Phantom of the Opera
I suppose Andrew Lloyd Webber can do a couple things right. Phantom has great music and is visually stunning. Do I need to tell you what this is about? Creepster deformed guy has the hots for and tutors a (IMHO) moronic ingenue who then screws him over for the hotter, richer guy. There might be a ton of holes in this plot, so your willing suspension of disbelief will be working in overdrive. But things like the chandelier, the staging of "Masquerade", and the quality of music will make you forget the small stuff.
Cabaret
The first time I saw this show they staged the ending in the most stunning way. The second time I saw it John Stamos played the Emcee. This show works on a literal and metaphoric level. Literally it is about an American who goes to Germany to try to write but he is distracted by an Englishwoman and the looming Nazi threat. Metaphorically it is about international relations around WWII. The choreography is to die for and I lovelove every song. If I could play any role in a musical it would go, first Anita from West Side Story and then the Emcee from this play.
Rent
This play is huge for people my age, the same way Hair is for people my parent's age. It's about these artsy-fartsy folks in NYC, right around the time Guiliani was cleaning it up, right before it got hip to live in NYC again. Every other person is gay and/or has AIDS, which makes the whole thing pretty edgy. I love when my students ramble on about how this is their generation's play. Definitely not, my darlings, you are a smidge too young. The story line is great, the music rocks, and most of the original cast is big time now. Idina Mendzel, Taye Diggs, Jesse L. Martin (Law and Order), and the list goes on. I could not tell you how many times I have seen this play.
A Chorus Line
This is the best musical ever. Let me repeat, this is the best musical ever. If one of my boys performed in the show someday, I could die a happy woman. Essentially this is a show about performers trying out for piddly roles in the chorus. The director decides to "do something different" and rather than have them sing and dance for hours, he attempts to get to know them.
I saw this show when I was super young and had the music memorized before I was nine. This all seems odd considering one of the songs, "Dance Ten, Looks Three" is also known as the "tits and ass song".
It closed on Broadway and after a couple years Cats replaced it as the longest running/most beloved show on Broadway. Thankfully it was revived not too long ago and when I was pregnant with Bradley my parents took me to NYC to see it. It was pretty much the most exciting moment of my life until then. Before that I had to subsist with seeing it performed on small stages, like the one time I saw it performed in Phoenix and I sat front and center sobbing hysterically during the finale. I was just so freaking happy I was seeing it on stage. Some of the actors clearly noticed. So embarrassing.
You know what I just found out? On January 11-12th, A Chorus Line will be performing in my hometown at our todiefor arts center. Almost puked, for sure. I guess you know where I will be one of those nights.
1 comment:
I love the Orpheum! It's a frickin' miracle we haven't torn it down yet to build, I don't know, maybe a Walgreen's.
We had similarly twisted childhoods, it sounds like. My dad first played "A Little Priest" for me when I was waaaaay too young to appreciate it fully. People in meat pies? Scary when you're 9, awesome when you're 30.
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