http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/bugs_beset_spider_man_on_stage_NfctVtDnuFc5Lv0XNc8f0J
First 'Spider-Man' preview filled with problems
'Guinea pig' audience rips show
November 29, 2010
Michael Riedel
Not even Spider-Man could avert this disaster.
Last night's opening pre view of Broadway's most expensive production ever, "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark," was an epic flop as the $65 million show's high-tech gadgetry went completely awry amid a dull score and baffling script, theatergoers griped.
Stunned audience members were left scratching their heads over the confusing plot -- when they weren't ducking for cover from falling equipment and dangling actors at the Foxwoods Theatre on West 42nd Street, some said.
At various points, overhead stage wires dropped on the audience, scenery appeared on stage missing pieces -- and the show's star was even left swaying helplessly over them midair during what was supposed to be the climatic end to the first act.
The production -- directed by Julie Taymor of "Lion King" fame and with a score by U2's Bono and The Edge -- appeared cursed from the start, audience members said.
It opened with Taymor's personal creation, the eight-legged female character Arachne, taking the stage.
The spider is the radioactive arachnid that bites Peter Parker, giving the photographer his superhuman Spider-Man powers.
As the character, played by actress Natalie Mendoza, finished her big number "Rise Above" while suspended over the crowd, an apparent wire malfunction left her stopped in midair -- where she remained for an embarrassing seven or eight minutes as stagehands worked feverishly to figure out the problem.
The stage manager finally said over the loudspeaker, "Give it up for Natalie Mendoza, who's hanging in the air!"
The show had to be stopped four times in the first act alone for various snags.
Parker's love interest, Mary Jane, was supposed to be saved from atop the Chrysler Building. But part of the building was missing, and Mary Jane was no where in sight.
As puzzled theater patrons looked around, Spider-Man -- played by Reeve Carney -- suddenly flew in with Mary Jane in his arms and put her down on stage.
He was then supposed to fly off in a dramatic end to the first act.
Instead, Spider-Man got stuck in midair and swung back and forth over the crowd as three stagehands leaped up and down futilely trying to grab onto one of his feet to haul him back to earth.
Another sticky situation involved Spider-Man nemesis Green Goblin, said disgruntled audience members.
As the Goblin -- played by Patrick Page of "Grinch" fame -- sat down at the piano for a scheduled number, he was left to continue playing on . . . and on . . . as stage workers openly rushed around to fix faulty equipment.
Page finally started vamping it up for grateful audience members, riffing on the tune, "I'll Take Manhattan."
"This is the best part of the whole show," grumbled theatergoer Steve Poizner of California.
The production dragged on for nearly 3½ hours.
In its last 10 minutes, the show was completely stopped for at least half that time to work out kinks.
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I feel like a guinea pig tonight!" one woman angrily shouted out from her orchestra seat during the down time.
"I feel this was a dress rehearsal!"
Taymor was at the preview, as was producer Michael Cohl, although Bono and The Edge were in Australia on tour with U2.
michael.riedel@nypost.com
Showing posts with label Broadway. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Broadway. Show all posts
Monday, December 6, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
'Scottsboro Boys' Tell Their Own Story On Broadway
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130914772
'Scottsboro Boys' Tell Their Own Story On Broadway
Jeff Lunden
November 1, 2010
A new musical called The Scottsboro Boys just opened on Broadway, and though it boasts a score by John Kander and Fred Ebb, the showbiz legends who created Cabaret and Chicago, it's still a tall order — a musical about one of the most shameful episodes in American racial history. There are plenty of theater fans who wonder if such a grim story can be made into a popular entertainment.
On a recent Saturday afternoon, the pavement outside the Lyceum Theatre was abuzz with a matinee crowd. Among them were students from Harlem's Academy for Social Action who'd come to see The Scottsboro Boys as part of a program called Open Doors, which introduces New York City high-schoolers to Broadway shows. Seventeen-year-old Samantha Henry had devoured the study guide, and she couldn't wait for the show to start.
"Oh, I was excited to see it, because of the format of the show," she said. "Like, they put it so it's entertaining, but at the same time you get to get the real racist content of the 1930s."
In the infamous case that inspired the show, nine African-American teenagers were unjustly accused of raping two white women in Alabama. The trials and appeals spread out for almost a decade, ending up in the Supreme Court twice, and the circus surrounding the case captured national attention. Director Susan Stroman says the creators of the musical took their cue from lyricist Fred Ebb, who died in 2004, before the show was completed.
"He said, you know, 'If you we don't make this show entertaining, no one's gonna listen to this story! It has to be entertaining."
But it's an entertainment that's meant to be subversive. Scottsboro Boys is structured as a minstrel show, a popular variety-show form developed in the 19th century that often featured white performers, and sometimes even black performers, wearing blackface — a practice utterly taboo in contemporary America.
"Doing a minstrel show today is such a racially charged thing that it already brings its own comment with it," says composer John Kander. "So the very form that we were working in commented on the story that we were telling."
It's bracing, to be sure. The character of Haywood Patterson — one of the nine defendants — does a kind of stereotypical song and dance in one courtroom scene, protesting his innocence. Stroman says The Scottsboro Boys makes use of the kind of broad, stylized characters typical in minstrel shows. But there's an added dimension: Many of the actors play multiple roles.
"In this form that we're using, it's really the white stereotypes that our actors get to play," she says. "You know, now our black company get to play a white sheriff and white guards and white lawyers, and they get to play roles that they would never be allowed to play. And that makes it sort of an acting tour de force for them."
David Thompson, who wrote the show's script, says the role-playing becomes more pointed as the story goes on.
