"Broadway Songbook: Broadway in Love" at Park Square Theatre

As part of their soft reopening after some financial troubles over the last year, Park Square Theatre is bringing James Rocco's Broadway Songbook series back to St. Paul. When he was Artistic Director at the Ordway, James did a dozen or more shows in the series, most of which I attended. I fondly remember them as the best musical theater edutainment, with James' stories and history combined with live performances by some of #TCTheater's top talent. The series has continued at various locations since James left the Ordway in 2017, but hopefully this is the first of many at Park Square. It's February, so the topic for this Songbook is "Broadway in Love," a very broad topic since just about every musical has a love story. So there was less of a cohesive historical or thematic throughline in this show, but more just a collection of some of James and friends' favorite love songs from musicals. Only two performances remain, so head to downtown St. Paul if you've been missing this unique brand of musical edutainment. And follow Park Square for the upcoming announcement of their four-show season, beginning with a summer mystery.

"The Most Happy Fella" by Skylark Opera Theatre at the Historic Mounds Theatre

This fall, Skylark Opera Theatre brings us Frank Loesser's The Most Happy Fella, which is technically a musical, but one with operatic qualities to some of the music. And the fact that some of the songs are in Italian (or mixed English and Italian) also make it feel a little like an opera. It's an unabashedly romantic old-fashioned love story, but not without a few modern tweaks. Skylark's production in St. Paul's Historic Mounds Theatre is charming, intimate, engaging, and gorgeously sung by the 12-person cast.

"Footloose" at Artistry

Artistry is opening their 2019-2020 season with the musical adaptation of the hit 1984 movie Footloose. I've seen it once before, at the Chanhassen pre-blog, which means I remember nothing about it. As a musical it's pretty weak, but there is still plenty to enjoy about it, including the talented young cast. The other musicals in Artistry's season (in addition to the classic play Our Town) are ones I'm more excited about - the rarely done A New Brain and Mame, and the regional premiere of The Bridges of Madison County (which, despite being a movie/book adaptation, features a flawlessly stunning score by Jason Robert Brown). In the meantime, you can enjoy some fun '80s tunes in Bloomington this summer.

"Carmen" by Mill City Summer Opera at Mill City Museum Ruins Courtyard

A review in brief of the final dress rehearsal of Mill City Summer Opera's Carmen, before a brief rain delay (which I hereby declare shall forevermore be referred to as a raintermission) turned into a cancellation of the performance, midway through Act II of IV:

"The Music Man" at Artistry

The Music Man is a classic of the American musical theater canon, and one that's held up fairly well with no uncomfortable racism and relatively little sexism (why does it still have to be a "boys' band?"). And Meredith Wilson's score is a winner, ranging from what might be the first musical theater rap song to gorgeous romantic duets. Artistry excels at these sorts of musical theater classics, so it's no surprise that their new production is a charmer. This also seems to be the sort of show that appeals to their core audience, judging by the fact that the entire run is already sold out. I would say that if you're looking for a good old-fashioned heart-warming, foot-stamping, enjoyable musical, head down to Bloomington. Except that you're pretty much out of luck for this run (call the box office to see if they've got anything left). Make plans to enjoy the rest of their 2017-2018 (which began with a bang in the form of an inventive and super-cool Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which I'm guessing did not appeal to their core audience quite as much). I'm most looking forward to the final show of this season, the much more infrequently produced Sondheim masterpiece Follies.

Fringe Festival 2017: "The End of the World Sing-Along Hour"

Day: 9

Show: 35

Title: The End of the World Sing-Along Hour

Category: Comedy

By: The Heavy Mettle Assembly

Written by: Tracey Fletcher Zavadil

Location: Bryant Lake Bowl

Summary: A sing-along radio broadcast from the radio home of the resistance is interrupted by an asteroid approaching earth.

Highlights: If the world is ending, we might as well sing! A wonderful premise, but I wanted more from this show. Literally, it was only about 40 minutes long (nothing throws a wrench in my tightly scheduled Fringe life like having 45 minutes between shows). But the cast (Carole Finneran, Eryn Tvete, Jennifer Eckes, Kevin Werner Hohlstein, and playwright Tracey Fletcher Zavadil) and live onstage band are fabulous, and singing songs like "This Land is Your Land" and the originals "Everybody" and "Never Give Up" (written by Tracey) truly does make one feel better about the world. In this show-within-a-show, when news breaks of an asteroid about to hit greater Minnesota (the cabin!), the sing-along cast decides to try to thwart it with song waves - simultaneous singing and kazooing across the country. A cute and fun show, I just wish there were more singing (and less politics)!

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

"The Secret Garden" at Artistry

The Secret Garden was my favorite book as a child (beside the Little House series, with which I was and maybe still am obsessed). I remember finding it magical, and wishing for a secret garden of my own, perhaps because I connected with a serious and solitary little girl who liked the outdoors. A few weeks ago I started re-reading this beloved childhood classic that I haven't touched in 30 years in preparation for seeing Artistry's production of the 1991 musical adaptation. I haven't finished it yet (I spend too much time at the theater and not enough time reading), but that brooding and magical feeling is familiar. The book is an introspective story with few characters that doesn't scream "Broadway musical!" But the creators (book and lyrics by Marsha Norman and music by Lucy Simon) have done a wonderful job of adapting it and making it something new, while still staying true to the heart of the original. It's a heart-warming tale with a hauntingly beautiful score, brought to life by Anita Ruth's always thrilling pit orchestra and this dreamy cast that is vocally one of the best I've ever seen at Artistry.

