For those who may not pay attention to these things, the Broadway scene got a huge dump of shows right before Tony eligibility closed. So a lot of shows nominated for Tonys had just opened. I did have a lot of opportunities to see them, but every time I made a move in that direction, I realized I wasn’t really interested in any of them (yet).
As usual, I went up to my neighbors’ to watch the Tonys and did come out of it with some ideas of shows I did and didn’t want to see. (Illinoise, which I knew nothing about, looks really intriguing. Water for Elephants, based on a book I didn’t particularly love, actually looks really interesting as well.) I have a ticket to the ballroom Cats in a week or so, and I work right down the street from the theater where Oh, Mary! is about to open, so might try to grab a ticket this week to the first preview.
But Tuesday, I realized through my FB feed, featured a one-night only How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, produced by the National Asian Artist’s Project and featuring my buddy, fabulous G&S contralto Cáitlín Burke as Miss Jones. I love the show, and Cáitlín had been so sweet to come to C’s viewing two years ago, even though we’ve only worked together once, so I thought this would be a little bit of a reciprocation.
It was a semi-staged concert, all Asian performers, all pros and excellent. Other than Cáitlín (and Baayork Lee, who’s the chair of the board of directors), there weren’t any names I recognized, except for Kennedy Kanagawa, who made such a hit as Milky White’s puppeteer in the last Broadway Into the Woods. Orchestra was just piano, bass and drums, flashing me back to BHT’s How to Succeed, my first fall show. (Digression – BHT’s fall shows always used a minimal pit orchestra. The next year’s fall show, Mame, I music-directed and I insisted on having a larger orchestra. I got a lot of pushback. And then everyone loved the orchestra sound and they’ve had a bigger orchestra ever since. Ha HA!) Also, they had a violinist for the overture, but it turned out the violinist was Finch, the lead – who also played violin as he sang “Rosemary”, which was really great and he played really well. Cast was really quite good. Finch was a great deal of fun. Rosemary was funny and sang beautifully. Smitty did the role deadpan, which was a hilarious and excellent take. Kanagawa’s Frump (I typed Trump at first) was fine, but not as hilariously evil as I’d prefer – although that did come through from time to time. Cáitlín was, as expected, great as Miss Jones. She only gets to sing one fantastic solo bit, which she nailed (and the audience went wild), but I also loved her very funny dialogue delivery. (I also got nostalgic for my dear departed Vikki, who played the role for BHT.)
During intermission, I did get to exchange ‘hi”s with the great Baayork Lee, and of course saw Cáitlín after the show. A really fun evening.
I guess I’ve now seen H2S four times – the last two Broadway revivals, and BHT’s and this. It’s really a super-clever show. I think Act 2 is a little messier, and the music’s only good, not great, but definitely a show that deserves its place in the repertoire.
Wed. was Juneteenth, which I had off. I’d planned weeks ago to make it the day I went through all my coats and took them to the dry cleaners or washed them or whatever for next fall. Also to bring the air conditioners up. As it turned out, it was a cleaning lady day, so I couldn’t really do anything while she was here (well, I did the coats) and then it was TOO HOT TO PUT THE AIR CONDITIONERS IN. OK, whatever (I did it Saturday instead.)
So I went to the office again on Thursday, to take advantage of their air conditioning. And decided to go see The Heart of Rock and Roll, which I’d wanted to see. I don’t normally want to go to jukebox musicals, and the only Huey Lewis I know is “The Power of Love” (oddly enough, also featured in a different Broadway show, Back to the Future). But I’d read good reviews and it sounds like a great deal of fun and, most importantly, suddenly they’d announced it was closing this weekend. So I got a really good ticket from TKTS, did my typical pre-show cocktails at 9th Avenue Saloon, and went to the show.
It was an awful lot of fun. Basic plot – guy who was in a band quit a year ago to do a corporate job, but is now in a position where he has two opportunities – move up in the company, or take a great new opportunity with the band. He also hits it off with Cassandra, who’s the daughter of the guy who runs the company. Cassandra was played by McKenzie Kurtz, who I’d seen last year as Glinda, and who was equally delightful here (she’s very funny). As someone pointed out online, this will be a really good show for high schools in a year or so. I also appreciated that, even though it’s a show of rock music, it was not too loud.
Friday was going to be another scorcher, but I have Friday afternoons off, so Susan and I went to Astoria to have lunch (yummy Mexican. I had octopus and chorizo tacos!) and see Inside Out 2. Oddly enough, Susan had never seen the first one – I’d seen it twice. I didn’t adore the first one the way everyone else did, but I liked it a lot, and this one is equally good. The new emotions are all appropriate and terrific, and the finale is in fact a tearjerker and earns it.
My online buddy, film reviewer Alonso Duralde, had made the point for the first movie that Riley’s dad’s emotions are all guys, and her mom’s are all girls. But Riley has a mix of guys and girls. Does this mean anything? Is she queer? Certainly, there’s enough older-girl hero worship in this movie that if Riley turned out to be gay, it wouldn’t be a big surprise. But the movie chooses not to address crushes (or the physical aspects of puberty), which is fine. I’m not the only person who wondered if at some point, Desire (or, as I named her, “Horniness”) would show up as an emotion.
Anyway, definitely worth the watch. There are some other flicks I want to see in the theater too, like Fall Guy and Hit Man.
What else? My life seems to be at a place right now (temporary, I’m sure) where my energy level matches what I need to do, and my own Anxiety is taking a back seat. Part of that is, yay, I have a therapist now, and also I’m taking care of myself better and doing more good eating and exercising. Also, putting myself out there in a ‘hey, boys’ sort of sense, and not being as completely ignored as I was before. I refuse to put too much weight or stress on that whole thing – but paying attention in general to finding that balance between staying home because people are exhausting and OMG I’m so effing lonely – and it’s pretty much working. So… good for me.
Enjoy the summer, everyone!
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