Of course, I wasn't expecting a full orchestra playing Lang's arrangements as I arrived at the Irish Repertory Theatre for their scaled-down version of Merrill (who also wrote the lyrics), Joseph Stein and Robert Russell's (co-bookwriters) adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's warm family comedy of 1920 Connecticut, Ah, Wilderness!, but music director Mark Hartman's zippy  4-piece ensemble, appropriately sounding like a band that might be gathered up to play at a rural 4^th of July festival, was perfectly suited to director Charlotte Moore's charming little production of a very underappreciated musical.

Competing for customers with hits like Redhead, The Sound of Music, Destry Rides Again and Bye, Bye, Birdie, as well as the aforementioned Fiorello! and Gypsy, Take Me Along ran for a year on the strength of its Tony-winning star, Jackie Gleason, closing shortly after he left the show and was replaced by William Bendix.  Kurt Knudsen got a Tony nomination for playing the Gleason role in a 1985 revival which transferred from the Goodspeed Opera House and closed in one night, but Take Me Along is really a much better show than its reputation may suggest.  Its duo love story contrasting the idealistic excitement of young love with the mellower experience of later-years romance is worked into a well-crafted, gently humorous book with a score that features a couple of hidden-gem ballads, good character songs and a couple of top-notch comedy numbers.

For The Irish Rep, Don Stephenson, an angular comic best known as a long-term Leo Bloom during the Broadway run of The Producers, takes on the leading role of Sid Davis, the gregarious newspaper reporter whose drunken binges get in the way of his attempts to romance his brother's sister-in-law, the prim schoolteacher, Lily (Beth Glover).  Stephenson's abundance of physical and vocal shtick is all nicely character-driven, being funny but serving as a reminder of Sid's arrested adolescence.  Glover has a lovely, warm voice and her ballads are a highlight of the evening.

Teddy Eck, as Sid and Lily's lovesick 17-year-old nephew Richard, and Emily Skeggs, as the girl he romances with quotes from Omar Khayyam and Oscar Wilde, have their funny and sweet scenes, as do William Parry (another splendid singing voice) and Donna Bullock as the married siblings of Sid and Lily (and Richard's parents).  Anastasia Barzee is also winning as a dance hall girl who leads the chorus in the rousing drinking song, "If Jesus Don't Love Ya," a number added to the show after the Broadway production.

The small stage is splashed with color from James Morgan's pen and ink set designs showing the bustling town of Centerville and Linda Fisher's period costumes are just dandy.

While it's great to have fresh new musicals that take interesting risks, Take Me Along is a fine example of the sunny enjoyment to that can be found with some of the lesser-known old-fashioned ones.

Photo by Carol Rosegg:  Emily Skeggs and Teddy Eck

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And while I'm on the subject of small-scale revivals of underappreciated musicals, you have only one more chance (tonight at 7) to see the Opening Doors Theatre Company's terrific staging of Flora, The Red Menace.  Though this valentine to the buoyant enthusiasm of 1930s New Yorkers who thought Communism was the way to get American out of the depression had a book by director George Abbott when it premiered on Broadway in 1965, Opening Doors uses the revised book by David Thompson (the only version of the show that's licensed) which ran Off-Broadway in 1987 and is closer in spirit to what the composer John Kander, lyricist Fred Ebb and producer Harold Prince had in mind before deferring to Abbott's desire to make it a more conventional musical comedy.  (Among other differences of opinion, Abbott didn't think Communists could depicted as sympathetic.)

Fitting nine actors and a piano on the cabaret stage of The Duplex (which has only one backstage entrance/exit) is not easy feat but director Suzanne Adams and choreographer Christine Schwalenberg keep the proceedings crisp and peppy.  The strong-singing (Ray Baily is music director), enthusiastic cast is a pleasure from top to bottom.  Desiree Davar and Francis Kelly are endearingly quirky as the wide-eyed, idealistic Flora and her stuttering, Communist activist boyfriend, Harry.  Alison Renee Foster has plenty of pizzazz as the femme fatal rabble-rouser, Charlotte, while Erin West and Kevin Michael Murphy are perfectly charming as a young tap-dancing couple.  Andrew Lebon, Jillian Prefach, Buzz Roddy and Kevin C. Wanzor are all enjoyable in their various roles.

