Just got back from my Broadway trip!

[n2nbaby]

Posted: 6/29/14 at 12:33pm

7 shows in 5 days! Figured I'd write some mini reviews...

TUESDAY...
Cabaret

This was my main reason for the trip. I love Sam Mendes and Michelle Williams is one of my favorite actresses, so she was far and away the main reason I wanted to see it. When I got to the theater to pick up my tickets, there were people in front of the theater saying that she would not be performing at that performance. I was pretty gutted. I know it sounds stupid but I've never been disappointed by seeing someone's understudy before, that night was not the case. I stayed for the show though, everyone was very good. Andrea Goss was very good as Sally, she had an excellent voice and her acting was heartbreaking. Alan Cumming, Linda Emond and Danny Burstein were all great too. As for the show, I found it just a tad overrated. It was an excellent production but I felt it was a bit too long and the ended felt like it was just tacked on for shock value. Still, had a great time. Still bummed about Michelle but you win some, you lose some. Hopefully she is staying past August and I can get a chance to see her. B+ Oh and everyone is right about the rear mezz at Studio 54. :P Most uncomfortable seats ever. I still have bruises on my knees.

WEDNESDAY (matinee)...
Violet

I didn't really want to see this but my friend really wanted to, so I got HipTix is the fourth row mezz. They were wonderful seats. That being said, I wasn't a fan of the show. Didn't really enjoy any of the score and thought it was incredibly dull. The acting was good (not great) from everyone but... I just didn't enjoy it much. It was a well put together production, I just wasn't into it. C

WEDNESDAY (evening)...
Bullets Over Broadway

I went to see this because I love Zach Braff and I've heard some really wonderful things from friends. It wasn't perfect but I had a ton of fun with it. It was light, entertaining, fast paced and incredibly funny. A perfect throwback to the hold musicals. I also loved the music and thought most of the music fit into the plot really well. Nick Cordero was out but his understudy James Moye was wonderful, very funny. I was never a fan of Marin Mazzie but I loved her here. Betsy Wolfe, Helene York and Karen Ziemba were all great here too, as was Zach. Brooks Ashmanskas really surprised me. I thought he was hysterical and he was actually really hot too. The rush seats weren't bad, the stage was very high but I didn't miss anything at all. Stage door wasn't too crowded and Zach Braff is literally one of the nicest celebs I've ever met. I congratulated him and told him that Garden State is in my top 3 movies of all time and how much I loved The Last Kiss, he talked to me for about five minutes asking me questions about certain movies, where I was from, etc. Very sweet. A-

THURSDAY...
Hedwig and the Angry Inch

I got there at about 7:45AM for SRO. I was the fourth in line. I thought it was going to be a terrible experience because of how long the wait was but honestly, it was the highlight of my trip. The people that were a head of me and the two behind me all warmed up to each other incredibly quickly. We talked, played charades on the sidewalk. It was wonderful and I made some really great friends in that line. Couldn't have been more pleased. Also, another shocker... I WON LOTTO. I couldn't believe it, I was the last name called. I never win stuff like that. The view was fine (I was in the left box). The room from SRO was definitely better though. I'm not sure what kind of seats they hand out for lotto besides the ones I got. Oh, also Adam Kantor was there for lotto. I've met him briefly before but I talked to him, very nice guy (and good god is he beautiful). In attendance that night were Anne Hathaway (who a friends mother from the line actually sat next to because she bought a cancelation ticket right before the show), Dakota Fanning and Cynthia Nixon. As for the show... Wow. Best show I've seen on the trip by far. Beautiful, hysterical, heartbreaking. It's hard to find the words to express how much I loved it. Just a fantastic evening and worth every second I waited in line for. SEE THIS SHOW. A

Friday Night...
Heathers: The Musical

I was never a fan of the movie and wasn't looking forward to this. I was actually surprised. Charissa Hogeland was on as Veronica and she was fantastic. It was a little shocked how much she looked and sounded like Anna Kendrick though. If I didn't know better I would have thought it was her. Some of the songs weren't very good but a good chunk of the score was excellent. B

