I love New York, where we're "Ready to Believe Again"

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Revolutionary Road; or Why The Fuck Isn't Michael Shannon More Famous?

Revolutionary Road doesn't live up to the buzz. Of course, to do so, it would have to be the most amazing and brilliantest film ever made ever, as the buzz has been borderline ridiculous. "Kate and Leo! Back together! Will she finally get her Oscar? Will they both? OOooohhEeehOoohI'llNeverLetGoJackAaaaaah!" It's not a terrible movie, it's beautifully shot and clearly adapted from a great book, which I look forward to reading. The supporting cast is one of the finest I've ever seen, with sharp, nuanced performances from David Harbour, Future of American Theater Zoe Kazan, Kathy Bates, Dylan Baker, Jay O. Sanders, Richard Fucking Easton!, and Michael Shannon, who has to at least be nominated for Supporting Actor. Which brings me to...

Michael Shannon should be a household name by now. His performance here as a clinically insane but powerfully observant truth-teller should put a firm lock on his place amidst the great character actors of his generation. He's one of those actors whose committment to his role is so absolute, it makes you laugh out loud in wonder at how he does that. Why, why, why, isn't he more famous? He's a genius! Genius!! Anyway...

So yeah, the supporting cast is the best part. I'm afraid Kate and Leo's performances are less impressive. There's a lot of shouting, screaming, crying, and throwing of things, and not much else of substance that would help us see them as fully developed characters. Of course this isn't entirely their fault, the problem is inextricably linked to the fact that it's a thin adaptation of a book, filled with explosions but not enough background to let us get to know the characters. Because of this, you really feel like you're watching Kate and Leo, not April and Frank, which makes their uberstardom distracting. I suspect that the pair, along with director/Winslet-hubby Sam Mendes were so excited to work together, they sort of got in a room and started furiously acting in a way that's too overblown for film, especially a film about waspy types trapped in suburban ennui. I also think this isn't the best film for a husband to direct his wife in, as it's all about the complex interweavings of love and hate in a marriage, and I don't think he had a truly objective perspective on their performances in those conflicts.

Another problem: Mad Men just does it better. That must be annoying for Sam Mendes. They should have asked Matthew Weiner to do a rewrite of the screenplay.

One to Watch: Joe Kraemer

Just before the holidays, a striking mix of industry heavyweights and notable alumni gathered in a studio at the Juilliard School to see a bare-bones workshop of Joe Kraemer's play Dangerous People. Since this was an unpublicized workshop, I won't give away the juicy details, but I can say that Kraemer's talent was abundantly clear to everyone in that room - the play is funny, surprising, and unflinchingly honest, and the response was extraordinary. It's not every day that I see a workshop and think Second Stage, Atlantic, or MCC could stage a full production right away, but that's how good we're talking here.

By the way, Joe Kraemer gets around. Not only is he the dramaturg and literary manager for the Juilliard Drama Division, he is also the administrator of the Playwrighting Fellowship, and doubtless played a considerable role in the development of talents like David Auburn, David Lindsey-Abaire, Adam Rapp, and so many more. Dude is seriously talented. Take note!

By the way, you might have noticed that Moxie's on twitter. If you're unfamiliar with the way twitter works, it's like your facebook status updates - you just post a short answer to the question "What are you doing?" You can find other people you know, and then "follow" them to see what they're up to. Everybody's doing it, Ars Nova tweets, as does fancy blogger Jason Kottke, and even Seth Rudetsky is there, so join the fun!

You can view my most recent tweets over on the right where it says "Twitter Updates," and if you're on twitter too, come say hello and be friendly-like, eh?

Billy Elliot

It's no secret that these are bleak times for Broadway. With rising ticket prices and dwindling tourism during New York's coldest months, a handful of shows will close in the coming weeks, with more sure to follow. For artists, as for the rest of the country, the world looks uncertain and perhaps even a little unfriendly. It seems fitting then, that a musical about the value of art set amidst poverty, instability, and social strife would be inspiring passion and hope in seemingly everyone who sees it.

The story is simple. Boy discovers art. Boy's family shuns art, hopes boy isn't a pansy (or since we're in industrial 80's England here, a "poof".) Boy secretly continues making art, and family finally realizes his incredible talent just in time to help him achieve success. A cursory glance may lead one to believe that the message is clear: be yourself, work hard, follow your dreams, and things will work out.