Photo:  Desiree Davar and Francis Kelly

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Early on in his self-written and directed solo show, Fabulous Divas of Broadway,  Alan Palmer explains that his performances as Patti LuPone, Ethel Merman, Chita Rivera, Carol Channing, Andrea McArdle et al. are not intended to be impressions but are meant to show the impressions these performers made in his life.  Okay, fair enough.  Except the evening never seems to have any purpose beyond seeing a fellow who, even in C. Buckley's perfectly fine costumes and wigs, looks too much like a guy in a dress doing rudimentary impersonations that might look cute if executed by a 15-year-old.  In between renditions of "The Boy Next Door," "Ring Them Bells," "I'm The Greatest Star," etcetera, etcetera and so forth (music director Curtis Jerome is at piano) we hear about the first Broadway show he saw (Annie), a road trip he took to see Anything Goes (LuPone was out that night) and his experiences singing and dancing on a dinner/cruise ship.

Audiences members are brought up to play a round of "Name That Diva," where the contestant who can name the most divas by their signature tunes ("Till There Was You," "Whatever Lola Wants"…) gets to wear a feather boa.  Later on the audience is invited to call out words for a "Mad Libs" style rewrite of "What I Did For Love."  The night I attended the crowd shouted nouns like "dildo," "rehab" and "crack pipe."  When Palmer asked for a verb a sweet elderly lady's voice suggested "ejaculate."  The big finale involves a group of boys brought up to be back-up dancers for the title number from Hello, Dolly! but that routine barely gets started before it's over.

Palmer comes off as a nice guy who loves musicals and loves the great ladies of Broadway, but – and I'm trying hard not to sound like an elitist New Yorker here – his show is too Broadway 101 to be playing in the heart of the theatre district, across the street from Don't Tell Mama, a cabaret space that many of this town's top diva impersonators have called home.  If his performance isn't supposed to be about impressions, it has to be about something.  But I felt nothing.

Photo by Josef Reiter:  Alan Palmer as Liza Minnelli

Posted on: Monday, March 03, 2008 @ 02:11 AM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback

Which Musical Theatre Character Would Make The Worst Blind Date?

Our new poll is for those who date guys:  Which musical theatre character would you least like to have as your blind date?  Part 2, for those who date dolls, comes next week.

Posted on: Thursday, February 28, 2008 @ 01:26 AM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback

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Adding Machine and Artf*ckers

February of 2008 has turned out to be a heck of a terrific month for non-traditional and daring Off-Broadway musicals.  (Do we have any more opening by tomorrow night?)  Following the exhilarating Next To Normal and the entrancingly Dadaist The Blue Flower we now have Joshua Schmidt (music and libretto) and Jason Loewith's (libretto) haunting chamber piece, Adding Machine, based on Elmer Rice's 1923 Expressionist drama.  To call it "old-fashioned" would be misleading, but one of the pleasures of Adding Machine is that it recalls a time when political and social protest musicals were not uncommon among Gotham's theatrical offerings.

Staying faithful to the source material, Adding Machine opens in the bedroom of Mr. and Mrs. Zero (Joel Hatch and Cyrilla Baer).  The tired hubby is at sixes and sevens trying to get some shut-eye while his gossipy wife keeps yapping about the Eights and Nines.  Their marriage and his job adding figures for a department store are both approaching the quarter-century point and though he's not especially excited about either of them, he's at least expecting a raise at work.  But when told that he's being pink slipped because it's cheaper for the company to replace him with an adding machine, he kills the boss, gets executed for murder (Very swift justice they have in Expressionistland.) and finds himself in Elysian Fields, where he runs into co-worker Daisy (Amy Warren), who has been secretly in love with him and committed suicide so they can spend their afterlife together.  After that it gets weird.

