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Showing results for tags 'Broadway'.
Found 11 results
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We are seeing Hamilton the day after Thanksgiving at the matinee. I do not expect us to be stuffed from the night before. In fact, I expect us to be hungry and a bit deprived. Looking for a really good lunch close to the Richard Rodgers (46th and Broadway.) Going with Mr. BLB and BL-5th grader so it can't be too fancy (mostly for the adult, not the boy...) Had thought about db Bistro Moderne but open to other suggestions. Thanks! -
Here she is singing for the first time "I'm Still Here" at the White House for the President and First Lady and some very lucky people. She gets totally lost yet that makes the song more poignant than ever. A real pro. -
Heading to NY in November with my wife to see Kinky Boots. I am pretty sure we want to eat in the 530 time frame for an 8pm show as opposed to eating later then 10pm. Esca comes to mind as close by to both the show and our hotel. Any other recommendations would be appreciated before I jump on reservation next week (30 days in advance). I've ruled out Craft and Grammercy Tavern as we really want to be in walking distance and close by show if possible. Recs for Sunday Brunch would be great as well. We'll probably walk the Highline and willing to go fairly far for a good brunch. -
Matt (my son) saw Hamilton three weeks ago and *loved* it. It has been playing at the Richard Rodgers Theater since Aug, 2015 I tried to get him to explain it to me, and he kept saying, "You kind of have to just see it." All I know about it is that the set design and costumes were in period, but the music is something closer to hip-hop - it sounds fascinating. -
I may have something more substantive to say about this, but I'd like to clarify a detail in the Washington Post article: Jack Johnson's life and career were the basis for The Great White Hope, all right, but it was originally a play by Howard Sackler that premiered at our own Arena Stage in 1967, starring James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander. I saw it during its run there. The production later moved to Broadway with the same cast. A film adaptation was released in 1970, also starring Jones and Alexander. -
Saw Allegiance last night partially out of obligation as a Japanese American. The musical tells the story of the JA experience during WWII in the concentration camps and the struggle to prove the patriotism and allegiance of various individuals to the ideals of this country. It follows primarily one family which has the father as a no-no (responses of no to willingness to serve in the army, and no to forswear allegiance to Japan, which for many who were barred from US citizenship would have left them without citizenship) and the son becomes a war hero serving in the 442nd. The daughter/sister in the family falls in love with another man who refuses the draft until his family is released from the camps and is sent to prison. For a 2.5 hour performance, it packs a lot in with regard to Japanese American cultural influences and how it shapes the evolution of the various attitudes towards what is patriotic and what ideals different actors were standing up for. If you have a chance to see it, I highly recommend going to this in the next two weeks. The music was surprisingly strong, and I think they built it around the strength of Lea Salonga as the lead singer. -
Since opera seems to be the topic du jour, how about this one? I'm familiar with it primarily from a recording my father had, about 40 years ago, that I played over and over and sang to when I thought no one was listening. I seem to recall it was a "jazz" version but I remember little else. Does anyone know what I'm referring to? Anyway, just a few years ago we saw the WNO production at the Kennedy Center, which was excellent. Although I adore the music, the lyrics grate on my ears. I know that it is supposed to be evocative or representative of the actual dialect of that time and place, but it just sounds wrong, like the lyricists (DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin) are mocking and condescending. Perhaps I'm too PC for it. Gerswhin at his best (I'm deliberately referring only to George here) wrote music that brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. "Bess, You Is My Woman Now." "My Man's Gone Now." Just beautiful. Here's Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis performing "You is My Woman Now": And Audra singing "My Man's Gone Now": Mornin' time and evenin' time... -
Continuing my series on 20th-century chanteuses, here is the wonderful Lee Wiley singing "Manhattan" (1925) by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart (Rogers and Hart) in a recording from 1951. How anyone can listen to this material and prefer Rodgers and Hammerstein is bewildering to me, but apparently there are such people. The lyric to this song has been commonly "updated" to reflect newer Broadway shows. This version refers to "South Pacific." The original lyric, which is much smarter than any of the subsequent revisions, is Our future babies We'll take to Abie's Irish Rose I hope they'll live to see It close (At the time (1925), this was a comment on the show "Abie's Irish Rose," which was a long-running Broadway hit universally derided by the critics. The early 1970s sitcom stinker "Bridget Loves Bernie" was sort of based on it.) The first line of the chorus is also often changed from "We'll have Manhattan" to "I'll take Manhattan" for unknown reasons. Anyway, listen to Lee Wiley. Her style of singing was already old-fashioned by 1951, but so fresh and lovely and loveable.
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A few years ago, bored on a long plane trip, I chose Funny Face from the list of available movies. Never much of an Audrey Hepburn fan, I didn't make it too far before fast-forwarding. And then I caught the tail-end of Audrey singing "How Long Has This Been Going On?", one of my American songbook favorites. Somehow I'd made it all these years without realizing where the song came from (though I knew it was written by the Gershwins). This song has been recorded by almost everyone. Here are a few of my favorites: Lonette McKee Ella Fitzgerald recorded it many times; this is one of the simpler versions, no syrupy strings to sully her voice Carmen McRae Sarah Vaughn start listening at about 1'30" - really interesting upbeat arrangement with Latin rhythms and a bluesy touch Julie London with sultry electric guitar and of course, Audrey Hepburn's version in the movie (included for reference)
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Here Lena Horne sings a delightful and rather ribald little number called "A New-Fangled Tango." This appeared on an RCA stereo-demonstration record in 1958 called "Bob and Ray Throw a Stereo Spectacular", which my father bought to demonstrate the stereo effects of the Heathkit stereo system he had built, either in 1958 or 1959. The LP eventually passed into my possession, and I owned it until I jettisoned my entire LP collection at the end of 2013. I remember loving this as a child, although I couldn't have quite understood it. For you kids, Bob and Ray were a matchless comedy team, whose work you should seek out.
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I am sure that there are as many if not more folk for whom Sweeney Todd is a movie with Johnny Depp where the blood is interrupted by singing that grates on the ear of every Sondheim fanatic I know. If you have never seen the musical performed by Broadway caliber singers... here are a couple of links.... Here is a fabulous one with a very macabre take... John Doyle is known for productions where the actors play the music. it leads to some really challenging/interesting staging... this is part of the most complete playlist I could find for the production. And the best "Straightforward" production i know of... Again the fabulous Patty Lupone and Michael Cerveris. We saw this production twice on Broadway, the third preview sitting in the front row {when Patty offers a "sweetie" she handed me the roll of life savers!} when it was so tightly staged that the audience didn't have time to breathe or react in the second act. When the curtain fell that day there was literrally a stunned silence for at least a mnute before wild applause. One of the greatest feats of theater I have ever witnessed. But the second time, at the end of previews was staged with a lot more air and is very similar to this performance. While still stunning, the first preview we saw was actually a little more amazing. Perhaps the best versions we ever saw were at the New York City Opera on consecutive nights where we saw Timothy Nolen and then Mark Delevan as Sweeney. We actually got to meet Sondheim at one of the performances. He is on record as saying that Timothy Nolen is his favorite Sweeney and that Delevan had the best voice. Delevan is an operatic Baratone and Tim Nolen is a Broadway singer/opera singer. He plays Judge Turpin in the second link. We also saw Bryn Terfel sing Sweeney and our favorite: Brian Stokes Mitchell. If you don't have time for a whole musical, here is an amazing clip with Michael Cerveris and George Hearn.
