Defying Inequality

If you're looking for countless hours of musical theater fun via youtube, look no further than Defying Inequality. The recent event was a four-hour cornucopia of Broadway love, with everyone from Bebe Neuwirth to the Spring Awakening kiddies performing their big hits, retooled for the evening's gay rights purposes. Check out Check out Shoshanna Bean and the Gay Men's Chorus of NYC. And the whole starry gang from Prop 8: The Musical! AND Mark Indelicato (from Ugly Betty) singing Seize the Day, from NEWSIES! Lynda Carter singing Hit Me With A Hot Note? It doesn't get any better than this folks.... or does it? See below:

Hunter Parrish in Spring Awakening

Speaking of Spring Awakening, it seems that people out there are dying for the dirty details on the hunky new Melchior, Hunter Parrish. I haven't seen him play the role, but I have seen him on Weeds, and here's what I know: 1) I don't care how young he is, boy is damn sexy and I would definitely hit that. 2) There's a video of him in rehearsal right here. Anybody seen him yet? Care to share?

Hunter Parrish in Spring Awakening?

This blog Tapeworthy says that Hunter Parrish, who plays Silas (Mary-Louise Parker's older son) on Weeds, is going to replace Jonathan Groff in Spring Awakening. Who knows if it's true, but Parrish is awesome on Weeds, and if he can sing as well as he acts, he would make a fierce and edgy Melchior. Hey interweb superhighway, anybody out there heard this?

Shiek 1; Frazen zip.

“The dexterity [Franzen] displays in simultaneously riding our coattails and stabbing us in the back certainly proves him quite the limber ‘populist.’ Though his apparent conflation of Chloë Sevigny and Avril Lavigne drew a chuckle, it serves less as a critique of the musical than as evidence that, very much like all the adult characters in Spring Awakening, Mr. Franzen is hopelessly out of touch, mired in his own self-interest, and just doesn’t get it. His confusion about pop culture aside, I’m delighted it’s now a matter of public record that not only is Franzen a world-class curmudgeon, but he’s a baldly opportunistic one at that.”

That's Duncan Shiek's letter to the editors of New York Magazine, in response to author Jonathan Frazen's lambasting of Spring Awakening. New York couldn't resist going to Frazen for a response quote, and here's the best he could do:

“It is Mr. Sheik’s and Mr. Sater’s production that is riding on the coattails of Frank Wedekind’s Spring Awakening. Whether the musical also stabs the play in the back is up to theatergoers to decide.”

That's all you got, Frazen? Sorry, Creme La Douche, you lose. Shiek 1; Frazen zip.

For the record,

Fuck Jonathan Frazen. Even if he hated the Spring Awakening musical, why does he have to publish his senseless vitriol in the introduction to his own new adaptation? As the Post hints, the desire to publish a new adaptation is pretty obviously rooted in the musical's massive success. I think the whole thing is really embarassing for Frazen, and some of his comments seem to indicate that he just doesn't get the theatrical medium at all. For example:

The hand-wringing young Moritz Steifel, whom Wedekind had kill himself over a bad report card, is transformed, in the musical version, into a punk rocker of such talent and charisma that it's unimaginable that a report card could depress him.

Umm... looks like Frazen missed the memo about Spring Awakening's songs being metaphorical expressions of the characters' inner emotions. It's not like Moritz was debating, "hmm, should I kill myself, or follow this punk rock thing and join a band??" What a douchey imbecile.

Also, doesn't he kinda look like director Jonathan Silverstein's evil twin?



And if there's any doubt about dude's douchetasticness, read a bit of what he had to say about turning down Oprah's book club.

Good Casting

I hear that Spring Awakening's Brian Johnson is playing one of the three little piggies in the Shrek workshop. So cute! So cute!


Also, if you're curious, Jason Moore (Ave Q) is directing, with book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire (has he done lyrics before? he wrote the book of High Fidelity, but not the lyrics) and music by Jeanine Tesori (Millie, Caroline, or Change).

I'm not all about turning cartoons about animals and mythical creatures into fully staged musicals, but I'd be first in line to see Brian with a twirly tail.

Which reminds me...

Spider pig, spider pig, does whatever a spider pig does.

Hot new poster artwork for Spring Awakening

Spring Awakening has a bunch of new posters up post-Tonys, and I'm so happy to see that they're finally getting the artwork and marketing right. Here's the new billboard that went up yesterday:


Okay, it looks a little bit like it belongs in front of the Nederlander, but it's pretty cool, eh? Especially in comparison with the image we've all seen a million times of the stocking-clad legs. That image feels like it's trying to be sexy, it's saying that the show is racy, where this new billboard is bold and confident and actually makes the cast look as cool, hip, and interesting as they are.

