The Broadway show thread where we discuss all things Broadway

[MissDisney121]

Yes it is Constantine. I met him after I saw him in Rock of ages.

 

[Buckalew11]

Does this count? I'm going to see Young Frankenstein on November the 9th in Knoxville. I am so excited!

 

[AllisonK]

I saw my friend go on as the lead role in Sister Act on Wednesday and she was amazing! She's the understudy and the lead was on vacation last week (she hadn't missed a show yet in more than 200 performances). I turned around during curtain call (I was pretty close to the stage) and the ENTIRE AUDIENCE was on their feet. It was the coolest thing!

I'm most likely seeing Legally Blonde at North Shore Music Theatre near Boston either this weekend or next weekend with one of my best friends from high school who I haven't seen in a few years! We don't have tickets yet because we still have to pick a day we can go (to coordinate our work schedules lol), but we definitely want to go and it's only about an hour's drive from home.

 

[Nancy F]

Saw How to Succeed and like it. Also liked Godspell. When we saw it Sabastian Bach played Jesus.

I saw Sabastian Bach in Jesus Christ Super Star and I wanted to smack him! All he did was scream. I didn't know he was in Godspell too.

 

[Nancy F]

Got my tickets to see Hugh Jackman on Broadway in Dec. I saw him in Boy From Oz and A Steady Rain. He is Awesome!!!
Nancy

 

[Art 1]

I saw Sabastian Bach in Jesus Christ Super Star and I wanted to smack him! All he did was scream. I didn't know he was in Godspell too.

That's right it was Jesus Christ Super Star, I had it wrong. Yes, he did scream a lot.

 

[Kitzka]

Got my tickets to see Hugh Jackman on Broadway in Dec. I saw him in Boy From Oz and A Steady Rain. He is Awesome!!!
Nancy

Ooo am jealous. Love Hugh wish I were going.

I'm taking DD to see godspell and hoping we can get to Billy Elliott before it closes.

Also want to see Adam pascal in Memphis.

Lara

 

[JenM]

Got my tickets to see Hugh Jackman on Broadway in Dec. I saw him in Boy From Oz and A Steady Rain. He is Awesome!!!
Nancy

I'm seeing him tomorrow. I can't wait!

 

[MissDisney121]

I would of prefered seeing Sebastian Bach in Jesus Christ Superstar. I saw it with Ted Neely the original Jesus from the movie and he has just gotten so old that it was distracting and I also didn't like his voice.

 

[JenM]

Just got back from seeing Hugh Jackman on Broadway. He is amazing!!!

I saw him in The Boy From Oz five times, and in A Steady Rain twice when they were on Broadway, but this was his first one-man show and it was incredible. He did stuff from Oklahoma!, that "I Won't Dance" medley he did at the Tonys a few years ago, he did the whole travelling salesmen opening from The Music Man (and did a whole rap-thing out of it, which was hysterical), and "Soliloquy" from Carousel, which was amazing!

He also did stuff like "Mack the Knife," and "The Way You Look Tonight" (he did that for his wife Deb, which was really sweet), he brought Peter Allen back to do a bunch of stuff from The Boy From Oz (I've missed that show!), and this whole medley from old movie musicals like Guys & Dolls and Singing in the Rain. Plus there was this incredible version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" with Aboriginal singers and didgeridoo players.

He even made a bunch of Wolverine jokes.

He also did a ton of ad-libbing with the audience, which was hilarious. We had some celebrities in the audience too: Angela Lansbury was there, as was Richard Marx and Florence Henderson. He was playing with them all night too.

It was just great! He's just awesome. He didn't sing anything from Les Miz (but the show was so good I barely noticed), but he mentioned he was doing the movie. I don't think the lady in front of us knew about that - she said "OH MY GOD!" really loud and started flipping out.

It was just great. Definitely see it if you get a chance!

 

[Deb in IA]

I would of prefered seeing Sebastian Bach in Jesus Christ Superstar. I saw it with Ted Neely the original Jesus from the movie and he has just gotten so old that it was distracting and I also didn't like his voice.

We saw him a few years ago too, back before the Paramount Theater in Cedar Rapids got flooded! DD said the same thing; "Mom, Jesus is OLD! He isn't supposed to be an old man, since he died when he was 33!" But actually, I think Ted Neeley's voice has gotten a bit better with time. In the movie, he borders on whiney, while now, he sounds more gravelly and "aged".

The best Jesus was Ian Gillian, from Deep Purple, in my opinion.

Just got back from seeing Hugh Jackman on Broadway. He is amazing!!!

I saw him in The Boy From Oz five times, and in A Steady Rain twice when they were on Broadway, but this was his first one-man show and it was incredible. He did stuff from Oklahoma!, that "I Won't Dance" medley he did at the Tonys a few years ago, he did the whole travelling salesmen opening from The Music Man (and did a whole rap-thing out of it, which was hysterical), and "Soliloquy" from Carousel, which was amazing!

