It seems that the musical Vanities will in fact play New York later this year, although not on Broadway, at least not yet. The show was originally supposed to play the Lyceum Theater, but the chancy economic environment forced the producers to reconsider.
Now comes news that the show will find a berth at New York's Second Stage, an Off-Broadway nonprofit theater company. Vanities will close out 2ST's current season, taking the place of Douglas Carter Beane's recently postponed play, Mr. and Mrs. Fitch.
The show will apparently retain its creative team from its recent run at the Pasadena Playhouse: Judith Ivey will continue as director and Dan Knechtges (Xanadu, Spelling Bee) will provide the musical staging. The cast will likely comprise Lauren Kennedy, Sarah Stiles, and Anneliese Van Der Pol, as it did in Pasadena. Vanities has a book by Jack Heifner, who wrote the 1976 play upon which the musical is based, and music and lyrics by David Kirshenbaum (Summer of '42).
Previews for the show will begin June 30th toward a July 16th opening. The show will have performances through August 9th. If that run is successful, will a Broadway run follow? I would imagine that's what the producers are hoping for, and the 2ST run represents a relatively safe way of testing the New York waters. Heck, it worked for both The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Next to Normal.
Speaking of Next to Normal (er, excuse me, next to normal), the reviews for that show, which came out today, were pretty darned positive. Regular readers will recall that I have a checkered history with this show and its librettist, Brian Yorkey. Well, I'm going to be seeing the show again next week. Never let it be said that I won't give a show a second chance. But if Yorkey's apparent message -- which seemed to be a repudiation of psychiatry -- remains intact, I certainly reserve the right to speak out against it, as I did when I saw the show last year.
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