Cry Baby Ain't Nothin to Cry About

I took my 12 year old daughter to see the new John Water's stage adaptation of his 1990 movie Cry Baby. Did I love it? Let's say I liked it a lot. I know it's unfair to compare it to his earlier adaptation of Hairspray but it's hard not to. To be really fair, for one thing, it is still in previews, and two, we already knew the entire score of Hairspray before we saw it. It's very funny though and very entertaining, sexy rather than romantic. It's the Drapes against the Squares. West Side Story-ish. The play opens at the Anti-Polio Picnic where prominent community leader and socially conscious Mrs. Vernon-Williams is hosting the picnic where they are offering polio shots. Enter the Drapes, the "bad" kids from the other side of the tracks, with their leader, Cry Baby, a nickname given to him because he has been unable to cry since his parents were unjustly executed as communist traitors. (This is so John Waters.) It's love at first sight when Cry Baby lays eyes on Mrs. Vernon-Williams' granddaughter, Allison, who instantly feels the same way about him. She calls herself a good girl who doesn't want to be. There are some hilarious lines with references to the 50's which were probably lost on the younger audience; polio, iron lungs, fallout shelters. At the picnic they wheel out a guy in an iron lung who sings blithefully "if only I'd had that shot" and then they shove him and his iron lung off stage. Baltimore, a Square, country club member and "good" boy, sings a song about being squeaky clean and talks about the club's fallout shelter and that, like the pool, you have to be a member of the country club to use it. There's a dance at the country club where Mrs. Vernon-Williams hands out gas masks and the Squares proceed to dance in their party dresses and suits wearing the gas masks. There's also a dance number where Cry Baby and the Drapes are in jail for allegedly setting a fire, and they're making license plates which they use as tap shoes. It was brilliant. And I have to mention a song Cry Baby sings to Allison "Girl, Can I Kiss You With Tongue?" to which my daughter said out loud, "oh, that's disturbing" to howls from the audience around us.

This is James Snyder's Broadway debut as Cry Baby. I thought he was good in an Elvis impersonator sort of way but I can't say he knocked my socks off. I'd say he is destined for stardom though because of his pretty boy looks. Elizabeth Stanley as Allison didn't do much for me. I mean she was professional and all but she looked too old for the part and didn't have that extra something that draws you into the character. The supporting cast was outstanding though, especially Chester Gregory II as Dupree (previously in Hairspray as Seaweed), Cry Baby's best friend who is a Little Richard parody, Alli Mauzey as Lenora, the girl who is missing a few cards from her deck who is madly in love with Cry Baby and stalks him throughout the play. Her solo "A Screw Loose" was hysterical with the last line being "I'll be here if you need a loose screw". But for me the best of all was Harriet Harris as Mrs. Vernon-Williams who played the 50's grande dame superbly. If you've ever seen the American tv show Frasier she played Fraiser's (Kelsey Grammer) agent, Bebe Glazer. She's hilarious in anything I've ever seen her in.

By the way, all preview tickets are $54 (27 pounds). They came up with this price because the play takes place in 1954 Baltimore, John Water's hometown.

I think I probably would have loved Cry Baby a lot more if I'd seen it before I saw Hairspray. I was expecting it to be as good and although it was delightful, it wasn't in a class with Hairspray but it was certainly worth seeing, especially at the discount price.

Fiddler on the Palace Roof

Yes the old classic Fiddler on the Roof came to Manchesters Palace Theatre. I do love going to this theatre as the staff are fabulous and very welcoming. The stage is a decent size and its always a good show. Fiddler was no exception. Joe McGann was superb in the role once occupied by Topol playing Tevye. Carrie Ellis (baby Jane in Jerry Springer the Opera) played Golde exactly as I expected the role to be played. Now I must make a confession here. I have never seen Fiddler on the TV..I KNOW...its on all the time, I must have...Well no. In a way I am glad that I have only seen it on stage. The effects in the show are stunning and after seeing what A big film could do compared to the stage show, I think it would have ruined it for me. This show is touring so please please if you get chance go and see it. Just forget about the Film and go with an open mind and you will love it. Not bad for a musical without a happy ending.

Patti LuPone Micromanages as Mama Rose in Broadway's Gypsy Revival

After an amazing limited engagement at City Center this past summer, the Broadway revival of Gypsy officially opens on March 27th starring the glorious Patti Lupone. Gypsy, the musical directed by 89 year old Arthur Laurents, started its preview on March 3rd at the St. James Theatre. LuPone plays Mama Rose, the stage mother to end all stage mothers, with Boyd Gaines as Herbie, their manager, and Laura Benanti in the role of Louise who tranforms into Gypsy Rose Lee, the title character.

Gypsy is a musical legend written by three renowned Tony winning theatrical geniuses including script by Arthur Laurents himself, music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The play features classic songs like "Some People", "Everything's Coming Up Roses", "Let Me Entertain You" and "Small World".

"Set during the vaudeville era, Gypsy is about a relentless stage mother, Rose, traveling the country with her two daughters, June and Louise, and their manager, Herbie. While June and Louise wish their mother would settle down and marry Herbie, Rose continues to pursue dreams of stardom for her girls. When June deserts the act, Rose turns her attention to the shy Louise, whom she hopes to fashion into a star. When the act is booked into a burlesque house by mistake, Louise is forced into the spotlight and Gypsy Rose Lee is born." — Theatre Source

I read in the New York Post that LuPone didn't miss a beat during Wednesday night's preview of Gypsy when the curtain rising for the second act knocked a bulb from the giant "Rose" sign high in the rafters, littering the St. James stage with glass. Staying in character as unflappable Mama Rose, LuPone grabbed an offstage broom and swept up the mess. Most in the audience never knew any mishap had occurred. Now that's what I call a trouper.

