Is Mary Rodgers Guettel a real-life Livia Soprano?

From The New Yorker:

Mary [Rodgers Guettel], who is the composer of “Once Upon a Mattress,” among other shows, is now in her forty-sixth year of marriage to Henry Guettel, the theatrical producer and her second husband. She had six children, including Adam Guettel, the composer of “The Light in the Piazza,” and five grandchildren. “All of them are musical, but nobody is a genius,” she said. “I don’t believe you can judge a genius by the way he treats the human race. He may be as mean as a snake, and my father often was. But a genius gives back—oh, my, does he ever.”

So basically, she's saying that though her son is "musical," he will never be as accomplished as her dead dad, who was talented but abusive. Cool.

Wait, WHAT?!? Shame! Shame!!! Adam Guettel composed Lincoln Center's last hit musical, The Light in the Piazza. He won a little thing called The Tony Award for that show. He has also composed several other very beautiful musicals that some might even prefer to "Once Upon A Mattress." But that is hardly the point....

What kind of mother tells The New Yorker that their son is "musical", but not a genius? What the fuck is the point of saying something so incredibly invalidating in such a public forum? Oh, that's right - to remind your son that no matter how lofty his achievements are, he will never be good enough to please you. Wow.

A little light googling reveals this glimpse into the psyche of such a parent. Here's what she said on PBS about her father. The whole thing is sad:

''I don't think anyone really knew who he really was, with the possible exception of one of the five psychiatrists he went to,'' says Mary Rodgers on PBS. ''And I'm sure they didn't know either. I don't think he knew. He was just all locked up in there, grinding out gorgeous stuff.''

Review: Passing Strange

“What IS Passing Strange?” This is the question that many friends have asked upon hearing that I’ve seen the show four times now, and loved it each time more than the last. And even after several viewings, it’s not a simple question to answer. This two-and-a-half hour trip through the mind, musings, and memories of a guy named Stew is more rock concert than Broadway musical, and more visceral current of experience than straightforward story.

What it is about, to boil it way down, is the coming of age experience of a middle class black kid from L.A. From his rejection of the beige-toned suburban life, through the cafes of Amsterdam, into the underground art scene of Berlin, the story is a sort of historical fiction based on Stew’s own experiences traveling abroad in his youth.

Though Passing Strange isn’t an outright political piece, politics played a noteworthy role in the creation of the piece. Observe the word of Stew:

We have GWBush to thank for this play. Seriously. When I found out that he had never been to Europe in his youth (or in his adulthood until he becme prez!!!) I immediately knew I wanted to write a play about a kid who wanted to go to europe. That fact about Bush said a lot to me about America's lack of interest in anything foreign except that which it can exploit (always to exploit – never to learn from). Can you imagine an uber-privileged billionaire's son from any other country that would not have been curious enough to travel to a foreign country or two or 3 or 20? Especially when you're talking the kind of money where you already OWN a few airplanes yourself? As someone whose experience abroad informed and shaped my very being and consciousness about everything from sexuality, politics, culture, language and human nature, I became obsessed with this factoid and decided this incuriosity was at the heart of the war. I realized that we are actually suffering the results of Bush's and his cronies' incuriousness… their dimwitted foreign policy time and again shows that beneath it all these fuckers don't even care about trying to understand the world they wish to dominate.

After years of development, the final product is a musical that is truly unlike any other I’ve seen - different in form, style, message, and music than anything you would expect to see on Broadway. Stew, creator and composer, narrates the show from centerstage, with his band onstage amidst the action and occasionally even piping into the scenes. Stew shows us himself at a younger age (“Youth,” Daniel Breaker), with a fiercely talented supporting cast that takes on the variety of friends, family, lovers, and comrades whom Youth knows, loves, and inevitably leaves, “right when it was starting to feel real.”