"The Tragedy of Carmen" by Skylark Opera Theatre at the Midpointe Event Center

Welcome back, Skylark Opera! After cancelling their annual summer festival last year, something I had thoroughly enjoyed the previous five summers, they're back in 2017. Newly rebranded as Skylark Opera Theatre, but still committed to making opera accessible to neophytes like me (they always perform in English, for one thing), they've got a couple of shows on the schedule early this year (although no word on the summer festival). First up is The Tragedy of Carmen, a 90-minute English adaptation of one of the most well known and frequently performed operas, Georges Bizet's Carmen. With just six actors and a three-piece orchestra, performed in a small space, it's an intimate and thrilling up-close-and-personal take on a classic opera, even for those of us who maybe aren't that into opera.

"Pop Up Musical" at Plymouth Playhouse

Musical theater is just the best thing, isn't it? If you agree, head west to the Plymouth Playhouse for the latest incarnation of the delightfully irreverent tribute to the love of all things musical theater, aka Pop Up Musical. Four friends, who just happen to be super talented local music-theater artists, created this show for the Fringe Festival a few years ago. It was so successful that they've expanded it and continue to bring it to various venues in the area (including the Jerome Hill Theater, where I saw it in 2013). The talented cast sings 24 songs from 24 different musicals, 23 of which I've seen on stage. Wow, am I a nerd the target audience for this show! While belting out showtunes, the cast also shares fun bits of trivia in the VH1 Pop Up Video style, using signs and video projections. It's truly a must see for anyone for whom the great American musical theater cannon holds a special place in their heart (and their iTunes).

You may have seen these four performers on stages around town. Jennifer Eckes, Judi Gronseth, Kevin Werner Hohlstein, and Timm Holmly have known each other and worked together for years (we get to learn how they all met through the pop ups during the song "Friendship"). Video screens on either side of the stage display pop ups, as well as images of things related to the song (famous magicians and clowns during "Magic To Do" and "Send in the Clowns," a photo of an actual "Edelweiss"). The cast also holds up signs with pop ups, harkening back to the show's low budget Fringe origins, and these are perhaps the most fun. While someone is pouring their heart out in song, one of their cast members picks up a sign from the big stack on one of the four podiums, and parades it around the stage like Vanna White, facial expression telling all. Signs can also be props - the blue fans of "Sisters," animals for "Circle of Life," and Annie's hair (which gets multiple uses throughout the show).

The pop ups take three forms: fun and interesting trivia about the shows and songs themselves (when it opened, Tonys, stars, backstage gossip), tangential info about a word or idea in the song (we learn that Kleenex is a proprietary eponym during "Suddenly Seymour," and about the invention and cost of champagne during "Hey Big Spender"), and personal info about the cast (Judi was born the year that Sound of Music premiered, Kevin slept on the sidewalk to get tickets to RENT). We learn how many times the words "Tomorrow," "Popular," and "Tonight" are sung in the respective songs (16, 14, and 38!), and some common malapropisms for the opening line of "Circle of Life" ("ingonyama nengw' enamabala," or "penguin mama, penguin has a mama?").

Timm Holmly, Jennifer Eckes,
Judi Gronseth, and Kevin Werner Hohlstein

All of these shenanigans almost distract you from the fact that these four can really sing. They all have powerful, gorgeous voices, and perform with great enthusiasm and delightful camp. Songs come from such beloved and diverse musicals as Avenue Q and Fiddler on the Roof, Xanadu (featuring some impressive roller skating tricks by Kevin) and Les Miserables. The cast fights over who gets to sing one of the most beloved musical theater songs, "What I Did For Love" from A Chorus Line. Who wins? The audience, because they all end up singing it. Unfortunately they sing to a recorded karaoke-like track, but they acknowledge and poke a bit of fun at that. And they sound better than any karaoke singers I've ever heard! Still, I would love to see how the dynamic would change with a piano accompanist replacing the recorded track; it could lead to some fun interplay with a 5th person onstage, as well as greatly improving the quality of the music.

If you, like me, obsessively listen to musical theater cast recordings, define your life in terms of musical theater milestones, and constantly quote showtunes, this is a show for you. Because Jennifer, Judi, Kevin, and Timm love musical theater as much as you and I do. But unlike you and me (well, me anyway), they have the talent to sing and perform these songs and entertain an audience with their non-verbal written-on-signs banter. Pop Up Musical plays in the cozy theater in the basement of a Best Western for just three more weekends, don't miss it! See the Plymouth Playhouse website for more info, and visit Goldstar for discount ticket deals.


This article also appears on Broadway World Minneapolis.

"Broadway Songbook: The First 100 Years of Broadway" at the Ordway Center

The Ordway is opening its fourth season of the Broadway Songbook series with a retrospective of the first 100 years of Broadway. If you're like me, your first question is - when did Broadway begin? It's debatable, but Professor James Rocco - who presides over what feels like a college seminar on musical theater history with live show-and-tell by the Twin Cities' best musical theater performers - tells us that the beginning of Broadway can be marked by The Black Crook in 1866. This is just one of the things you'll learn in this Broadway Songbook, but don't worry, it is anything but dry and pedantic. The stories are fascinating and entertaining (at least to a musical theater nerd like myself), James has chosen just the right collection of songs to illustrate his points, and music director Raymond Berg has beautifully arranged the songs, which are performed with much passion, emotion, and humor by the talented cast of actor/singer/dancers (yes they dance!). If you're a musical theater fan, the Ordway's Broadway Songbook series is a must see, and this is a perfect one to start with. And if you live out-state, you're in luck - this Songbook is going on tour¹!

James takes us through the evolution of the Broadway musical, from the aforementioned The Black Crook, through George M. Cohan's invention of the "musical comedy," to the epic Show Boat which was the first musical drama, to the day when Rodgers met Hammerstein and "changed the world" with their sweeping lyrics and melodies and insistence that everything serve the story, to the invention of the LP record that allowed musical theater songs to invade pop culture, to a hint at the beginning of the Rock Musical with Hair (more on that in the next Songbook in April) in 1967², closing out the first century of Broadway. And the best part of this history lesson is we get to hear the music in this march through time.