Schmidt's back-alley legit music, grimly anti-melodic with hints of jazz, dramatic counterpoint, and a jarring burst of pop spiritual, effectively contrasts with the simple uncomplicated working-class characters.  Though the three major players have impressive voices, they sing with heavy blue-collar accents and often give the impression that their characters are reaching for notes just beyond their capabilities, giving the music a beautiful unattractiveness.  This works especially well in a prison scene where Mrs. Zero brings her husband his favorite food for his last meal and, upon seeing the plateful, Hatch bellows out a rapturous, vibrato-less, "Ham and Eggs!"

The mood of director David Cromer's production captures the right mix of gloom and absurdity, with the visuals of Takeshi Kata (set), Kristine Knanishu (costumes) and Keith Parham (lights) being reminiscent of German silent films of the period.  There are excellent performances throughout the cast.  Though Mr. Zero is more sympathetic as a symbol of the unappreciated everyman than as a person, Joel Hatch has a warm pathos, as does Amy Warren as his love-sick colleague.  Cyrilla Baer's Mrs. Zero is very amusing and Joe Farrell is intensely idealistic as prison-mate Shrdlu.  The supporting players (Jeff Still, Adinah Alexander, Niffer Clarke, Roger E. DeWitt and Daniel Marcus.) and off-stage musicians (Andy Boroson and Timothy Splain at duo pianos with Brad "Gorilla" Carsons on percussion under the music direction of J. O'Conner Navarro) all make fine contributions.

Photo by Carol Rosegg:  Joel Hatch and Cyrilla Baer

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"This piece, it sucks.  My friends, they suck.  My girl, she sucks.  But when everything around you sucks, how do you know it isn't you?"

That's about as deep as Michael Domitrovich's Artfuckers gets.

His idea to write about the children of the most successful 1980s Manhattan artists and fashion designers who are born with money, connections and perhaps inherited talent, and the added pressure they feel to prove that their success comes from what they do rather than who they are, is a good one.  But the play is far too shallow to deliver the goods.  It might work as satire, since the excessively stereotyped characters are so laughably self-centered and stupid, but director Eduardo Machado's production is unfortunately, quite earnest in its intention to shock and titillate.

The fellow contemplating suckiness is Owen (Will Janowitz), a sculptor who is feeling the effects of severe depression brought on by some constructive criticism of his work in Artforum.  His friends are very concerned about his condition because he's supposed to build the runway for an upcoming fashion show they're all involved with.  There's designer Max (Tuomas Hiltunen), who prostitutes himself for fabulous fabric, Trevor (Asher Grodman), a really intense DJ slash composer ("If you heard the throbbing in my brain, in my ears, you'd know it needs to get out."), Maggie (Jessica Kaye), who's in public relations ("Even our bowel movements have artistic merit.") and her designer slash model sister Bella (Nicole LaLiberte), who, when asked her opinion of a woman's right to choose, proclaims, "I believe it applies to clothes, men and unwanted fetuses."

Two uncredited actors who appear as video projections spreading bad buzz about Owen actually give the most nuanced performances of the night.  The live foursome are so one-note that even the nudity and sex scenes are dull, including the one that ends with Maggie wiping herself clean after Owen's premature ejaculation.

Is this what "edgy" has come to?

Photo by Carol Rosegg:  Nicole LaLiberte, Asher Grodman, and Will Janowitz

Posted on: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 @ 03:25 AM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback

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Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 2/24 & Algonquin Round Table Quote of the Week

“I'm tired of hearing it said that democracy doesn't work. Of course it doesn't work. We are supposed to work it.” -- Alexander Woollcott

 

The grosses are out for the week ending 2/24/2008 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.