Back when Passing Strange was at the Public, I said that "between the poetry, depth, and humor of the piece, and the kick-ass cast, Passing Strange is pretty transcendent." It's even stronger in it's more robust Broadway staging, and still completely unmissable. Check out the show's awesome website here, where you can download songs for free!! See? It really is the hippest show on Broadway...

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?

West Side Story Broadway Revival: It's ON!

How am I only now seeing this?

The years of rumors are finally coming true - West Side Story is ON. They're planning for a run in D.C. followed by Broadway in February 09. The musical's librettist, Arthur Laurents, will direct - just like the current production of Gypsy.

About the revival, Laurents had previously said it would be "radically different from any production ever done and contemporary to boot."

- playbill.com

They are casting young (18!) for this, which is smart. First love just isn't as thrilling when it's happening to 28-year-olds. No doubt, cutie Krysta Rodriguez will be somewhere on that stage. But who else? Karen Olivo? Jonathan GROFF?

[photo via broadwayworld.com]

Oh No.

And the award for #1 Rumor I Hope is False goes to: K-Fed may be coming to Broadway.

The Drama of Spitzer

This is the problem these guys get into: they're so morally rigid and puritanical in real life (and on some level, so responsible for this priggish world we now live in) that when they get caught committing victimless crimes, everyone thinks they should be punished for sheer hypocrisy. But they shouldn't really.
-Nora Ephron, via The Huffington Post

Well said! It's about time someone addresses the ridiculous hyper-reactive way that we've come to deal with Politicians Behaving Badly.

When Larry Craig did whatever he did in the bathroom stall, was it surprising? Of course, because he seemed like such a massive homophobe. But as Ephron goes on to say, "It's one of the things you have to admire about Senator Larry Craig: he's still there. And who can say he's doing a better or worse job than he was before? And compared to whom in the United States Senate?" It's true - why should anybody have to step down from their job because of some naughty bathroom antics? And why should we believe that the other elected officials are any less morally ambiguous?

Of course, Spitzer broke the laws in several ways that I find abominable. And perhaps he should step down. But I can't help but find the Shock! and Outrage! almost as repulsive and laughable as the crime committed.

So here's the solution. In the future, all public elected officials will obey Erica Jong's new code of ethics:
1. Pay hookers in cash.
2. Think globally, act locally: don't cross state lines to get laid.
3. Don't use "George Fox" as a pseudonym.
4. If using a pseudonym, make up a phony address. Revealing the marital residence on Fifth Avenue is a bad idea.
5. Don't try to avoid using condoms with women named Kristin.
6. Never send cash by mail.
7. Be skeptical about institutions with sexist names like The Emperor's Club.
8. Don't yell at investment bankers on the phone.
9. If you are famous for closing prostitution "rings," don't frequent them.
10. While in public office, fuck your own wife -- unless you are in French politics.

Three things that are making today awesome

1. Whole wheat everything bagel. mmm.

2. Baseball season is coming! The mets pre-season is on, and my boys are looking real good. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy to see them playing again. Damn, I love this team.

3. Seeing Elizabeth & the Catapult tonight. If you could take happiness, kites, and rainbows, put them in the blender and turn the concoction into music, it would sound like this band.

meme-tastic!

Oh boy, I got memed! Jaime, who tagged me, explains the feeling perfectly. "No one loves being tagged more than girl grown-up after a childhood of exclusion. Hey kids, it's okay if junior high was miserable - when you're grown up and have a blog, it'll be that much more exciting when you get tagged with a meme." Girl, you read my mind.

The rules: Look up 15 of your favorite films on IMDb and take a quote from each. List them below. When someone guesses the quote correctly, I cross it off the list. NO CHEATING.

So here are quotes from 15 of my favorite movies, in no particular order - the ones that have been correctly guessed are in italics:

1)
- Repeat after me. Pepper.
- Pepper.
- Pepper.
- Pepper.
- Waiter, there is too much pepper on my paprikash.
- Waiter, there is too much pepper on my paprikash.
- But I would be proud to partake of your pecan pie.
(When Harry Met Sally, way to go Jaime!)

