NYC: the shows/performances
Feb. 26th, 2006 08:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jaalaWhile it'll be a relief not to have to jump every time someone bumps into my bag, I loved a heck of a lot of things about New York. Considering the context of the trip, it was especially nice that there were so many opportunities to obtain standby, rush and student tickets. If I'd not wanted to take time to rest, I could have seen some sort of performance every afternoon and every evening.
Tuesday, February 21: Avenue Q
Wednesday, February 22: Sweeney Todd
Thursday, February 23: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Friday, February 24: New York Philharmonic with Robert Spano (conductor) and Dawn Upshaw (soprano) ($10!)
Bartók: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta
John Harbison: Milosz Songs for Soprano and Orchestra (World Premiere: New York Philharmonic Commission)
Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
(This entry will be updated with comments on each show as I get to write them.)
While I don't have the heart to pester actors too much at stage doors and easily allow the less willing ones to escape, I did have a lovely chat with one of the actors after Avenue Q, the obscenity-laced show that is a parody of "Sesame Street" very solidly aimed at adults. She puppeteered a couple of minor characters and filled in as a body puppeteer whenever a main actor needed to provide the voice for more than one puppet character in a scene, so she wasn't being bothered very much by the Broadway-actor-obsessive fans.
Anyhow, the interesting thing that emerged is that this actress/puppeteer works on "Sesame Street" itself. She is even held in high enough esteem that she was assigned to do Gladys the Cow when the character was revived a few years after the death of its original muppeteer. She said that Jim Henson's widow and the whole family have seen the show and loved it because they saw it for the affectionate tribute it is. The people on "Sesame Street" get a big kick out of it because those are exactly the sick sorts of things they do with the muppets in between takes. And, furthermore, she thinks that Jim would have liked it too. The only reason the Henson company won't allow official affiliation is because they don't want kids going to the show.
Anyhow. I just wanted to say that it may have even been slightly more exciting to meet a real live muppeteer than to see a Broadway show for the first time.
For a variety of reasons, Spelling Bee was probably my favourite performance. I'd already developed a fondness for the music of William Finn (sudden crassness and all) when doing A New Brain, but on the other hand I usually can't stand the exaggerated way adults often play children. (I much prefer the original You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown recording to the Broadway revival, for instance.) In this case, however, though the children had physical and verbal tics galore, they were written so well and played with such sincerity that I couldn't help growing to love the characters. I even cried a few times, more than with anything else I saw during the week.
We had fantastic seats right on the "gym floor" which fully completed the illusion already created by all that marvellous Putnam County Piranhanas paraphernalia seen in the lobby. For the second of only two times, I was surrounded by enthusiastic (and non-rude!) QMTers. And given my fondness for improv, it's hardly surprising that I really loved the device of having actual audience members on stage as spelling bee contestants. One of the contestants was clearly having the time of his life, mimicking the choreography and even unexpectedly guessing the correct spelling of the intended elimination word. I later discovered the original play was even developed through improvisation!
Really though, I think the primary reason why it sticks out in my mind above the others is because it's about a bunch of losers and geeks and how they need love and self-actualization too. Though my dictionary was not my best friend when I was even more of a loner than I am now, books definitely were so I certainly understand the sentiment. In fact, I was an amalgam of several aspects of several of the characters in the show. I was good at spelling as a child too--nothing like those who win big regional and national competitions, of course, but I could have beaten most of the kids in my class. When we were given an analytical vocab/spelling test in Grade 5, I was told I had a Grade 12 spelling level. I was always the last-picked-for-teams sort of person as well, so it would have been nice to excel at something that didn't require athletic ability or extreme mental speed under pressure. Unfortunately for me, I never had the teacher who liked to run spelling bees.
I was particularly taken with the performance of Jesse Tyler Ferguson, the cutest thing imaginable as Leaf Coneybear. (He played Logainne's gay father with equal aplomb as well.) The tousled red hair, the homemade clothing, the cape, the fidgeting, the effeminacy, the klutziness, the crossed eyes when in spelling trances... oh, I could go on and on. How cool is it that he was Chip in On the Town and did The SantaLand Diaries too? What's more, his official website features photographs labelled as "the awkward years." (And then there's this...)
