Everything I Know I Learned from Musicals

Passing Strange to Close July 20th

The producers of the adventurous Broadway musical Passing Strange announced today that the show will play its last performance at the Belasco Theater on July 20th. This is no surprise, given that the show played to 37% capacity last week. By the time it closes, it will have played 165 performances and 20 previews. It's unlikely that the show will have made its initial investment in that time, particularly considering that it was playing to less than 50% capacity during much of its run.

Co-creators Stew and Heidi Rodewald have both expressed interest in touring the show, although there are no concrete plans at this time. As previously announced, director Spike Lee will film the show shortly before it closes for possible theatrical release or for viewing on cable TV.

As I said in my review and my recent revisit, I found Passing Strange to be an admirable but flawed musical, one that stretched the form in a number of remarkable ways. Many considered it the best new musical of the season. As I've mentioned numerous times, I'll reserve that distinction for the brilliant Adding Machine. But Passing Strange represents a number of encouraging trends, including a greater representation of mainstream musical tastes on Broadway, and an increased willingness on the part of mainstream producers to take chances on new and interesting voices. I doubt we'll see Stew himself again on the Rialto, but we'll hopefully see more of his kind.

Passing Strange: Revisit and Broadcast News

Over the weekend, I revisited a whole bunch of shows, including A Catered Affair, Passing Strange, Adding Machine, and Boeing-Boeing. See my Catered re-review below, and watch for my Boeing-Boeing and Adding Machine reappraisals later in the week.

As for Passing Strange, my initial enthusiasm for the show has been waning somewhat as I listen to the cast recording. (Read my first review here.) The music doesn't seem quite as compelling upon further investigation, and I find myself increasingly irritated by the over reliance on assonance (rhyming "sex" with "cigarettes") and poor scansion in the lyrics (e.g. "un-DER your wing," "far lon-GER than you," etc.).

But since I had plenty of available show slots during this trip, I figured I'd take the show in again to see how it would hold up. Plus, it was one of only five shows with matinées on July 4th, and none of the others really struck my fancy.

Even with the limited competition, Passing Strange still wasn't able to attract a full house. In fact, the show played to just 37% capacity last week. So the show's probably not long for this world; I wouldn't be surprised if we heard about a closing notice sometime soon, perhaps this week.

Which is probably for the best, because Stew and Heidi Rodewald look like they're ready to pack it in. Stew seemed to be phoning it in, although frankly he didn't really seem all that demonstrative the first time either. The crowd energy was low; there were far fewer downtown alternativo types in attendance, and not that many African Americans either. The audience seemed mainly to comprise middle-class vacationers who got their tickets at TKTS and weren't really sure what to expect. The couple next to me left at intermission.

But the supporting cast was really on, perhaps because they're trained actors, not rock musicians. Colman Domingo and Chad Goodridge were particularly sharp. The dynamic Daniel Breaker was out for this performance, but understudy Lawrence Stallings was very animated and capable.

Even so, Passing Strange remains a bold work, one that challenges Broadway conventions and demonstrates new ways of approaching the form. For those of you who won't be able to catch the show before its imminent demise, Playbill.com reports that director Spike Lee will be filming the show for a TV broadcast on a cable channel TBD. Lee will reportedly record three performances later this month, two of which will have a live audience, and then edit the three together.

For a while there, it looked as though Passing Strange might turn out to be another Hair: a safe way for the middle class to experience the counter culture all within the relative safety of Times Square and the familiar Belasco proscenium. Even though Passing Strange doesn't seem to be catching on, the show's score is more mainstream than those of most Broadway shows. Ever since Hair debuted, people have been talking about how Broadway needed to stay relevant by reflecting changing tastes in music. Forty years later, it's finally starting to occur in earnest.

Adding Machine to Close July 20th

The critically acclaimed Off-Broadway musical Adding Machine will end its run at the Minetta Lane Theater on July 20th. The show had extended its limited run through August 31st, but apparently sales weren't brisk enough to justify that extension.

If you haven't already seen Adding Machine, I can't recommend it highly enough. As I said in my review, it's a continually surprising show, confounding your expectations at every turn. Since the cast album came out, I've been listening to practically nothing else. The score just gets richer and more interesting the more I hear it. I'm seeing the show again this Thursday as part of my July 4th theater weekend. (New York City in July? Oh, the humanity.)

See the show. Buy the CD. This is easily the best musical of the past season, on or off Broadway.

'Bye, George

Oh, beautiful, for smoggy skies
Insecticided grain
For strip-mined mountains majesty
Above the asphalt plain

America, America
Man sheds his waste on thee
And hides the pines with billboard signs
From sea to oily sea

George Carlin (1937-2008)

A Catered Affair to Close July 27th

The week after the Tonys is always pretty bleak. Shows that were hoping to snag an award or two, only to come up empty-handed, inevitably give up the ghost sometime in June or July.