Those neat little lessons are certainly present in Billy Elliot, but there is also something deeper at work. Billy's family isn't just poor - they are the working class on strike, a part of the brutal 1984 Coal Miner's Strike, and they are fighting every day with everything they have. There is a scene close to the end of the play in which much of the town is present at a meeting, at their ropes end trying to put food on their tables and care for their families. They are desperate and exhausted, with no end in sight, and finding a way to send Billy on the expensive journey to London to audition for ballet school seems impossible. Then something incredible happens. One by one, these people who have next to nothing step forward from both sides of the picket line, each offering what little money they can, intent on giving Billy that one chance at his dream. Even in their darkest of times, there is an awareness that this child, an artist, is someone to be protected, respected, and encouraged. He, and his art, are important.

This tribute to the dreams of a young artist is at the heart of Billy Elliot, and it elevates the show from a dance spectacular to a cathartic theatrical experience. There is no doubt that it will inspire legions of young people, not just dancers but dreamers of all sorts, which is what Billy really is. Because of this, I can't think of a better show to recommend to just about anybody.

Just one thing is irritating about Billy Elliot: the possibility of what it could have been with a better score. As the spirited ensemble battles to inject fire into Elton John's ho-hum melodies, I couldn't help but wistfully imagine a soaring and expressive score by composers like Ahrens and Flaherty, or Adam Guettel. Even with some of the most awe-inspiring choreography I've ever seen, it's still a *musical*, and a mediocre score keeps this one just a hair short of truly transcendent.

Photo of David Alvarez and Haydn Gwynne by David Scheinmann.

Residents of Wasilla, AK are the real "Real Americans"

Gawker on Sherry Johnson's (mother of Levi, Bristol Palin's fiancee/baby daddy) recent arrest on charges of selling oxycontin:

This is a sad and not-at-all entertaining story of broke-ass bored trashy people in a miserable unhealthy little sprawling town using and selling drugs to briefly escape the dull pain of their shitty lives, and it would not be news that the mother of a high school dropout who's marrying some idiot girl he impregnated was arrested for using drugs except that at some point we were all instructed to admire these exalted Real Americans.

Well said, Gawker!

Jeremy Piven, you so crazy! You come to Broadway all serious-actor-like, win rave reviews for your performance in Speed the Plow, and then one day you just stop showing up! And the only explanation you offer is something about having too much mercury in your blood!

A friend close to the production told me that Piven finally learned his lines *just* in time for press performances. Ugh, the hollywood factor makes things so predictable.

Seriously though, the best part is what David Mamet had to say:

“I talked to Jeremy on the phone, and he told me that he discovered that he had a very high level of mercury,” Mamet said. “So my understanding is that he is leaving show business to pursue a career as a thermometer.”

Snap!

We All Fall Down

I recently checked out Nick Dujnic's play We All Fall Down, currently in the final week of it's run at the 45th Street Theatre. Dujnic's voice is original, fishing for meaning in a stormy sea of mischief and dark humor, violence and misogyny, not to mention blow jobs and prat falls. We All Fall Down takes place in the lobby of an ominous corporate office, and centers around a hapless young man charged with the job of uninformed and overpaid receptionist. Yes, yes, comparisons to Adam Bock's plays The Thugs and The Receptionist are inevitable, but while Bock suggests the threat behind the curtain, Dujnic takes it front and center, putting dangerous lunacy under a microscope and watching it shriek and squirm. A game cast each do terrific justice to their exaggerated, hyperbolic roles. Playing through Saturday.

pop quiz

This is a video of:
A) A frighteningly oversexed toddler
B) The future first female to play Billy Elliot
C) Hilariously adorable, plain and simple
D) All of the above

The Muppets will never be surpassed for adorableness and hilariousness!

Pssst...

ROCK OF AGES going to Broadway, previews in March, opening in April.

I met Constantine over the weekend. He thinks he is the coolest ever! Alas, he's not.

Here's MJ:

She's the one on the right.

Prop 8 the Musical

With 1.2 million hits in it's first day online, I'm sure everyone has seen this 12 times already, but it's still brilliant and I'm posting it, so there!

