New York 2022

First week of my holiday in New York

The Music Man 
9/3 Matinee
Made a return to this show for my first show of the week. The weather was rotten so I thought rush might be quieter. I arrived at 9am and I was about 45 people down the line but still got a great seat in row D orchestra. Enjoyed this show more on a second viewing having become a bit more familiar with the score. More thoughts in The Music Man thread

Hadestown
9/3 Evening
More thoughts posted in the Hadestown Thread but I thoroughly enjoyed this on a second viewing. I won the digital lotto and was in the left boxes. Slightly restricted view but most was played front and centre so wasn't an issue

Phantom of the Opera
10/3 Matinee
Another digital lottery win! The only Thursday matinee on Broadway and one I have done a fair few times now on my various trips. It's in great shape and the audience still love it

Prayer for the French Republic
10/3 Evening
Rush ticket through Todaytix for my first venture Off-Broadway. I'd only previously seen "Admissions" by Joshua Harmon which I had enjoyed. This play was really great, showing parallels of a French Jewish family in the 1940s and the present day. The 3 hour runtime flew by with some great characters and very engaging writing. I wouldn't be surprised to see this picked up by one of our producing houses in London.

Take Me Out
11/3 Evening
TodayTix certainly picking up a lot of the slack for me this week with another successful rush ticket! I knew very little about this play before going in, but it was very good. It is about a gay baseball player who comes out and how this affects relations with the other players in the locker room. Certainly not for the prudish, with lots of nudity - makes all the puns about our own "Cock" play seem tame. Certainly got a reaction from a lady in the audience with a very loud "ohhh" when the first nude guy walked onto stage. Aside from that, Jesse Tyler Ferguson gives a brilliant comedy performance and I would hope he will be recognised come awards season. They are using Yondr pouches to lock up phones in the theatre, but the process was very easy.

Space Dogs
12/3 Matinee
Rush ticket $34 for this new Off-Broadway musical. I thought this was really fun, lots of toy dogs being used and the two actors (also the writers) were really good. An interesting way of telling the space race story and the audience lapped it up. This was my first visit to MCC and it is a really great venue. 

At the Wedding
12/3 Evening

All tickets for $30 for this one at Lincoln Centre 3. This is the venue for new and emerging writers. Unfortunately I really wasn't taken with this. It is very episodic and focuses on one character interacting with different people at a wedding reception. A good idea in theory but it was really under-developed, with some characters only appearing in one scene, and only running 70 minutes.

Company
13/3 Matinee
My sixth visit. Not much to add from previous visits except I really think this is one of the best shows on Broadway right now. I can see it winning Best Revival over Music Man. More thoughts in the Company Thread

English
13/3 Evening
Wow! This play was outstanding. Another new off-Broadway venue for me in Atlantic Theatre, another great venue. A cast of 5, one teacher and four students, it relates to a class in Iran learning English as a foreign language. The really interesting concept here is that when the characters speak in Farsi, they speak in perfect American accents, and when in English, very much with an accent which you might expect from someone learning English as a foreign language. This also becomes interesting because two of the characters speak much better English than others. 100 minute runtime flew by - I honestly think this is one of the best new plays I have seen in recent times. 5 stars from me!


Coming Up in week two!
I have Birthday Candles and Little Shop of Horrors already.
Also on my hit-list:
Suffs (If I can get a ticket)
To My Girls
MJ
Paradise Square
American Buffalo
Plaza Suite
Little Girl Blue

I mayyyy also do Chicago/Moulin Rouge.


 

Went tonight and thought it was a fantastic show!
Some pictures from the theatre -

Will post a more detailed review in coming days.

Also seen Chicago/MJ/Moulin Rouge since my post. Plaza Suite booked as my final show next Wednesday. Just a few more to sort now.

Week Two!

Chicago
14/3 Evening
I had never seen Chicago on Broadway and with such a limited number of shows playing a Monday night, I decided to give it a whirl. I'm really pleased I did. At the heart of it, it's a really great score, and with no stunt casting at the moment I was able to enjoy it for just that. Particular standout was Amra-Faye Wright as Velma Kelly - she's been playing the role for many years and is really great.

MJ
15/3 Evening
This was a tricky one. I enjoyed the music/choreo and performances, but this was a very difficult show to get right and I'm not quite sure they made it. How do you make a bio musical and get around the controversy surrounding Michael? Well, you set it in 1992 before any of the allegations had really come to light. In a world in which Prince Andrew has just paid £12million to settle out of court, we are reminded that Jackson also settled out of court for his first allegations for $23 Million.
Loved the arrangements and particularly Man in the Mirror and They Don't Really Care About Us. Myles Frost made a brilliant MJ. They definitely don't shy away from the fact that he was a difficult person to work with and a perfectionist. 

Moulin Rouge
16/3 Matinee
I had seen this on my trip in 2020 but hadn't yet made it to the London production, partly due to reviews of a lacklustre cast. No such troubles here, with Aaron Tveit singing beautifully, and Ashley Loren (alternate Satine) just stunning. I'd forgotten how great some of the arrangements are and how beautiful the show is. I must catch it in London eventually to compare.

Suffs
16/3 Evening
This has been the musical highlight of my trip so far. Absolutely wonderful show and I was totally captured from the start. Shaina Taub stars as Alice Paul, and also wrote the show. What a find she is, absolutely brilliant performance and she has written a cracking show here. She is also doing lyrics for Devil Wears Prada this summer in Chicago which I'm sure will be just as good. Nikki M. James as Ida B. Wells gets a brilliant number in act one and is fabulous whenever she's onstage. Other highlights include Jenn Colella as Carrie Catt, Grace McLean as Woodrow Wilson and Philippa Soo as Inez Milholland

Musically it's difficult to compare. Bit of Schwartz/Pippin esque at times, and very unashamedly musical theatre. I knew little about the US suffragette movement and came out with a really good base understanding.

The next obvious stop for this is Broadway and I'd be really surprised if it didn't with this cast and with how strong the material is. 

Here's a little taster



Paradise Square
18/3 Evening
If Suffs were the musical highlight, then this was probably the lowlight. I just really did not connect at all with this show, and it was a particularly long slog to the end with two technical stops in act two (finishing at 11:30pm). The music was certainly nice, and Joaquina Kalukango gives a strong performance, but the limited story is hard to follow and muddled. I don't see this running long.

Come From Away
19/3 Matinee
A friend was in town and had never seen a Broadway show, and so this seemed the obvious choice. Was nice to see some of the original cast again, and of course Rachel Tucker representing the West End production - the audience loved her. Interestingly she sang Me and the Sky in its original key here after it had been lowered in the West End.

Birthday Candles
19/3 Evening
Loved this play. Debra Messing plays Ernestine and goes from 17 to over 100, each scene representing another birthday. It zips along nicely and is both heart-breaking at times, yet very funny at others. Messing is strong and uses a mixture of physicality and voice to show her changing age. Other actors play varying family members throughout the years. Definitely one to see if you can, it's only a limited run to the end of May. 


Four shows to go -
Little Shop of Horrors (today matinee), To My Girls (tonight), American Buffalo (first preview Tuesday - hopefully!) and Plaza Suite (Weds Matinee before my flight home). Decided not to see Little Girl Blue in the end - lost the lotto and the tickets are otherwise quite expensive for a one woman show.

How I Learned to Drive
I'd heard great things about this one. Did it live up to expectations? Well not quite. There is no denying that Mary-Louise Parker is brilliant, and she really draws you in and it is a fairly intense performance throughout. I just found it difficult to "get into" the play if that makes sense, and I think the non-linear storytelling is the main reason behind that.