2)
After that it got pretty late, and we both had to go, but it was great seeing Annie again. I... I realized what a terrific person she was, and... and how much fun it was just knowing her; and I... I, I thought of that old joke, y'know, the, this... this guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, "Doc, uh, my brother's crazy; he thinks he's a chicken." And, uh, the doctor says, "Well, why don't you turn him in?" The guy says, "I would, but I need the eggs." Well, I guess that's pretty much now how I feel about relationships; y'know, they're totally irrational, and crazy, and absurd, and... but, uh, I guess we keep goin' through it because, uh, most of us... need the eggs.
(Annie Hall, way to go Audiomaverick!)

3)
- I hate to use the word 'tourist' but it's not like I can hide it...
- Not really.
- [sigh] Did you know it took me three hours to get here from the airport? I got so lost. LA's one big place, but I guess you don't notice, seeing as you live here. Im such a yokel, there I said it!
- Oh jeez. You know what? I got gum on my seat. GUM!
(Speed, well done 4thFloorNYC!)
4)
- I can't seem to stop singing wherever I am. And what's worse, I can't seem to stop saying things - anything and everything I think and feel.
- Some people would call that honesty.
- Oh, but it's terrible, Reverend Mother.
(The Sound of Music, nice one Anonymous!)

5)
But wouldn't it be great if number one this Christmas wasn't some smug teenager but an old ex-heroin addict searching for a comeback at any price? All those young popsters come Christmas Day, they'll be stretched out naked with a cute bird balancing on their balls and I'll be stuck in some dingy flat with me manager, Joe, ugliest man in the world, fucking miserable because our fucking gamble didn't pay off. So if you believe in Father Christmas, children, like your Uncle Billy does, buy my festering turd of a record.
(Love Actually, way to go Audiomaverick!)

6)
I decided to stop pitying myself. Other than my eye, two things aren't paralyzed, my imagination and my memory.
(The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, way to go Jaime!)

7)
Do you find me sadistic? You know, I bet I could fry an egg on your head right now, if I wanted to. You know, Kiddo, I'd like to believe that you're aware enough even now to know that there's nothing sadistic in my actions. Well, maybe towards those other... jokers, but not you. No Kiddo, at this moment, this is me at my most... masochistic.

8)
- Can we get somebody over here to kill these mice for us?
- No. They belong to Chas. Or anyway he invented them.
- Get him to stick them in a fucking cage or something.
(The Royal Tenenbaums, way to go Ken!)

9)
And cause I was a gazillionaire, and I liked doin it so much, I cut that grass for free.
(Forrest Gump, way to go Audiomaverick!)

10)
*That's* what you get! Ha Ha! Look at you! Ya ship's all banged up! Who's the man? Huh? Who's the man? Wait till I get another plane! I'm a line ya friends up right beside you! Where ya at, huh? Where ya at? ...Welcome to earth.
(Independence Day, way to go Audiomaverick!)

11)
- Do you feel alone right now?
- Oh, I dunno. I mean I'd like to believe I'm not but I just... I've just never seen any proof so I... I just don't debate it anymore, you know? It's like I could spend my whole life debating it over and over again, weighing the pros and cons and in the end I still wouldn't have any proof so I just... I just don't debate it anymore. It's absurd.
- The search for God is absurd?
- It is if everyone dies alone.
(Donnie Darko, well done Michelle!)

12)
That was the summer of 1963 - when everybody called me Baby, and it didn't occur to me to mind. That was before President Kennedy was shot, before the Beatles came, when I couldn't wait to join the Peace Corps, and I thought I'd never find a guy as great as my dad. That was the summer we went to Kellerman's.
(Dirty Dancing, way to go Audiomaverick!)