He also did stuff like "Mack the Knife," and "The Way You Look Tonight" (he did that for his wife Deb, which was really sweet), he brought Peter Allen back to do a bunch of stuff from The Boy From Oz (I've missed that show!), and this whole medley from old movie musicals like Guys & Dolls and Singing in the Rain. Plus there was this incredible version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" with Aboriginal singers and didgeridoo players.

He even made a bunch of Wolverine jokes.

He also did a ton of ad-libbing with the audience, which was hilarious. We had some celebrities in the audience too: Angela Lansbury was there, as was Richard Marx and Florence Henderson. He was playing with them all night too.

It was just great! He's just awesome. He didn't sing anything from Les Miz (but the show was so good I barely noticed), but he mentioned he was doing the movie. I don't think the lady in front of us knew about that - she said "OH MY GOD!" really loud and started flipping out.

It was just great. Definitely see it if you get a chance!

Oh, I am so GREEN with envy!!!

LOVE Hugh Jackman, and I would die to see him live someday!!!

DS is doing Music Man for his high school musical right now, and DH sang the Solioquy from Carousel for a voice recital once. I thought Hugh was going to do a movie version of that also - I think he owns the rights to it.

 

[disbabyndaddy]

FINALLY saw Billy Elliot on Broadway tonight.

It's one of my favorite movies, and I saw the London production twice when I was there a few years ago, but I hadn't gotten to the Broadway version - and of course, now it's closing in January (in other news, Spiderman continues it's reign of terror on Broadway for the forseeable future )

The show was terrific! Somehow we ended up in the front row, which was actually really cool. There were a few changes from the London show - they take some time to explain the miners strike, the beginning of Act 2 is a little different, and the audition scene is totally different (I liked that part better in London).

There was also a whole fuss in the theater forums that the swearing in the show was being dropped...but I only noticed two swear words that were changed. One of Billy's f-bombs was changed to "bloody hell" and the other changed to "flippin'". No big deal - the show still had plenty of swearing, which I was happy to see wasn't cut completely, because that was just dumb.

But it was such an amazing show...so sad that it's closing.

DARN...I hadn't heard it was closing. I haven't been to NYC in ages and was hoping to go in the next year. I'm bummed I'll miss BE! My young friend, Kara, was in the ballet chorus for a year & a half ("Keeley"?) and just moved to MARY POPPINS in May, rotating the role of Jane Banks with two other girls. I'm so jealous of that kid...13 years old and two Broadway shows under her belt! And here I am in Indianapolis plugging away with a day job and doing theatre in town when I can...

Just got back from seeing Hugh Jackman on Broadway. He is amazing!!!

Your review makes me SO want to hop on a plane right now!! I saw Hugh Jackman in THE BOY FROM OZ, and though I H-A-T-E-D the piece (maybe I wasn't in a good mood that day, ha!), he was fantastic! Sounds like he has a fantastic show on his hands....INCREDIBLY jealous.

 

[JenM]

Oh, I am so GREEN with envy!!!

LOVE Hugh Jackman, and I would die to see him live someday!!!

DS is doing Music Man for his high school musical right now, and DH sang the Solioquy from Carousel for a voice recital once. I thought Hugh was going to do a movie version of that also - I think he owns the rights to it.

I love Soliloquy. That song is incredible.

He was so awesome. I think we were barely 10 feet out of theater before we started talking about seeing it again. That version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" blew me away.

The ad-libs he did were really funny. He sang "Fever" and got the audience to snap their fingers along with him. Then he pulled a guy from the audience up on stage to dance on stage with his dancing girls for a few minutes. Then he asked him if he'd ever done any theater, and it turned out Ron had been in Oklahoma!, so the two of them ended up singing "The Farmer and the Cowman"...finally Hugh just went back in the audience and sat in Ron's seat and watched him sing the rest of the song.

Later, when he showed up in the boxes as Peter Allen - he sat on a woman's lap. The other one got a little grabby, so he said "Look, I know a lot of things are legal in NY now, but I'm pretty sure that's not one of them!"

I love Carousel! I believe he still has the rights to the movie, but they were having trouble finding a studio willing to do it (movie musicals still being a somewhat iffy prospect, unfortunately). I read that he really wanted to get Anne Hathaway as Julie, anow she's playing Fantine in the Les Miz movie, so that ended up working out!

Playbill has a very quick video from the show here - "Tenterfield Saddler" was a song that was cut from Boy From Oz in NY, so we finally got to hear it in this show: http://www.playbill.com/multimedia/video/4776.html

DARN...I hadn't heard it was closing. I haven't been to NYC in ages and was hoping to go in the next year. I'm bummed I'll miss BE! My young friend, Kara, was in the ballet chorus for a year & a half ("Keeley"?) and just moved to MARY POPPINS in May, rotating the role of Jane Banks with two other girls. I'm so jealous of that kid...13 years old and two Broadway shows under her belt! And here I am in Indianapolis plugging away with a day job and doing theatre in town when I can...

