The Addams Family - [03.09.10]

On Tuesday, March 9, Grace and I saw The Addams Family in its second day of previews.

Our train was a little late, but we still got into Penn at the right time so we walked right to the subway and our train was coming in right then, so we hopped on and went on our way to the York Theatre. We got out at the right exit this time, so we were literally right next to the theatre and didn't have to search for it like last time.

So, we go downstairs and go up to the box office to get tickets to see Yank at the end of the month (my second time!). And I’ll just say, without going into too many details, that I almost had the most awkward moment of my life. Twice. But I got front row seats, so it’s all good.

After that little excursion, Grace and I stopped by the St. James and got tickets for American Idiot. April 8! We're excited.

Then we went to Juniors and had a ninja waiter!!! He was really good because he was constantly refilling my water glass, so that was pretty awesome. But at one point, we were eating our cake and he reaches over the little wall and steals our ketchup (we were at a booth on the end parallel between the bar and the big window overlooking Shubert Alley). So we were like whoa sneaky. Then he puts it back with the same ninja-like move. It was funny.

So then we went over to our theatre for the show.

Our seats were way up in the very back row and I was sitting next to an old woman who thought it was okay to make comments to her husband during the show. No, that's not acceptable.

THE SHOW



It was not the train wreck I was expecting, but it wasn't a quality piece of theatre either. It was fun and I really enjoyed it, but it wasn't great. I think it would have made a better play instead of a musical. You know, since it was apparently necessary to adapt this for the stage.

The score was forgettable. I didn't like the opening number. There were like three (maybe four, tops) songs that I liked. I liked Wednesday's first song, called "Pulled" and the Wednesday/Lucas duet in act two called "Crazier Than You." The "One Normal Night" song was okay. That was about it. But yeah, the score was nothing special.

The plot wasn’t too great either. It felt more like a bunch of interconnected scenes that didn't really have much to do with the main plot. Like, Uncle Fester had this song called "The Moon and Me" which was basically a scene/song about how he's in love with the moon. It was hilarious and really cool to watch, but it fit nowhere in the plot, really. But it was probably one of the best parts of the show.

Even though it was disappointing plot-wise, the book was hilarious. I was laughing so much. So that sort of made up for the bad score.

Costumes, set, make up = A+

The cast was incredible and full of talent.

Jackie Hoffman stole every scene she was in. So amazing. She was just hilarious and had some great lines.

Uncle Fester and Lurch were really funny as well.

Everyone makes a big deal about Nathan Lane. He was good. It was cool to see him live. He was very funny, but sort of the same that Nathan Lane always does.

It was really awesome to see Bebe Neuwirth as well. I thought she did a great job.

I've accidentally stalked Krysta Rodriguez to every Broadway show she's done. Grace has seen everything except Spring Awakening. But I like her a lot. Her voice sounded not as awesome as I thought she was, but she was good. And I think she had a wig in the beginning, but then she did the rest of the show with her real hair. But she was good.

Wesley Taylor! He's adorable. He also has a really great voice that I enjoyed hearing not in a German accent. He had good chemistry with Krysta.

I love Carolee Carmello! She was great, as was the guy who played her husband.

And Pugsley was too cute. I think that's everything.

So, in short: The cast is amazing, the book is hilarious but the plot is eh, the score wasn't that great, and the costumes and set etc were awesome. I recommend it anyway. It was a fun show, worth seeing just for the talent in it. If the ticket price doesn't skyrocket, I would consider going back maybe at the end of the summer to see what has changed. It was only the second preview, so for all I know, the score might completely change.

Then we headed out to the stagedoor and met almost everyone. Carolee Carmello came out, but she didn’t sign. At least not for us. Nathan Lane was the only person who didn’t come out at all, but it was still cool to see him live.

Krysta Rodriguez:




Adam Riegler:



Wesley Taylor:




John Astin (original Gomez from the tv show):



Bebe Neuwirth:




Playbill:





That's it for The Addams Family! Our next 12 Months 12 Musical show is American Idiot on April 8. However, I've seen a handful of shows between this and Billy Elliot and will be doing a review post or two about those, so check back this weekend if you're interested. Shows include: Fanny, Memphis (with Bryan Fenkart as Huey), Yank!, and In the Heights (with Corbin Bleu and other cast changes).