"The boys at the beginning are asked to perform a minstrel show, and by the end of the evening they have more or less taken over the storytelling, in all aspects," he says — "whether it's the moving of the scenery, the telling of the story, the enacting of all the different characters. So, by the end they own the story, and they flip the minstrel show on its head."
In one moment toward the end of the musical, the Interlocutor — a kind of master of ceremonies, and the only white person onstage — asks the Scottsboro Boys to sing a Stephen Foster-style song called “Southern Days.”
"And they do indeed sing it for him," Stroman says, "but then they take the lyrics and spin them on their heads. You know, they change the sweet lyrics, the "how sweet it is down South," to [reflect] the horrors that they have been through."
The 1930s Alabama of lynchings and cross-burnings made an impression on the Harlem teenagers, like Jamal Baugh, who found himself talking to some audience members after the show — including two elderly ladies who'd lived through the era. One of them, he says, wanted to know how it made him and his friends feel.
"So she was [asking us], can we relate to it?" he explains. "And I was like, 'No. I'm kinda glad that we live right now.' "
More of Baugh's peers will have the chance to think about such things soon. The Theater Development Fund, which sponsors the Open Doors program, recently bought out every seat in the house for two upcoming matinees of The Scottsboro Boys; the plan is to bring in as many as 1,800 more high-schoolers to see the show.
'Scottsboro Boys' Tell Their Own Story On Broadway
Jeff Lunden
November 1, 2010
A new musical called The Scottsboro Boys just opened on Broadway, and though it boasts a score by John Kander and Fred Ebb, the showbiz legends who created Cabaret and Chicago, it's still a tall order — a musical about one of the most shameful episodes in American racial history. There are plenty of theater fans who wonder if such a grim story can be made into a popular entertainment.
On a recent Saturday afternoon, the pavement outside the Lyceum Theatre was abuzz with a matinee crowd. Among them were students from Harlem's Academy for Social Action who'd come to see The Scottsboro Boys as part of a program called Open Doors, which introduces New York City high-schoolers to Broadway shows. Seventeen-year-old Samantha Henry had devoured the study guide, and she couldn't wait for the show to start.
"Oh, I was excited to see it, because of the format of the show," she said. "Like, they put it so it's entertaining, but at the same time you get to get the real racist content of the 1930s."
In the infamous case that inspired the show, nine African-American teenagers were unjustly accused of raping two white women in Alabama. The trials and appeals spread out for almost a decade, ending up in the Supreme Court twice, and the circus surrounding the case captured national attention. Director Susan Stroman says the creators of the musical took their cue from lyricist Fred Ebb, who died in 2004, before the show was completed.
"He said, you know, 'If you we don't make this show entertaining, no one's gonna listen to this story! It has to be entertaining."
But it's an entertainment that's meant to be subversive. Scottsboro Boys is structured as a minstrel show, a popular variety-show form developed in the 19th century that often featured white performers, and sometimes even black performers, wearing blackface — a practice utterly taboo in contemporary America.
"Doing a minstrel show today is such a racially charged thing that it already brings its own comment with it," says composer John Kander. "So the very form that we were working in commented on the story that we were telling."
It's bracing, to be sure. The character of Haywood Patterson — one of the nine defendants — does a kind of stereotypical song and dance in one courtroom scene, protesting his innocence. Stroman says The Scottsboro Boys makes use of the kind of broad, stylized characters typical in minstrel shows. But there's an added dimension: Many of the actors play multiple roles.
"In this form that we're using, it's really the white stereotypes that our actors get to play," she says. "You know, now our black company get to play a white sheriff and white guards and white lawyers, and they get to play roles that they would never be allowed to play. And that makes it sort of an acting tour de force for them."
David Thompson, who wrote the show's script, says the role-playing becomes more pointed as the story goes on.
"The boys at the beginning are asked to perform a minstrel show, and by the end of the evening they have more or less taken over the storytelling, in all aspects," he says — "whether it's the moving of the scenery, the telling of the story, the enacting of all the different characters. So, by the end they own the story, and they flip the minstrel show on its head."
In one moment toward the end of the musical, the Interlocutor — a kind of master of ceremonies, and the only white person onstage — asks the Scottsboro Boys to sing a Stephen Foster-style song called “Southern Days.”
"And they do indeed sing it for him," Stroman says, "but then they take the lyrics and spin them on their heads. You know, they change the sweet lyrics, the "how sweet it is down South," to [reflect] the horrors that they have been through."
The 1930s Alabama of lynchings and cross-burnings made an impression on the Harlem teenagers, like Jamal Baugh, who found himself talking to some audience members after the show — including two elderly ladies who'd lived through the era. One of them, he says, wanted to know how it made him and his friends feel.
"So she was [asking us], can we relate to it?" he explains. "And I was like, 'No. I'm kinda glad that we live right now.' "
More of Baugh's peers will have the chance to think about such things soon. The Theater Development Fund, which sponsors the Open Doors program, recently bought out every seat in the house for two upcoming matinees of The Scottsboro Boys; the plan is to bring in as many as 1,800 more high-schoolers to see the show.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Porn queen Jenna Jameson in talks for Broadway role
http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/way_rock_cites_jenna_w3oxbIiVpYYDpy0LoNlLzO
Porn queen Jenna Jameson in talks for Broadway role
October 20, 2010
Porn queen Jenna Jameson is in talks to star in the hit Broadway rock musical, "Rock of Ages."
The X-rated icon is negotiating to take the role of Venus strip club owner Justice -- whose big, crowd-pleasing number is appropriately Journey's "Any Way You Want It."