I can't find a picture of it, but I also really love the new posters around town with the black and white photo of Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff. Again, instead of saying "this show contains sexuality, and teens!" the artwork is beautiful and intriguing - like the show. If anyone can find the image somewhere on the net, leave the link in the comments, s'il vous plait!

Update: Here's the other poster I like - thanks, Jeff!! There's also one of just Lea & Jon Groff that's pretty sizzlin', too.

"Celibacy is the only sane response to a world gone wild. My porno films feature fully clothed men making business deals."

I haven't had the mental capacity to post on anything too brainy recently. Work is busy and annoying, which unfortunately leaves me in a mood to post more about Travolta's embarassing antics than about the state of American Theater. However, I have to take a break from the fluffernutter to talk about my new favorite show, Passing Strange.


Comparisons between Passing Strange and Spring Awakening are kind of inevitable - they both are about youth, growing up, and challenging authority, they both have hot lighting by Kevin Adams, and they both not only have rock scores, but succeed in actually rocking.

However, where Spring Awakening is tight and purposeful, Passing Strange is loose, messy, and interpretive - and all the more engaging for it. The story follows an African-American teenager as he gets the hell out of Dodge (Dodge being beige-colored suburban LA), finds passion in music, and experiments with art, revolution, sex, music, and love. His search for love, understanding, and "the real" is set against the backdrop of Amsterdam and Berlin in the 1970's, when words like freedom and love and revolution were said with passion and without irony.

Daniel Breaker plays Youth, with a small ensemble representing everyone from his mother's conservative church friends, to the free thinkers of Amsterdam's hash bars, to the bizarre anarchists of Berlin's artistic underworld. The entire ensemble is really, really remarkable. They use different accents, movement, choreography, all kinds of stuff that could smack of grad-school interpretive acting class, and make it communicate in an completely authentic, never schticky way. Props also go to movement coordinator Karole Armitage who doubtless played an important role in keeping the movement organic and central to the storytelling.

The conducter of the train is Stew, the co-creator, narrator, and band front man who has the perspective needed to tell this story of his own youth with gravity, wisdom, charm, and humor. He also is a powerful performer who rallies the audience, transforming us from a room full of strangers into a community in a way that I've honestly never experienced in a theater.


As is sometimes the case with shows like this that evolve out of a non-theater idea, and take non-traditional routes with storytelling, the show is a bit patchy. The momentum chugs along, but is occasionally derailed by an extraneous plot turn or narration when there should be action. But between the poetry, depth, and humor of the piece, and the kick-ass cast, Passing Strange is pretty transcendent. Don't miss it.

Don't forget...

Spring Awakening is on The David Letterman Show tonight! Moxie hears they'll perform The Bitch of Living. Show starts at 11:35 on CBS.

Review: Grey Gardens (finally)

Was it the unbelievable amount of hype? The low energy of a Tuesday night at the theater? Or just the fact that I wasn't really feelin' it? I finally caught Grey Gardens last night, and while I think it's a beautiful show, it just didn't give me the chills I expected. I feel like everybody gets so rabid over Christine Ebersole's performance, I just couldn't help being underwhelmed. I finally understand why people feel that Spring Awakening's hype ruined it for them - when you miss seeing a show when it has all the momentum, and then have to listen to everybody under the sun get all orgasmic over it, enjoying it that much yourself feels unoriginal and forced.

The things I loved:

The stage pictures. Some beautiful moments, like the news clippings at the top of the show, a distraught Little Edie running down the stairs and out the door at the end of act one, and Mary Louise Wilson sitting in bed, feebly unable to open the can of cat food. Like Coast of Utopia, there are moments of the show that stick in my brain like little fires still burning.

I also really liked the use of the two young girls, embodying so much hope and entitlement in act one, and I loved them as the cats in act two.

I also thought Erin Davies did an admirable job at a very tough role. She has to be innocent and hopeful, but also tip her hand as to the recalcitrant, dramatic, petulant woman she will become (and has always been, in some ways). I can't imagine Sara Gettelfinger in this role - though she's very talented, she seems much too adult and hard for Young Edie.