13)
Final report of the commercial starship Nostromo, third officer reporting. The other members of the crew, Kane, Lambert, Parker, Brett, Ash and Captain Dallas, are dead. Cargo and ship destroyed. I should reach the frontier in about six weeks. With a little luck, the network will pick me up. This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off. [to Jonesy the cat] Come on, cat.
(Alien, well done 4thFloorNYC!)

14)
The space goes down, down baby, down, down the roller coaster. Sweet, sweet baby, sweet, sweet, don't let me go. Shimmy, shimmy, cocoa pop. Shimmy, shimmy, rock. Shimmy, shimmy, cocoa pop. Shimmy, shimmy, rock. I met a girlfriend - a triscuit. She said, a triscuit - a biscuit. Ice cream, soda pop, vanilla on the top. Ooh, Shelly's out, walking down the street, ten times a week. I read it. I said it. I stole my momma's credit. I'm cool. I'm hot. Sock me in the stomach three more times.
(Big, way to go Anonymous!)

15)
I smell varmint poontang. And the only good varmint poontang is dead varmint poontang, I think.
(Caddyshack, nice one Anonymous!)


Okay! Hey Jeffrey, Rocco, Alison, (what the hell) Manolo, and (double what the hell) Michael Musto - TAG, you're it!!

damn right, it's better than yours.

[via kottke]

Critics love Passing Strange

Hate to say I told you so, but it looks like I'm not the only one who digs Passing Strange.

David Rooney/Variety:

...a magical mystery tour that fuses aspects of concert, concept album, cabaret and revivalist meeting. Significantly finessed since last year's Public Theater run, this idiosyncratic odyssey toward self-knowledge explores universal questions of identity with the specificity and wry insight of autobiographical experience. It's boldly atypical Broadway fare that pulses with a new kind of vitality.

Terry Teachout/Wall Street Journal:

It's also the freshest musical in town, in part because Stew (whose real-life name is Mark Stewart) and his songwriting collaborator, Heidi Rodewald, are either ignorant of the conventions of musical comedy or don't care about them. Most likely they're more knowing than they let on, but it doesn't matter: "Passing Strange" is the most original Broadway musical since "The Light in the Piazza," and my guess is that it is headed for a long, profitable and influential run.

Charles Isherwood/New York Times:

Although it is far richer in wit, feeling and sheer personality than most of what is classified as musical theater in the neighborhood around Times Square these days, its big heart throbs to the sound of electric guitars, searing synthesizer chords, driving drums and lyrics delivered not in a clean croon but a throaty yelp.

Here's my review from Passing Strange's run at the Public. Miraculously, tickets are still available on TDF for many upcoming performances. I'll be there on Sunday, and these great reviews make me more excited than ever to see what they've done with the show.

[The great illustration above is from The New Yorker]

Tobias Segal: Future STAR!

Tobias Segal rocked the house in that sweet play at the Women's Project last year, Victoria Martin: Math Team Queen. Then he rocked the house even more in that sweet and awesome play at Playwrights Horizons, Doris to Darlene. He is nerdy and awkward and wonderful. Today he started rehearsals for From Up Here, MTC's play starring Julie White and a gaggle of other actors who I love. Brian Hutchison, Aya Cash, Arija Bareikis, Will Rogers, and a few others. But that's not the point. The point is that this Tobias Segal kid is going to be a STAR. STAR!

Yes, Yes, Everything Rocco Just Said!

The ever-delightful Rocco over at What Blows writes:

"GO SEE 'GRACE' RIGHT THIS VERY INSTANT!!"... That's what I've been telling everyone I run into. I've been wringing my hands for a week now trying to think of something smart to say about it, but the play is so loaded with great thoughts and ideas, I'm reduced to just giving orders. I can say, without hesitation, that Lynn Redgrave is giving a performance that I know will win Obie's and Drama Desks, and Lortels (oh my!). And the last 20 minutes are completely unforgettable."