SATURDAY (matinee)...
Pippin

As someone who saw the original cast, I was disappointed. I do agree with others that it has lost a bit of it's magic. The acrobatics were actually quite sloppy (many of them not even landing, I'm not sure if it was just an off day but there were tons of screw ups yesterday afternoon). I wasn't a huge fan of Patina but I really hated Ciara Renee's performance. She was terrible. She did the weird breathing thing before every line and it was incredibly annoying. Kyle Dean fared better but I didn't love him. Annie Potts was decent. John Rubinstein stole the show, he was hysterical. Rachel Bay Jones is still wonderful and Sabrina Harper has really settled into Fastrada since the last time I saw her. Glad she's going on tour. This is a wonderful production but unfortunately the production I saw yesterday just didn't capture the magic. The original cast I'd give an easy A, yesterday's performance would be a B or so. As for the stage door, Kyle Dean couldn't have been sweeter. Ciara though... I don't even get why she came out. I don't know if she was having an off day, didn't feel good or whatever but she was a miserable human being. She came off as such a diva. Didn't crack a smile, barely said anything to anyone and when people asked for a picture she kind of rolled her eyes and stood there until the picture was taken and walked away. I'm all for people not coming out but she was a little ridiculous. Why even bother? Many others waiting said the same thing after she walked away.

SATURDAY (evening):
The Cripple on Inishmaan

Absolutely wonderful. Everyone was fantastic in this. Incredibly funny and moving. The rush seats were terrible though. The stage was RIDICULOUSLY high and there were a few scenes you couldn't see at all. As for the stage door situation, we didn't bother. We were the first people out of the door after the show and there were already over 40 people at the barricade of people who saw the show. When I went outside at intermission to have a cigarette, people came out and stayed at the stage door without seeing the second act. So rude and didn't give anyone a chance.

All in all, I had a wonderful trip. Met some awesome people and some great new friends. See Hedwig, people!!! Sorry for such a long post lol

[Cupid Boy2]

Posted: 6/29/14 at 1:00pm

Sounds like you had a great trip! Thanks for sharing your reviews. I saw Cripple yesterday and my rush seat was in a box, which I was initially worried about since it looked like a lot would be obstructed. It turned out that I didn't miss a thing, though, given that the entire show was played downstage. It's unfortunate that those who show up to the box office earlier end up with the obstructed seats like you had, but nonetheless, I'm glad you enjoyed it! It was a really terrific ensemble piece.

[broadwayboy972]

Posted: 6/29/14 at 1:26pm

Wow! Sounds like you had a really fun trip. I'll be in New York in August and I can only see 2-3 shows. I've got tickets to Gentleman's Guide, and I was considering Pippin... not sure now after your review of it though. Any tips for Hedwig SRO?

[n2nbaby]

Posted: 6/29/14 at 1:37pm

The last person who got in for Hedwig came around 11AM and the only reason they got in was because I won lotto. If I hadn't they wouldn't have gotten any tickets. The biggest thing I can say is make friends with the people that you are in line with. I don't know how the line usually is but we had a great group. We let each other go as they had to (use bathroom, get food, etc) and it wasn't a big deal at all. There was one crazy person there who was angry that my friend and I switched out for an hour and a half thinking we were going to buy more than 2 tickets. Then she went on Craigslist and found a post saying someone would sell a SRO spot for $150 and that they were in line all day. We all thought it was a scam though because we called and texted and they never answered. The number was from Miami, which nobody in our line was from. They ended up buy incredibly fake tickets for $79 (center orchestra, 10th row). They were insane, then they were screaming at the box office for the fake tickets LOL Crazy people...

Sorry for that long post, I just wanted to share that story. So definitely get there early, as long as you are with some great people, you will have a wonderful time. Like I said, I think I actually made some life long friends a couple days ago. Also, none of us had any issues with sitting on the sidewalk like some have reported and the first people there brought a chair with them, nobody said a word. They had 12 SRO spots.

As for Pippin, if you haven't seen it I would say go for it. It's still a VERY GOOD production, it just seems tired. My friend who hasn't seen it though, so I'm pretty sure the only ones noticing are the ones who have seen it before. The audience went crazy for it.

I also REALLY recommend seeing Bullets. It's an easy rush and the show is wonderful.

Cupid Boy, you were in rush yesterday?! I've always wanted to meet someone from BWW. I was the second person in line wearing an Evil Dead t-shirt and a pair of jeans. I was also about 75% asleep until about 9:30AM.