That is awesome! Those ballet kids looked like they were having a blast up there...it's so funny watching kids who can really dance have to pretend like they can't.

I remember watching a video of the guy playing Burt in Mary Poppins giving a tour around the theater, and when the kids were rattling off how many shows they'd done before, he admitted "These kids have done more Broadway shows than I have..."

Your review makes me SO want to hop on a plane right now!! I saw Hugh Jackman in THE BOY FROM OZ, and though I H-A-T-E-D the piece (maybe I wasn't in a good mood that day, ha!), he was fantastic! Sounds like he has a fantastic show on his hands....INCREDIBLY jealous.

BFO was an OK show, but the whole cast was so good and Hugh was so outrageous (the last time I saw it Elvis Costello was in the audience and he got him up on stage to play a song with the band) that we kept going back to see it again. It was so much fun, I didn't realize how much I'd missed it until "Peter" made his reappearance last night.

Of course...now I'm watching the Wolverine movie on blu-ray. Can't get enough Hugh!

 

[BrdwayBoy]

War Horse is still amazing. I can't recommend this one enough - pure theatrical magic. I'm getting excited for Spielberg's film version this Christmas!

Billy Elliot - I had to go back to see Emily Skinner as Mrs. Wilkinson; She was great... but everyone just seemed to be going through the motions.

How to Succeed... - I was prepared to not really enjoy the show, but I had an absolute blast! Daniel is a charming leading man (his singing sounds *much* better live) and Rose Hemingway (Rosemary) was really wonderful; I'm definitely a fan! My only complaint would be that sometimes there was too much choreography... for example during "The Company Way" the male ensemble was doing so much with the mail, that I don't think I ever looked at the two men who were singing the number.

Lysistrata Jones - I always try to find *something* good about every show I see. This is the first the show where I honestly can't find a single thing that I liked. The cast is working their behinds off, but there isn't anything to work with. The male lead can't sing, and the music doesn't help. Stupid plot, boring, sometimes bizarre choreography. I was so disappointed, I was so looking forward to just having a fun night. *AVOID* this show if you can.

Next up: Sunday I see Harry Connick Jr. in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.

 

[jlmarr]

How to Succeed... - I was prepared to not really enjoy the show, but I had an absolute blast! Daniel is a charming leading man (his singing sounds *much* better live) and Rose Hemingway (Rosemary) was really wonderful; I'm definitely a fan! My only complaint would be that sometimes there was too much choreography... for example during "The Company Way" the male ensemble was doing so much with the mail, that I don't think I ever looked at the two men who were singing the number.

I remember that! Lots of stuff happening in that number. Besides Radcliffe and Larroquette (Tony winner for his role) we liked the Smitty character (Mary Faber). Did a nice job with "Been A Long Day".

 

[Missy1961]

Wicked was awesome!

 

[Deb in IA]

Wicked was awesome!

I TOTALLY agree!

Saw it for the second time on Saturday (touring company, in Des Moines).

Got third row seats!!!
Loved being able to see the actor's faces, especially the part when Galinda "makes over" Elphaba. Hilarious!!

Amazing show. My second overall favorite musical, behind Les Mis!

 

[AllisonK]

I saw Lysisitrata Jones on Saturday and thought it was fun! I saw it off-Broadway and enjoyed it (because I'm a nerd and like Greek plays and wanted to see how they updated it) and I think it was clever.

I actually liked seeing the changes they made from off-Broadway to Broadway and wile I loved the environmental staging in a gym (it's a musical about basketball and cheerleading so it worked REALLY well in the gym) I was glad I didn't have to worry about getting hit in the face if a basketball went astray... (I sat in the 2nd row off-Broadway and there were a few times I ducked because they were SOOOOOO close to me) It's not a serious show and the plot is (very) thin, but the music is catchy and my friend, who had never seen a Broadway show, really enjoyed it, too!

 

[MissDisney121]

I TOTALLY agree!

Saw it for the second time on Saturday (touring company, in Des Moines).

Got third row seats!!!
Loved being able to see the actor's faces, especially the part when Galinda "makes over" Elphaba. Hilarious!!

Amazing show. My second overall favorite musical, behind Les Mis!

I'm glad you enjoyed the show. I always worry when it is a different cast than the last time I saw it that it won't be as good as before but I'm really excited to see it again. I saw it twice the last time it was here and I'm going once this year on Thursday (my birthday actually).

 

[elgerber]

I'm glad you enjoyed the show. I always worry when it is a different cast than the last time I saw it that it won't be as good as before but I'm really excited to see it again. I saw it twice the last time it was here and I'm going once this year on Thursday (my birthday actually).

I have seen Wicked with 4 different casts, in 2 different states. Each cast has been absolutely stellar!!! I can't believe the talent I have seen playing Elpheba!