Me too, me too! It is just so fucking good, and Lynn Redgrave is giving a performance I will remember for the rest of my life. I dare say, her performance here far outshines that of a different Redgrave actress I can think of in a play I saw last season. This is a rare gem of a play, truly special. Please don't miss it. As Rocco also advises, "Use code "GRTM" for $45 tickets." Do it!

**UPDATE: Thanks to Secret Agent Girl who posted in the comments, I'm pleased to tell you that if you're under 30, you can show up at the box office 2 hours before curtain and get $20 tickets. Do it!

Blogging the Oscars '08

Here I am folks, liveblogging the Oscars, again! Don't be fooled, there are countless swanky parties I could be at, but I CHOOSE to be here, with you, dear blog reader. Okay fine, I got nothing. Oh it's starting! I'm always surprised by just how much I love Jon Stewart. I love that little look he gives the camera after one of his nastier jokes, the look that says "kidding... yikes".

I can't BELIVE how well Amy Adams pulled of "Happy Working Song"! She walked out there so alone on that big huge stage, no projections of little cartoons rats and roaches or anything to amuse us but her - but she sounded amazing and acted the hell out of it! Props to her! Huge props!

Is it weird that I get really psyched for Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction? Sweeney Todd really deserved it - the whole films was so beautifully, meticulously designed that the less effective factors in the movie were barely even noticable.

Javier Bardem - what a shoo-in. Anyone else notice when Regis called his Xavier Bardem in the pre-show?

Ooh it's the song from August Rush. Maybe this will make me want to see the movie? Uh oh. There's an alto in there who is horribly flat. Wow. These kids can sing. Too bad they get to sing a catchier song to sing at the freakin' Oscars. Oh, it's over. Nope. Still don't want to see August Rush.

A bee montage? The periscope montage from earlier got me all confused. I can't tell if these are joke montages or not anymore.

Supporting actress time. Oscar loves little girl thesps, but Oscar also loves cross-dressing... who will it be?!?! (Fingers crosses for Amy Ryan)... Ah, but Oscar also loves a class-action lawsuit, so Tilda Swinton wins. She looks like a very beautiful grasshopper. And she's talking about her agent whose got Oscar's ass! Brian Swardstrom of Endeavor is getting a lot of ass-related texts right now.... and hey, a little googling reveals that he DOES look like the Oscar! Here he is with my girlcrush Eva Green in Cannes (courtesy of wireimage):

Mmm Josh Brolin and James McAvoy. Can't... blog... so.... sexy... No Country for Old Men wins Best Adaptation. The Coens are so nerdy and funny! Still thinking about James McAvoy's accent though. Good lord. Ridiculously attractive.

And now, the moment us musical theater superfans have been waiting for, Kristin Chenoweth performing "That's How You Know" from Enchanted! That dress she's wearing is so serious and muted, though. Why? Where's the Disney palette? Where's the fun? Ooh, I don't know about this. I don't feel the magic. I miss Amy Adams! They should have combined both Enchanted songs into one big Dreamgirls-style montage and had Amy do the whole thing.

Julie Christie seems like a big shoo-in, too. But my heart is with Marion Cotillard. YES! YES! YES! She wins! If you haven't seen this film yet, please do. She is luminescent, miraculous, and unrecognizable, she disappears so completely into the character.

Once. "Falling Slowly". They give me chills. Love, just love those two.

You know what's striking about the Best Picture montage? 79 best pictures, and so many of them musicals. Gigi, West Side Story, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Chicago, and more. We are such romantic emotional creatures, we humans, and a truly great movie musical gets us every time. I love that.

Another song from Enchanted? I forgot about this one. Too bad the kid can't really sing. How'd they find a dancer who looks just like Amy Adams? Millions of viewers think it's really her dancing right now. OH my god that high falsetto note was AWFUL! They wish they hired Gavin DeGraw to sing that song.

