Midtown Utopia: July 2009

My parents came to town...

And we saw two shows WEST SIDE STORY and THE FANTASTICKS. WSS, oh WSS, I really wanted to like you. I tried but it ended up not being mutually. Unfortunately, my parents felt the same way and noticed how lacking it felt. Although, my dad did enjoy the Spanish translations, and when I told him Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote them he said, "He did a nice job." Which in my dad way of speaking meant "grand slam".

We decided to see THE FANTASTICKS on a whim and due to a great discount from Playbill.com, we secured 3rd row center seats for our Sunday evening performance. I had never seen a production of this show, so I was absolutely thrilled to finally see it and hear "Try To Remember" in the context of the show.

So if I were to rate it, thumbs up THE FANTASTICS, thumbs down WEST SIDE STORY.

oh, he was my favorite part of the show too. and he's a mute.

Spring Awakening Tour

After the morning madness that was HAIR, my lovely friend Meredith and I headed to Philadelphia where we caught the Friday evening performance of the SPRING AWAKENING tour.

Since saying adios to it back in January, it was very odd to revisit this old friend. This tour is by no means terrible. It had some really really great moments, Jake Epstein went on for the first time as Melchior, and he had some really fantastic choices, especially during the scene where he writes in his diary. I had never heard a Melchior say those lines actually as if they were writing it down. It was very very good.

But unfortunately, it seemed as if this tour has turned into a comedy routine, where the Thea goes for the radical laugh more drastically, the beating scene gets a big lulz, and I could care less about what happens at the end.

So fortunately for me, I have amazing memories of the Broadway productions to occupy my thoughts. Oh also, who ever the musical director was, he was my favorite thing about the night. Just sayin'.