Keep the door closed

Let me begin this entry by addressing the performance of Company that I just saw in New York.

What a disappointment.

I'm not going to beat around the bush here. What a real let down! My two major issues with the production were (in no specific order):

1. The actor/musician concept doesn't work for this piece. I thought the Sweeney Todd revival was brilliant, but the idea was that they were players putting on a show. It doesn't work here. For me, the show needs a gritty reality that depicts New York and you don't get that holding a shiny trombone. Also, not that they weren't well played, but these orchestrations don't allow the score to soar. And to be fair, I felt the same way about the Roundabout revival a few years back. Jonathan Tunick captured the entire essence of New York in his original scoring.

2. Bobby was a dick. I could've cared less what happened to him at the end of the show. I kept asking myself during the show, "why are these people friends with this asshole?". Bobby has to be detached, but not to the degree that Raul Esparza played him. He made no journey whatsoever and when he started playing the piano for the beginning of "Being Alive", I only thought, "wow, I guess he had to take some lessons for that".

That's it in a nutshell. If you'd care for more, please e-mail me and I will be more than glad to oblige.

Back on the road...
Overall, the trip into New York was fabulous. I got to hang out with my good friends Dan and his girlfriend Minami. Dan is the trumpet player for Grey Gardens on Broadway and it looks like Minami will be heading to Japan for a year to work with a huge theatre company there. The next day was spent traveling to Morgantown, WV. Things seem to be heading into a rut. Morgantown was cold and rainy. Audiences were very small (very receptive, but small), and our hotel was about 12 miles outside of town, which is a real pain in the ass. We also had some more rehearsals during the day in Morgantown which is somewhat boring for me. Somewhat.

The small audiences have actually been a trend that will be addressed shortly, so we're told.

BAR WATCH
Morgantown, WV
Legends (Hotel Bar)
As noted above, we we're so far outside of town it was hard to go anywhere else. It was very nice though and we held our Halloween Party there which was quite a sight.

This weekend: Penn State University! My old stomping grounds. Quite excited.

I hope you all enjoyed the tour commercial. Here is another clip of the end of the "Keep it Gay" number. Matty, look at the fabulous John West as the uber-gay Carmen Ghia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-ZokyAgtdM&NR