"Prop 8 - The Musical" starring Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and many more... by Jack Black

Barack Obama’s ascension just had us all so giddy. We were thinking of how to film it, and I said, “Well, maybe that first section should be all of us on a hill, with poppies, and it snows and we’re put to sleep, and then the Proposition 8 people are looking through the crystal ball, like the Wicked Witch of the West in ‘The Wizard of Oz.’” Because that’s what happened. We stupidly allowed ourselves to be lulled into a sense of, everything’s fantastic now, look – everything’s changing. And this couldn’t possibly be voted into law. This is just like some little pesky thing that we’re swatting at, and it will go away immediately.
-Marc Shaiman, via NY Times

Twilight: Swoon!

This weekend, over a leftover turkey sandwich, I finally sat down to see what all this Twilight fuss is about. Surprise, surprise, 24 hours later, I have happily devoured the book and am currently suppressing a potent urge to spend several hours google image searching Robert Pattinson.

For reals, guys. This book made me swoon like no grown woman should. It's easy for most of us to recall that teenage feeling of first love - that unmistakable knowlege that I will just DIE if I can't have this person. We've all been there, right? But remembering is one thing - it's another thing entirely for an author to recreate that feeling so fully that the flicker of a smile between two characters ignites that same blaze in the reader that was, for most of us anyway, squelched out with the end of our teenage years. Twilight is 498 glorious pages of heart-tugging vampire romance, and I loved every second of it. Great literature it's not, but you won't find a more entertaining read for a long bus ride home for the holidays.

The Most Damaging Wound

Tomorrow is your last chance to see The Production Company's excellent staging of The Most Damaging Wound, perceptively directed by Mark Armstrong. The show has already received an impressive amount of critical praise, and I'm happy to jump on the bandwagon. Armstrong has assembled a talented cast who nimbly communicates a familiar story to theatergoers: your average group of white guys gather in New York to reminisce and part with the beer-swilling ghosts of "the old days". I know, I know, the setup has the potential to be exhaustingly old hat, but the cast embodies the characters with an exuberant simplicity that is entirely free from judgment, and Armstrong's canny direction favors honesty over the irritating earnestness that many similar plays have suffered from. It's such a pleasure to see a smartly staged off-off production with a spirited cast under terrific direction. Check it out!

problem with america

Headline on the huffington post: Black Friday Stampede Kills Worker At Wal-Mart. Unfortunately not a joke, just a sad and sickening display of Americans desperate to shop.

Looks like the WALL-E prohecy is coming true already.

Things the World Does Not Need: Weissler Edition

From Playbill:

Weissler is currently developing The Band Wagon, based on the classic MGM film; and Clueless, an adaptation of the hit 1995 Paramount movie.

Something tells me Barry Weissler has logged many hours checking out Alicia Silverstone's teenaged ass in Clueless, hence this grand idea.

movie poster anagrams

fantastic. (via cinematical)

see theater! it's fun!

You only have one week left to see these two fantastic shows:


Go see The Production Company's fantastic staging of Blair Singer's sincere and touching play The Most Damaging Wound. Check it out, it runs through Saturday 11/29.


Also go see Mike Daisey's latest monologue If You See Something Say Something. Daisey's canny work is equal parts scathing political diatribe and hilarious personal musing. Spalding Gray would have been proud.

I'll write more about these great plays later, but for now, go get yourself a ticket!

You have to see this to believe it: Sarah Palin interviewed on television while live turkeys are slaughtered in the background. When asked what she's doing at the slaughterhouse, she says, "Well this was neat! I was happy to get to participate in this... you need a little bit of levity in this job... certainly we'll probably invite criticism for even doin' this too, but at least this was fun." Yep, yep, just havin' fun at the local poultry bloodbath, gettin' in the holiday spirit and promotin' those real American values, oh for sure, yep!

Vatican "forgives" John Lennon for Jesus Joke

Someone at the Vatican finally figured out that whole "irony" thing.

Were the World Mine

I caught Were the World Mine when it closed Newfest earlier this year. The film was selected for (and won) a ton of festivals, and it's easy to see why - it's a charming musical fantasy that succeeds in making your heart soar, even on an indie shoestring budget. The story follows Timothy, the only out gay student in a preppy all-boys high school. When Timothy is cast as Puck in the school's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, he discovers Puck's magic flower, complete with a magic potion capable of turning the straightest rugby player into a drooling puddle of love. Before long, the entire small town that was so conservative and homophobic is brimming with puppy love of the non-hetero variety.

The cast, led by talented newcomer Tanner Cohen, is pitch perfect, but the real star here is the music. By turns it is haunting, catchy, and soaring, and I guarantee you will leave the theater singing "Oh, Timothy..."

Were the World Mine opens this weekend at Cinema Village, check it out!