Jameson confirmed to Page Six, "I am in talks with the 'Rock of Ages' producers, and I'm praying I get the role. Broadway has always been a dream of mine ever since I was a little girl. I am really excited.
"I'm meeting with the producers [today], and I just hope I have enough talent to carry the role. We are talking about a run that would be anything from a month to three months, and it could start very soon."
Jenna Jameson She added, "I think I'm perfect for the role, and I am really looking forward to becoming a New Yorker."
A show source told us, "The producers were surprised, but Jenna has a good voice. And while she's famous for her X-rated movies, she can act. This may be a shock to traditional Broadway fans, but the show is always trying to push the boundaries."
The Tony-nominated musical, which features music from Journey, Whitesnake, Styx and Bon Jovi, is running at the Brooks Atkinson. The role of Justice has been played since 2005 by Michelle Mais.
Jameson, mom of year-old twins, wants to reinvent herself after a tough year. She recently said she and UFC fighter boyfriend Tito Ortiz were "in therapy" after he was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence and later accused her of being addicted to Oxycontin. Both the domestic violence and drug claims were later withdrawn.
"Rock of Ages" rep Patrick Confrey confirmed producers were in talks with Jameson but declined to comment further.
Porn queen Jenna Jameson in talks for Broadway role
October 20, 2010
Porn queen Jenna Jameson is in talks to star in the hit Broadway rock musical, "Rock of Ages."
The X-rated icon is negotiating to take the role of Venus strip club owner Justice -- whose big, crowd-pleasing number is appropriately Journey's "Any Way You Want It."
Jameson confirmed to Page Six, "I am in talks with the 'Rock of Ages' producers, and I'm praying I get the role. Broadway has always been a dream of mine ever since I was a little girl. I am really excited.
"I'm meeting with the producers [today], and I just hope I have enough talent to carry the role. We are talking about a run that would be anything from a month to three months, and it could start very soon."
Jenna Jameson She added, "I think I'm perfect for the role, and I am really looking forward to becoming a New Yorker."
A show source told us, "The producers were surprised, but Jenna has a good voice. And while she's famous for her X-rated movies, she can act. This may be a shock to traditional Broadway fans, but the show is always trying to push the boundaries."
The Tony-nominated musical, which features music from Journey, Whitesnake, Styx and Bon Jovi, is running at the Brooks Atkinson. The role of Justice has been played since 2005 by Michelle Mais.
Jameson, mom of year-old twins, wants to reinvent herself after a tough year. She recently said she and UFC fighter boyfriend Tito Ortiz were "in therapy" after he was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence and later accused her of being addicted to Oxycontin. Both the domestic violence and drug claims were later withdrawn.
"Rock of Ages" rep Patrick Confrey confirmed producers were in talks with Jameson but declined to comment further.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Kristin Chenoweth Speaks Out on Homophobic Newsweek Article
http://www.broadway.com/shows/promises-promises/buzz/152350/promises-star-kristin-chenoweth-speaks-out-on-horrendously-homophobic-newsweek-article-defends-sean-hayes/
Promises Star Kristin Chenoweth Speaks Out on 'Horrendously Homophobic' Newsweek Article, Defends Sean Hayes
May 7, 2010
'This article offends me because I am a human being, a woman and a Christian.'
Kristin Chenoweth, the Promises, Promises star who was nominated for three Broadway.com Audience Awards on May 7, has stepped up on her soapbox. The Broadway favorite logged onto Newsweek.com to comment on an article on the website called “Straight Jacket” that suggests that gay actors struggle with playing straight characters. Ramin Setoodah, the openly-gay author of the article, specifically singles out Chenoweth’s leading man, Sean Hayes (calling his casting a problem--”the big pink elephant in the room”), and the recent appearance on TV’s Glee by Tony nominee Jonathan Groff.
"I couldn't stay silent on this one," Chenoweth wrote on Twitter after posting the response. Because she deserves as big as a soapbox as is available, we reprint Chenoweth’s comments below, with thanks to Newsweek.com.
Chenoweth writes:
As a longtime fan of Newsweek and as the actress currently starring opposite the incredibly talented (and sexy!) Sean Hayes in the Broadway revival of Promises, Promises, I was shocked on many levels to see Newsweek publishing Ramin Setoodeh’s horrendously homophobic “Straight Jacket,” which argues that gay actors are simply unfit to play straight. From where I stand, on stage, with Hayes, every night — I’ve observed nothing “wooden” or “weird” in his performance, nor have I noticed the seemingly unwieldy presence of a “pink elephant” in the Broadway Theater. (The Drama League, Outer Critics Circle and Tony members must have also missed that large animal when nominating Hayes’ performance for its highest honors this year.)
I’d normally keep silent on such matters and write such small-minded viewpoints off as perhaps a blip in common sense. But the offense I take to this article, and your decision to publish it, is not really even related to my profession or my work with Hayes or Jonathan Groff (also singled out in the article as too “queeny” to play “straight.”)
This article offends me because I am a human being, a woman and a Christian. For example, there was a time when Jewish actors had to change their names because anti-Semites thought no Jew could convincingly play Gentile. Setoodeh even goes so far as to justify his knee-jerk homophobic reaction to gay actors by accepting and endorsing that “as viewers, we are molded by a society obsessed with dissecting sexuality, starting with the locker room torture in junior high school.” Really? We want to maintain and proliferate the same kind of bullying that makes children cry and in some recent cases have even taken their own lives? That’s so sad, Newsweek! The examples he provides (what scientists call “selection bias”) to prove his “gays can’t play straight” hypothesis are sloppy in my opinion. Come on now!
