songbird's crazy world

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Wonderful evening. We ate dinner at The Brooklyn Diner - a great burger place on 43rd and Broadway. Next we sat on the pedestrian plaza at Times Square and did some people watching. Finally we walked over to the Stephen Sondheim Theater. Interesting place - the mezzanine is at street level and you have to walk down stairs to get to the orchestra. The show ..."Anything Goes". It's set on an ocean liner during a transatlantic crossing. Even the theater ushers are part of the show - they all wear sailor caps. And the conductor wears an officer's hat as he leads the pit band through that wonderful Cole Porter score. Sutton Foster is amazing as Reno Sweeney and Joel Grey is adorable as Moon Face Martin. The dance sequences are incredible. I have a soft spot for this show ... I was in the chorus of our high school production. As soon as Drew told me he bought the tickets I could hear the music in my head. Overall another wonderful NYC night. Published with Blogger-dro...

One of my favorite Theater District restaurants is John's, located on 44th Street at 8th Avenue. Located in what was once a church, the place is famed for its brick oven pizza and its slogan "No Slices" (you can only buy a whole pie). It's loud, it's noisy, it's always crowded. and it's one of the best places for a quick Italina meal in the theater District. Drew and I met for diner last night.  He had the linguini with white clam sauce, I had chicken parmigiana with penne in marinara sauce, and we indulged in garlic bread topped with melted mozzarella.  The it was off to the Al Hirschfeld theater, 45th and 8th, for How To Succeed In Business wWthout Really Trying. (I remember when the Al Hirschfeld was still the Martin Beck.  I saw Phylicia Rashad in Into the Woods , and there was a huge fairytale boot on the marquis of the theater. ) (And, of course, who could forget all those great drawings in the New York Times , Arts & Leisure section, al...

If I close my eyes I can hear Zero Mostel as Tevye, reciting the opening monologue of Fiddler on the Roof . Anyone who grew up Jewish in the 1960's knew all the words to all the songs of (as Harvey Fierstein calls it) "the sacred Fiddler ." It opened September 22, 1964 and ran for over 3,000 performances. I was fortunate to see the original production on Broadway, at the tail end of its run, in 1972.  I was 12 years old, and it was the first live musical I ever saw.  I went with my grandmother, who'd grown up in a shtetl and who once had dreams of being an actress in the Yiddish theater.  I've seen the movie, of course.  I own it on DVD, and I've got the soundtrack as well as cast albums from several productions in my CD collection. I was delighted to take my children to see the revival a few years ago, where Alfred Molia played Tevye.  (Becca walked out of the theater saying "I'm proud to be Jewish" -- mission accomplished!) Would have ...

So Wednesday night Drew and I went to the theater. The evening began at Ellen's Stardust Diner. We love this place, we  ate here on St. Patrick's Day.  The restaurant's "theme" is the 1950's.  The waters wear bowling shirts, the waitresses wear poodle skirts.  the place is advertised as "the home of the singing waitstaff"   the person who just took your order may be the next to grab a mike and belt out a tune. although there is something slightly disconcerting about two girls in poolde skirts singing the latest Lady Gaga  song...you know, the one about her cell phone ringing constantly while she's dancing at the club.... I ordered sliders, Drew had a corned beef sandwich. Next we walked around Times Square...it was full of tourists, not to mention Marines and sailors (it's Fleet Week, after all.)  Saw some guy dressed as Spiderman, but alas I missed the Singing cowboy -- though Drew said he was out and about earlier in the ev...

Once Upon a Mattress is a nice musical comedy based on the fairy tale "the Princess and the Pea", but with a few risque twists.  Main characters are Princess Winifred, Prince Dauntless, King Sextimus, Queen Aggravaine, Sir Harry and Lady Larken. Originally done in the 1950's, the show was revived on Broadway in 1996. Sarah Jessica Parker played Winifred in the revival. My sisters and I saw the production during previews, before opening night.  Loved the show.  After the show opened, we got a mail-in offer from Theater Development Fund for discount tickets, and decided to take the girls.  (At the time Jen was about 6 years old and Becca was 4; they were experienced Broadway veterans,   they'd already seen Beauty and the Beast .) With TDF, you picked two or three days on which you wanted to see the show,   and they pick the performance and  the seats. We got very lucky, we got a group of seats in the very front row of the theater!! And t...

 It was a long-running musical in London and New York.  It was a long-running joke in Forbidden Broadway performances and  on TV. Even now, years after the show closed, when I walk past the Wintergarden Theater, I expect to see this on the marquis:    It was one of my favorite musicals of the 1980's.  I saw the show at least 3 times, bought the cast album from London as well as the one  from New York, memorized all the words.  One Halloween I dressed as a cat because I was inspired by the show.  I even named my black cat "Mr. Mistoffeles". So, for your listening pleasure today, I present the opening number from Cats .

Ah, the joys of live theater!!!!! In the next few weeks Drew and I will venture into Manhattan to attend the theater.... We've got tickets for White Christmas , a stage adaptation of the Bing Crosby/Danny Kaey movie masterpiece. We've got tickets to see John Stamos in the revivial of Bye Bye Birdie . and we've got tickets for the revival of Finian's Rainbow . wehn the house lights go down, the curtain rises and the music starts, i am in 7th heaven.