The Ordway's Broadway Songbook series features a rotating cast of the Twin Cities' best musical theater performers, which this time includes Songbook vets Dieter Bierbrauer, Gary Briggle, Jennifer Eckes, and Erin Schwab, and newcomers to the series Kendra McMillan, Aja Parham, and Randy Schmeling. The cast performs solos, duets, and trios, but the best moments are when the entire company joins in to bring full life to these musical theater songs and give you just a taste of what the whole show might be like. Fortunately, several of the musicals featured can be seen on stages around the Cities in the upcoming season (see footnotes, which seem appropriate for this which feels a bit like a term paper for my musical theater history seminar).

Musical highlights include:

• The "wide-eyed and devilish singing comedian" Gary Briggle entertains with the '20s song "If You Knew Susie" and "If I Were a Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof from the '60s.
• Aja Parham sings the standard "Lady is a Tramp" as well as a gorgeous rendition of "As Long as He Needs Me" from Oliver³.
• Erin Schwab again showcases her unique talents - she has a fantastic voice and is also a brilliant comedian, and when those two things are combined it's a thing of beauty. She brings the house down with "Let's Do It," and also plays it a little more serious with "Don't Rain on My Parade" from Funny Girl.
• Kendra McMillan channels Ethel Merman in a clever arrangement of "I Got Rhythm" and Sally Bowles in "Cabaret."
• Randy Schmeling gleefully sings "Almost Like Being in Love," and leads the company in the rousing "Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat" from arguably the most successful musical Guys and Dolls⁴.
• Jennifer Eckes⁵ sounds absolutely lovely singing "Till There Was You" from The Music Man. She also makes a fine Eliza Doolittle opposite Gary as Henry Higgins and Randy as Colonel Pickering⁶.
• Any day that I can sit in a darkened theater and listen to Dieter Bierbrauer sing "Something's Coming" (West Side Story) and "The Impossible Dream" (Man of La Mancha) is a good day in my book. This was a very good day, as evidenced by the longest ovation of the night after the latter song.
• The medleys are the highlights of these shows, and this time included a medley from Show Boat, a Gerswhin medley, and a Rodgers and Hammerstein medley. They're very cleverly and playfully arranged, quickly switching from one song to the next, or lingering for a few lines, going from humorous to poignant in a flash. The Show Boat medley is particularly lovely, and again makes me wish for a local musical theater company to do a production of Show Boat on the Showboat. It's just too good of an opportunity to be missed!
• The show ended with Hair, which felt like a complete 180 from what we had been hearing all night. But that's the brilliant thing about Hair - it changed Broadway forever, just like so many shows before it had. And I was particularly tickled to hear this company sing "Let the Sun Shine In;" the first production of Hair that I saw was a Michael Brindisi-directed production at the Pantages ten years ago, starring Dieter as Claude and Randy as Woof. So much fun to revisit the production that began my Hair obsession.

I now come to the end of my term paper. I hope that I did the show justice and piqued your interest to experience it yourself. As always, this Broadway Songbook is an informative, entertaining, and fun evening of musical theater history brought to vibrant life by talented performers. Playing this weekend only on the Ordway stage in St. Paul, and possibly coming to a city near you this fall.

1. Tour locations include Austin on Oct. 9, Red Wing on Oct. 11, Dawson on Oct. 23, Detroit Lakes on Oct. 25, and St. Cloud on Nov. 2.
2. "Professor Rocco, Professor Rocco, isn't it true that while Hair first appeared Off-Broadway in 1967, it didn't open on Broadway until 1968?" said the annoying know-it-all student in the back row, eagerly waving her hand in the air.
3. Be sure to catch Theater Latte Da's production of Oliver in February, this season's installment of their "Broadway Re-Imagined" series with Hennepin Theatre Trust. Having never seen it, I didn't think I knew any songs from Oliver, but it turns out I do, yet another example of how much musical theater is ingrained in our popular culture.
4. Don't miss Bloomington Civic Theatre's production of Guys and Dolls, opening next week and already scheduled to perform at this year's Ivey Awards!
5. If you like Broadway Songbook, you might also like Jennifer's show with three of her friends, Pop-Up Musical, a more irreverent version of musical theater trivia mixed with great performances.
6. In case you've been living under a rock the past few months, I should tell you that My Fair Lady is currently playing at the Guthrie. And it's scrumptious.

Does anyone need to borrow my notes?

This article also appears on Broadway World Minneapolis.

"Broadway Songbook: George Gershwin" at the Ordway Center

Just last month, I learned about the Gershwin brothers, and lyricist Ira in particular, in Park Square Theatre's excellent play with music Words By... Ira Gershwin and the Great American Songbook. My education was furthered this weekend with the latest in the Ordway's always entertaining Broadway Songbook series, featuring the music of composer George Gerswhin. Ordway Artistic Director James Rocco tells the story of George's life and career, interspersed with relevant songs performed by some of the top musical theater talent in the Twin Cities. And it's a great story at that - an American success story with a tragic ending. Sons of Russian Jewish immigrants, the Gershwin brothers grew up in Brooklyn, where George was a prodigy on the piano. He soon found fame as a composer for Broadway and movies, collaborating with Ira and other lyricists. George died at the age of 38 from a brain tumor, but forever changed American music in his short but prolific career.