And of course, you have to hand it to Christine Ebersole. Everyone raves about her as Little Edie, but I found her Edith to be every bit as strong of a performance. Edith was strong and forceful but very weak inside, and embodied with spot-on accuracy the kind of truly toxic mothers who use both insults and affection as deadly weapons. I was pleasantly surprised by her Little Edie's sense of humor and sarcasm, still being lighthearted in such a dark place. I thought it was kind of cool that this woman would be so shunned, yet have such a caustic wit instead of endless self-pity.


What I wasn't thrilled with:

What's the deal with the score? So many songs seemed shticky or just inconsequential. How about "Marry Well" and "Hominy Grits"? Both songs are there for a reason, yes, but it just seemed like there were better ways of telling us how the family feels about marriage, and just how inappropriate Edith's attention-grabbing is. It seemed, in both numbers, that they filled the void by having the cute young girls skip around with some cutesy choreography. These, and some of the other numbers (the patriotic one in act two felt waaay overblown, too), just felt like time that could have been better spent.

I also expected the story to be told in a more dynamic way. We know from the prologue what happens to Grey Gardens and to Little Edie. So what story is really being told in act two? The story to be told is that Edie decides to leave, attempts to leave, and then realizes she cannot. I wish the arc of that journey had been more compellingly and excitingly actualized in the book and lyrics. When it comes right down to it, I was a little bored.

Let it be known that this is why I hate seeing Broadway musicals months after they've opened. I have no doubt that on opening night, Grey Gardens was a flourishing triumph, with plenty of conflict and excitement and tension and all that good stuff. However, after a few months, the rough spots stick out like sore thumbs, and the lagging energy is fully palpable. I felt the same way at Company a few weeks ago - I left fantasizing about how much more exciting it must have been when it was fresh and new.

Also, now that I've seen Spring Awakening and Grey Gardens, I have to say that SA feels like the Tony winner for best musical. I find SA so exciting, the energy so high, that Grey Gardens feels stuffy and stale in comparison. Of course, if I'd seen the first preview of GG (as I did SA), I bet I'd feel quite differently.

Aww... Spring Awakening goes to Fashion Week!

John Gallagher Jr. and Jonathan Groff modeled in Jill Stuart's show at Fasion Week! Moxie can just hear Heidi Klum's little chipmunk voice... "These boys, they are very hip, very fresh, very new. I want one in every color!"

Photo courtesy of broadway.com.

Turistas Go Home!

Variety reports that Broadway box offices are at a record high this year (due to high attendance, but also skyrocketing ticket prices... not so good). Meanwhile, Gothamist says that NYC tourism is at a record high, as well. The city is full of Brits, looking to cash in on America's pitifully weak dollar. Check out this depressing illustration:

Would that Moxie was a sassy cockney lass, pockets stuffed with pounds rather than dollars here in the Big Apple! The crowds are pretty heinous, but the other night after a fabulous night at Spring Awakening, Moxie and her little bro' overheard an adorable mop-headed child say to his mother, "you know what I notice about New York City? All the women wear high heels." And then for a brief moment, it was every bit as magical as when I was little, and awestruck at the bright lights of Broadway.

Times Sqare photo courtesty of brianramnath on flickr.

Interesting Spring Awakening Tidbits

The theater world seems so Spring Awakening-obsessed, Moxie has shied away from posting about it here (for the most part). But we do love it (more than anything else on Broadway, in fact) and we've been following Broadway World's ongoing interview series titled "Going Geeky on 'Spring Awakening'".

Here's an interesting tidbit from part 3 of the series, and interview with Michael Mayer and Kimberly Grigsby. Here's a cool tidbit about a part of the show that Moxie has always been curious about:

BB: ...Most of the scenes are played very straightforward. The actors talk and relate directly to each other in the scene, and then the songs are done kind of a concert scenario with the microphones. Except for one scene between “I Don’t Do Sadness” and “Blue Wind”. The scene itself is done on the mics, and I was wondering what your reasoning was for taking that scene specifically in such a different way?

