Profile for wolfwriter

Just back from BATB at Papermill. An excellent production, marred only by the usual issue at PMP....the single worst theater audiences anywhere in the world, at any level of theater.

But, more about the good stuff (and there's a lot of it). They spared no expense on the production. Sets, costumes, lighting were top notch. And that cast. Holy crap. One person better than the next. 

Belinda Allyn is a perfect Belle. Tally Sessions is insanely good as the Beast. I sai

Surprised I couldn't find a past thread for this show. I didn't have the chance to catch this in 2016 so I was glad it returned. I should be careful what I wish for. This vulgar, superficial 75-minute slog was infuriating and maddening, but not in the way the creators intended, I'm sure.

How this ended up on so many "best" lists boggles the mind, except that the unchallenged, theatrical echo-chamber, presents another play about race, to predominatel

ArtMan said: "



Now, Cher, on the other hand, lip syncs her whole show and you pay $200+ for the "privilege."

And yet, the majority of concert goers insist she is singing live and her voice sounds "the same as years ago"

LOL

A few years ago at Barclay's, Cyndi Lauper opened for her. Big mistake. Cyndi sang live & was as good as I've ever seen her. Then, Cher came out faked everything but the

SweetLips22 said: "What's the outcome of someone who is obviously lyp syncing? Can you get a refund ? Do you have to 'prove' it. A lot of ads say, which I think is stupid--'live, in person'.

Manilow lyp synced the opening number when I saw him 30 years ago but then continued 'live'-or I think he did.

I certainly wouldn't sit through an obvious mimed performance, good or bad, I paid for live singing.

If the excuse is tha

JBroadway said:  Not that the subject matter doesn’t have value, but something about it struck me as the kind of show that would have a lot of narration (which I hate), and nothing really of value to say that a quick read of Stone’s Wikipedia page couldn’t.

JBroadway, you actually get more from the Wikipedia page.

I give them credit for trying to not be one of those biographies that does one bullet point after another, but this is an unsa

"For all the barriers she broke down, Toni Stone remains a relatively unknown figure in history."

So says Todd Haimes in his Playbill message.

Sadly, after 2 1/2 hours spent with her, Toni Stone still remains a relatively unknown figure in history.

I was really looking forward to this for a number of reasons. It's a new play so that's always exciting. I've loved baseball since I was a little kid and I love to learn abou

Terrence McNally is an odd playwright. He either over-writes or under-writes each of his plays, of which I've seen many. Some are garbage (Mothers and Sons and Deuce). Some are not very good but are entertaining (Master Class & The Ritz).

Frankie & Johnny is one of those that's over-written but mildly entertaining. It's too long by half an hour and the second act becomes dull and repetitive.

Unfortunately, whi

RippedMan said: "Perhaps I missed the set up to the song, so that could very well be just what it is. But I thought basically that this famous couple would come to town, and Lilly and Zach would be mistaken for them, etc. But clearly that never happened. So I might have missed something."

You may be totally right and we may have read something into it that wasn't there.

I did ask my companion what he thought about the song, but I didn't tell him&n

RippedMan said: "I have to agree with the Act 2 opening. It’s all about a famous movie star coming to town with their girlfriend - an interracial couple - so I thought it might play into the Lily/Zach storyline somehow, but it didn’t. So not sure what the point of that was? It’s a great song, and love Saycon’s moment in it."

This is an interesting take on that song. I never once thought the song was about them actually coming to town.

E

For an entire week, Octet held the title of my favorite musical of the year. It has been completely  dethroned by The Secret Life Of Bees, an exceptional piece that left me emotionally wrecked in the same way Fun Home, The Band's Visit and Next To Normal did. 

Thankfully, this made up for the Friday's visit to the dreadful Burn This. This beautiful show more than erased that me

Dave Malloy is a genius.

If you can score a ticket to Octet, do yourself a favor, turn off your cell phone and go.

I've seen almost all of them and this is the best musical of the year.

How anyone can sit down and write an acapella musical about technology and internet addiction and make it thoughtful, interesting, profound and wildly entertaining, is beyond me.

I think it may be best to go into this as cold as possible. Don't let t

Being a Sam Shepard fan, I had high hopes for this production. Ultimately, this is just an okay production of a dated play that is really showing its age. That doesn't mean it didn't hold my interest for 2.5 hours, it's just that this production seems to amplify the flaws in the play instead of working around them.

The production begins with, what I guess you would call, a jarring coup-de-theatre that the remainder of the production never actually tops.

Shepard&

mattyp4 said: And Wolfwriter, I would argue that Beetlejuice is an EXCELLENT choice to have been given the musical treatment. The film is inherently musical, with those two established Harry Belafonte numbers. (I agree with your friend-- they are absolute highlights.) Its zaniness & fantastical nature lend itself well to other musical moments. We're already suspending belief so much. Why not add songs?!"

My homework this weekend is to watch the film, @mattyp4, so

Strange parallel to All My Sons, is a story out of NJ, today, about a business owner accused of selling $1.9 Million worth of "fake" airplane parts to the United States military. 

It always fascinates me when life imitates art and vice versa.

https://www.nj.com/news/2019/04/nj-business-owner-admits-he-sold-us