March Theater Wrap-Up

Gaaaa! March went by so quickly and I already have a chart, list and calendar out trying to schedule the dozen or so shows I want to see in April. Topping the list is The Normal Heart followed by return trips to La Cage aux Folles and Angels in America.


The month started with a very pleasant surprise - Anything Goes. I am not a musical revival person - I like a good rock musical, a play with a solid gay subplot or something new and risky. I attended a preview performance half-heartedly and was blown away. The cast had something like 26 people and the show included a tap number featuring the whole cast. This was old school musical theater and it was really excellent. The set was beautiful and detailed, as were the costumes. Acting and direction were great. Anything Goes is what people expect from Broadway and is well worth the ticket price.

I confess that I went to see Good People because it got excellent reviews and lots of Tony buzz. Between Manhattan Theatre Club's 30 under 30 discount program and those new, plush seats at the Friedman my afternoon was well spent. I grew up in a suburb of Boston, and the women in Good People were like characters out of my childhood. As a special education teacher, I also appreciated the burden placed on a single mother raising a child with a disability. When plays are somber and serious, they need to have some very funny lines, which Good People certainly did. The second act went on a bit too long and made me uncomfortable, and I found their Boston accents to be grating (they should have hired my Nana to teach them how to talk), but all in all it was a good play.

I finally got to see HAIR (on tour in Boston), but you can read all about that trip with the family here.

Let Me Ascertain You: Pretty Filthy by The Civilians - I believe a New Yorker needs to have a method to narrow down all of the theater selections, or just all of the entertainment options, so I have some strict rules. If it says "The Civilians" or "Michael Friedman" then I go. The Civilians are an investigative theater company. One of their current projects is about the porn industry. Their work is usually pretty outrageous and the craziest part is that it isn't fiction. They do a lot of research and interviews, and use that material to create scripts and songs. They performed a concert at Joe's Pub of their porn industry songs, and it was fantastic. I brought a friend who was a Joe's Pub virgin. She didn't know what she was getting into, and really, I couldn't have brought most people because the material was graphic, but it was very, very funny.

SWAN!!! This reading of a version of Black Swan written by Jack Ferver was hysterical, and I haven't seen the movie. Above I mentioned my policy of narrowing down theater opportunities - I also see anything that Randy Harrison is in (though as I type this, I am missing his performance at Our Hit Parade, and I am very bitter about it). So Harrison played a few characters; Ferver wrote the script and he played Lily. The standout star was Jenn Harris, who was just hysterical as Nina. The guys in the reading were clearly having a great time trying to make each other laugh. Lots of gender bending, crude humor and a woman who can hold her own with four men made for a very entertaining evening. It was my first time at PS 122, but not my first time at a performance of a reading written by Jack Ferver. I can't wait until he does another one.

Last, but not least, I made a return visit to see Peter and the Starcatcher at New York Theatre Workshop. I really believe it's one of the best shows running in New York right now, and due to a scheduling snafu, Dara couldn't come with me the first time around. Knowing the plot this time, I was able to just enjoy the excellent directing and simple effects. I missed Christian Borle as Black Stache, but the leading men in my heart continued to be Arnie Burton and Greg Hildreth. They make a handsome couple.