Musicals

Anastasia: The New Broadway Musical Review!

Last night I got to see the touring production of "Anastasia" at the Dr. Phillips Center here in Orlando...

Full disclosure: I was a huge fan of this show on Broadway having seen it several times! Absolutely in my list of "all-time favorite shows!" I went into the touring production knowing that the staging had changed, the song "Crossing a Bridge" was cut, and none of the original Broadway leads would be part of the cast. That being said...

The touring production was FANTASTIC!!!

While I do miss Christy, John, Ramin, Derek, etc in those lead roles, and IMO the Broadway cast of Anastasia was one of the most "perfect casts" I've ever seen, the talent on stage for this tour was absoultely wonderful, and songs written specifically for the show like "In My Dreams", "The Countess and the Common Man", and "In a Crowd of Thousands" were perfect! As were the numbers imported from the animated film to be included in the Broadway musical.

One thing to note - While much of this show is based on the animated movie, this is NOT a "re-telling" of that story. The Broadway musical removed much of the more "kiddy" stuff, in my opinion, and converted that into a more mature and a more "grounded in reality" storyline that appeals a bit more to an older Broadway musical demographic. I am super happy they went this direction! I much prefer the more serious re-telling of the story with things that are relatable rather than include a lot of "magical stuff" that makes no sense in the real world. In fact, the original version of the show that had it's pre-Broadway run in Hartford, included a much more campy and corny "animated movie" version of "Paris Holds the Key (To Your Heart)" and I was very happy to see this changed into a more traditional Broadway number when the show opened in New York.

To touch on some of the differences between the Broadway production and the tour - The show in New York and its pre-Broadway stop in Hartford utilized three rotating platforms (turntables) to move set pieces on and off the stage and added a bit more kinetic energy to the show. While those are missing from the tour (I'm sure because they were very complex) the touring version of the show is not really impacted by their removal. (And yes, the train does still rotate during "We'll Go From There.") Also the removal of "Crossing a Bridge" was not impactful either. Anya still has the moment where she's on the bridge, talks about the importance of it, but then sings a short reprise of "Paris Holds The Key (To Your Heart)" and then moves on to the next segment. Honestly, I thought this worked EXTREMELY WELL! (And yes, I was a bit worried!)

The rest of the very high-tech and impressive set design is all still there, including a giant LCD screen and two additional screens that display some of the most impressive and high-quality visuals I've ever seen on stage!

I walked away from this show feeling very good about it and happy that the audience members for the first time are getting as close to the Broadway experience as they possibly could, and that is wonderful!

This has been such a wonderful season at the Dr. Phillips Center in Orlando. Such big-ticket shows this season: Hamilton, Hello Dolly, Anastasia, Come From Away, Fiddler on the Roof, Jersey Boys, etc... WOW!!! And the recent announcement of for next season is bringing some of my all-time FAVORITE shows back to Orlando! Miss Saigon and Les Miserables, which I've recently seen the updated productions are FANTASTIC NOT TO BE MISSED! Along with some of my recent favorite Broadway shows Mean Girls, Aladdin, and other classic My Fair Lady, 2019/2020 is going to be another stellar year for Broadway in Orlando!

If you are a local to Orlando we highly recommend getting season tickets, or if you are in town for the theme parks, be sure to check their schedule and add a Broadway show to your vacation plans! https://www.drphillipscenter.org/

This was just listed in our "Events" section of Cineplex.com ~ for those

who never got to see it live on Broadway, in London, or on tour....

Coming to a movie screen near you!

Just announced. https://www.broadwayrecords.com/ is again releasing a compilation of all (true!) of the musicals from this past Broadway Season ('18-'19). Including two songs on one track, honoring Marin Mazzie, a wonderful musicals actress, who passed away last Sept.from cancer. She is also being honored with a posthumous TONY Award, on Sunday, June 9th's Tony Awards (on CBS, check local times).

~ And, a special four song set cd featuring Laura Benanti who is

currently starring in My Fair Lady (which will be closing July 7th).

*Both cds are to be released mid-June.