Openly gay Groff is too “queeny” to play Lea Michele’s boyfriend in Glee, but is a “heartthrob” when he does it in Spring Awakening? Cynthia Nixon only “got away with it” ’cause she peaked before coming out? I don’t know if you’ve missed the giant Sex and the City movie posters, but it seems most of America is “buying it.” I could go on, but I assume these will be taken care of in your “Corrections” this week.
Similarly, thousands of people have traveled from all over the world to enjoy Hayes’ performance and don’t seem to have one single issue with his sexuality! They have no problem buying him as a love-torn heterosexual man. Audiences aren’t giving a darn about who a person is sleeping with or his personal life. Give me a break! We’re actors first, whether we’re playing prostitutes, baseball players, or the Lion King. Audiences come to theater to go on a journey. It’s a character and it’s called acting, and I’d put Hayes and his brilliance up there with some of the greatest actors period.
Lastly, as someone who’s been proudly advocating for equal rights and supporting GLBT causes for as long as I can remember, I know how much it means to young people struggling with their sexuality to see out & proud actors like Sean Hayes, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris and Cynthia Nixon succeeding in their work without having to keep their sexuality a secret. No one needs to see a bigoted, factually inaccurate article that tells people who deviate from heterosexual norms that they can’t be open about who they are and still achieve their dreams. I am told on good authority that Mr. Setoodeh is a gay man himself and I would hope, as the author of this article, he would at least understand that. I encourage Newsweek to embrace stories which promote acceptance, love, unity and singing and dancing for all!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
The ‘Idiot’ That’s Boosting Broadway
http://www.newsweek.com/id/236696
The ‘Idiot’ That’s Boosting Broadway
The acclaimed Green Day album comes to the stage, and drags rock and roll along with it.
Jeremy McCarter
Apr 20, 2010
On second thought, maybe the Beatles didn't kill the Broadway musical. For half a century, theater folk have cursed rock and roll—including a certain diabolical quartet from Liverpool—for driving show tunes from American hearts and turntables: out went The Sound of Music, in came the sound of acid trips and fornication. Hair and Rent made it to the stage, but they felt like exceptions to the rule. They didn't give you much reason to imagine a time when pop music would enjoy a robust and ongoing presence on Broadway. That is, they didn't help you to see the last couple of seasons coming.
If you could unscrew the lids of Broadway's theaters around 9 o'clock tonight, this is what you'd hear: the Afrobeat of Fela Kuti, the Europop of Abba, doo-wop from Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, proto-rock from Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley, and mixed-up hits from hair bands like Foreigner, Journey, and Whitesnake. Then there's the music written explicitly for the stage: the soul of Memphis; the hip-hop and salsa of In the Heights, which won the Tony Award for best musical; and the rock score of Next to Normal, which just won the Pulitzer Prize. Like never before, the traditional sound of a Broadway orchestra shares the Great White Way with all sorts of once-anathema pop styles, packed together like stations on the dial.
American Idiot is the latest musical to join them, and probably the loudest. Based on Green Day's 2004 album-length rock opera of the same name, the punk-pop show tells the story of three disaffected young men trying—with the help of sex, drugs, and battered guitars—not to lose their minds in George W. Bush's America. Under the direction of Michael Mayer (who co-wrote the show's libretto with Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong), it has raucous energy and frequently spectacular stagecraft. It doesn't hold together as well as it should, but there's still something entirely welcome going on here.
Unlike too many of its predecessors, American Idiot isn't trafficking in nostalgia—the material is too new (and too bleak) for that. Nor does orchestrator Tom Kitt trade the album's jagged edges for a Broadway-friendly pseudopop mire. In other words, the show makes the case that there need not be a chasm between the music that people hear on Broadway and the music they hear, well, everywhere else. With the arrival of Green Day and its punk-pop opera, Broadway takes another step toward the cultural relevance it lost half a century ago—another step back from the wilderness.
To understand how a trio of rock stars from Oakland could be good for Broadway, it helps to appreciate what a filthy art form the theater is, and has always been. Exorbitant ticket prices conceal—but can't erase—the wonderfully vulgar DNA of every show that reaches these stages: they're descended from the satyr play, the leggy blonde kick line, the seedy vaudeville routine. Theater is a magpie art that needs to refresh itself constantly with the energy that's sloshing around society. When it doesn't, you end up with the Broadway musical of the last few decades: an era in which Sondheim couldn't write his darkly brilliant musicals fast enough to arrest Broadway's slide into a bloated, self-referential style that made the place verge on being a punch line.
Two recent shifts have allowed Broadway to catch up to the music of the last 50 years. The first is generational: the people putting on shows, and buying tickets to shows, have grown up with rock. (In fact, the most telling sign of a new audience's arrival wasn't a rock show per se: The fact that Avenue Q, a dirty puppet show that riffed on Sesame Street, could sustain a six-year Broadway run meant that something major had shifted.) The other reason that pop musicals are thriving is that gifted artists have worked out a production style that suits the new material—no small feat when you realize how ridiculous the phrase "the new Broadway musical from Green Day" would have sounded just a few years ago. Even now it's a little crazy.
Lucky, then, that when it comes to bravura stagecraft, American Idiot represents the state of the art. Scenic designer Christine Jones has erected towering walls of rock posters studded with TV screens, like a madhouse constructed entirely of media—just right for a show in which a character bemoans "this hurricane of f--king lies." Lighting designer Kevin Adams (like Jones, a veteran of Spring Awakening) pops off explosions of color all around you, which means the show doesn't just look different from other musicals—it's a different sensation to watch it.
