A Grand Night for Singing, etc....

Some More Musicals I've been lucky enough to see performed live (including the stars, if I can recall them):
A Chorus Line
The Drowsy Chaperone
Forbidden Broadway
A Little Night Music (at Williamstown)
Mary Poppins (in London)
The Music Man (Craig Bierko)
The Musical of Musicals: The Musical
My One and Only (Tommy Tune/Twiggy)
The Producers (Nathan Lane/Matthrew Broderick PLUS I encountered Richard Lewis in the lobby during intermission)
Sunday in the Park with George (Mandy Patinkin/Bernadette Peters)
Sunset Boulevard (Glenn Close)
The 25th Annual Putnam Counthy Spelling Bee
Wicked (Kristin Chenoweth/Idina Menzel)
Some of my favorite musical theatre scores:
1) Annie Get Your Gun
2) Brigadoon
3) Camelot
4) Finian's Rainbow
5) Guys and Dolls
6) Kismet
7) Kiss Me Kate
8) Merrily We Roll Along
9) The Music Man
10) Pal Joey

And, if you're a musical theatre buff, I highly recommend the following books:
The Theatermania Guide to Musical Theater Recordings, edited by Michael Portantiere
and Reading Lyrics, edited by Robert Gottlieb and Robert Kimball

Do You Hear the People Sing?

Last night I finally went to see that old theatrical warhorse,
"Les Miserables" in its second incarnation, at the Broadhurst theatre. Overlong, and densely packed with plot (and thank God I knew what to expect by reading Masterplots first!), it is salvaged somewhat by the intermittently beautiful score and the gorgeous singing of Lea "Miss Saigon" Salonga as the ill-fated Fantine. I also enjoyed the Playbill bio of the understudy Victor Hawks, who went on for the leading man: "He's not really famous, so unless you are related to him or a friend, you have not heard of him, but he promises he's not a hack."

Wish I'd Said That/Separated at Birth

Anthony Lane, in an essay in this week's New Yorker on Barbara Stanwyck, whose 100th centenary is being celebrated at BAM this week, called her "the Swiss Army Knife" of actresses (alluding to her versatility). Damn! I think that is the single greatest thing I've ever heard said about any actress - wish I'd thought of it first!
And, apropos of nothing, perhaps you can't see it from this picture, but I noticed while seeing some clips from the film "Out of the Past,"
that Jane Greer bears more than a passing resemblance to Mira Sorvino (or is it the other way around)? Check out the film and see if you agree!

Little Miss S.

Last night I had the opportunity to see multi-tasker extraordinaire (and candidate for funniest woman alive) Amy Sedaris, up close and personal, speaking about her best-selling book I Like You: Entertaining Under the Influence (see also my blog of October 21) at South Side High School in Rockville Centre. Among other things, she shared the news that she is now at work on a television show loosely based on the book to be produced by Letterman and Sarah Jessica Parker. Afterwards, she signed copies for the audience (in mine she wrote "magic happens") and sold homemade "magic wands" for $3 apiece -- a girl's gotta make a buck! And I would be remiss if I didn't also report that she is every bit as charming on the stage as she is on the page, film, and TV.

Sopranos Spinoffs and What I Will Miss

1)Two Gentlemen of Corona: Paulie and Sil open up an Italian Ices place in Queens (The Icemen Cometh)!
2) "Little" Carmine goes to Italy: Carmine Lupertazzi, Jr., chucks the rat race and moves to a golf resort outside of Portofino
3) Janice! : Janice leaves Bobby and moves to the Big Apple (who can turn the world on with her guile?)
4) DH: Carmela and Tony go into Witness Protection and move to Wisteria Lane, where they become the latest couple with a secret past. Also, Carmela gets a guest stint as a realtor on "House Hunters."
5) Meadow finishes Medical School and interns at Seattle Grace, where she has an affair with McSteamy, followed by McDreamy, and anyone else whose name begins with "Mc."
and I will sorely miss...
6) The Dialogue: "....as many of you know, I have nine pictures under my subspecies..."

...to be continued (maybe)!

No, But I Heard the Book

I had wanted to read the book Little Children by Tom Perrotta for quite some time, and when the movie was released, to generally good reviews I wanted to see it. Lacking both time and motivation to see and/or read it, I finally settled on listening to the book - a terrific compromise, as it's a wonderful "listen" and even includes an author interview on the final tape. Perrotta's mordantly funny treatment of some generally dark material - the sexual mores of modern-day suburbia, replete with such colorful characters as a convicted child molester and an ex-cop who would like to see him hanged in effigy, would potentially make for an interesting film treatment (I kept picturing Maggie Gyllenhaal in the lead, as opposed to Kate Winslet who played the part). I guess I will see this week when it arrives on DVD whether the film in my head matches what's on the screen.

Anna Nicole Smith's Baby Daddy Found!

I thought of this headline all by my lonesome yesterday, but unfortunately saw almost the exact same phrase on the cover of the Daily News (or one of those papers) today. In any case, we can all rest easy now. What a glorious Lifetime Movie this would make, or maybe even an "in theatres only" feature. Charlize can start polishing her next Oscar acceptance speech.