Starting with Head Over Heels, and ending with Beetlejuice.

Love her loverly voice. (o;

Just a reminder....

...and By The Way....before the TONYs actually get started later on....go watch this great little special about what's coming up...you get some new quotes from all the actors interviewed for it...

https://www.broadway.com/videos/159400/watch-broadwaycom-presents-at-the-tonys-with-imogen-lloyd-webber/

A great look at all the nominees in Plays and Musicals.

And just because...here's all the musicals I performed in, back in the 1970's at Theatre In The Park...or TUTS as it's now known by (Theatre Under The Stars). Go Musicals! Everybody in casts, write their parts up on walls, downstairs under The Malkin Bowl. (o; 1977 as Riff in West Side Story, was my last show there.

...and By The Way....before the TONYs actually get started later on....go watch this great little special about what's coming up...you get some new quotes from all the actors interviewed for it...

 

https://www.broadway.com/videos/159400/watch-broadwaycom-presents-at-the-tonys-with-imogen-lloyd-webber/

 

Fun look at all the nominees in Plays and Musicals.

NW - Thanks so much for this tidbit and for all your other recent wealth of musical theater info!

Alice

"After The TONYS..."

Well, to be honest, by the time "Hadestown" won it's 7th TONY award, I was ready for "The Prom" to be the spoiler for Best Musical, LOL! Not to be. The musical underworld took The Big One at the end of the broadcast. Total of 8 wins, out of 14 nominations.

Glad Stephanie J. Block won for being Cher, and Santino Fontana

won for being Dorothy/Tootsie. A perfect pairing of musical winners.

The play "The Ferryman" got a several TONYs including Best Play. And all the writers were onstage separately, to explain their creations in "less than a minute", which made for interesting off-script commentary. Which was great to me. Hope they do that again next year.

I still don't have all the cast cds to compare what I hear. Sadly, I think "Beetlejuice" and "The Prom" got shut out totally. They can join "Pretty Woman," because PW:TM never had a chance to win, as it was already shut out, in all the nominations. Go figure, hmm?

We enjoyed the night. Certainly more fun than what we're seen on any other awards show.

And yes - as pointed out in the brilliant opening # by James Corden - it was ALL LIVE!

Can't wait to get this! And Oklahoma! And Tootsie! Eventually!

Every once in a while there is a show that I have missed seeing on Broadway for whatever reason, and I end up seeing it on tour and it becomes one of my favorite shows! Last year it was School of Rock, and this year it was Come From Away!

Thanks to our amazing tour schedule here in Orlando at the Dr. Phillips Center, I'm able to get caught up on shows I've missed and see many of my favorites yet again!

Come From Away is seriously one of the best shows I've ever seen! Many people think it's a show about 9/11 and it's really not. It's a show about something that happened BECAUSE of 9/11 that went under radar as the world was so focused on the event in that moment.

To make a long story short, it's about the planes that were diverted on 9/11 to a very small town in Canada in which 7,000 people were stranded for days before the FAA allowed the planes to fly again. And when you realize that the town only has a population of 9,000 normally, it was a pretty huge event when all of a sudden, out of the blue, the population of one small town is about to double, with people who are stranded, scared, frustrated, and anxious to get back home.

This is their story.

Not only is the story they are telling absoultely heartwarming, but the way in which they do it is mind-boggling. It is only a small cast of about 12-14 members, and each of them play several different roles. Some of those characters switches happen instantly right in front of you, but done in such a way that you immediately know which character they are playing and at no point does it ever feel distracting or bizarre. It is amazing to watch. It's almost like watching some sort of weird magic show. And it is, because the entire show is pure magic!

Oh, yeah, did I mention that the music is good? No wait, the music is FANTASTIC! The songs are upbeat, fun, and not exactly what you would expect! And funny! Yes! The show is actually very VERY funny! Remember, this is not a show "about 9/11" this is a show telling the story of these stranded people and the town that dropped everything to help. It's a glimpse of "decent humanity" which is something we need as much as possible of right now.