This Broadway Songbook features a significantly larger cast than past Songbooks. Ten singer/actors, each one of them a true talent, are accompanied by Raymond Berg on piano and Eric Solberg on upright bass (for an extra touch of class and jazz). With the likes of Christina Baldwin, Dieter Bierbrauer, Gary Briggle, Isabella Dawis, Jennifer Eckes, Joel Liestman, Ann Michels, Bryan Porter, Kersten Rodau, and Therese Walth, the cast does not simply sing the songs, they perform them and truly embody the humor and emotion in each composition. The benefit of having this large cast is the gorgeous full sound that they're able to achieve in the group numbers, but the bad news is that with such a large cast, each of them only has one or two solos, which in many cases left me wanting more. Such is the danger of having so much talent on one stage and only two hours to display it!

James has chosen a selection of Gerswhin songs from the familiar ("I Got Rhythm") to the obscure ("When You Want 'Em"), but all serve a purpose in the narrative. Surprisingly, there are no selections from the opera Porgy and Bess, but James did take the opportunity to plug the tour of the 2012 Broadway version coming to the Ordway in March (I second that - I saw it on Broadway and it's absolutely stunning). The evening includes too many wonderful moments to mention, but a few of them are: Christina and her boys (Joel, Bryan, and Dieter) singing the playfully seductive "Do It Again," the gorgeous ballads "How Long Has This Been Going On" (Kersten) and "Embraceable You" (Ann), some seriously great scatting by Jennifer in "Stiff Upper Lip," Christina's mic going out towards the end of "By Strauss" with her unamplified voice filling the theater (which makes me wish they'd do a song or two unplugged), the beautiful harmonies on "Love Walked In" (arranged by Raymond), and the comically drunk "Vodka" by Kersten.

The highlights of the show are the two group numbers. The casts presents a medley from the 1931 Pulitzer Prize winning musical Of Thee I Sing. Not only do we get to hear some of the witty songs in this political satire, but we get a glimpse of what the whole show would be like. The show closes with a unique original vocal version of Gershwin's masterpiece Rhapsody in Blue. The story of George's life and career in words (written by Albert Evans and arranged by Raymond) set to this iconic and instantly recognizable music is truly stunning.

This is another great installment in the Broadway Songbook series, which has taught me so much about the history of musical theater - my favorite thing in the world. I've attended all but one of the shows presented in the past three seasons and it's building up to be quite a nice curriculum. And if you're a musical theater fan, it really is required curriculum. Great stories and information accompanied by iconic music wonderfully performed by local favorites. Only one performance remains tonight, if you're brave enough to dare going out in the subzero Minnesota winter. Otherwise, make your plans for the final Broadway Songbook of the season, featuring the composing team Comden and Green, in June. I can't wait to see what next season will bring to further my education!

"The Sound of Music" Live on NBC

On Thursday December 5 NBC broadcast a musical live on TV, which hasn't been done (so they say) in 50 years. It was much more common in the '50s; e.g., Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote Cinderella for TV and it was originally broadcast live. I think it's an intriguing idea, even if something gets lost in the transmission. So intriguing that I watched it live (I almost never watch TV live anymore) and live-commented on the Cherry and Spoon Facebook page. You can read my commentary in the bulleted list below, but first, my overall thoughts on the show.

Let me preface this by saying that The Sound of Music is one of my all time favorite movies and musicals. When I was a kid back in the dark ages before cable TV or even VCRs, the 1965 Julie Andrews classic was one of the movies that was constantly on TV, so I saw it a million times as a kid and loved it. In high school, I was in the pit orchestra for my high school production of the musical, and it was such a thrill to play that familiar music on my clarinet and develop a whole new appreciation for it, as well as sit in the pit for every rehearsal and performance. Finally, I spent four months living in Salzburg studying abroad, which makes the movie even more beloved to me because of the nostalgia for that beautiful city, which I was lucky enough to call home for a short period of time. Because of all of these things, I'm extemely biased towards loving any production of The Sound of Music, and this is no exception (which doesn't mean I can't see the faults in this production, well at least some of them).

The good:

• Let's start with the best part of the show - the divinely talented 5-time Tony-winner Audra McDonald as the Mother Abbess. Obviously she sounded beyond amazing in the always-thrilling "Climb Every Mountain," but it was her acting chops that made every one of her scenes a cut above the rest. 

• Carrie Underwood has a gorgeous voice, and sounded beautiful singing these songs.
• Broadway vet Laura Benanti (previously known to me only from her recurring role in Royal Pains, a light and fun show that has the benefit of filming in the NYC area and hiring lots of theater actors as guests) as the Baroness Schrader was so effortlessly good that I was hoping for her to end up with the Captain. Which is also a bad thing because that's not the way the story is supposed to go.
• Recent Tony winner Christian Borle was an absolute delight as Max, one of my favorite characters and the acerbic comic relief in the show. He elevated every scene he was in (although he might have benefited from an in-studio audience, see below).
• Every one of the seven children playing the Von Trapp kids did a fantastic job. Great job by the casting department to find this collection of unknowns that became a family.

• The best scenes were the ones that featured the children, or these three:

• Yes the mountains and the trees looked fake, but that didn't bother me, it almost made it feel more like a classic '50s televised musical. I thought the Von Trapp family home was beautiful, with clever transitions between stages.

The bad:

• There's no way around it, Carrie Underwood is not an actor. I don't blame her, she tried her best to do the job she was hired to do, and I thought the singing part of the job was practically flawless. But when you hire a non-actor to act, you can't really be surprised when you get a stiff and emotionless performance. The most important thing in musical theater is not the music but the story. If you can't feel for the characters and become invested in the story, it doesn't matter how beautiful the music is.
• A big part of live theater is the audience, witnessing something special in the presence of others and hearing their reactions mingle with yours. The jokes and dramatic moments fall a little flat in a completely silent studio, with nothing but thin air to greet the performances.

The ugly:

• Come on, you know me, I'm not going to say anything was ugly!