Following the announcement earlier this week that the virtually unlamented Cry-Baby will shutter this weekend, comes the news that the lovely but Tony-less A Catered Affair will close at the end of July. Although the show has been doing much better at the box office than Cry-Baby (attendance has been at about 75% with an average ticket price of $70), apparently there wasn't enough in the coffers to keep the show running through the often-lean summer months.

I'll be in NYC for the July 4th weekend and I fully expect to see A Catered Affair again. If you haven't already, I highly recommend taking a trip to the Walter Kerr Theater before July 27th. It's a moving and heartfelt show with a handful of subtle yet stirring performances, particularly from Faith Prince, Tom Wopat, and Leslie Kritzer. Also be sure to pick up the PS Classics recording of John Bucchino's quiet and expressive score.

Cry-Baby to Close June 22nd

The first in what may prove to be a string of post-Tony closing announcements came today. Playbill.com reports that Cry-Baby will play its last performance at the Marquis Theater this coming Sunday, at which time it will have played 68 performances and 45 previews. There's really no surprise here: The show's been playing to half-empty houses and has had an abysmal average ticket price of about $35.

Regular readers will recall from my review that I wasn't nearly as negative on the show as many of my fellow bloggers, or indeed the critics. I thought it was fun, but flawed and ultimately forgettable. I didn't really see why so many people had such harsh words for the show. Perhaps it's because people were expecting another Hairspray. I've never been a huge fan of Hairspray, although I did moderately enjoy both the show and the movie, so perhaps I wasn't as disappointed as others by how Cry-Baby didn't live up to the comparison.

But watching the Cry-Baby number on the Tony Awards broadcast reminded me of what I didn't like about the show: too much purposeless action, too much overly energetic choreography covering plot holes, and too many dancers pulling focus and mugging up a storm.

I'll be in New York for the July 4th weekend, taking in Damn Yankees and [title of show]. I'm also hoping to catch either Passing Strange or A Catered Affair again, perhaps both. Here's hoping they both stay open long enough.

Clearing Off My Desk - Part 2

More stuff that somehow didn't warrant a full-length post, but nonetheless caught my interest:

A CHORUS LINE: The Broadway revival of A Chorus Line will close in August. The production will have played 759 performances, which is about 12% of the show's original run of 6,137 performances. Although the show recouped its investment in only 19 weeks, recently its weekly grosses have been all over the place, maxing out at about $500,000 in March, but lately coming in at about half that. Apparently, Mario Lopez and his big guns weren't artillery enough to keep the show open. Go figure.
Do I Care?: Just the fact that I couldn't be bothered to craft a full-length post about this one should tell you where it registers on my care-o-meter. (P.S. My sources tell me that another VERY long-running revival will close sometime later this year as well. I'll keep you posted.)

NINE: Daniel Day-Lewis is reportedly in talks to star in director Rob Marshall's upcoming movie version of Maury Yeston's Nine. Day-Lewis would join an already stellar cast of female co-stars: Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench, Penelope Cruz, Sophia Loren, and recent Oscar winner Marion Colillard.
Do I Care?: As talented as Daniel Day-Lewis is, I would be much more excited if Javier Bardem were still going to play the role, or even Antonio Banderas. Guido needs to be sexy, and Day-Lewis just doesn't do it for me.

SEUSSICAL: The revised version of Seussical, which recently played Off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theater, will receive a cast recording from Jay Records. The Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens musical was not a hit when it played Broadway, but it has gone on to become one of the most frequently performed musicals in regional theaters and in schools. The show has been significantly streamlined, and its score pruned and revised.
Do I Care?: I always care about what Flaherty and Ahrens are up to; I have a deep and abiding affection for them and for their shows, and I greatly look forward to hearing the new version of Seussical. I saw the show twice in Boston and once on Broadway, and was heartbroken that the creators couldn't seem to find a way to make it work. Let's hope they finally have.

Glory Days Closes After One Performance

Even Carrie ran through the weekend.

In case you haven't heard, the last new musical of the season, Glory Days, closed on its opening night this past Tuesday. Apparently the producers were hoping against hope that the reviews would rescue the show from flop-dom. Didn't happen. The show had been playing to 21% capacity, and the producers didn't even have enough money to keep the show running until the Tony nominations come out next week. Someone told me he saw composer/lyricist Nick Blaemire at a concert over the weekend giving out comps like there was no tomorrow.

Turns out, there was.