I'm not exactly sure how much longer Come From Away will tour, but I highly recommend it if it makes it to your town. As far as the Dr. Philips Performing Arts Center goes in Orlando, it was the final show of this season and WOW, what a way to go out! Next season also looks fantastic! Mean Girls, Aladdin, Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, My fair Lady, seriously STOP!!! lol I can't handle this many amazing shows in one season!

If you are an Orlando local or just in town for the theme parks, be sure to check out the Dr. Phillips website for ticket availability and season pass options: https://www.drphillipscenter.org/

ps. The show features quite possibly the largest amount of "chairs" I've ever seen on stage!

^ It looks like the same wonderful cast we saw of CFA that toured here, several months ago.

It was really a phenomenal show, considering it wasn't a high end epic musical. But so epic in other ways.

Writing was brilliant, the songs moved in and out of the story so easily, and by the end of it, we were just

bursting to get out of our seats and give them a Standing O. Really a great show we will see again,

should it pass by our way again.

And I got the tour t-shirt too. Had to! And the souvenir program is really great, showcasing all the history

of The Event and how the musical came to be. Really inspiring production.

Strange Lyrics, Dept.

Something I love to do, after the TONYS are over, is look over the performance parts of it, thru Youtube. "Tootsie" was especially enjoyable, but I have to say, just before Michael exited and then gets turned into Dorothy, he sings this....

"Like the thrust of a hummingbird's tongue ~

Like a beer keg that's blown out it's bung ~

Like a hippo protecting her young - Unstoppable!"

Strangest three lines I have ever heard, strung together, LOL.

Strange Lyrics, Dept.

 

Something I love to do, after the TONYS are over, is look over the performance parts of it, thru Youtube. "Tootsie" was especially enjoyable, but I have to say, just before Michael exited and then gets turned into Dorothy, he sings this....

 

"Like the thrust of a hummingbird's tongue ~

Like a beer keg that's blown out it's bung ~

Like a hippo protecting her young - Unstoppable!"

 

Strangest three lines I have ever heard, strung together, LOL.

HUH? Bwahahahaha!

I MUCH prefer:

"Good times and bum times,

I've seen them all and, my dear,

I'm still here."

Sondheim's FOLLIES. And to anyone who loves theater and hasn't read 'Everything was Possible, The Birth of the Musical FOLLIES" by Ted Chapin (Production Assistant/Gofer) in 1971 as the show was actually made, PLEASE get a hold of this amazing book. I've never read a more honest, moment-to-moment account of the birth of a Broadway musical!!!

NW -- I know that you, too, are a genuine fan of this book!

Alice (who's read it 3 times and is looking forward to my 4th. "I'm still here!" )

This just in. There was a documentary made of the creation of Come From Away. It's already been seen in Canada, won several awards, and on September 11th, there's a one time showing of it in American theaters. Here's the Broadway.com article about it, including the trailer for it.

https://www.broadway.com/buzz/196417/award-winning-documentary-you-are-here-a-come-from-away-story-to-play-us-theaters-on-september-11/

First trailer of the movie version of CATS has just been released. It's quite something.

Sad news, today...

Harold Prince, Winner of 21 Tony Awards & Director/Producer of Phantom, Cabaret, Company, Follies, Sweeney Todd & More, Dies at 91

https://www.broadway.com/buzz/191114/harold-prince-winner-of-21-tony-awards-directorproducer-of-phantom-cabaret-more-dies-at-91/

Last week, we attended both shows of this summer's Theatre Under The Stars. Or TUTS.

Of course, I took no photos during the productions, them self. But I got a few before and after the shows.

And the Sunday performance of "Newsies" was also our annual Alumni Night of which I am a member, having performed in their first production of "Carousel"...fifty years ago! Yeah, it opened in 1969 and I was 16 years old and in the chorus!

This was our Thursday night (July 25th) show.

In the Archives Tent. I did: Carousel/1969; My Fair Lady/1970; Hello Dolly!/1971; Brigadoon/1972; Fiddler On The Roof/1975; West Side Story/1977.

They didn't bother with a front curtain for both these shows. Which was cool to see what was already there.