You get the same feeling from the charismatic cast, who spare you the massively awkward sight of actors pretending to play musical instruments. Johnny (John Gallagher Jr.) doesn't just howl Green Day's lyrics of disaffection when he flees the suburbs for big-city adventures: he accompanies himself on acoustic guitar, making the early choruses of "Wake Me Up When September Ends" a plaintive solo ballad. His friends Will (Michael Esper), who gets stuck in the burbs, and Tunney (Stark Sands), who marches off to war, find chances to do the same. Backed by the onstage band, the show has the energy—and frequently the look—of a rock concert, which suits its evocations of helplessness, alienation, and rage.
Yet for all the audacious spectacle and terrific cast, it still leaves you wanting. Mayer and Armstrong add little dialogue to the lyrics, which aren't as resonant as they seem to think. They give you little reason to care about Johnny, who fancies himself the Jesus of Suburbia, or his drug troubles, or his girl (Rebecca Naomi Jones). If this sounds familiar, it's because the charge of weak storytelling has been leveled at most of the 21st-century pop musicals. I've never bought the complaint that pop songs can't sustain a character or carry emotional weight the way show tunes can (cf. Lennon-McCartney, Stephin Merritt, etc., etc.). In fact, the predicament of pop musicals seems to differ only slightly from the predicament of all musicals from Show Boat on: namely, that getting words and music in sync to tell an emotionally weighty story is a damned tricky business. Oscar Hammersteins are few and far between.
Maybe the best news about the arrival of Green Day—and the sonic expansion of Broadway that the band embodies—is that the next young Hammerstein might be a little easier to find. There's no telling where the outward grasp that Broadway has shown in the last couple of years will end, but it shows no signs of slowing down. A theater scene that's willing to assemble the 21st-century musical from every corner of the culture is bound to be an exciting place, even if it's a rowdy mess. No, especially if it's a rowdy mess.
The ‘Idiot’ That’s Boosting Broadway
The acclaimed Green Day album comes to the stage, and drags rock and roll along with it.
Jeremy McCarter
Apr 20, 2010
On second thought, maybe the Beatles didn't kill the Broadway musical. For half a century, theater folk have cursed rock and roll—including a certain diabolical quartet from Liverpool—for driving show tunes from American hearts and turntables: out went The Sound of Music, in came the sound of acid trips and fornication. Hair and Rent made it to the stage, but they felt like exceptions to the rule. They didn't give you much reason to imagine a time when pop music would enjoy a robust and ongoing presence on Broadway. That is, they didn't help you to see the last couple of seasons coming.
If you could unscrew the lids of Broadway's theaters around 9 o'clock tonight, this is what you'd hear: the Afrobeat of Fela Kuti, the Europop of Abba, doo-wop from Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, proto-rock from Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley, and mixed-up hits from hair bands like Foreigner, Journey, and Whitesnake. Then there's the music written explicitly for the stage: the soul of Memphis; the hip-hop and salsa of In the Heights, which won the Tony Award for best musical; and the rock score of Next to Normal, which just won the Pulitzer Prize. Like never before, the traditional sound of a Broadway orchestra shares the Great White Way with all sorts of once-anathema pop styles, packed together like stations on the dial.
American Idiot is the latest musical to join them, and probably the loudest. Based on Green Day's 2004 album-length rock opera of the same name, the punk-pop show tells the story of three disaffected young men trying—with the help of sex, drugs, and battered guitars—not to lose their minds in George W. Bush's America. Under the direction of Michael Mayer (who co-wrote the show's libretto with Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong), it has raucous energy and frequently spectacular stagecraft. It doesn't hold together as well as it should, but there's still something entirely welcome going on here.
Unlike too many of its predecessors, American Idiot isn't trafficking in nostalgia—the material is too new (and too bleak) for that. Nor does orchestrator Tom Kitt trade the album's jagged edges for a Broadway-friendly pseudopop mire. In other words, the show makes the case that there need not be a chasm between the music that people hear on Broadway and the music they hear, well, everywhere else. With the arrival of Green Day and its punk-pop opera, Broadway takes another step toward the cultural relevance it lost half a century ago—another step back from the wilderness.
To understand how a trio of rock stars from Oakland could be good for Broadway, it helps to appreciate what a filthy art form the theater is, and has always been. Exorbitant ticket prices conceal—but can't erase—the wonderfully vulgar DNA of every show that reaches these stages: they're descended from the satyr play, the leggy blonde kick line, the seedy vaudeville routine. Theater is a magpie art that needs to refresh itself constantly with the energy that's sloshing around society. When it doesn't, you end up with the Broadway musical of the last few decades: an era in which Sondheim couldn't write his darkly brilliant musicals fast enough to arrest Broadway's slide into a bloated, self-referential style that made the place verge on being a punch line.
Two recent shifts have allowed Broadway to catch up to the music of the last 50 years. The first is generational: the people putting on shows, and buying tickets to shows, have grown up with rock. (In fact, the most telling sign of a new audience's arrival wasn't a rock show per se: The fact that Avenue Q, a dirty puppet show that riffed on Sesame Street, could sustain a six-year Broadway run meant that something major had shifted.) The other reason that pop musicals are thriving is that gifted artists have worked out a production style that suits the new material—no small feat when you realize how ridiculous the phrase "the new Broadway musical from Green Day" would have sounded just a few years ago. Even now it's a little crazy.
Lucky, then, that when it comes to bravura stagecraft, American Idiot represents the state of the art. Scenic designer Christine Jones has erected towering walls of rock posters studded with TV screens, like a madhouse constructed entirely of media—just right for a show in which a character bemoans "this hurricane of f--king lies." Lighting designer Kevin Adams (like Jones, a veteran of Spring Awakening) pops off explosions of color all around you, which means the show doesn't just look different from other musicals—it's a different sensation to watch it.
