WAR HORSE • Vivian Beaumont Theatre

Well, here on the day of the 65th Annual Tony Awards, I've finally gotten around to posting about this show -- my favorite from this past NYC trip.

I rarely cry at the theatre.  It's happened twice -- once during WICKED's "For Good" (I was seeing it with my best friend so… you know…) and then once during the first 10 minutes of  THE LION KING because it was just so visually beautiful.  But during WAR HORSE?  I cried like a little bitch.

This play with music was adapted from a children's book of the same name that was written by Michael Morpurgo.  There's also a Steven Spielberg film in the works.  Admittedly, the book for this play has received some criticism for its simplicity, but whatever.  The real draw of this production is the life-sized horse puppets (along with a very animated little puppet goose) developed from the creative talents of the Handspring Puppet Company.  Kind of like AVENUE Q, after awhile you don't even see the puppeteers.  The team of 3 or 4 operating the horses disappear, and you're looking at a horse on stage.  The twitching ears, head shaking, the subtle movements of the front legs and hooves, the flutter of the tail, that spark in the eyes -- theatre magic, baby…

SLEEP NO MORE • The McKittrick Hotel

I'm not really sure where to even start with this one.

SLEEP NO MORE is currently being presented in the Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea by Punchdrunk, a British theatre company.  Their audiences don't sit and watch -- they roam.  Punchdrunk deals in the realm of site specific productions, and after running this show abroad, they've brought their latest to the Big Apple.  Even their website is cool.

Punchdrunk has claimed a couple of downtown warehouses and transformed them into a truly immersive theatre going experience.  This presentation combines the story of MACBETH, a little Alfred Hitchcock thrown in, and as far as I can tell (by googling the names from the program), the Paisley witches, supposed Scotland witches tried in Paisley, Renfrewshire, in 1697.  Who knows what else might have been in there that I missed.

THE BOOK OF MORMON • Eugene O'Neill Theatre

Okay, so there are gonna be some naughty words in here.

Nominated for about a dozen Tonys, this is one of those shows that I felt like I just had to check out.  Thank goodness I got a ticket before the Tony nominations came out.  Probably saved a few bucks. (Broadwaybox.com -- some sweet savings here…)  Created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, best known for their animated series "South Park", this show follows two Mormon Elders and their missionary trip to Uganda.

At intermission a couple of incredibly well preserved New Yorkers behind me complained about the irreverence of this show.  Seriously?  You're seeing a musical comedy written by the "South Park" guys called THE BOOK OF MORMON.  With songs like "Spooky Mormon Hell Dream", "Hasa Diga Eebowai" (that translates into something that I don't even want to jot down here), and a dictator called "Butt-fucking naked" (I'm not kidding), if you don't know what you're getting into when you walk in, you're in for a night of unashamed blasphemy.  If you're up for it, you're gonna see a very entertaining musical.

THE NORMAL HEART • Golden Theatre

This powerful 1985 off-Broadway play about the early days of the HIV-AIDS epidemic in NYC is receiving a striking Broadway revival at the Golden Theatre.  THE NORMAL HEART follows a group of men who form an organization in an effort to bring attention to this baffling disease that is rapidly claiming the lives of gay men.  The group's leader and main agitator is Ned Weeks (based on the playwright, Larry Kramer), an outspoken writer whose in-your-face tactics often rubbed others the wrong way, but were necessary during this time when many even in the gay community were pretty ambivalent about what was happening.

It's explosive, contentious, urgent and the weight of it makes your heart race.  The stark set was the first thing that stood out to me.  At first glance, it looks like plain white bricks, but upon closer inspection you can see embossed phrases like, "How come nobody is paying any attention to 'it'", "Everything, everything is too little too late", and "blood transfusions".  Joel Grey & George C. Wolfe's direction does try to make the most of the welcome humor in the show, but for the most part, it's pretty grueling.

BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK • Second Stage Theatre

I love New York.  Particularly the area of Manhattan that falls within 7th and 9th Avenues between 40th and 54th, roughly.  Theatre District, baby!  That's why I've been coming here for the last 6 or so years and I'm grateful for the ability to do it.  That being said, this latest play by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Lynn Nottage, was first up on the list.

Inspired by the struggles of actresses like Hattie McDaniel and Butterfly McQueen, MEET VERA STARK takes a look at film industry racism, but it does so in some fairly hilarious and unexpected ways.  With many black actresses of 1930's Hollywood being confined to playing the maid or the nanny, Nottage follows her fictitious title character's climb up the Hollywood food chain to modest celebrity through to the 1970's.

Yes, this is a Rambling on Contrapuntal Goodness • CURTAINS

Okay, so here's a bona fide rambling -- but I can't help it.  It's about counterpoint!  You guys know I love this stuff.