How it all looks from the "back of the house." (o;

Our view from our third row on-the-aisle seats, at Intermission.

Love the little dock they built for it. Everything has to be removed to put the other set in place, since these shows are done "in rep." It's a hassle for both the designers and the crew, but everybody works together for these great productions of TUTS.

Sunday, July 28th- Alumni Night.

Me and David behind two legends of TUTS. Cecilia & Roger Smith. Doing the Archives now, they both were much MUCH more involved in the early TUTS shows, like myself. Roger was an awesome Stage Manager, and Cecelia was TUTS' first Eliza in their 1970 production of "My Fair Lady." She later sang the Bird Lady in TUTS' prod. of "Mary Poppins" a few years ago. She was wonderful, still.

Our VIP section, during the Alumni Night. Not a free bar though.

One of the Directors of TUTS, noting those of us who did "Carousel" 50 years ago. And thanking us for starting it all.

Back of the house, with the NEWSIES set onstage.

Our third row, on-the-aisle view of the great set for NEWSIES.

After it's over. The herd heading out to their cars and transit.

G'night TUTS. See ya next summer!

Last week, we attended both shows of this summer's Theatre Under The Stars. Or TUTS.

 

Of course, I took no photos during the productions, them self. But I got a few before and after the shows.

 

And the Sunday performance of "Newsies" was also our annual Alumni Night of which I am a member, having performed in their first production of "Carousel"...fifty years ago! Yeah, it opened in 1969 and I was 16 years old and in the chorus!

Thank you for sharing your very special memories. I truly enjoyed that glimpse into TUTS...and how much it meant/means to you!

Alice

Sad news, today...

 

Harold Prince, Winner of 21 Tony Awards & Director/Producer of Phantom, Cabaret, Company, Follies, Sweeney Todd & More, Dies at 91

 

 

https://www.broadway.com/buzz/191114/harold-prince-winner-of-21-tony-awards-directorproducer-of-phantom-cabaret-more-dies-at-91/

One-of-a-kind.

Alice

^ I was so lucky to actually see a few of his original productions on Broadway (Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd, revival of Show Boat, Phantom). I wish I could go to the theatre memorial they'll be planning for the fall. Should be an amazing tribute.

^ I was so lucky to actually see a few of his original productions on Broadway (Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd, revival of Show Boat, Phantom). I wish I could go to the theatre memorial they'll be planning for the fall. Should be an amazing tribute.

I cannot imagine a venue large enough to accommodate all those who had such regard for his talent!!

Am so glad that you got to see so many of his treasures!

Alice

So any-one who saw my previous review on Lion King World Tour was quite strange because despite being sold out months in advance at a huge venue, the audience was just deadly silent throughout with just light applause and no real connection even at the curtain call leaving a strange atmosphere and I thought it was strange when Avenue Q had the audience so heavily invested even with people needing to look away from stage to read the subtitles.

Well apart from Lion King, nearly all the musicals I've seen are at the Charlotte Theater outside Lotte World (pro-tip just go outside to find it, it was pouring so we tried to follow the inside signs and we kept hitting dead ends) and after being in the area to visit Toys r Us (my son had been after a Lightning Mcqueen Tomika) I noticed that School of Rock was on World Tour.

My faith has been restored, the show was fantastic and the audience atmosphere was great. Seriously, I'm not a fan of the film that much but the cast was great, especially the children. The audience cheered them on and gave all the encouragement. They were invested so much that Dewey showing up in his uniform brought out the biggest cheer.

Once again like all the other tours here, I got a half-decent seat just before show-time and the theater was maybe 2/3 full even on a weekend performance. I stand by what I said in my previous post. I actually prefer seeing them at this theater because even though it isn't sold out, it's a crowd that chose to be here and knew ahead of time they were in for foul mouthed puppets or children learning to rock. I think most people who went to Lion King just went because its sold out status made it the 'must-be there' show rather than i'll see it because I want to.

