? Something Rotten

[stlrod]

Posted: 5/29/16 at 11:18am

Brian d'Arcy James seemed to be having a lot of fun milking the applause yesterday while Christian Borle smirked and rolled his eyes a couple of times (in a nice way.) Is that normal or was it due to the weekend being James' final performances? 

Updated On: 5/29/16 at 11:18 AM

[Hairspray0901]

Posted: 5/29/16 at 11:41am

I was there 2 weeks ago and they were hilarious - acting up for Brian's final go-around. Christian completely improvised a scene like I've ever seen him do before. Spit something out of his mouth and it landed on the conductor when he entered as "Toby belch".  Brian lost it and started laughing on stage and while trying to compose himself, instead of saying his line he said "what was that?!" And Christian replied saying something along the lines of he does magic now. Brian asked what kind of magic and they were both laughing as well as the guys on stage and he was like you know...magic...and Brian then asked him if he could be a walrus. Christian looked shocked and laughed and said "maybe later". So then a few lines later, he said them with his hands at his mouth like he had walrus tusks and they started laughing again. It was great. After that, throughout the rest of the show, they would smile at eachother and stuff. I asked One of the ensemble members what was going on and she said they're joking around because Brian is leaving soon. She said Christian is starting to do things on stage to get Brian to crack, for fun.

[HSky]

Posted: 5/30/16 at 1:52am

The atmosphere was also very playful for tonight's final performance by Brian d'Arcy James. Some of it was what you'd expect, such as a hearty round of entrance applause. At the end of "A Musical," Brad Oscar deflected the applause, and at the end of "Omelette," the cast was cheering for him and took a step back to give him the moment.

James was savoring every moment he had on stage. There was an added bounce to his step and I'm pretty certain he danced at times he normally didn't. There were little things I noticed like kissing the Omelette egg at the start and end of his soliloquy that I don't recall. John Cariani received a huge smooch on the cheek at the end of "Bottoms Up."

The best parts were with Christian Borle. The tap dance battle had extra flourishes by both. Borle added extra moves during a pause before completing the line "..and Romeo and Juliet" while James prolonged the toe circle and jumped in the air to answer "Yes" to being the author of Omelette.

Then there was the improv during Toby Belch's intro scene. As Toby sought his audition, he was asked to sing a song ("Accompaniment?" "No, a cappella." to see if Nick would hire him. Borle asked James for a topic that he eagerly provided - having a baby. Borle turned around, did the focus and center gesture, then started singing about "having something come out of him." After he was done, he asked if there was also a dance call, and James laughed and then picked back up on the script by hiring him. As they exited, Borle pulled an Oprah and kept pointing to the troupe while exclaiming, "And you get a Toby, and you get a Toby, and..."

Oscar started tearing up during his curtain speech, then James thanked the House staff, producers, etc. before acknowledging that he loved spending time with people who had become family on stage. He also thanked the repeat fans and encouraged them to come see Rob McClure take over the "silly pants." 

Updated On: 5/30/16 at 01:52 AM