Oh yes, the other actors were all talented/hilarious/touching/versatile as well. It was a brilliant ensemble cast, several of whom were even really friendly with fans after the show. I just didn't fall in love with their characters to quite the same extent.
Tuesday, February 21: Avenue Q
Wednesday, February 22: Sweeney Todd
Thursday, February 23: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Friday, February 24: New York Philharmonic with Robert Spano (conductor) and Dawn Upshaw (soprano) ($10!)
(This entry will be updated with comments on each show as I get to write them.)
While I don't have the heart to pester actors too much at stage doors and easily allow the less willing ones to escape, I did have a lovely chat with one of the actors after Avenue Q, the obscenity-laced show that is a parody of "Sesame Street" very solidly aimed at adults. She puppeteered a couple of minor characters and filled in as a body puppeteer whenever a main actor needed to provide the voice for more than one puppet character in a scene, so she wasn't being bothered very much by the Broadway-actor-obsessive fans.
Anyhow, the interesting thing that emerged is that this actress/puppeteer works on "Sesame Street" itself. She is even held in high enough esteem that she was assigned to do Gladys the Cow when the character was revived a few years after the death of its original muppeteer. She said that Jim Henson's widow and the whole family have seen the show and loved it because they saw it for the affectionate tribute it is. The people on "Sesame Street" get a big kick out of it because those are exactly the sick sorts of things they do with the muppets in between takes. And, furthermore, she thinks that Jim would have liked it too. The only reason the Henson company won't allow official affiliation is because they don't want kids going to the show.
Anyhow. I just wanted to say that it may have even been slightly more exciting to meet a real live muppeteer than to see a Broadway show for the first time.
For a variety of reasons, Spelling Bee was probably my favourite performance. I'd already developed a fondness for the music of William Finn (sudden crassness and all) when doing A New Brain, but on the other hand I usually can't stand the exaggerated way adults often play children. (I much prefer the original You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown recording to the Broadway revival, for instance.) In this case, however, though the children had physical and verbal tics galore, they were written so well and played with such sincerity that I couldn't help growing to love the characters. I even cried a few times, more than with anything else I saw during the week.
We had fantastic seats right on the "gym floor" which fully completed the illusion already created by all that marvellous Putnam County Piranhanas paraphernalia seen in the lobby. For the second of only two times, I was surrounded by enthusiastic (and non-rude!) QMTers. And given my fondness for improv, it's hardly surprising that I really loved the device of having actual audience members on stage as spelling bee contestants. One of the contestants was clearly having the time of his life, mimicking the choreography and even unexpectedly guessing the correct spelling of the intended elimination word. I later discovered the original play was even developed through improvisation!
Really though, I think the primary reason why it sticks out in my mind above the others is because it's about a bunch of losers and geeks and how they need love and self-actualization too. Though my dictionary was not my best friend when I was even more of a loner than I am now, books definitely were so I certainly understand the sentiment. In fact, I was an amalgam of several aspects of several of the characters in the show. I was good at spelling as a child too--nothing like those who win big regional and national competitions, of course, but I could have beaten most of the kids in my class. When we were given an analytical vocab/spelling test in Grade 5, I was told I had a Grade 12 spelling level. I was always the last-picked-for-teams sort of person as well, so it would have been nice to excel at something that didn't require athletic ability or extreme mental speed under pressure. Unfortunately for me, I never had the teacher who liked to run spelling bees.
I was particularly taken with the performance of Jesse Tyler Ferguson, the cutest thing imaginable as Leaf Coneybear. (He played Logainne's gay father with equal aplomb as well.) The tousled red hair, the homemade clothing, the cape, the fidgeting, the effeminacy, the klutziness, the crossed eyes when in spelling trances... oh, I could go on and on. How cool is it that he was Chip in On the Town and did The SantaLand Diaries too? What's more, his official website features photographs labelled as "the awkward years." (And then there's this...)
Oh yes, the other actors were all talented/hilarious/touching/versatile as well. It was a brilliant ensemble cast, several of whom were even really friendly with fans after the show. I just didn't fall in love with their characters to quite the same extent.