Billy Elliot - [02.03.10]

So, on Thursday, Grace and I finally saw Billy Elliot. We put it off for so long for several reasons.

1. For awhile, it was sort of expensive and sold out.
2. I really hated the movie, so I wasn't about to pay a lot of money to see something that I didn't think I'd like. I thought the story was lame.
3. I didn't think it deserved several of the Tony's it won. And I still do. I justify my thoughts, just read on.

Anyway.

We almost missed our train going in because we were trying to look up subway times to go down to the York Theatre Co. (I needed to get tickets to see Yank with a friend)

Anyway, so we get into the city and the subway we need is pulling in as we're swiping, so that was very convenient. Once we got off, we had trouble finding the actual theatre. It was like below a church or something, but we found it and I got the tickets for Yank and was a very happy girl.

So, we thought about getting dinner at Ray's Pizza since we're trying to expand our eating, but the pizza wasn't very appealing and I kind of wanted chicken fingers, so we decided to just go to.... Junior's! Haha. So, we walked all the way back down there, which involved walking past the Mamma Mia stagedoor. Carolee Carmello was standing at the stagedoor talking to someone! She had her back to the way we were walking but both of us turned around as we walked by to see if it was her, so it was fun to have an actress sighting.

We arrived at Junior’s and had a really cute waiter! We’d seen him there before, but never had him (actually, I did when I saw Rock of Ages, but never with Grace. Um, clearly I go there too often). I saw Alice Ripley go into the Next to Normal stagedoor. I ended up getting a grilled cheese instead of chicken fingers though and then we split the chocolate cake, which is the best thing ever.

After dinner, we didn't have too much time to kill, so we headed straight to get tickets for our next show. The Addams Family on March 9!!! Second day of previews. I'm super excited. Oh, and it was also funny to walk by Carolee Carmello since we knew we were getting Addams Family tickets.

THE SHOW



Billy: Liam Redhead
Michael: Jake Evan Schewenke

So, I sort of loved the beginning because the little boy was SO EFFING CUTE. Grace and I want to adopt him and little Coalhouse from Ragtime. And get them bunk beds. Adorable.

Liam was really good. His singing was just okay, but he was a great dancer and actor, which worked well enough with what the show was.

Michael was my favorite character. He was really funny, and very talented.

Will Chase was phenomenal and I was like so super excited to see him in something. I really wanted to see him in High Fidelity because that's one of my favorite books, but that closed in two seconds, so that didn't happen. But he's awesome.

Carole Shelley was great! Her Tony nomination was well-deserved and I thought she was so funny and she’s truly an asset to the show.

My favorite parts were "Angry Dance" and "Electricity."

The score was okay, and I probably would have been seriously annoyed if this had beat Next to Normal for best score.

The dancing was amazing, which drove the whole show, so that's why it sort of works that the score isn't that great. It doesn't need to be as awesome because it's not really about the singing, which is why it sort of worked that Liam didn't have the best voice.

I wasn't crazy about the book either. [Hunter Bell all the way.]

However, the most undeserved Tony of all was lighting. I mean, really? It was good during Angry Dance, but otherwise, Hair and Next to Normal were definitely better throughout those shows as wholes, whereas with Billy it was just one song. But whatever.

And I can't comment on the best actor thing since I didn't see any of the nominated Billys. But I still support Mr. Creel. But Liam was wonderful and totally deserves positive recognition for his performance (as I’m sure the nominated Billys do as well)

I still consider Next to Normal to be a better overall musical than Billy Elliot, but I have a lot of personal history with that show.

Anyway. Nothing we can do about it now.

But I really liked the show. A lot more than I thought I would. And I didn't think I'd like it because I didn't like the movie -- not because of the Tony's. I'm not that awful. I wouldn't see it again, but I'm glad I finally did see it.

Oh, and now Grace and I have seen all the best musical nominations (and revivals) from last year's Tony's. Yay!!!

We tried to stagedoor, but no one was really coming out. Will Chase walked right by us though. I would have liked his autograph, but oh well. I'm just happy to have seen him.

I’m sorry this review is rather short (and more or less an edited version of what I posted in my livejournal), but things have been crazy. Check back in a few minutes for the write up of The Addams Family!