Update: Here is the official trailer.

Show THIS to your kiddies

and see how they sleep!!!

Breaking: No HAIR for Groff

I have it from a very reliable source that Jonathan Groff will NOT appear in the Broadway production of HAIR. More details later...

psst...

When this kid is a gigantic star, don't say I didn't warn you.

Questionable Cover Letter #3

Oh my... a friend passed this along to me. Not only is the below letter 100% real, but it arrived printed on the top sheet of a memo pad, each page of which was emblazoned with the addresee's name. Creepy, sad, or thoughtful? You decide.

Dear [Redacted],
You have received previous letters from me and I have stuck to an all business approach. I am writing now to be as real as possible. You may look back at this letter five years form now and say "thank god I called that guy in" or you will look back and say "I wish I called that guy in". Either way, I know I will be extremely successful in this industry. There is no such thing as guarantees in acting but there is hard work, dedication, determination and pure talent. I know I possess all of those traits. Please don't mistake my confidence for arrogance, I am nothing but humble however realize that I have something that has yet to be unleashed. I hope you will consider to call me in. I would love to be represented by you.
Thank you,
[Redacted]

Being "as real as possible" is a wonderful quality in an actor, and nothing keeps it real quite like personalized stationary.

"it's you, and me, togethaaah"

I know I'm probably supposed to lurve Will.i.am's new song "It's a New Day," being an Obama fanatic and all, but... does anyone else find the beat, well... annoying? It's lodged in my head and won't budge. Actually maybe it's not annoying, it's just annoyingly catchy! It does have a lot going for it: in addition to the Obama love, I can't argue with a song that pays homage to Hall & Oates hit "Sarah Smile".

Zack and Miri Make a Porno

With team Apatow turning out a vast array of trifling gross-out comedies, it's easy to dismiss Zack and Miri as yet another silly movie for stoned college kids. Fortunately, this isn't a Judd Apatow film - it's pure Kevin Smith all the way, and fits right in with Clerks, Mallrats, and Chasing Amy as a very unlikely romantic comedy with a lot of lewd humor and a lot of heart.

In the Apatow school of comedy, it seems that any true emotion has been thrown in as an afterthought. But Smith carefully sets up Zack and Miri as real people who care about each other, and because their relationship is so honest, the audience can't help but fall for them, too. Because we care about the characters, the comedy is that much more outrageous, and the repercussions of their agreement for casual on-camera sex is not only hysterical, it's actually emotionally compelling. Elizabeth Banks and Seth Rogen are outstanding, and Justin Long turns in a hysterical cameo as gay porn star Brandon St. Randy. Check it out!

OBAMA: a communal photo retrospective

The photos below are a handful of my favorites from a basic flickr search for "Obama".

zyrcster

Barack Obama

happeningfish


Delta Niner

cindiann

Racoles

Scott Beveridge

Joe Crimmings Photography


karen20_20

Doubts about Doubt

From today's Variety, a review of Doubt. Streep does not fare well, alas!

The considerable integrity and strength of John Patrick Shanley’s play prevail despite a questionable central performance in “Doubt.” Stepping back behind the camera for the first time since his misguided “Joe Versus the Volcano” in 1990, Shanley capably retains the power of his study of unsubstantiated moral convictions gone tragically awry, and the extensive opening up of his four-character, 90-minute 2005 Pulitzer and Tony Award winner adds in social context what it loses in sharply focused intensity...

...The film’s one iffy element, oddly enough, is Streep. This master screen actor, who applies a slight New Yawk accent to her phrasings, takes the vocal low road here as opposed to the more forceful approach of Cherry Jones in her riveting Broadway turn. By ostensibly underplaying the role’s villainy, however, Streep overdoes the melodrama, thereby turning Sister Aloysius into more of a stock figure than she ultimately seemed onstage. Every little tic, gesture and facial mannerism seems maximized by the effort expended to minimalize them, to diminished returns in the cause of creating a three-dimensional character. While the dramatic scenes still register with notable force, it’s a disconcerting, unsatisfying performance from a thesp who most of the time rings true. (emphasis mine)

Hmmm.... interesting! They made their bed when they didn't cast Cherry Jones, and now they will lie in it. Still looking forward to seeing Philip Seymour Hoffman, though, who fares considerably better: "Hoffman’s performance is ambiguous enough to make the viewer continue to wonder about Father Flynn and, crucially, to fear Sister Aloysius might actually be right."

change has come

On November 5, 2008, the NY Times used 96-point font across the front page, declaring one simple word: "OBAMA". The paper has used the large font size only three times before - for Nixon's resignation, for the first man on the moon, and for the attacks on September 11th.