[ethan231h]

Posted: 6/29/14 at 2:07pm

Ok so I do agree Pippin has lost a little of its magic but the audience STILL goes crazy with it! I have seen this production now 24 times! 11 times with Patina and Matthew, once with their understudies and 12 times with Ciara and Kyle Dean. I think and I know my friends do that Ciara is really good in the role! She is mean but she also puts a little laughter into it, and all of the times I have staged doored with Pippin and Ciara came out she has always been so so so so so nice and was willing to take pictures, so maybe she was mad or something! Anyway I though Kyle Dean was a little old but I liked his singing and his acting was like identical to Matthew's . As for the acrobatics, this past Thursday Pippin welcomed like 5 new acrobats so obviously it was kind of whacky. It was their first few performances :) I think Annie Potts was excellent the past 11 times I saw her, though I think Andrea was better! And I totally agree with you about John, and Rachel they are hysterical! I saw John's first performance, and with Sabrina I only saw her once as Fastrada so yeah I kind of forgot, hahahah. Anyway glad you liked the production overall!!!!

[n2nbaby]

Posted: 6/29/14 at 2:11pm

I did enjoy Ciara in the finale. I didn't find Patina to be mean enough or have the edge that the Leading Player should have. Ciara DID find it by the end, though the rest of the time she was too busy gasping for air and not dancing well, so it didn't really matter.

I'm glad you had good experiences with her but she was 110% a diva yesterday afternoon. I DID compliment her, I said "I really loved how dark you made the ending. Your acting was excellent!" because that really was the only compliment I had for her and she just said "oh.. yeah. Cool.." literally. Word for word. She was just miserable, I couldn't get over it.

[DAME]

Posted: 6/29/14 at 2:16pm

Annie Potts is excellent and in my opinions has a slight edge over Andrea. The whole energy of the show however is just different now. And for me it has to do with the show settling in to it's long run and the audience that is coming in now. Very different crowd then the show was getting during it's hot ticket phase.

Updated On: 6/29/14 at 02:16 PM

[ethan231h]

Posted: 6/29/14 at 2:46pm

I do commend Rachel Bay Jones, I mean she's been in the show for more than a year now and she still steals the show with her comedy! She also continues to update how she says things, which i love! Also i'm crazy for not saying this before I saw show also on thursday and the audience went CRAZY I was spurred or maybe it will just continue to be like this!

[mikem]

Posted: 6/29/14 at 3:46pm

n2nbaby, thanks for sharing and it sounds like you had a great trip! To give Ciara (whom I have no connection with) a little bit of slack, I don't think any actor comes out of the stage door intending to give off a bad impression. I wonder if she either wasn't feeling well, she had a weird encounter with someone before she got to you, or she got some kind of disturbing news or something right before she came out. It sounds like she normally isn't that way.

[ethan231h]

Posted: 6/29/14 at 5:06pm

The only thing I could think of with her odd behavior is that today 4 or 5 cast member in the ensemble are leaving but I don't think she would be rude because of that.

Updated On: 6/29/14 at 05:06 PM

[broadwayboy972]

Posted: 6/29/14 at 6:42pm

So should I see Pippin or If/Then when I'm in NYC... I would love to see both but only have time to see one of those shows. I'll probably be back in the city around November/December and I KNOW Pippin will still be playing, and If/Then as well... but I really would love to see Idina

[haterobics]

Posted: 6/29/14 at 6:45pm

"I don't know how the line usually is but we had a great group. We let each other go as they had to (use bathroom, get food, etc) and it wasn't a big deal at all."

That sounds like the rush line at every show I've been to, btw. It is rare when people aren't chill about it.

"I'll probably be back in the city around November/December and I KNOW Pippin will still be playing, and If/Then as well... but I really would love to see Idina"

Idina's contract runs through spring 2015.

[ethan231h]

Posted: 6/29/14 at 7:17pm

If you want to see Idina I would wait because she is in the show through the spring as of now, so I would choose Pippin but you like need to see both shows ASAP they are both fantastic!

[haterobics]

Posted: 6/29/14 at 7:24pm

If you have a choice when to come in November/Dec, just keep in mind, a lot of the discount codes won't work around Thanksgiving or after mid-December, most ticket prices get hiked a bit, too. So, if you can steer around that, you can make this ridiculously priced hobby somewhat more affordable. Unless you tend to do rush and such.

[Cupid Boy2]

Posted: 6/30/14 at 12:23am

n2nbaby, I actually didn't go when the box office opened. I stopped by around 12:30 and was lucky enough to be able to snatch a ticket. I agree, though, that it would've been cool to meet a fellow BWW member!

[brdway411]

Posted: 6/30/14 at 12:45am

I have seen the original cast of Pippin more times than I care to mention (yes, Ethan way more than you with both casts), I have seen the new cast (the 2 new leads) ONCE. I won't go back. The magic is faded and the are all the wrong ages for the parts. She is way too young and he is way TOOO OLD.

As for If/Then, unless you are a die hard Idina fan skip it. IT's so boring.