Category Archives: Musical

On The Town (オン・ザ・タウン)

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オン・ザ・タウン (On The Town)

9/28/14 (Sun), Tokyo

At long last, On The Town reached Japan. It featured three pop stars from the super-popular music group V6 (managed by the legendary Johnny’s Office), which was a mixed blessing. On the one hand, the show’s success was ensured from the minute it was announced: apparently, getting three of these guys together for this period of time is a near miracle given their sundry activities individually and as a group, and the show was sold out for the entire run before it even opened. So commercially this was a gold mine. On the other hand, this was clearly a Johnny’s crowd, with an audience that was 95% young and female. I haven’t seen such a female-heavy auditorium since Takarazuka. There was no room whatsoever for fans of Broadway musicals who may have wanted to see this Bernstein classic for the first time. It didn’t matter to this audience what they were seeing as long as their idols were there. So it pretty much establishes this show as a star vehicle, a very different approach from the US. Whether it will enter the repertory, and whether anyone would risk doing it now with normal musical actors, is an open question. Continue reading →

Hairspray (NBC Live)

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Hairspray (NBC Live)

1/21/17 (Sat)

Hairspray was a surprising choice as one of the NBC Live offerings. It seems too new for reinvention: it closed on Broadway less than ten years ago, and a (misguided) film version was released around the same time, meaning that a good portion of the audience will have seen it in some form or other in the not-too-distant past. Also, it is not an iconic title like past productions The Sound of Music or Grease, nor were there many big names in the cast as in The Wiz. As much as I personally love musicals, I had to wonder where NBC thought they were going to find an audience. It does deliver a feel-good message in roughly the same musical style as the popular Grease, which maybe they thought would be an attraction. In any case, it’s a terrific stage show, and they had the very good sense to retain the inimitable Harvey Fierstein as the mother. Despite the low ratings from the actual broadcast last month, I was eager to catch it.  Continue reading →

The Sound of Music (live TV)

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The Sound of Music (NBC live broadcast)

12/8/13 (Sun)

When I heard that NBC was going to broadcast a live version of The Sound of Music, I was immediately intrigued. There hasn’t been a live broadcast of a musical in my lifetime – the last time, coincidentally another R&H show, Cinderella, was in 1957 – and unlike the Met Live films, this one is made specifically for the screen. I was very curious as to how they were going to approach this given the daunting logistics. Continue reading →

Hello, Birdie!

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NBC has announced that its live holiday musical for 2017 will be the golden oldie Bye Bye Birdie starring Jennifer Lopez. I was surprised to see the announcement before the airing of this year’s event, Hairspray, in December, but I don’t blame them for wanting to get the word out. It’s a terrific choice — an upbeat family musical with a familiar title, a great score (including several standards), a good range of wacky characters, an Elvis spoof and a nostalgic portrait of uncomplicated life in small-town America. It is set roughly in the same period as Grease and Hairspray, the two live musicals that immediately preceded it (albeit on different networks) — the late 50s and early 60s are a hot time these days, I guess, not to mention high school life. The show was apparently proposed by Lopez herself, evidently a fan of the (rather altered) movie. Hooray for her.   Continue reading →

The Little Mermaid (リットルマーメード )

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リットルマーメード  (The Little Mermaid) (stage)

8/24/13 (Sat), Gekidan Shiki, Tokyo

This show had stumbled badly on Broadway some five years ago, blamed widely on a bizarre and overblown production by a European operatic director. (Videos of some of the numbers suggest that the critics were right.) Shiki has picked up another version that has been reconceived by an American designer, which has reportedly been well received in Europe. I didn’t see the original stage version and didn’t have any real interest in the new production, but when a friend offered the impossible-to-get cheap seats in the last two rows, it seemed worth a look. Continue reading →

Kinky Boots

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Kinky Boots

4/28/13 (Sun), Broadway

I had been wary of this show given the preachy tendencies of its author Harvey Fierstein and the predictable arc of the story, which, without even knowing the movie, I could smell a mile away (boy meets drag queen, boy loses drag queen, boy learns to admire drag queens). But Fierstein is always good for a joke or two, and I was curious about the Cyndi Lauper (!) score. And having snagged a standing room seat at $27, the price was right.  Continue reading →

Takarazuka: Chicago

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Takarazuka: Chicago

7/11/16 (Mon), Yokohama

Takarazuka versions of Broadway musicals are always entertaining in their inimitable way, including rewritten scripts, reshuffled songs and superstar treatment for the main male character, regardless of his/her co-stars or the needs of the story. Chicago was a strange choice since its two leads are female – it’s just not as interesting when women are playing women, especially at the usual talent level of Takarazuka players. Continue reading →

London shows (June 2016)

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  • How the Other Half Loves, 6/11/16 (Sat), West End
  • Showboat, 6/11/16 (Sat), West End
  • In the Heights, 6/12/16 (Sun), King’s Cross
  • Iris, 6/14/16 (Tues), Holland Park Opera
  • The Invisible Hand, 6/15/16 (Wed), Tricycle
  • Elegy, 6/16/16 (Thurs), Donmar
  • The Flying Lovers Of Vitebsk, 6/18/16 (Sat), Sam Wanamaker
  • The Comedy About a Bank Robbery, 6/19/16 (Sun), West End
  • Macbeth, 6/19/16 (Sun), Globe

Continue reading →

Grease Live (TV)

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Grease Live (TV), 5/2/16 (Mon)

Fox’s entry into the live musical genre pioneered by NBC. Grease seemed a natural choice as an ever-potent title about high-school life in the 1950s, using a retooled version incorporating songs from the super-successful movie. The broadcast had received strong reviews and ratings, and while I’m not a big fan of the show itself, I had been interested in seeing what they did with it. Continue reading →

How to fix LA CAGE AUX FOLLES (musical)

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How to fix LA CAGE AUX FOLLES (musical)

A bit of a presumptuous heading, I suppose; I honestly doubt anyone connected with La Cage thinks it needs fixing – it remains a tremendously popular show some 40 years after its debut, and picks up a Tony for Best Production every time it plays Broadway (one for Best Musical and two for Best Musical Revival). I’m actually a fan, so it’s hard to complain too much; whatever the flaws, it’s always a fun night out.

But the flaws are there. Continue reading →

Bette back on Broadway: Hello, dollars!

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Well, whaddya know. Just a few days ago, I suggested an NBC Live “Mame” starring Bette Midler because I figured she wouldn’t go for a full eight-night-a-week Broadway run. And now she’s just announced that she’ll be doing that other Jerry Herman hit “Hello, Dolly!” on Broadway next year. I’m perfectly happy to be wrong in this case. What a perfect fit! They haven’t announced other casting, but does it matter?

Hopefully they’ll do two things. Continue reading →