MICHAEL [MAYER]: It’s a complicated, and here’s a really geeky, answer. There are lots of reasons for it, but I would say there are three main reasons. One is the stupid, obvious reason which is I knew I wanted them to be singing at those mics for their songs and getting them from the scene to those mics was a complicated, near impossible thing to do without it being really awkward. That was one thing but number two, the second reason is that in the play itself, I mean the source material, we find out at the very end of the play that the masked man, which doesn’t exist anymore, says to Moritz in the graveyard, “I came to you once before and I tried to stop you from killing yourself”. Scholars have agreed over the decades that what that refers to is that he sort of, as a shape shifter, had come in the form of Ilsa. So it wasn’t really Ilsa, it was the masked man in disguise as Ilsa. So that means that the actual scene between Moritz and Ilsa as originally written by Frank Wendekind a hundred and some odd years ago wasn’t a real scene and that they never really connect. Which they don’t, right? So she says, “Come with me” and he says, “I can’t” they’re really in their own world. And the third reason is that it was an homage to Elizabeth LeCompte, the director and artistic director of the Wooster Group and I’ve just always been a fan of theirs and I just thought, you know, I really believe in the theory of the avant-garde which is that the avant-garde is there for the practitioners. It’s not there for the general public and so people like me who are not such brilliant artists but the ones who have more traffic in the commercial world and real people, we go to see the work that is done by the true masters and the true innovators like Richard Foreman and Elizabeth LeCompte and Peter Brook and people like that, and we take from them and we sort of make it accessible. Anyway, so that’s why. Those are the three reasons.

Cool! Moxie never would have guessed that Ilse's mysterious appearance in the second act had that kind of back-story behind it. It makes Moritz's death a lot sadder, imagining that Ilse is actually the spirit of a grown-up Melchior, attempting to save his friend's life. Of course, there's no easy way of incorporating that into this staging, but we're glad to know it nonetheless.

Part 1 of the series was an interview with Stephen Spinella (a favorite of Moxie's from his stint on 24 last season). Spinella talked about the beginning of his own career as an actor, and how he owes much of his success to his long friendship and collaboration with Tony Kushner.

SS: Oh yeah, Tony Kushner [and I] met when we were in graduate school in NYU and we had an extended argument one afternoon in the student lounge about, y’now the relative merits of the Village Voice verses the New York Review of books and we sort of became friends and he started directing stuff. He was in the directing program and I was in the acting program. And he put me in a couple of projects and that summer he wrote a play called “The Age Of Assassins” which I don’t think has ever been published, and asked me if I would do it. If I remember right it was a four hour evening in a very small theater on 18th street and the cast had about, I don’t know twenty different actors in it. It was a huge, huge production.

BB - How long was the process between when “Angels of America” started to come into development and when it hit Broadway?

SS - Well, we were doing another play called “Bright Room Called Day” and that was about 1985 and he said he had an idea. We were talking one afternoon, he said he had an idea to write a gay play and it would be just gay men and his preliminary idea was that it would include Roy Cohen, at least one Mormon character and it would deal with AIDS. Then the Eureka Theatre in San Francisco picked up “A Bright Room Called Day”. They actually came to see the production we did in this tiny theater on 22nd street. They decided to do the play at the Eureka and while he was doing it there with Oscar Eustis. Oscar Eustis was then the artistic director of the Eureka Theatre who is now running the Public Theatre. Oscar asked Tony, y’now if he had a gay play because it was San Francisco and Tony said, “Well I’m thinking about this play that would include Roy Cohen, a Mormon character and it would deal with AIDS.” And he said “well, if you can write it for the company I’ll commission it.” The Eureka Theatre company had three women in it and one man. So the play that originally was supposed to be all men now had to include three women, so he created the angel, Harper and Hannah. And by bringing those characters in the thing sort of grew exponentially and that’s how it turned into a two evening play.

Spinella goes on to explain how much impact Angels in America had on his career:

I mean that made my career. I didn’t have a career before that. I mean I hadn’t done anything really significant. I don’t think I had more than two paying jobs in New York City before I came in with that over a ten year period. I had done some regional stuff and a couple of interesting projects, but it was all regional stuff and that changed everything. That absolutely changed everything.

Aww... just one more tale of people who "grow up" together in the theater, and then both end up being so accomplished. Moxie wonders which writers of our generation will end up being the Tony Kushners of the world.

Is Nellie McKay dating Michael Cerveris?

Because if so, that is SO HOT. They arrived at the Spring Awakening opening night party together. Check out their matching coolness factor - Nellie looks like she's already over Spring Awakening, Tavern on the Green, and life, while Michael has that sexy sideways I'm-up-to-no-good thing going on. Maybe Nellie can write a rap about him, and slyly refer to him as the masked man. BEST. COUPLE. EVER.

Also, Moxie is just enchanted by the lovely father and daughter, Chuck and Lili Cooper. So cute!

You can check out all the Spring Awakening opening night photos at broadwayworld.com.

"The Bitch of Living" Video

Broadway.com has posted the world premier music video of "The Bitch of Living," from Spring Awakening. Nothing new for those who saw it at The Atlantic, but just as rockingly enjoyable as ever.