I have been finding it very challenging to just wrap my head around this moment. It's inspiring, daunting, and surreal to even try to take in the ramifications of this historic time. The simple headline decision by the Times reflects the weight this will have in the history books - this is a true landmark moment in our country's history.

Oprah had a good show yesterday, interviewing prominent political and media figures and getting their take on this new America we live in. Gloria Steinem said that in the 60's, so many people felt that true democracy was so close. Then when they killed two Kennedys, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr, it was "as if the future died, and now I feel as if our future has come back in an even better form." You can watch the clip here.

"Anybody else wonder who the hell opened that door?"

NPR is telling me that Michael Crichton has died! No! Crichton was the author of Jurrasic Park, The Andromeda Strain, Congo, and my personal favorite, Sphere (terrible movie, but a really great book). He was 66.

things that suck: 27 Dresses

Wow! 27 Dresses is the worst movie I've ever seen! Well, it's definitely in my top five, right there alongside Dante's Peak and Hilary Swank classic The Core. It is the Lipstick Jungle of feature films. Katherine Heigl is just miserable. And Malin Ackerman, oh god. Terrible!

mtv music, where have you been all my life?

MTV has launched new site MTV Music, featuring pretty much every music video you can possibly think of. 26 different Hall & Oates videos... I know what I'm doing tonight.

Wassup 2008

I gotta say I'm surprised that Spring Awakening is closing. I guess my brain is not surprised - a lot of shows are struggling with this shitbowl economy - but my heart just can't believe that it's over. Hype or not, it is a really special show, and I'll be sad to see it go.

Speed-the-Plow

Things I liked about Speed-the-Plow, in preferential order:

1. Raul Esparza's fiery and funny performance. He is far and away the best part of the show. Somebody give this man a Tony for chrissake. This is worth seeing just for him.
2. Elizabeth Moss and Jeremy Piven, who are both also phenomenal, if not as absolutely pitch-perfect as Esparza. Piven is strong as always. Moss completely demonstrates her talent as a first-rate actress, but suffers from a character who is the least compassionately - or skillfully - drawn in the play.
3. The direction, which maximizes the biting energy of the play and creates a thrill ride for the audience.
4. The play itself. The above elements make for fun theater, but ultimately, the play is a little anemic and spends far too long indulging in (and mocking) hippie-dippy philosophy. Also, David Mamet's distaste for women reads a little too loudly in the script. Nevertheless, it's fun theater that's very well acted.

These truthful TV titles are genius.

Wig Out!

I didn't loooove Wig Out!, but I feel like I should have. Chalk it up to a bad night. The wind was howling, the theater was freezing cold, and most New Yorkers were at home watching the Palin/Biden debate, not out at the theater. Those few that were at the Vineyard that night didn't seem to know what they were in for, and when the scantily clad black drag queens sauntered down the on-stage catwalk, the reaction was more "huh?" than "you go girl!" So while I might not have had a fire lit under me as much as I should have by this play, I can still testify that Wig Out! is funny, smart, and completely outrageous, with a lot of style and a lot of attitude. It's smart, complex performances range from total camp pastiche to the real depths of ugly, honest human emotion. Go with your friends and have a few drinks beforehand. It's not often that a play is so outrageously funny and also intellectually challenging.

Wig Out! is playing at The Vineyard through November 16th.

Brokenhearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy coming to Broadway

As rumored, Once is being developed for the stage. Variety reports that the independent film, which won an Oscar last year for Best Original Song, will hit Broadway in the 10-11 season. I loved the film for its easy simplicity, and while the idea of broadway-izing it makes me nervous, this sounds enticing:

Musical will likely include songs from the film’s platinum-selling soundtrack along with others penned by Hansard and Irglova that did not make it into the film.

Zollo said he expected the show be an intimate musical on a scale similar to “Spring Awakening,” probably playing a Broadway house of about 1,000 seats.

Plans by producers John N. Hart Jr., Jeffrey Sine and Frederick Zollo sound pretty interesting, including a revival of THE FRONT PAGE with a man and a woman in the lead roles. They optioned Once a year ago, before the buzz took off, and they've produced great films, so perhaps this is one of those rare film-to-broadway moves we can feel good about.