Up for the week was: IN THE HEIGHTS (80.8%), THE LITTLE MERMAID (9.9%), THE COLOR PURPLE (8.3%), HAIRSPRAY (6.2%), CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (6.1%), ROCK 'N' ROLL (6.1%), CURTAINS (4.8%), JERSEY BOYS (4.1%), THE 39 STEPS (2.7%), XANADU (1.8%), WICKED (1.8%), NOVEMBER (1.6%), GREASE (1.3%),

Down for the week was: A CHORUS LINE (-12.2%), MARY POPPINS (-10.9%), CHICAGO (-10.2%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (-9.2%), THE LION KING (-8.5%), SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE (-8.2%), PASSING STRANGE (-8.0%), THE HOMECOMING (-6.9%), LEGALLY BLONDE (-3.6%), IS HE DEAD? (-3.4%), MAMMA MIA! (-3.3%), SPAMALOT (-2.7%), AVENUE Q (-2.7%), AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (-2.5%), THE FARNSWORTH INVENTION (-1.6%), COME BACK, LITTLE SHEBA (-1.5%), THE SEAFARER (-1.0%), RENT (-0.5%), A BRONX TALE (-0.4%), SPRING AWAKENING (-0.2%),

Posted on: Monday, February 25, 2008 @ 10:30 PM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback

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Sunday in the Park With George & Flora, The Red Menace

The second act of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's 1984 musical, Sunday In The Park With George is centered on a then-contemporary artist/inventor named George who has created a series of machines called chromolumes, which electronically fill rooms with color and light.  His latest, "Chromolume #7" is intended to present a variation on themes inspired from Georges Seurat's revolutionary work of pointillism "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" (1884-86), the creation of which is the subject of the musical's first act.  When a technical glitch short circuits the machine and causes a temporary delay in the chromolume's premiere presentation, George sheepishly explains to those gathered, "No electricity, no art."

A contemporary of Seurat criticizes his work as being "mechanical" in the musical's first act, but that slight seems humorously short-sighted in Sam Buntrock's new production.   The British director, who originated this mounting at London's Menier Chocolate Factory, uses his expertise in computer generated imagery to mechanically recreate the painting from initial sketches to finished piece.  In a sense this new production, emphasizing the musical's theme of the ever-increasing collaboration between art and science, is made possible by a modern day descendant of the chromolume that not only projects Seraut's work onto the white canvas of the bare set, but, as the story-telling requires, animates additions and subtractions in a manner that gives us peeks at both the artist's sketchbook and his imagination actively at work.  And though the projections, designed by Timothy Bird and The Knifedge Creative Network, provide a natural link between the two acts through technology that wasn't available when the show was first written, Buntrock has the sensitivity to never let it overwhelm the rest of the production.  The actors, the words and the music are still in the forefront.

Despite the musical complexities of Sondheim's score (unfortunately not completely explored here due to the limits of a threadbare 5-piece orchestra playing Jason Carr's new orchestrations) and the trademark tricky intelligence of his lyrics, the major theme behind his and bookwriter Lapine's work is fairly simple.  19^th Century Seraut, who died at 31 and never sold a painting in his lifetime, was a non-communicative loner who nevertheless was creatively energized by doing the kind of work that made him happy, disregarding the ridicule of his colleagues and the cries for attention from his lover, Dot.  20^th Century George is the hot new thing in the art world, partially due to his networking skills and likeable personality, but he feels pressured to continually give his funders what they want.  Georges' simple need for paint and canvas, coupled with his lack of concern for his commercial failure, gives him more freedom and self-satisfaction than the popular George whose expensive pieces lock him into churning out pieces that impress his patrons.  Georges, in the staccato "Color and Light" feverishly pokes exacting spots of color onto his canvas with a single-minded seriousness.  Similar staccato phrases are later heard in "Putting It Together," (the two songs match as a melody/counter-melody) when George uses that same single-minded seriousness to schmooze at a cocktail gathering full of people who can help advance his career, climaxing the exhilaratingly satirical scene with the comic observation, "art isn't easy."