All in all I think this was a successful experiment (with huge ratings), but like all experiments, lessons must be learned to improve the next iteration. I would love to see NBC do this again next year (they already have the sets and costumes and have figured out the logistics, so it's sure to be much cheaper). My suggestion for casting the leads - look no further than the other actors in the cast. Laura Benanti has played Maria on stage and proven herself in this unique genre, so I'd love to see her take on the role next year. As the captain I would cast Michael Park, who played the party guest who delivered the classic line "I'm not a German, I'm Austrian!" A veteran of TV and the stage, Michael can be funny and charming, as well as stern and forceful, and has a beautiful voice. Audra should continue to play the Mother Abbess as long as she's willing, and Christian should play Max in every production of The Sound of Music ever. And have a big casting call for the kids every year to give fresh new talent an opportunity to shine. Yes, I'd love to see this become an annual event.

So here it is, my live commentary:

• It's time! Turn on your TV, friends, The Sound Of Music is about to start, live from a studio on Long Island! It's been almost 15 years since I've seen it on stage, but before that I was in the pit orchestra for my high school production (clarinet), so we'll see how much I remember about the stage version. If I recall correctly, the show opens with some beautiful chanting in the convent.
• It's Audra McDonald! Here's an awkward stage door photo with her after The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess on Broadway last year, when I said a bunch of rambling gushing things about how much I love her. She's won 5 Tonys.

• One of my favorite lines. "Religious life is no place for the pious." "You mean the pretentiously pious."
• Carrie's a better actor when she's singing.
• It's Vampire Bill! I mean, Captain Von Trapp. I wonder how long before I'll stop waiting for his fangs to pop out?
• Did you catch that, kids? "I wasn't in the Imperial Navy." "Too bad, you could have made a fortune." 
• How cute are those kids? Fun fact: Kurt is played by a young man named Joe West, whose parents Maura West and Scott Defrietas met on the set of the dear departed soap As the World Turns, where she played Carly (and won several Emmys) and he played Andy. Maura is currently appearing on General Hospital as Ava.
• Rolf's kind of dreamy, isn't he? Until he turns into a Nazi. Don't you hate it when the guy you're crushing on turns into a Nazi?
• Here's a difference between stage and movie versions - "Lonely Goatherd" instead of "My Favorite Things." Poor Carrie, each one of those kids is a better actor than she is!
• The hilarious and talented Tony-winner Christian Borle! Perfect casting for Max.
• I have a feeling I'm going to be rooting for Elsa (Tony-winning actor Laura Benanti) instead of Maria to win Georg's heart.
• "I'm not a German, I'm Austrian!" That's the wonderfully talented and super sweet actor Michael Park, three-time Emmy winner and Broadway actor. Here's a photo of Michael and I on the set of How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying a few years ago. (For more of that story, see: http://www.cherryandspoon.com/2011/09/how-to-succeed-in-business-without.html)

• Best moment of The Sound Of Music so far - Audra McDonald singing "Climb Every Moment." Chills!!
• I call a foul! In the original stage musical Georg and Maria sang a song called "An Ordinary Couple." "I Must Have Done Something Good" was written for the movie. "An ordinary couple, is all I long to be, for all I want of living is to keep you close to me. To laugh and sing together, as time goes on its flight, to kiss you every morning and to kiss you every night. An ordinary couple." (wow, that came right back to me after 20+ years)
• Response from Jennifer Eckes (who knows a thing or two about musical theater trivia, as seen in Pop-Up Musical): "I think the general consensus is that "Something Good" is the better song, much like "You're the one that I Want" always gets used in productions of GREASE since the movie. Plus it is easier for the singers to sing."
• I lived in Salzburg for four months when studying abroad, so one of my favorite parts of watching the movie is pointing out the geographical inconsistencies (e.g., if you climb the mountains outside Salzburg, you end up in Germany, not Switzerland). I went back to Salzburg a few years ago and took the Sound of Music tour and saw lots of filming locations. The church where the wedding was filmed is not in Salzburg, but a little town outside of Salzburg. Mondsee I think?
• The sets and costumes are quite lovely. The outdoor scenery looks pretty fake, but it's impossible to recreate the beauty of Salzburg in a studio!
• The city of Salzburg. Wunderschön!

• In musical theater, I think it's better to cast a good actor who's not a great singer (Stephen Moyer) than a good singer who's not a great actor (Carrie Underwood). I can forgive vocal imperfections if the emotions of the character are there, but if the character's not there, it doesn't matter how beautiful the singing may be.
• Why is Rolf still wearing shorts when they're all bundled up in coats, hats, and scarves?
• Well that's it folks, the three-hour event that was The Sound Of Music LIVE is over, and we made it through! Thanks for playing everyone, this was fun! I'll have more thoughts tomorrow, but in general I think it was a success, with the exception of the horrible miscasting of poor Carrie Underwood. And it made me realize that a big part of live theater is the audience. Without someone to laugh, applaud, or otherwise react, it falls a little flat. The highlights were Audra McDonald who sounded incredible, and Christian Borle who was just delightful as Max. The kids were all great too, and logistically everything seemed to go off without a hitch. A fascinating experiment in live televised theater. I hope they learn from it (lessen one: cast theater actors) and do it again!

"Pop-Up Musical" by the Producing House* at the Jerome Hill Theater

Do you remember the "Pop-Up Video" show on VH1, in which they played videos with little bubbles that "popped up" on screen displaying various trivia and facts about the video? Imagine that, but with live performers singing songs from musical theater. Such is the premise behind Pop-Up Musical, and it's a clever one. The show premiered at the Fringe Festival last year; I wanted to see it but didn't get to it, so I'm glad that they're remounting the show at the new Jerome Hill Theater in St. Paul. It's a really fun time, especially for musical theater lovers like myself. The chosen songs are well-known classics, both old and new, and the pop-up facts are alternately interesting and informative, and silly and tangential. Four talented local singer/actors perform the songs with as much enthusiasm as they hold up their signs. They are accompanied by a pretty awful and cheesy karaoke musak track, but they acknowledge that and poke fun at it. They don't take anything too seriously, and appear to be having as much fun as the audience. It's like musical theater night at the karaoke bar, except your friends are not this talented or clever (at least mine aren't).