And if you still haven't seen this film, please, please don't be deterred by the snobby indie buzz. It's one of my favorite films, a sweet, funny, quietly heartbreaking little movie with beautiful songs and characters you can't help falling in love with.

Oooh, this looks like a brilliant idea!!

Hollywood funny man Will Ferrell will make his Broadway debut taking on departing U.S. President George W. Bush in a new Broadway one-man show, according to The New York Times. You’re Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush. will start performances on January 20—Bush’s final day in office—at the Cort Theatre and open on February 1. The limited engagement will play through March 15.

do you love the dance?

I swung by Therapy on Monday for the Jeff Shade Dance Project Fundraiser. If you don't know Jeff Shade, you will, because he is about to be huge in the choreography scene. His work is joyfully inventive, and if you don't believe me, you can go take his class at Steps and see for yourself. I, for one, can't dance worth a damn, but do I love the dance? Oh hell yes. And when Jeff Shade pumps up the Liza Minnelli, I am the greatest star!!! At least I feel that way.

Highlights of the evening included watching Ms. 4thFloorNYC win not one, not two, but THREE raffle prizes without cheating, an auction for free dance classes escalating to a full-fledged dance-off, and an on-fire, down-and-dirty performance by Joe Iconis (surprisingly cute!) & friends. The boys performed a few tunes from Joe's "theatrical rock concert" THINGS TO RUIN, coming up at the Zipper in a few weeks. A little piano pounding and rousing whiskey-soaked choruses, and the whole audience was singing along. T2R is going to be a fun show.

Speaking of Joe Iconis, anybody catch The Black Suits star Krysta Rodriguez on Gossip Girl this week? Girlfriend totally sucked face with Chace Crawford! I bet Krysta does a mean Liza. Just sayin.

Beyonce loves Gwen Verdon

By now, you've probably seen this, but if you haven't, it's genius:



That's right, it's wig-nodding, hip-popping fosse fun! But now, check out Beyonce's video for her new song "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)"...



Holy Cow, thems some similar moves, with or without the white pantsuit!

Update: When asked about the video on BET, Beyonce said she was inspired by the original "Mexican Breakfast" video on youtube and wanted to see if she could attempt it herself.

(thanks for the tip, gus23)

The stock market may be crashing and burning, but here's one thing to smile about: During Frantic Trading, Rick Santelli Finds Toupee on Trading Floor.

Adding insult to injury for the owner of the apparently denuded head, Erin Burnett adds, "Wow, it has a bad part-line, too."

Dream Captcha

The Dream Captcha is getting quite a bit of attention on the web from Moxie favorite blogs like BoingBoing, Neatorama, Gizmodo, and Unpluggd - yeah, I'm a nerd. Pictured above, artist Jeffrey Augustine Songco (aka my good friend and twitter buddy Gus23) explains that "Dream Captcha is a play on the idea of a traditional Ojibwa dreamcatcher and the technology of CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart)." Get it? Hang this above your bed, and your dreams will be free from those pesky ads for cheap pharmeceuticals and offers for larger naughty bits! Or hang it over your computer for the gift of spam-free "sleep". Hilarious, and as Heidi would say, "Beautifully Made!"

A hopeful preview of tonight's debate

Katie Couric has a good video of Palin and Biden's different views on Roe V. Wade. Watch to the end for an added bonus scene where Palin can't name a single other supreme court ruling. When I talked to my mom (a NJ schoolteacher) about it, she named a couple cases she remembered off hand. Maybe SHE should run for VP! She'd be a damn fine leader, and her glasses are way cuter than Palin.

Just got a call from someone at intermission of the Billy Elliot invited dress, "RUN and see this," they're telling me...

Philip Glass Pens Walt Disney Opera. The headline enough was enough to make my jaw drop when I read it in Variety. And just to sweeten the deal, the opera is "to be staged in collaboration with Brit legit troupe Improbable." -- the company co-founded by the creators of Shockheaded Peter!! Awesome! One downside: it's slated for the 2012-2013 season, by which time we'll probably just watch the opera on ipod screens that have been installed inside our minds.

Opera, planned to kick off City Opera's 2012-13 season, will be based on Peter Stephan Jungk's German-language novel "The Perfect American." Story imagines the last months of Disney as seen through the eyes of a fictional Austrian cartoonist who worked for him.

new music

Great band names don't always represent great tunes. Parachute Musical, however, lives up to it's snappy moniker with zesty pop appeal. I like the fun piano riffs on "Dear Jacksonville," and "Instead" is gorgeous. Comparisons to Rufus Wainwright and Ben Folds are well-deserved. Check them out on myspace.

