bargain at $60 - $65 dollars (holiday season November 22 - 23 and December 22 - January 1 $85) it's the biggest bang for your buck.

Suko's Night with Genius

Something will usually trigger what I write about and this week it was the song James and Madame Aries played just before I came on the show. It was "I Think I'm Gonna Like it Here" from the movie "Annie". It's hard to believe the movie opened in 1982. It certainly doesn't seem that long ago to me but perhaps it's because I watched it for the first time with my now 12 year old daughter only a few years ago. The movie starred Aileen Quinn as Annie, Albert Finney as Daddy Warbucks, Carol Burnett as Miss Hannigan, Ann Reinking as Grace Farrell, and two of James' favorites, Tim Curry and Bernadette Peters as the villanous Rooster Hannigan and Lily St. Regis. But it is the actor who played Punjab, Daddy Warbuck's faithful bodyguard who rescues Annie at the end, to whom the word "genius" refers to. The brilliant Geoffrey Holder. It was last month that I met him and his wife, the famous dancer, Carmen Delavallard. My brother invited me to a screening of a documentary about the couple called "Carmen and Geoffrey" at the Film Forum in New York's Greenwich Village of which my brother is the director of reperetory programming. The movie was shown after which they were introduced by my brother and interviewed by Jennifer Dunning, the distinguished dance critic for the New York Times. This couple is elegance personified. So striking, he being 6' 6" tall and she still unbelievably gorgeous for a woman of 76. Geoffrey who was a magnificent dancer and choreographer uses a cane now due to a hip replacement but still possesses his wonderful laugh and joie de vive he is famous for. The movie tells how they met doing a musical by Truman Capote and Harold Arlen called "House of Flowers" and wed a month later. Fifty-three years later they seem madly in love. Geoffrey has not only been in many movies including "Live and Let Die", "Dr. Doolittle" and most recently the narrator in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" but he is a Tony award winning director and costume designer ("The Wiz"), a choreographer, set designer and an acclaimed fine artist whose paintings appear in museums and private collections around the world. Carmen, dancer, actress, director, writer has appeared in many movies, notably "Carmen Jones" and "The Egyptian" and television productions as well as the stage including the Metropolitan Opera Ballet. Their marriage is a symphony of brilliance. And to top it off, they are really, really warm and lovely. Geoffrey even said to me "I love you" as he drove away. I'll post some pictures of the evening including one of me with the dreamy actor, Frederico Castellucio, who played Furio on "The Sopranos", the pony-tailed "hitman with a heart" who was getting a little too close to Carmella when he suspiciously disappeared. He, also a brilliant artist, is a good friend of Geoffrey. He was so sweet and attentive to me which really topped off this amazing night.

Hot Flush

Well Madame Aries and I went along to see Hot Flush, a new musical all about, well, women going through the change. It was hilarious I have never laughed so much at a show. Rula Lenska was brilliant and with her husky voice, brought the house down with some fabulous one liners. There was a fab moment when Rachel Izen struggled o slip in to some tight jeans culminating in the zip being pulled up by a coat hanger to massive applause. Even the odd technical glitch on the night we attended only seemed to improve the comments from stage. There was even some interaction from "The Man" and one of the stage hands who was struggling to carry on props after the moving base failed. All in all a good show but definitely one for the adults with a rather unusual version of "Run Rabbit Run"

Sweeney Todd Comes to the Big Screen

Just in time for the holidays, another gruesome tale from the twisted mind of Tim Burton. This is the story of the demon barber of Fleet Street "who shaved the heads of gentlemen who never thereafter were heard from again." And who do you think stars in the title role? None other than Johnny Depp. Shock-horror! Yes, Jack Sparrow makes his transition from pirate to barber. Quite a stretch. Is Johnny Depp Tim Burton's far more attractive alterego? Does Tim Burton think he cannot make a hit movie without Johnny Depp? Apparently he does since he's cast Depp in a musical. Tim, Johnny Depp, although a fabulous actor and not hard on the eyes, is not a singer. Neither is Helena Bonham Carter who plays Mrs. Lovett, the barber's love interest and cohort in crime. Also starring are "the three tenors" Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall and Sacha Baron Cohen.

This screen adaptation of the Broadway horror musical "Sweeney Todd" with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim is the story of barber Benjamin Barker who returns to London after being unjustly imprisoned and vows revenge not only for his imprisonment but the ill treatment of his wife and daughter. He opens a barbershop above Miss Lovett's Meat Pie Shop and proceeds with her assistance to rid himself of all those who have done him and his family wrong by slitting their throats in his barber chair and sending them down a chute to Miss Lovett who bakes them into her pies. Miss Lovett had the reputation of baking and selling the "worst pies in London" making the addition of the man-meat hard to detect.

As bizarre as it sounds, the casting I mean, not the story, I think it has all the makings of a hit. It's slated to open in a limited capacity on December 21st and then to be widely distributed sometime in January. Sure the story's a little dark to be considered a holiday offering, but to be honest it sounds deliciously intriguing.

A Review of "Wicked" on Broadway Through the Eyes of Children

The following was written by my daughter, Jade, age 11, and her friend, Stephanie, age 12.

Is your skin green? Does your mother drink a lot of green fluids? Then you know the beginning of the life of Elphaba. Get ready for a journey of twists and turns during Elphaba's roller coaster life. Elphaba's green skin caused loss of friends and gained enemies. How much longer would she be able to withstand this cruel lifestyle? She needed to put her green foot down and make it right. So she did. On her first day of college she met her future friend, Glinda. There's only one word to describe Glinda.......POPULAR. "You're gonna be popular. I'll teach you the proper ploys when you talk to boys, different ways to flirt and flounce. I'll show you what shoes to wear, how to fix your hair, and soon you'll be popular, but not quite as popular as me." But sooner or later it was going to happen. Glinda turned against her. Elphaba couldn't take this insanity much longer! She ran away with her prince charming and became a malevolent, insolent person. If only they treated her with more respect. "Go away. You are no longer welcome here." It's true. Nobody really does mourn the wicked. Whatever happened to the witch of the west? One word........WICKED.