Daniel Evans, who originated the two roles in the London production, beautifully displays the dichotomy of the two artists, helping to strengthen the bonds between the two acts.  His Seraut seems almost too cold and emotionally distant at first, but in his moments alone – particularly the wisps of joy that emerge through the contemplative "Finishing The Hat" – we can feel his misunderstood soul.  While 19^th Century Georges never takes a night off to socialize, 20^th Century George makes a career of it, and while Evans slickly glides through the cocktail crowd of check-writers he still communicates the character's unease under the mask of charm.  His second act George is what his first act Georges might have been if he had tried selling himself instead of his art.

Also a London import, Jenna Russell is quite adorable, funny and very touching as the ever-ignored Dot, but her extraordinary work comes as George's wheelchair-bound grandmother, Marie.  With her mental facilities fading, she placidly sings a still and serene "Children and Art," reminding her childless grandson that these are the only two legacies worth leaving behind.

There are fine performances from the supporting cast, including Michael Cumpty's erudite, but well-meaning fellow artist, Jules and Jessica Molaskey as his less sensitive wife.  Alexander Gemignani is rock-solid as the testy sailor in act one and George's harried technician in the second half.  Mary Jane Peil is especially effective as Georges' caustic mother, who nevertheless regrets her inability to understand what her son has grown up to be.

Though generally regarded as one of musical theatre's landmark works, many find the second act of Sunday In The Park With George extraneous.  That misconception is handily disproved in this beautiful and moving production.

Photos by Joan Marcus:  Top: Jenna Russell and Daniel Evans; Bottom:  Alison Horowitz, Jessica Molaskey, Drew McVety, Brynn O'Malley, Jessica Grove, Daniel Evans, Michael Cumpsty and Jenna Russell

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She never saw the show during its brief Broadway run, but my mother always enjoyed it when I would play my original cast album of Kander and Ebb's first Broadway collaboration, Flora, The Red Menace.  She didn't like the title, though, and for a good reason.  Born in 1916 and spending her teenage years and early adulthood in the 1930s, my mom was a radical leftist who met my father at a Halloween fundraiser for an organization that thought Communism was the way to get America out of the Depression.  Now, she didn't throw Molotov cocktails like Mary Louise Wilson or try and convince innocents to sign up as party members like Bob Dishy in the 1965 musical which earned 19-year-old Liza Minnelli a Tony Award for playing the young girl who discovers love and politics while belting out "Sing Happy."  No, mom fought the people's fight through writing political poetry and her gig singing new works by such notables as Marc Blitzstein and Woody Guthrie with The American People's chorus.  (My dad, by the way, wasn't especially political.  He was just at the party to meet girls.)

I bring this up because I'm anxiously looking forward to seeing the Opening Doors Theatre Company's new concert production of Flora, The Red Menace, which opened last night at The Duplex and continues tonight and March 2^nd & 3^rd.  This is the company that dared to bring back Bring Back Birdie as their premiere endeavor, followed by It's a Bird… It's A Plane… It's Superman! and the 50th Anniversary (and first time ever) revival of Whoop Up!  Although I missed the latter two, I had a great time at their Birdie revival and am also clearing my schedule for their June production of The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public.

Now, The Duplex's cabaret stage is small, so don't expect a big chorus and fancy production values.  But I'm certain you can expect a talented and enthusiastic cast excited to bring this rarely revived gem back to New York.

Posted on: Monday, February 25, 2008 @ 09:14 AM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback

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The Blue Flower: The Other Brilliant Musical About An Artist That's In Town

As I write these words the opening night party of Roundabout's revival of Sunday in the Park With George, which I'll be seeing on Saturday, is no doubt in full swing, but despite the sublime glories of that Steven Sondheim/James Lapine creation, there's another musical in town about radical artists that deserves just as much attention from anyone interested in the euphoric excitement felt when watching a unique, intelligent and wondrously creative evening of musical theatre.