You get the same feeling from the charismatic cast, who spare you the massively awkward sight of actors pretending to play musical instruments. Johnny (John Gallagher Jr.) doesn't just howl Green Day's lyrics of disaffection when he flees the suburbs for big-city adventures: he accompanies himself on acoustic guitar, making the early choruses of "Wake Me Up When September Ends" a plaintive solo ballad. His friends Will (Michael Esper), who gets stuck in the burbs, and Tunney (Stark Sands), who marches off to war, find chances to do the same. Backed by the onstage band, the show has the energy—and frequently the look—of a rock concert, which suits its evocations of helplessness, alienation, and rage.
Yet for all the audacious spectacle and terrific cast, it still leaves you wanting. Mayer and Armstrong add little dialogue to the lyrics, which aren't as resonant as they seem to think. They give you little reason to care about Johnny, who fancies himself the Jesus of Suburbia, or his drug troubles, or his girl (Rebecca Naomi Jones). If this sounds familiar, it's because the charge of weak storytelling has been leveled at most of the 21st-century pop musicals. I've never bought the complaint that pop songs can't sustain a character or carry emotional weight the way show tunes can (cf. Lennon-McCartney, Stephin Merritt, etc., etc.). In fact, the predicament of pop musicals seems to differ only slightly from the predicament of all musicals from Show Boat on: namely, that getting words and music in sync to tell an emotionally weighty story is a damned tricky business. Oscar Hammersteins are few and far between.
Maybe the best news about the arrival of Green Day—and the sonic expansion of Broadway that the band embodies—is that the next young Hammerstein might be a little easier to find. There's no telling where the outward grasp that Broadway has shown in the last couple of years will end, but it shows no signs of slowing down. A theater scene that's willing to assemble the 21st-century musical from every corner of the culture is bound to be an exciting place, even if it's a rowdy mess. No, especially if it's a rowdy mess.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
BROADWAY CARS CAN TAKE A WALK
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02262009/news/regionalnews/broadway_cars_can_take_a_walk_157028.htmBROADWAY CARS CAN TAKE A WALK
CITY TO BLOCK TRAFFIC FROM TIMES, HERALD SQUARES
By DAVID SEIFMAN, CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF
Mayor Bloomberg announced that traffic lanes along Broadway from 33rd to 35th streets will be torn up starting Memorial Day and transformed into pedestrian plazas until at least the end of the year.
The Great White Way will turn into a great walkway.
In a stunning Midtown makeover, Mayor Bloomberg announced today that traffic lanes along Broadway from 42nd to 47th streets and from 33rd to 35th streets will be torn up starting Memorial Day and transformed into pedestrian plazas until at least the end of the year.
"By making targeted adjustments at Broadway's two main pinch points, we believe we can ease traffic congestion throughout the Midtown grid," Bloomberg said. "We are going to closely monitor the results to determine if this pilot works and should be extended beyond its trial period."
The $1.5 million pilot program will discontinue vehicular traffic from 47th Street to 42nd Street and from 35th Street to 33rd Street - connecting Seventh Avenue through Times Square, where it is currently bisected by Broadway, and improve traffic flow on Sixth Avenue through Herald Square.
Bloomberg said the result will be simplified traffic patterns, longer green lights and reduced travel times across Midtown.
All car traffic going east and west through Times and Herald Squares will not be impacted and travel times are expected to improve on some of those streets, Bloomberg added.
In addition, the plan is expected to improve bus times on the avenues for the more than 75,000 daily passengers.
Some businesses in the area welcomed the plan.
"The time for improving congestion at Herald Square -- Macy's front yard -- is long overdue," said Ed Goldberg, vice-president of government and community relations at Macy's. "This project will create a much safer and more enjoyable experience for everyone at this important shopping and transportation hub, and we applaud Mayor Bloomberg for taking this innovative and exciting approach."
Spider-Man musical set for 2010
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7909772.stm
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
Spider-Man musical set for 2010
U2's Bono and The Edge will provide the music and lyrics for the musical
A musical based on the Marvel comic book hero Spider-Man will open on Broadway in 2010.
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark will include the story of the superhero's origins and will feature music and lyrics by U2 members Bono and The Edge.
It will be directed by Julie Taymor, the creative force behind Disney's long-running Lion King.
The musical will open in February 2010 at the Hilton Theatre with preview performances beginning in January.
The show is reportedly the most expensive Broadway production ever, costing $40m (£27.6m).
The Hilton Theatre as it is the only venue big enough to allow the superhero room to spin his way around the sprawling skyscraper sets.
Details on casting, or which villains will appear, have yet to be announced.
Tobey Maguire has starred as Spider-Man in three big-screen versions of the comic book franchise. He is expected to return for a fourth instalment, to be released in 2011.
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
Spider-Man musical set for 2010
U2's Bono and The Edge will provide the music and lyrics for the musical
A musical based on the Marvel comic book hero Spider-Man will open on Broadway in 2010.
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark will include the story of the superhero's origins and will feature music and lyrics by U2 members Bono and The Edge.
It will be directed by Julie Taymor, the creative force behind Disney's long-running Lion King.
The musical will open in February 2010 at the Hilton Theatre with preview performances beginning in January.
The show is reportedly the most expensive Broadway production ever, costing $40m (£27.6m).
The Hilton Theatre as it is the only venue big enough to allow the superhero room to spin his way around the sprawling skyscraper sets.
Details on casting, or which villains will appear, have yet to be announced.