[TOS]

Consider this a gentle reminder that [TITLE OF SHOW] is ending it's Broadway run on October 12th. That means you only have 2.5 weeks to catch the little show that could at it's triumphant apex of achievement!

There's a little rumor that [TOS] might find life after Broadway, but all that is very up in the air, so go catch it this weekend, or next weekend.

I mean Rosie says you should see it, so...

It really is a sweet, delightful, and original musical, and that's pretty hard to come by on Broadway.

things the world does not need

Here is something Broadway doesn't need: A musical adaptation of AMERICAN PSYCHO. Yes, folks, it's true, the macabre thriller is in development for the bright lights of Broadway! I'm picturing How to Succeed meets Chess meets Dance of the Vampires, and that's not a pretty picture. High hopes for a big tap number about high-quality business cards, and a sweet serenade titled "Hey Paul!"

What else does the world NOT NEED? Oh, how about a television show based on 10 Things I Hate About You? Seriously. Casting notices went out yesterday. Blargh!

BEAST

On the list of comedy-killers, torrential downpours and sleepy matinee audiences should be placed right under cancer jokes. Unfortunately, the afternoon performance of BEAST I saw* was subject to both, and the "marauding adventure" felt less like a comedy and more like an incensed playwright's threatening letter to George W. Bush, a letter that happened to exist in the form of a play. Despite the usual fantastic performances by Lisa Joyce** and Logan Marshall-Green, playwright Michael Weller and director Jo Bonney never escape the clutches of the vindictive and angry political agenda of the play, and the characters are seen less as humans than they are as symbols and objects used to illustrate that agenda. Rather than appreciating the story unfolding onstage, I couldn't help but feel subjected to an onslaught of subtextual howls, including "the Iraq war is terrible!" and "we are abandoning our veterans!" and of course "George W. Bush is a total moron!", all of which are sadly true, but don't add up to good and engaging theater. Watching Marshall-Green and Corey Stoll's maimed, scarred, half-crazed soldiers fumble through a series of exchanges with blind prostitutes, backwards truck drivers, and desperate army widows is a lot to ask of an audience. If the point of such a difficult, upsetting journey is nothing more than a grotesque two-hour lambasting of the Bush administration, one has to wonder if there's a better way to incite change in the world.

*I do feel compelled to mention that the performance I was invited to of BEAST was a fairly early preview, and to my understanding, there were still some pretty major changes happening in the process. If they have since found their footing, it's possible that the BEAST onstage now at NYTW is an entirely different animal than the one I saw. However, my personal taste for political dramas is pretty specific, and I particularly dislike the feeling of being a captive audience for a playwright who is preaching to the choir about the evils of war, so it's hard for me to imagine feeling much differently, even if they really nailed it.

**Lisa Joyce is amazing. She really should be more famous by now. She is one of the most consistent and startlingly truthful young actresses today, in a class with Anna Paquin and a select few others. Watch out for this one.

Pssst...

I hear that indie smash hit ONCE is coming to Broadway...

Meme my ipod

Jaime tagged me in this fun meme. Despite my political leanings, turns out I wouldn't make it very far if I ran for president. Above is just one voter's response to my song list! Here are the rules:

1. Turn your iPod (or whatever thing houses your music collection) on shuffle
2. See how long it takes you to get to a song that'll disqualify you from the Presidency.

Here we go...

1. First up is Do Me, Baby, by Prince. "Take me baby... kiss me all over... play with my love" Hmm, the religious right might have a bone to pick with Presidential Candidate Moxie the Maven over that lyric. On the other hand, certain conservatives might really respond to the lyrics, "Well, isnt it supposed to take a long time? Im not gonna stop till the war is over." Moxie for President!! The campaign rolls onward!!!

2. The campaign grinds to a halt with Rainy Day Women Numbers 12 & 35, by Bob Dylan, a.k.a. Everybody Must Get Stoned. Hey, I'm a uniter, not a divider! Republicans, Democrats, red or blue, come on, everybody must get stoned! No? Oh, okay.

I didn't make it very far, but maybe these bloggers will. Gus23, Rocco, Clint, Vera Vogue, and brookLyn gaL, tag, you're it!