DH and I are planning a trip to NYC May 27-30 to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. We both love the theatre and we're discussing what shows to see during our 4 day trip. We prefer musicals and even saying that, we want to be entertained. I'm leaning toward Bright Star as I'm a big Steve Martin fan I'd also like to see Something Rotten. Is Beautiful still playing? That's a possibility, too. How about A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder? Thoughts on Waitress? A show called She Loves Me is reviewed in Time Out New York, and that looks good too. I listen to Seth Rudetsky on the Broadway channel on Sirius, and I think I'd really enjoy Disaster! (Is that an oxymoron?) So many shows, so little time (and money!)
We've seen Les Miserables probably 50-60 times (lived In London and it was our favorite show, and if there was a touring company wherever else we happened to be assigned, we saw that performance too.) You haven't seen Les Miz until you've seen it with a Chinese translation running overhead! We've seen Phantom countless times, Cats, Evita (DD#1 played Evita in her high school Thespians production), Grease (both DDs played Rizzo in high school performances), Anything Goes, 42nd Street (Catherine Zeta-Jones' West End debut), Chess, The Book of Mormon.
Saw spring awakening last night and really enjoyed it! Thought it was done beautifully.
Also spotted Daveed Diggs picking up his dinner between shows... Which was a highlight for us!
It was a total fangirl moment.... I'm imagining we looked like two 12 year olds at a one direction concert (people still like them right?).
If I had spotted him a few moments earlier I would have gone up and told him we thought he was amazing in Hamilton but he was paying and walking out and I felt bad....
When we lived in London, DD#1 (she of "Evita" fame) decided she wanted to try her hand (and voice) as a West End musical theatre actress. She figured the best way to do this would be to meet someone who was already in a show and get some advice. So one evening after seeing Les Miz for about her 10th time, she went around to the stage door after the show, waited for one of the actors playing one of the students, and when he came out, she stuck her hand out, said "Hi, I'm (her name - I promised never to mention my DDs' real names on these boards) and I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the performance tonight," "Thank you. I'm Nick. Would you like to go for a drink?" She explained that she was at the show with her little sister, but she'd love to have coffee with him the next day. They exchanged phone numbers, he called her the next day, they had coffee, and became fast friends. He told her where to get the best head shots, when and where auditions were being held, suggested audition material and introduced her to his cast mates. She did go to several auditions, but unfortunately, no jobs ever materialized. She's not unhappy about the way her life turned out, though. My DDs call hanging around the stage door after a show "spooking." I once saw Graham Bickley (one of the many Marius's we saw in London) at a newsagent across the street from the Palace Theater at about 1:30 pm on a Saturday afternoon. I said "Excuse me, aren't you supposed to be in make-up right about now?" He looked at his watch, said "Oh my God! You're right! Thank you!" And off he went.
Done right, Broadway HD could bring
quality Broadway performances to so many more people than who have access or dollars to see many productions. The majority of America have no idea what a Broadway calibre role is. Right now, many people think Gerard Butler is a GOOD Phantom of the Opera.
They need to hear Michael Crawford blow the roof off of the Phantom role.
And they think that singing/talking thing that Hugh Jackman did was singing Jean Valjean. (Wait for it, there's one poster here that goes BONKERS when anyone says ANY negative word against Les Miz.

)
They should be exposed to Colm Wilkinson's performance or even Alfie Boe - who's currently playing Valjean on Broadway, and whom I've had the great pleasure and
privilege to see on his second night - and not just the 25th Anniversary concert version on PBS.
A woman after my own heart! DD#2 has a book about the making of Les Miserables, and at the first meeting of the entire cast and crew, Trevor Nunn was summarizing the story and noting where each song would come in. When it came time for "Bring Him Home," Colm Wilkinson sang it for the group for the first time. When he was finished, you could hear a pin drop, and Trevor Nunn said "See, I told you it was a song about God" to which an unidentified cast member replied "Yes, but you didn't tell us you had engaged Him to sing it."
I love this thread!
Queen Colleen