We thought it was a thriller! Unexpected openings and endings! A shocking story. We give it five stars. If only we had a newspaper. Wicked was wicked awesome, but just see for yourself.

Broadway's Puttin' on the Ritz

Although not a musical per se, I thought this revival of Terrence McNally's comedy "The Ritz" might be of interest to the Matinee blog's readership. American playwright McNally is famous for many brilliant theatre pieces, most of which have gay themes. He has won four Tony's, Broadway's highest honor, two of them for his collaboration on Broadway musicals "The Kiss of the Spider Woman" and "Ragtime". His very controversial play "Corpus Christi" in which Jesus and his disciples are homosexuals, had an on-again, off-again start in 1997 due to death threats against the producers who withdrew the play early on. Several other playwrights stepped up to the plate and threatened to withdraw their plays if "Corpus Christi" was not produced and the board members of the Manhattan Theater Club who produced it finally relented. The play opened with 2,000 protesters besieging the Theatre. When it opened in London, the Defenders of the Messenger Jesus, a British Muslim group, issued a Fatwa (death sentence) on McNally.

But I digress. "The Ritz", currently in previews on Broadway at Studio 54, will open this week for a limited engagement until December 2. This is a comic farce about mistaken identity and general confusion. It's the story of a midwest mobster, Gaetano Proclo played by Tony nominee Kevin Chamberlin of "Seussical" fame, whose dying Mafia chief father-in-law orders a hit on him. Proclo flees to Manhattan and hides out in a gay bathhouse thinking its a Turkish bath, not knowing the sexual orientation of the place. Eventually, with the help of his newfound "friends", he pretends to be a big-time Broadway producer to avoid being discovered. What ensues is hilarious mayhem. Rosie Perez, the nasally Brooklyn actress known for such movies as Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing", "White Men Can't Jump" and "It Could Happen to You" plays Googie Gomez the role originated by Rita Moreno on Broadway in 1975 and then in the 1976 movie. Googie is the starstruck bathhouse performer with visions of Broadway in her eyes despite her very noticeable lack of talent and her very pronounced Puerto Rican accent.

"The Ritz" is directed by Joe Mantello who also directed "Wicked" and won a Tony for his direction of "Assassin". I can't imagine this melange of McNally, Mantello and Perez being anything but fun and fabulous.

So, if you're New York City-bound in the next two months why not give it a go. Who knows, it might even make it to London's West End or perhaps even Manchester and Tameside. And there's always the movie which is ridiculously entertaining. In fact, writing this blog has whet my appetite. It's been a while since I've seen it. Think I'll take a ride over to Blockbuster.

First Show Under Wraps

Well there we go, the first show on 103.6 Tameside Radio has been broadcast and I am so pleased that we got off to such a good start. I thoroughly enjoyed the show and Madames Aries seemed to be in her element (scary when that happens). A big thanks goes out to Nicki French who joined us on the phone at the end of the show. Nicki has quickly become a member of the Matinee family (whether she likes it or not) and foolishly said she would come back on the show soon. Thanks Nicki, we really appreciate it. A big thanks also to our broadway reporter Suko (you can see her pic in the gallery and read her blogs on this site). I also want to say a big thanks to the boss at Tameside Radio, His busy schedule means he cant get around to sacking us. Finally a big thank you to all of you, without you the show wouldnt be where it is today. Well I must dash, things to do, stars to interview and free wine to drink. See you next Sunday 3-5pm UK time. Remember if you missed the show you can download it as podcast from www.matineeshow.co.uk. See ya next week.

Suko's Whoopi Connection

Good luck James and Madame Aries on your new station, Tameside. I'm so thrilled to be part of it, albeit in a rather miniscule way. Unfortunately I can't hear the show live in New York but I'm told I'll be able to podcast it in the near future. On today's show James asked me about a photo I sent him this week. My daughter, Jade, and I had been looking through pictures last weekend when we came upon this particular one. I sent him the photo because ironically it was of me kneeling over Whoopi Goldberg's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre. I had remembered taking the picture but did not remember whose star it was. If you are a regular listener to The Matinee you'll have heard me talk of two encounters with Whoopi, one only a few weeks ago, so it was just so funny to find that it was this particular star I had chosen to be photographed next to. Check out the Gallery on The Matinee's website to see the picture.

Duran Duran Broadway Bound

Yes, the divine divine boys (?) are taking a new direction and fulfilling a lifelong dream to appear on Broadway in celebration of the debut of Duran Duran's upcoming album, "Red Carpet Massacre" including a song with Justin Timberlake called "Falling Down". The British pop group will play a two-week engagement at Broadway's Ethel Barrymore Theatre from November 1 to November 12 with the CD debuting on November 13. Simon LeBon, Nick Rhodes, John Taylor and Roger Taylor will play the entire new album plus some of their classics like "Rio" and "Hungry Like the Wolf". LeBon said recently, "We have made an album that we are all really proud of and we wanted to present it in a very unique way. Staging a run on Broadway is something that we've often talked about over the years but the time has never seemed right until now. We started work on 'Red Carpet Massacre' in New York so it feels fitting to be launching it here." I wonder if your ticket will allow you to buy the album before it goes on sale to the general public along with all the other overpriced promotional items. This is one I would love to see as it promises to be awesome awesome.