Scientologist John Travolta presents the Oscar to Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova for their song from Once! Yes! Yes! Three cheers! I love them! Hooray! "Make art!" says Glen Hansard. ...and, I LOVE that she came back out to give her thanks! She speaks beautifully about hope, and how great achievement is fair play for those who dare to dream. Fantastic!

A sad moment to remember those cinema greats we've lost this year. Kitty Carlisle Hart, I'll miss you. Suzanne Pleshette. Deborah Kerr. Ingmar Bergman. Heath Ledger, whose name fills the screen over a glorious, triumphant swell of music that feels all wrong.

Amy Adams is delightful, even as a presenter for Best Original Score. She explains the great artistic achievement that is an incredible score. They play Rocky. Everyone nodds their heads in agreement, it is awesome. Atonement wins the Oscar. Okay.

Tom Hanks tells us that the troops are still at war, and we want to include the kids in Baghdad in the 80's Annual Academy Awards. They present best docu short. They look so young. Gotta see No End In Sight. Sicko is great. Don't be scared! See it!

Now seems like a good time to mention that this year's Oscars set looks a lot like a prettier, more tasteful version of The Little Mermaid on Broadway. Those ugly columns under the sea that everyone complains about? They look like that, but more embellished and translucent.

Defamer is also liveblogging the Oscars, check it out.

Diablo Cody wins the Oscar! Holy Shit! She clasps hands with Ellen Page and Jennifer Garner is falling out of her seat. "What is happening?!?" she says, as she thanks the writers. The room is filled with love. Diablo cries and thanks her family "for loving me exactly the way I am."

Have to share what Defamer's livebloggers said about the final Enchanted performance:

We get it. Enchanted is an enchanting movie with lots of wonderful songs. Now can someone shoo Lumière and the rest of the gang of the stage? And we're officially drunk, so can someone clarify: Is that Amy Adams? Or an Amy Adamalike? And who the hell is singing? Where's Simon Cowell when you need him?! OK, we think we need a bathroom break.

Lumiere! Hilarious! Great minds, Defamer.

Lead Actor time. Helen Mirren struts out, walking like she's got a dagger in her bodice. Roll the nominees. Wouldn't Johnny Depp be a surprise? He will have vengance. He will have salvation. The shoo-in, Daniel Day-Lewis wins, of course.

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen win the Oscar for Best Achievement in Directing. Martin Scorcese looks very, very short when standing next to them.

Denzel Washington will tell us which film will become the 80th Best Picture. Atonement, Juno, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men, or There Will Be Blood? No Country for Old Men wins the Oscar! Cormack McCorthy is on his feet in applause! Scott Rudin says this is a big surprise!

And that's the night. No, thank YOU, Jon Stewart.

Terrence Howard out of Cat for Six Weeks

Is this Cat on a Hot Tin Roof revival cursed, or just plagued with lunacy and bad decisions? The whole thing strikes me as having a river of crazy running through it. Kenny Leon quit and was replaced by... Debbie Allen? And then they cast Terrence Howard, only to now have him leave the show for six weeks to go do a movie. He'll be out April 15-May 22nd, and the show's limited run ends on June 15th. Weird weird weird.

Definitely, Maybe: Kinda, Mostly Good

Took my valentine (aka my roommate) out for a romantic movie date to see Definitely, Maybe. It's a sweet movie. Not a slam dunk, but a respectable romcom that will make you want to have like 17 big New York Romances, which is refreshing after the zillion romcoms that just make women think "must marry! must marry!" Couple other thoughts:

1. Abigail Breslin is starting to annoy me. She is acting her face off, and it's not cute.
2. Isla Fisher is my favorite. Just so sweet and fun and lovely.
3. Ryan Reynolds is slightly cross-eyed. What's the deal? Why is no one talking about this??

also, on a different note...

This I hate. God knows La Lohan is many things, and I kinda almost love her, but Marilyn Monroe she ain't. And that sad fact just makes the whole thing exploitive and icky.