Contrapuntal moments are something I get chills over.  There's a beauty in a show called CURTAINS that I've been listening to lately.  

I saw this show in April of 2007.  Just a word of advice to anyone seeing a show in the Big Apple -- after checking out the theatre discount websites (my favorite -- broadwaybox.com), also try to check out the box office in person.  I went by the box office for CURTAINS and the first words out of my mouth were, "what discounted seats do you have?".  I ended up with a seat in the first row, just left of center for 57 bucks.  The seat was discounted because it was considered "partial view" -- a couple of times during the show, the conductor was elevated on a little platform to have a little dialogue with the actors onstage.  I swear I could have reached over and tapped him on the shoulder -- it was great!  The stage was a little high though…

SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE DARK (Preview) • Foxwoods Theatre

This is one of those shows that I wanted to see primarily just so I can say that I'd seen it.  I had to stand in the cancellation line for about an hour, and snatched up a ticket from a "broker" for a hundred bucks.  But hey, that's why I go to the big city.  It was actually sold out for the entire weekend, so I'm glad I got in.

Readings for this musical began in 2007, and even though it's not set to open until February 7th, it's already achieved historic status for a couple of reasons.  For one, the brains behind this one, Julie Taymor (or Julie "Paymore"), well known in theatre circles for THE LION KING and all of its associated spectacle, has already spent an estimated $65 million on this puppy -- the most expensive Broadway show in history.  It costs about a million bucks in operating costs a week.  Also, SPIDER-MAN (penned musically by U2's Bono and The Edge) ran out of money last year, had to cancel the first originally scheduled previews a couple of times and push back the opening, and there have also been a few broken bones, literally, along the way.  The night I saw it one of the female leads, Natalie Mendoza, was out because she had suffered a concussion after being hit in the head by a rope backstage.  In Taymor fashion, this show was meant to be a theatrical spectacle, with around 27 flying sequences.  The rigging devices for these sequences are similar to the "four point" wire systems that are used for those "eye in the sky" cams you can spot at football games and stuff.  They've actually renamed the traditional "Dress Circle" seating area of the Foxwoods theatre the "Flying Circle".

BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON • Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre

When you first walk into the 1078 seat Jacobs, you're met with a theatre that has been adorned with fairy lights, stuffed moose heads, bears and a horse hanging upside down over the orchestra seats.  There are portraits of dead presidents all over the place, and all kinds of assorted stuff on the stage.  This visual onslaught perfectly sets up BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON, an "emo" rock musical that looks at how this roughneck frontiersman wound up in the White House.

This cheeky in-your-face downtown musical, recently brought uptown, examines the controversial seventh president of the United States, during a time when the country was in its adolescence -- in the language and music of today, with Jackson being portrayed as an irresistible tight jeans wearing rock star type.  "Old Hickory"'s life is presented in a series of scenes (by a narrator in a motorized wheelchair, infatuated with Jackson) that come off more like skits, with songs like "Populism, Yea, Yea!" and "Ten Little Indians", performed with boundless energy by the young cast and the onstage 3 piece band.  The highlights of Andrew Jackson's life (played by a very compelling Benjamin Walker), include him being orphaned early in his life, his military career, his rise to power as the people's president, and his infamous forced relocation of Native Americans.  There are tons of anachronisms and parallel lines drawn in the show, like when Jackson, dripping with sexual energy, tells us about his "stimulus package".

WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN • Belasco Theatre

In all honesty, I'm not sure how objective I'm going to be able to be on this one (seeing shows in NYC always kinda clouds my objectivity), but I'll do my best.

Based on Pedro Almodóvar's 1988  film of the same name, WOMEN got a lot of negative buzz when it was in previews last month.  Without the benefit of an out-of-town tryout, this show had to work out the kinks in front of a full-price paying New York audience.  Oof!

You've got the main character Pepa (Sherie Rene Scott), a movie voice dubber, who's just been dumped by her longtime asshole boyfriend Ivan (Brian Stokes Mitchell) at the center of the story.  As the plot unfolds, we're eventually introduced to Ivan's bitter first wife Lucia (Patti LuPone) recently released from an institution and looking to get even with Ivan, their son Carlos (Justin Guarini), his passionless fiancée Marisa (Nikka Graff Lanzarone, who I saw in the Starbucks by 45th and 7th), and Pepa's best friend Candela (Laura Benanti), a model who's discovered she may be dating a terrorist.  Then there's this taxi driver who's kind of like the narrator.  Also, there's Lucia's lawyer, and this motorcycle couple who keeps popping up.  All of these people are rolling with love's punches in some way, and once everyone's stories come together, I thought it was a joy to watch -- but it takes awhile to come together.