Tobey Maguire has starred as Spider-Man in three big-screen versions of the comic book franchise. He is expected to return for a fourth instalment, to be released in 2011.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Ferrell taking Bush spoofs to Broadway, HBO
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/06/ferrell.bush/
Tue January 6, 2009
Ferrell taking Bush spoofs to Broadway, HBO
From Adam Reiss
Story Highlights
Will Ferrell is a "Saturday Night Live" veteran and movie actor
New York show called "You're Welcome America: A Final Night With George W. Bush"
Show is chronological look at Bush's life; from college days to governor to president
The show will premiere on February 5 and run through March 15
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Will Ferrell, the man who invented "strategery" and other Bushisms, is taking his spoofs of the 43rd president to Broadway and HBO.
Will Ferrell will star as George W. Bush in a Broadway show that opens in February.
The "Saturday Night Live" veteran will star in "You're Welcome America: A Final Night With George W. Bush" at New York's Cort Theater, with previews in line for Inauguration Day.
The show will take a chronological look at Bush's life -- from his college days and time as the governor of Texas to the 2000 race for president and his two terms in office.
Ferrell, who poked fun at the president with his successful impersonations on "SNL," told CNN he likes that Bush "never thinks he's wrong."
"He's arrogant with a school-boy attitude, and combine that with the fact that he is commander in chief -- and, unfortunately, it's very funny."
He says viewers should "expect the unexpected" from the show -- and some goofy nicknames, something Bush is known to dole out to members of his administration.
The show will premiere on February 5 and run through March 15. HBO has also picked up the show, to air live on an undetermined date.
Tue January 6, 2009
Ferrell taking Bush spoofs to Broadway, HBO
From Adam Reiss
Story Highlights
Will Ferrell is a "Saturday Night Live" veteran and movie actor
New York show called "You're Welcome America: A Final Night With George W. Bush"
Show is chronological look at Bush's life; from college days to governor to president
The show will premiere on February 5 and run through March 15
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Will Ferrell, the man who invented "strategery" and other Bushisms, is taking his spoofs of the 43rd president to Broadway and HBO.
Will Ferrell will star as George W. Bush in a Broadway show that opens in February.
The "Saturday Night Live" veteran will star in "You're Welcome America: A Final Night With George W. Bush" at New York's Cort Theater, with previews in line for Inauguration Day.
The show will take a chronological look at Bush's life -- from his college days and time as the governor of Texas to the 2000 race for president and his two terms in office.
Ferrell, who poked fun at the president with his successful impersonations on "SNL," told CNN he likes that Bush "never thinks he's wrong."
"He's arrogant with a school-boy attitude, and combine that with the fact that he is commander in chief -- and, unfortunately, it's very funny."
He says viewers should "expect the unexpected" from the show -- and some goofy nicknames, something Bush is known to dole out to members of his administration.
The show will premiere on February 5 and run through March 15. HBO has also picked up the show, to air live on an undetermined date.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
"Shrek" a family musical with gay-pride element
http://www.reuters.com/article/artsNews/idUSTRE4BE0F920081215
"Shrek" a family musical with gay-pride element
Sun Dec 14, 2008
By Frank Scheck
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - The trend of adapting animated movies to the stage continues with this first attempt by DreamWorks to cut in on the bounty that Disney has enjoyed on Broadway.
Not as transformative as the landmark in the genre, "The Lion King" (to which this production pays playful homage), or as reductive as the mediocre "The Little Mermaid," "Shrek the Musical" is a fun, largely successful musical version of the first installment of the hugely successful film franchise. Only the daunting economic climate could get in the way of this show becoming a family audience Broadway hit.
Plenty of impressive theatrical talent has been assembled here, including director Jason Moore ("Avenue Q"), composer Jeanine Tesori ("Caroline, or Change") and lyricist/book writer David Lindsey Abaire ("Rabbit Hole").
After an opening scene depicting a 7-year-old Shrek being sent off by his parents to fend on his own, the show stays largely faithful to the movie's plot, depicting the love that blossoms between the giant green ogre (Brian d'Arcy James) and the beautiful Princess Fiona (Sutton Foster) while he and his sidekick Donkey (Daniel Breaker) escort her to her impending nuptials with the villainous and very diminutive Lord Farquaad (Christopher Sieber).
Obviously geared for children, the show will not bore their adult chaperones in the least thanks to large doses of the irreverent, often scatological humor that also infused the film and a gay-pride subtext that is exemplified by having the supporting cast of fairy tale characters harmonizing about letting their "Freak Flag" wave. Theater aficionados will enjoy the fleeting references to such shows as "A Chorus Line," "Wicked" and "Dreamgirls," while fans of the movies will appreciate the cameo appearance by Puss 'N Boots.
Tesori's music is more functional than fabulous, but there are plenty of lively uptempo numbers and several affecting ballads. Highlights include "Morning Person," which shows off Foster's physical comic skills as her princess deals rudely with various forest creatures; "I Think I Got You Beat," a hilarious duet between Shrek and Fiona in which they fall in love and compete to see who can produce the grossest bodily functions; and "What's Up, Duloc," in which Sieber, cleverly costumed to convey Farquaad's small stature, performs a raucous dance number almost entirely on his knees.
Director Moore and scenery/costume designer Tim Hatley have infused the proceedings with plenty of clever visual touches -- such as Pinocchio's (John Tartaglia) ever-growing nose, a fawning Magic Mirror (Tartaglia again), a giant puppet dragon (yup, Tartaglia) and a hilarious Gingerbread Man -- that often recall their respective efforts on "Avenue Q" and "Spamalot."