The four performers are real-life friends who have known each other and worked together for years. (They remind me a little of the gang behind [title of show] and Now. Here. This.) Jennifer Eckes, Judi Gronseth, Timm Holmly, and Kevin Werner Hohlstein all have fabulous voices and delightfully expressive faces that say as much as the "pop-up" signs they hold up, in a tightly choreographed sort of dance as they move through the stack of posters on their music stands. Sometimes the information is factual (year of premiere, composers, Tony awards), sometimes only barely related (Kleenex is a proprietary eponym), sometimes personal (Judi is the same age as this show, Kevin slept on the street to get tickets to RENT). Everything is tongue-in-cheek, and the audience was laughing throughout the show.

Of the two dozen songs in the show, there isn't one that I didn't know, and very many of them that I know and love dearly. If someone had asked me to name my twenty favorite musical theater songs (oooh, that sounds like a great idea for a future blog post!), there would have been much overlap with this list, which includes selections from musicals as diverse as Sweet Charity, Wicked, Guys and Dolls, Avenue Q, Hair, La Cage aux Folles, and A Chorus Line. A few favorites:

• No matter how cheesily delivered, "Suddenly Seymour" from Little Shop always gives me chills! And Jen and Kevin sound fantastic!
• I can never hear "Seasons of Love" too many times, and it always makes me want to clap and sing along. Long live Jonathan Larson's message of love, hope, and living life every day!
• "Suddenly" from Xanadu is a perfect choice for this, because the show itself is wonderfully cheesy (and it gives Kevin an excuse to don rollerblades and skate around the small stage). In fact I had to listen to the soundtrack on the way home, it's a perfect soundtrack of summer.
• The only serious moment is during the gorgeous ballad "Bring Him Home" from Les Miserables, in which the pop-ups present facts about overseas forces and a plea for peace. Timm sounds just beautiful on this song (and I can't wait to hear Dieter Bierbrauer's rendition when BCT does the show this fall).
• Judi pours her heart out singing "Send in the Clowns" from Sondheim's A Little Night Music, but that doesn't stop the rest of the cast from cracking (written) jokes about clowns!
• Perhaps the most impressive musically is this cast of four singing all parts in the complexly layered "Tonight Quintet" from West Side Story, even more difficult considering they're singing to a track without a conductor.
• What musical theater cabaret show is complete without a song or two from Hair? In this case it's a medley of the opening and closing numbers - "Aquarius" and "Let the Sun Shine In." (If you love Hair as much as I do, or perhaps more importantly if you've never seen it, go see 7th House Theatre Cooperative's production of the show this summer, starring top young local musical theater talent.
• Similarly, "What I Did for Love" from A Chorus Line is another must. The cast fights over who gets to sing it, and this time Kevin won. But not entirely.
• "The Circle of Life" from The Lion King features various mis-translations of the opening line and a crazy parade of animals, both drawn and acted.

I could go on and on (did I mention they sing two dozen songs in under two hours, including intermission?), but I'll leave a few surprises for you if you go see the show. And you definitely should if you're a musical theater fan who wants to hear some of your favorite songs sung by pros, learn a bit about musical theater history, and have a good laugh. The show continues Wednesdays through June, buy tickets here.

*The Producing House is also responsible for bringing us 2 Sugars, Room for Cream, Power Balladz, and Trick Boxing (now playing at the Southern Theater). I think I like them!

"Sunday in the Park with George" at Bloomington Civic Theatre

It was my second Sondheim musical in a row - that's what I call a good weekend! The day after attending the opening night of Theater Latte Da's beautiful production of Company, I headed out to Bloomington to spend my Sunday in the Park with George. Unlike Company, I'd never seen or heard Sunday in the Park before; all I knew about it was Sondheim, art, and original cast members Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters. But that was enough to make me want to see it, and it was actually one of the reasons why I chose to buy a season pass to Bloomington Civic Theatre this year (the first show was the big dance musical 42nd Street, and the season continues next year with one of my faves, Cabaret, and On the Town). The inspiration for this musical was the 19th century painting "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat, one of the leaders of the Impressionist movement. Sondheim and frequent collaborate James Lapine imagined the story behind the painting, both the painter and his subjects. In doing so they explore the ideas of art and creativity and being obsessed with one's work to the point of ignoring everything else.

"A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat
Art Institute of Chicago

The first act recreates the above painting by introducing the figures as people George meets in the park where he goes to paint. The woman on the right with the parasol is his model/lover Dot (named after the dots or blobs of color George uses to create his pictures). She sings about how hot and uncomfortable it is to stand without moving in the sun, but she does it because she loves George, and he teaches her how to concentrate. Other figures we meet are the man standing next to Dot (Jules, a painter friend of George), the woman in the center with the orange parasol with the little girl in white (his wife and daughter), the man lounging on the left (a boatman), and several others. Unfortunately, the world is not as ordered as George wants it to be. Jules and his wife have an unhappy marriage, and Dot leaves George when he seems to care more about his painting than her. At the end of the first act, things descend into noisy chaos, until George moves everyone into place to match his vision, and the painting is alive before our eyes.