Korea has a honor policy (or at least this theater) that they tell you when you enter. No pictures allowed but at curtain call you can do it as long as it isn't video. Sadly I see more and more idiots trying to record video during the curtain call making the ushers run about.

I think it's great. It makes the audience, stand up, go nuts, and since they can't clap while taking pictures, will holler, scream and stop their feet to show appreciation and the actors respond with a lot of energy too. Lion King is the only musical so far that didn't allow it and no-one stood and just sat lightly clapping.

One of the reasons I was in Seoul, apart from the musical, was to visit a Disney exhibition full on concept art, original sketches and storyboards.

I've been to many exhibits her in Korea including Pixar, Aardman Animation, about 4-5 Ghibli exhibitions, one for the works of Makoto Shinkai and another exhibition just for the work of Your Name but this was the first one I've ever been to that allowed photography.

For the movie that started it all, they gave a lot of exhibition space to Snow White drawings.

There was also a lot of areas outside of each movies sketches to show how Disney wanted to change the way animation was done.

Most early movies got a little area (even Saludos amigos had an area) but after 101 Dalmations & Jungle Book the exhibit skipped ahead to the early 90's.

Beauty and the Beast, Lion King and Little Mermaid had bigger areas and there was some small art-work for Tarzan, Pocahontas, and Mulan but the exhibit then skipped ahead...

... to the start of the Cg films Rapunzel.

And of course Frozen got a big area dedicated to it.

Since CGI meant no more sketches the rest of the exhibits were mostly of concept art.

And finally I stopped at Shake Shack outside the exhibit. Since I've seen Robb mention it on his Europe travels, consider Korea one of the countries that can still do a peanut butter shake.

^ Great TR! Especially all that you saw of the Disney Exhibit! It's amazing to remember, that there was a great lull in Animation for Disney... and then "The Little Mermaid" opened and the future looked better. And then "Beauty & The Beast" opened, and became the first animated feature film ever, to get a Best Picture Oscar Nomination! And after that, the Best Animated Feature Film category was created. And Animated Feature Films (both Disney and others) improved, for the better...and sometimes the worse, lol.

Thanks for sharing your tour of this wonderful Exhibit! And the School Of Rock concert, too!

https://www.broadway.com/buzz/196730/moulin-rouge-the-musical-sets-digital-release-date-for-original-cast-album/

Coming out this Fall! And the audio take ^ of The Sparkling Diamond is IMhO ...

Spectacular! Spectacular!

Digital release first. Then, the CD comes out.

Yay! We start our Broadway Across Canada 2019-20 season tonight, with the touring production of RENT.

Having never seen it in it's entirety, until we saw the (non) Live TV broadcast of it recently,

it will be nice and refreshing to actually see and hear it live, on stage.

In it's entirety. We're looking forward to it.

^ it's all about the songs, don't expect much stage set. .

one of my favorite (if not my all time favorite) musicals.

enjoy!

^ So we saw it, and enjoyed it. But I must say, the second act was more enjoyable for myself, due to several songs being separated and not as overlapped as a few were in the first act. That, and although this IS really a rock opera of a kind, the sound was so loud that lyrics were lost in some sets and transitions.

But, for my money, you really have to know about this musical a bit before seeing it live. I really think a good number of last night's audience did not know what they were getting into. And before intermission, there were several walk outs around us. It just wasn't the "musical comedy" they were possibly expecting. I'm sure a number of them had no idea this was based on Puccini's La Boheme, even though that's right there in the song that ends Act 1 (La Vie Boheme).

The set was, as you said, not expected to be "musical" themed. I knew that. We were fascinated by that "sculpture" on the right of the stage, towering up into the rafters. The head of a blow up doll there, was a nice touch, heh.

All in all, even I couldn't make out everything sung. But all the actors were powerful singers, and the one playing Angel was a real treat to watch and hear, even though I knew what was coming (no spoilers) for her. And the actor playing her lover had a wonderful voice, deep and rich. They were honestly, all great singers, leads and chorus.

A standing O at the end. We couldn't help our self.

And the audience who stayed through it, did the same with cheers and shouts.

Next up: WAITRESS in November.