Jim and Ruth Bauer's The Blue Flower, the latest offering from the consistently interesting Prospect Theatre Company, skillfully tackles the tricky business of mixing the art of musical theatre with the anti-art movement of Dada.  Born in Zurich amidst the rubble of the First World War, Dada was an artistic, literary and theatrical movement that attacked the sensibilities of a culture that could send millions of young men to slaughter by celebrating anarchy and irrationality.

In telling the story of German artist Max Baumann (Marcus Neville, hiding complex poeticism behind an everyman facade) looking back on his life through items pasted into a scrapbook, the authors make a theatrical collage out of archival and imitation archival film footage with theatre songs that combine the period Weimar sound with American country-western (Max is a big fan of cowboys.), creating a fact-based fictional musical documentary.  Jim Bauer wrote the book and score based on Ruth Bauer's story, while she created the artwork and they collaborated on the videography.  The resulting production, directed and choreographed with an appropriately raw sense of theatricality by Will Pomerantz is captivating, not only for the effectiveness of the unique form of story-telling, but for the rush of watching such a daring and unconventional effort succeed so brilliantly.

The rest of the talented company includes Robert Petkoff as Max's war hero friend, Franz, Megan McGeary as the deadpan lusty Dadaist cabaret performer, Hannah ("I wish I could eat enough as I'd like to puke," she sings.) and the ethereally-voiced Nancy Anderson as party girl scientist, Marie.  (Her stunningly delicate singing of "Eiffel Tower," a ballad about accepting the changes that come from tragedy, is the evening's high point.)  A narrating figure known as Fairy Tale Man is played with graceful authority by Jamie LaVerdiere.  He's assisted by Jason Collins as Sewing Machine Man and Eric Starker as Typewriter Man.  (You'll see what the names mean.)

Under music director Mark Rubinstein, the spirited 8 piece band (piano, accordion, bass, cello, bassoon, guitar, drums and pedal steel guitar) delivers a unique sound, including a hilarious moment when Kurt Weill is quoted with a pronounced twang.  Designers Nick Francone (set), Sidney Shannon (costumes) and Cory Pattak (lights) all make fine atmospheric contributions.

And if you'd like to ask why Max sometimes speaks in a made-up nonsense language called Maxperanto…  don't.  Dada doesn't get along well with "Why?"

Photos by Tyler Kongslie:  Top: Meghan McGeary and Marcus Neville;  Bottom: Robert Petkoff and Nancy Anderson

Posted on: Friday, February 22, 2008 @ 04:00 AM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback

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Vita & Virginia: Mad About The Girl

It took barely a sip of post-theatre cocktail for one of my companions to breathe a mournful sigh in memory of the lost art of letter writing.  I imagine this was not the first time such sentiments were expressed following a performance of Vita & Virginia, Eileen Atkins' cerebrally romantic stage piece crafted from nearly 20 years of correspondence between the celebrated Virginia Woolf the her less-remembered fellow Bloomsburyist Vita Sackville-West which began scantly after their first introduction in 1922.

In a new Monday-nights-only production playing at The Zipper Factory, which Pamela Berlin directs with thoughtful elegance, Kathleen Chalfant (Woolf) and Patricia Elliot (Sackville-West) grace their words with intelligence, nervous flirtatiousness and the sublime romance that grows from devoted friendship.