The second act takes place in a museum 100 years later, where the figures jump out of the painting, and we meet George's great-grandson, also named George, also an artist. The story delves into the nature of art, artists, and commercialism vs. staying true to one's art (similar themes as in the play Red about painter Mark Rothko). Act II has a very different tone than the Act I, and I found myself wanting to return to the world of the painting. In my research (i.e., Wikipedia), I ran across this quote the New York Times review (by Ben Brantley) of the 2008 Broadway revival, "Sunday remains a lopsided piece - pairing a near-perfect, self-contained first act with a lumpier, less assured second half." But fortunately, things take a satisfying turn at the end when young George returns to the island in the painting and is able to achieve some resolution for his great-grandfather, who died young.

Joey Clark as George and Jennifer Eckes as Dot

The show may be called Sunday in the Park with George, but for me the star of the show is Jennifer Eckes as Dot (and as young George's grandmother Marie in the second act). In addition to her beautiful voice on these challenging Sondheim songs, she gives Dot such heart and spirit, with such a longing for a better life, that I couldn't help rooting for her and thinking George was a bit of a jerk for letting her go! Joey Clark also gives a fine performance as George (completely unrecognizable under the wig and beard), and manages to make George likeable despite the fact that he makes some bad choices and pushes everything and everyone away for the sake of his art. It's nice to see the modern George learn some of the lessons his great-grandfather was not able to. Other standouts in the cast include Kelly Krebs and Beth King as the obnoxious and spoiled American couple, and Alan Sorenson and Megan Volkman-Wilson as Jules and his wife. They also play characters in the second act, but as I mentioned above, I found the first act much more memorable and moving. Finally, Anna Evans (one of the Cocos in Coco's Diary at the History Theatre earlier this year) is a little scene stealer as the mischievous girl in white.

The costumes and set are so important to this piece, because the audience has to believe that these characters came out of the painting, and BCT does a beautiful job creating the effect (set by Robin McIntyre and costumes by Ed Gleeman). The white set pieces we see at the beginning are removed to reveal a large-scale replica of the background of the painting, with trees dropping in from overheard. The costumes are exquisite and look very similar to the painting (including impressive bustles!). At the end of the first act a scrim is lowered at the front of the stage with the image of the painting on it, in front of the live action painting arranged on the set, and it's a spectacular effect. Last but not least, a highlight for me of any BCT show is the traditional pit orchestra led by Anita Ruth. The music sounds like George's painting, and he often paints to the music - short and staccato, in unexpected blobs.

It's a great time for Sondheim, and this show is a nice pair to Theater Latte Da's Company. With every additional Sondheim show I see, I feel like I'm "Putting It Together" a bit more and understanding his work a little bit more. I've seen several shows since I heard him speak two and half years ago, and it's been fun. Next on my Sondheim wishlist is Assassins, which I've never seen. But until then, go see these two wonderfully different but quintessentially Sondheim shows! Check out the BCT website for more info on Sunday in the Park with George, or take advantage of the half-price tickets available on Goldstar.com.

"Broadway Songbook: Rodgers & Hammerstein & Hart" at the Ordway McKnight Theatre

I love the Broadway Songbook series at the Ordway. It's like a college seminar on musical theater history (perhaps like something Rachel would attend at NYADA). The Ordway's Artistic Director James Rocco plays the role of professor, lecturing on the topic and introducing songs (and even singing a little himself). The topic of the first of this season's three sessions is a big one - the popular and prolific musical theater composing teams of Rodgers and Hart and Rodgers and Hammerstein. Rodgers and Hart wrote 28 musicals together, and such memorable songs as "My Funny Valentine," "Blue Moon," and "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered." After Lorenz Hart's struggle with alcoholism and depression tragically got the better of him, Richard Rodgers found a new partner in Oscar Hammerstein. Rodgers (music) and Hammerstein (book and lyrics) went on to write some of the most influential and popular shows in musical theater history, including:

• Oklahoma - who doesn't love this show? I've seen it several times, including once at the Ordway with my favorite Duke, John Schneider, as Curly.
• The King and I - I've never seen it on stage, and only bits and pieces of the movie.
• Carousel - another one I've never seen and would love to - calling all local musical theater companies!
• South Pacific - I saw the 2008 Broadway revival starring Kelli O'Hara, Paulo Szot, Matthew Morrison, and Danny Burstein, and it was one of the most amazing musical theater experiences of my life, an all-around luscious production with a 30-piece orchestra and a huge and energetic cast singing this amazing and diverse collection of songs.
• The Sound of Music - this one is so familiar to me I almost forget it's Rodgers and Hammerstein. I've loved it since I was a kid, and that love only increased when I was in the pit orchestra for my high school production, and later lived in Salzburg for a semester while studying abroad.

Now that the self-indulgent personal reflections are over (I'm sure everyone has their own personal experiences with these musicals, which is what makes them great), on with the show. In addition to James, five talented local musical theater actors lend their voices to this amazing collection of songs, accompanied by the hardest working musical director in town, Denise Prosek. Joel Liestman has performed in every Broadway Songbook I've seen, and is joined this time by Joshua James Campbell (The Glass Menagerie), Jennifer Eckes (On the Town), Connie Kunkle (who appeared at the Ordway in last year's Japan benefit), and Kirby Trymucha-Duresky (several shows at BCT). The five singers take turns singing alone or together, highlighting many of the composers' biggest hits, as well as lesser known numbers. My favorites include:

• Rodgers and Hart's first big hit, a love song to New York City, "Manhattan," performed by Joel and Jennifer.
• Two songs from my favorite Rodgers and Hammerstein score, South Pacific, Josh's lovely rendition of "Some Enchanted Evening" and Joel's emotional "This Nearly Was Mine."
• Two gorgeous Rodgers and Hart songs that have become classics, sung beautifully by Connie ("My Funny Valentine") and Josh ("Blue Moon").
• A couple of entertaining and funny songs by Kirby - "Johnny One Note" from Rodgers and Hart's Babes in Arms and "I Cain't Say No" from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma.
• Jennifer's sad and lovely rendition of "He was Too Good to Me."
• A trio by the three women, "Sing for Your Supper" from Rodgers and Hart's The Boys from Syracuse. I was fascinated to learn that "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" from Company (playing at the Ordway next month) is an homage to this song.
• One of the greatest musical theater songs ever written, "Soliloquy" from Carousel. It's such an ambitious (and long!) song with a wide range of emotions and tempos, and Josh sings it beautifully.
• A fabulous montage of favorites from Rodgers and Hammerstein's immense catalog of fabulous songs, including "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" (the first song they wrote), "Edelweiss" (the last song they wrote), "There is Nothin' Like a Dame," "Younger than Springtime," "Lonely Goatherd" (inserted for comedic effect), "Bali Ha'i," "Oklahoma," "Surry with the Fringe on Top," and "Sound of Music" (which gets me every time). Kudos to James and Denise and whoever else had a hand in arranging this medley; it very cleverly weaves together many diverse songs.

My only complaint about this show is that it's too short! It's truly astonishing to contemplate the hundreds of amazing songs that came from the collaboration between these three men. The show could go on for days! But since that's not very practical, this is a nice representative sample of their work. Broadway Songbook: Rodgers & Hammerstein & Hart plays at the Ordway's McKnight Theatre through the end of the month. Check it out if you're interested in a fun and entertaining lesson on three musical theater legends. If you don't already have tickets, call the box office. It's virtually sold out, but they might be able to squeeze you in somewhere. Get your tickets early for the January session, which features the music of Steven Sondheim.

"On the Town" by Skylark Opera at the E.M. Pearson Theatre

As much as I love new, edgy, innovative musical theater, I also love a good classic musical.  On the Town, about three sailors on leave in New York City for 24 hours in 1944, is a classic.  I'd never seen it before on stage (the playbill notes that this is probably the first time it's been professionally produced in the Twin Cities) or screen (for a musical theater fan, I haven't seen many classic old movie musicals).  With my love for musical theater and NYC, it's about time I saw this one!

Skylark Opera is presenting On the Town in repertoire with The Vagabond King in their summer festival at the E.M. Pearson Theatre.  The two shows have overlapping, but not identical, casts and musicians, and different directors and choreographers.  Leonard Bernstein wrote the music for On the Town based on an idea of Jerome Robbins, who also choreographed the original Broadway production (the two most famously collaborated on West Side Story, coming to the Orpheum this summer).  Comden and Green wrote the book and lyrics (and now I understand one more reference in the musical about musicals, [title of show]).

The plot follows three sailors in NYC for one short day: the organized and determined sightseer Chip (Paul R. Coate, who appeared in one of my favorite shows of 2009, Theater Latte Da's The Full Monty), the playboy Ozzie (Jon Andrew Hegge, a constant in the Guthrie's annual production of A Christmas Carol), and the naive farm boy Gabey (Dieter Bierbrauer, a favorite from the Chan, Latte Da, and several other theaters).  While riding the subway, Gabey falls in love with a girl on a poster and is determined to find her.  The boys split up in their search for "Miss Turnstiles," and each meet a girl of their own.  Chip runs into taxi driver Hildy and the two sing a charming duet in which he asks her to drive him to see various sights in NYC, and she slams on the brakes of the cab and tells him it's no longer there, so "Come Up To My Place."  Sarah Gibson as Hildy really looks the part of a tough, tall, 1940s broad, and can really belt out a tune (including the fabulous "I Can Cook Too").  Ozzie meets Claire (Jennifer Eckes), an anthropologist who's studying men in an effort to get them out of her system and settle down with her fiance.  I like that Hildy and Claire aren't your typical movie/musical girlfriends; they're both career women who go after what they want.  Maybe this is a reflection of the times, when women filled the employment vacancies left by men off fighting in WWII.

Back to the main love story.  Despairing of ever finding his "Miss Turnstiles," Gabey laments how lonely the city can be, and the audience is treated to Dieter's beautiful voice in the sad and lovely "Lonely Town."  But since this is a musical, he does find Ivy (Sarah Lawrence), at her singing lessons with the hilarious and boozy Madam Dilly (Kinsey Diment).  They make a date for that evening, but what Gabey doesn't know is that Ivy has a job "dancing" at Coney Island, and she stands him up because she can't afford to miss work.  Gabey is reunited with his friends and their dates, and they take him out on the town and try to cheer him up with the fun friendship song "You Got Me."  It doesn't work, and when he finds out where Ivy is, he takes the train to Coney Island to see her.  The other two couples follow, and on the long train ride they realize how short-lived their romances must be in the poignant "Some Other Time."  Gabey and Ivy reunite and the three couples enjoy the rest of their short time together, in and out of jail.  The sailors say their goodbyes to the girls and the city, as a fresh batch of sailors arrives on shore.  And the story begins anew.

This production features a large and capable ensemble, including Laurel Armstrong and Jake Endres (who opens the show with the low and lovely "I Fell Like I'm Not Out Of Bed Yet"), both of whom recently appeared in Flying Foot Forum's beautiful and moving original musical Heaven.  The ensemble scenes celebrate NYC nightlife and the activities and people of Coney Island.  (They remind me a bit of Annie, which also features ensemble scenes celebrating NYC life.)  There are also a few beautifully choreographed and performed "dream ballet" sequences, one during "Lonely Town" and one when Gabey's riding the subway to Coney Island to confront Ivy.  The traditional orchestra in the traditional pit was great; I love entering a theater and hearing the cacophonous sounds of the orchestra warming up and tuning.  I also loved the 40s era costumes and hats!

This is a perfectly delightful show.  Leonard Bernstein's gorgeous score, Comden and Green's witty lyrics, great performances by all of the leads and a strong ensemble backing them up, and fun choreography.  You can't ask for more from a classic piece of musical theater.