Rehearsals

Yes today was a busy day for us Rehersals in the morning at the Palace hotel then to the studio for the show and back to the hotel for the finale Cast members from Corrie Waterloo Road And Emmerdale All Making A big inprression, Songs from Chicago Wizard of oz Grease Les Mizz and Caberet to name only a handful. Come and join us on the 29th at 7.30 its gonna be a fabulous nite. Yes Richard Fleeshman will be there hot from a sucsessful tour and before he heads off supporting Sir Elton John on the UK leg of his World Tour.
Its going to be a great night and a fitting tribute to a wonderful theatre before it closes for re - structuring and hopefuly a re - ferbishment.

Single Spies

Nigel Havers lead a fine cast through two Allan Bennett one act plays to a triumphant last Tuesday. Firstly with Diana Quick As Corale Browne to Mr Havers as Guy Burgess, Set in Moscow 1958 Miss Brown Accepts an invitation to lunch with the double agent, his reasons no more sinister than to catch up on society gossip and to order a new suit. Moving on ten years to 1968 we see ourselves in Buckingham Palace where Anthony Blunt is renovating the Queens Paintings A Titian the folowing conversation between Queen and subject is exteaordinary to say the least. Played Superbly by Nigel & Diana on both accounts with fine support from Jack Ryder As Burgess lover in the first act and as a foofman in the second. Well worth searching out if you see it Elsewhere.

Harvey Fierstein, The Gravel-Throated Brooklyn Boy

For those of you who don't yet know the brilliant Harvey Fierstein, allow me to introduce him to you. Known for his gravelly voice, actor, playwright, author, social activist and one time drag queen Harvey Fierstein is a bright light on the Great White Way known as Broadway. Having declared some time ago that his drag days were over, he reconsidered when offered the chance to originate the role of Edna Turnblad in Hairspray on Broadway for which he won the 2003 Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. This was his fourth Tony Award to date. The first two were for Torch Song Trilogy which he wrote and starred in. The 1982 Broadway production won him Tony Awards for both Best Play and Best Actor in a Play. In 1983 he won a Tony for Best Book of a Musical for La Cage aux Folles. (He and Tommy Tune are the only people to have won Tony Awards in four different categories.) He also starred in the movie version of Torch Song Trilogy as well as appearances in Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway, Robin Williams' brother in Mrs. Doubtfire and Independence Day to name a few, and countless television appearances including the voice of Karl, Homer's assistant in the "Simpson and Delilah" episode of The Simpsons. You can also hear his trademark voice in the movie and on the soundtrack of Mulan as Yao singing "A Girl Worth Fighting For".

His latest Broadway musical, A Catered Affair, for which he wrote the book, opens in previews on March 25th with Fierstein playing the part of Uncle Winston. It's the story of a family strained to the limits with the dilemma of deciding whether to spend their life savings on a family business or give their daughter the lavish wedding they never had.

Fierstein is one of my favorite talk show guests and in my opinion steals the scene in everything I've seen him in. He's the ultimate "Jewish mother" who always knows what's best for you. (He once convinced my jazz idol, trumpet player Chris Botti who professes to be heterosexual, to kiss him on a talk show.) I regret having missed seeing him in Hairspray (although George Wendt's performance as Edna was stellar) and as Tevye in the 2005 revival of Fiddler on the Roof, so I will make an earnest effort to see him in A Catered Affair. Ah, so many great musicals on Broadway, so little time and money (sigh).

A Taste of New York Comes to Tameside via 42nd Street

A little piece of my New York is coming to Tameside. 42nd Street, the 1980 Tony Award winner for Best Musical as well as 1984 Olivier Award winner for Best Musical, will be playing at the Tameside Hippodrome from Tuesday, March 11th through Saturday, March 15th.

42nd Street, for those of you who have not been to New York, is a major crosstown street in New York City, known for its theatres, especially where it intersects with Broadway at Times Square.

The Broadway musical adapted from the 1933 movie of the same name is the story of a naive young actress named Peggy Sawyer who arrives in New York to audition for the new Julian Marsh extravaganza set to open, ironically, on Broadway, starring aging leading lady Dorothy Brock. Leading lady injures foot, just-off-the-bus chorus girl takes over role after pep talk from director Marsh telling her "You're going out there a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!" And of course she does. Set in the Depression and about the Depression, it's the classic, fast-paced backstage musical chockablock with wonderful tunes, "Lullaby of Broadway", "Shuffle Off to Buffalo", "We're in the Money", and "42nd Street" to name just a few. It's been a long time since I've seen either the movie or the Broadway production but I remember thinking that the stage adaptation was a little more light-hearted than the movie which went more into depth about the unglamorized tough realities of backstage life and the hardships of the Depression. Both are wonderful in their own way. What I loved is that Gower Champion, who choreographed the original Broadway production, filled the stage with spectacular dance routines a la Busby Berkeley. 42nd Street (the movie) had been choreographer Berkeley's first major movie work. He later went on to choreograph three other films dealing with staging musicals during the Depression, Footlight Parade, Gold Diggers of 1933 and Gold Diggers of 1934, becoming famous for his innovative kaleidoscope of dancing girls forming abstract designs and his use of overhead camera shots, all of which went far beyond conventional boundaries of the time. Of course, this could not be literally recreated on stage, however, if I remember correctly, Champion was able to recreate the essence of the overhead camera shots with the use of mirrors. A sad caveat is that the show ran for 9 years (1980 to 1989), almost 3,500 performances, and Champion never lived to see any of it. During the show's tryouts in Washington, DC and after numerous curtain calls on opening night, producer David Merrick came out and stunned the cast and audience announcing that Champion had died earlier in the day of a rare blood cancer.