On first meeting, Vita Sackville-West was so well known in their circles for being "a pronounced Sapphist" (sexual exclusivity wasn't big among London's bohemians in those days) that Virginia was hesitant to even address her by her first name during their initial exchanges.  Vita, despite her social boldness, so admired Virginia's talent for writing that it made her feel dejected, yet inspired.  ("Dejected because I know I will never be able to write like that.  Inspired because somebody can.")  Virginia's superior literary success and Vita's varied lovers were among the sore points of their relationship, and though the selections read make only the slightest reference to physical intimacy between the two, the emotional intimacy is extraordinary and heartwarming, particularly during the exchanges involving Woolf's writing of "Orlando," whose title character is based on her intimate friend.  ("You have invented a new form of narcissism.  I am in love with 'Orlando!'")

I'm guessing that Andromache Chalfant, credited as design consultant, is mainly responsible for the wonderfully defining outfits the ladies wear.  While Elliot's Vita is all lush and snazzy with a loose-fitting, burgundy colored velvet pants suit, bobbed red hair and a long string of pearls, Chalfant's Virginia looks sensibly comfy in a dark, shapeless dress and light blue cardigan.  The set is a throw rug, two chairs and stools, but the ladies spend most of their time standing behind the music stands which hold their scripts.  Though they barely have contact with each other, some of the most delicious acting takes place as they silently react to the other's spoken worlds.  It's in those moments where they express the divine reality of feeling a lover's presence reaching out to you through paper and ink.

Photo of Kathleen Chalfant and Patricia Elliot by Carol Rosegg

Posted on: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 @ 02:45 AM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback

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Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 2/17 & Algonquin Round Table Quote of the Week

"If American politics are too dirty for women to take part in, there's something wrong with American politics." -- Edna Ferber

Complete grosses for the week ending 2/17/2008 can be found right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.

Up for the week was: RENT (31.1%), THE COLOR PURPLE (28.1%), CHICAGO (22.9%), LEGALLY BLONDE (20.1%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (17.2%), AVENUE Q (15.4%), MARY POPPINS (15.3%), A CHORUS LINE (12.9%), HAIRSPRAY (12.5%), SPAMALOT (12.4%), THE FARNSWORTH INVENTION (11.6%), CURTAINS (11.0%), SPRING AWAKENING (10.9%), GREASE (10.0%), MAMMA MIA! (9.3%), IS HE DEAD? (9.0%), NOVEMBER (7.9%), THE LION KING (7.5%), THE LITTLE MERMAID (7.0%), A BRONX TALE (6.3%), XANADU (4.8%), AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (4.7%), THE SEAFARER (4.1%), THE HOMECOMING (2.6%), COME BACK, LITTLE SHEBA (2.2%), WICKED (0.5%), SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE (0.3%),

Down for the week was: PASSING STRANGE (-7.4%), ROCK 'N' ROLL (-4.4%), JERSEY BOYS (-1.2%),

Posted on: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 @ 05:55 PM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback

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What Contributes The Most To Your Enjoyment Of A Musical?

Musical theatre is one of the most complex and collaborative art forms around.  So many elements and artists are involved trying to achieve one creative vision, but which aspect of musical theatre generally adds the most to your enjoyment of the show?  Vote in our new poll.

Posted on: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 @ 02:00 PM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback

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Next 10

About Michael: After 20-odd years singing, dancing and acting in dinner theatres, summer stocks and the ever-popular audience participation murder mysteries (try improvising with audiences after they?ve had two hours of open bar), Michael Dale segued his theatrical ambitions into playwriting. The buildings which once housed the 5 Off-Off Broadway plays he penned have all been destroyed or turned into a Starbucks, but his name remains the answer to the trivia question, "Who wrote the official play of Babe Ruth's 100th Birthday?" He served as Artistic Director for The Play's The Thing Theatre Company, helping to bring free live theatre to underserved communities, and dabbled a bit in stage managing and in directing cabaret shows before answering the call (it was an email, actually) to become BroadwayWorld.com's first Chief Theatre Critic. While not attending shows Michael can be seen at Shea Stadium pleading for the Mets to stop imploding. Likes: Strong book musicals and ambitious new works. Dislikes: Unprepared celebrities making their stage acting debuts by starring on Broadway and weak bullpens.