I was supposed to see Glory Days this Friday night, but now I'm going to have to find another show to round out my theater weekend. It's disappointing, if only because I had set a goal to see every musical this season. I couldn't remember the last time an original musical closed after only one performance, so I broke out the reference books and found the following:

Kelly (1965)
Here's Where I Belong (1968)
Billy (1969)
La Strada (1969)
Gantry (1970)
Home Sweet Homer (1976) 
A Broadway Musical (1978)
Onward Victoria (1980)
Dance a Little Closer (1983)

You'll notice there was quite a spate of one-night-closures in the mid-to-late 60s, which was when the phenomenon really began. It's all about economics: before the 60s, a poor-to-middling show could often afford to weather out the bad reviews, run long enough to eke out a small profit, close, and disappear into obscurity. By the 1960s, costs had risen to the point where this was no longer possible. By the early 80s, producers had smartened up, and you really didn't see a lot of one-night-wonders in the late 80s and throughout the 90s.

An interesting footnote: Nick Blaemire is also in the cast of the struggling and not-so-well-received new musical Cry-Baby. He's obviously a very talented guy; he was one of the liveliest and most idiomatic performers in CB, and he was also quite good in the national tour of Altar Boyz. Here's hoping he finds success someday soon, on either side of the footlights.

Rent Run Extended By Three Months

The producers of Rent have extended the show's run by another three months to accommodate the sudden rush of ticket sales that the show's announced closure precipitated. The landmark musical is now scheduled to close September 7th. Folks who bought tickets for the express purpose of seeing one of the show's final performances will have a chance to exchange their tickets for a performance closer to closing.

After my last post about the show's closure, in which I described the show as admirable but flawed, I received a number of...well...passionate responses. Readers took particular exception to my questioning the quality of the number "Today 4 U," a criticism I continue to stand by despite admonitions I received to go back and "listen to the lyrics" again. I did: it's still a stupid song.

But the fervor of these respondents illustrates the intense feeling that Rent engenders in its fan base, which BTW includes this blogger. People just love this show, some so much so that some feel the need to attack anyone who dares appear to impugn it.

As I've said, I'm an admirer of this show, although over the years I've come to acknowledge its weaknesses, while still appreciating its many strengths. I may even decide to take it in one more time before it closes. Rent really began the Little-Show-That-Could trend, demonstrating that it was possible for a small but ambitious Off-Broadway show to move uptown, capture hearts, stretch the form, and make money. Such shows as Avenue Q, Spring Awakening, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee have Rent to thank for paving the way.

The show also represents an important step in the evolution of the portrayal of gay and lesbian characters in Broadway musicals. Prior to Rent, most shows that contained gays were about the characters being gay: the struggles (A Chorus Line, Falsettos), the prejudices (La Cage aux Folles, Kiss of the Spiderwoman). Rent was the first Broadway musical in which gay characters simply happened to be gay: it wasn't about gay people and straight people, it was a about people. AIDS isn't a gay disease, it's a disease that affects everybody.

So believe me, I appreciate the place that Rent holds in the history of musical theater. It's something I remind my students of every time we cover it in my Conservatory course. I'll never forget the night I first saw Rent, the power it had to entertain and devastate. It remains one of my favorite and most memorable nights in theater. And considering I just entered my thirtieth year of serious theater-going, that's saying quite a bit.

Will Spider-Man Close Young Frankenstein?

Karma is a dish best served cold. Yeah, that's a horrible mix of metaphors, but go with me here...

Evidently there's a distinct possibility that the upcoming musical version of Spider-Man could push Young Frankenstein out of the Hilton Theater. That's the provocative notion that Michael Riedel posits in his column this week.   

Apparently director Julie Taymor and her design team for Spider-Man have been having "discussions" with the folks at the Hilton Theater about sight lines, and the rake of the balcony, and whatnot. I can't imagine it's a purely academic exercise. At least it's not as tacky and classless as Susan Stroman and Mel Brooks marching up and down the aisles of the same theater while the hapless cast of The Pirate Queen rehearsed on stage. 

Riedel is careful to point out that there are no current plans to shutter Young Frankenstein, but also reports that "several involved" in the show have hinted that it could close before year's end. That would put YF's total performances at about 450, and there ain't no way on God's green earth the producers could make back their estimated $20 million investment in that time.

Pardon me if I chortle, snigger, and snort with glee. It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of greedy, arrogant, presumptuous schmucks. For a catalog of my grievances with the show and its creators, check out my review.

The new Spidey tuner will reportedly have a score by Bono and The Edge of U2. (Yeah, I know.) Bono is known worldwide for his humanitarian efforts. Perhaps this is part of his mission: to rid Broadway of a show and a production team that are clearly a blight on the artistic and karmic landscape. Would  I feel differently if Young Frankenstein had actually turned out to be a decent show? Well, it didn't, so there's no need to speculate.

I guess sometimes it's not so good to be the king. Huh, Mel?