The lead performers deliver beautifully sung and wonderfully comic performances that give the show a winning human dimension: Although Breaker's Donkey was both a little too fey and not quite manic enough, he garners the requisite laughs; Sieber is hysterically hammy as the dwarfish Farquaad; Foster is feminine charm personified as Fiona; and d'Arcy James is utterly endearing as the title character even with the handicap of being unrecognizable beneath his extensive makeup.
"Shrek" a family musical with gay-pride element
Sun Dec 14, 2008
By Frank Scheck
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - The trend of adapting animated movies to the stage continues with this first attempt by DreamWorks to cut in on the bounty that Disney has enjoyed on Broadway.
Not as transformative as the landmark in the genre, "The Lion King" (to which this production pays playful homage), or as reductive as the mediocre "The Little Mermaid," "Shrek the Musical" is a fun, largely successful musical version of the first installment of the hugely successful film franchise. Only the daunting economic climate could get in the way of this show becoming a family audience Broadway hit.
Plenty of impressive theatrical talent has been assembled here, including director Jason Moore ("Avenue Q"), composer Jeanine Tesori ("Caroline, or Change") and lyricist/book writer David Lindsey Abaire ("Rabbit Hole").
After an opening scene depicting a 7-year-old Shrek being sent off by his parents to fend on his own, the show stays largely faithful to the movie's plot, depicting the love that blossoms between the giant green ogre (Brian d'Arcy James) and the beautiful Princess Fiona (Sutton Foster) while he and his sidekick Donkey (Daniel Breaker) escort her to her impending nuptials with the villainous and very diminutive Lord Farquaad (Christopher Sieber).
Obviously geared for children, the show will not bore their adult chaperones in the least thanks to large doses of the irreverent, often scatological humor that also infused the film and a gay-pride subtext that is exemplified by having the supporting cast of fairy tale characters harmonizing about letting their "Freak Flag" wave. Theater aficionados will enjoy the fleeting references to such shows as "A Chorus Line," "Wicked" and "Dreamgirls," while fans of the movies will appreciate the cameo appearance by Puss 'N Boots.
Tesori's music is more functional than fabulous, but there are plenty of lively uptempo numbers and several affecting ballads. Highlights include "Morning Person," which shows off Foster's physical comic skills as her princess deals rudely with various forest creatures; "I Think I Got You Beat," a hilarious duet between Shrek and Fiona in which they fall in love and compete to see who can produce the grossest bodily functions; and "What's Up, Duloc," in which Sieber, cleverly costumed to convey Farquaad's small stature, performs a raucous dance number almost entirely on his knees.
Director Moore and scenery/costume designer Tim Hatley have infused the proceedings with plenty of clever visual touches -- such as Pinocchio's (John Tartaglia) ever-growing nose, a fawning Magic Mirror (Tartaglia again), a giant puppet dragon (yup, Tartaglia) and a hilarious Gingerbread Man -- that often recall their respective efforts on "Avenue Q" and "Spamalot."
The lead performers deliver beautifully sung and wonderfully comic performances that give the show a winning human dimension: Although Breaker's Donkey was both a little too fey and not quite manic enough, he garners the requisite laughs; Sieber is hysterically hammy as the dwarfish Farquaad; Foster is feminine charm personified as Fiona; and d'Arcy James is utterly endearing as the title character even with the handicap of being unrecognizable beneath his extensive makeup.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Packers trade Brett Favre to N.Y. Jets
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/2008-08-07-favre-traded_N.htm
Headed to Broadway: Packers trade Brett Favre to N.Y. Jets
8-7-8
The Brett Favre era is officially over in Green Bay.
The Green Bay Packers have confirmed they have traded the quarterback to the New York Jets. Favre had started the past 253 consecutive games for the Green Bay Packers.
The Packers did not release the terms of the trade. The Jets are believed to be sending a draft pick to the Packers, according to the Green Bay Press-Gazette, USA TODAY's sister publication.
Favre and the Packers have experienced a bitter divorce in the past two months since the quarterback, who retired in March, decided to unretire. The team was reluctant to take him back after it had embraced Aaron Rodgers as its next quarterback.
Headed to Broadway: Packers trade Brett Favre to N.Y. Jets
8-7-8
The Brett Favre era is officially over in Green Bay.
The Green Bay Packers have confirmed they have traded the quarterback to the New York Jets. Favre had started the past 253 consecutive games for the Green Bay Packers.
The Packers did not release the terms of the trade. The Jets are believed to be sending a draft pick to the Packers, according to the Green Bay Press-Gazette, USA TODAY's sister publication.
Favre and the Packers have experienced a bitter divorce in the past two months since the quarterback, who retired in March, decided to unretire. The team was reluctant to take him back after it had embraced Aaron Rodgers as its next quarterback.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Crystal strikes out in new career
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080314/ap_en_tv/bba_yankees_crystal;_ylt=Amw90xs2oKjR_tQcyWszJQhY24cA
Crystal strikes out in new career
By BEN WALKER, AP Baseball Writer
3-14-8
Billy Crystal whacked himself in the helmet with his backswing, found his shoelaces and socks sabotaged and watched his team lose. Oh, and the New York Yankees rookie struck out in his one and only at-bat as a big leaguer. "It was the strangest, greatest moment of my life," he said Thursday.
A day before his 60th birthday, the comedian, actor and Oscar host enjoyed every moment of the day he'd hoped for his entire life.
Talking ball with Yogi Berra and Reggie Jackson at the batting cage. Taking infield with Derek Jeter. Jogging in the outfield with Alex Rodriguez. Becoming a victim of clubhouse pranks. Getting a chance for the kind of hit he can't find in Hollywood or on Broadway.
"I felt like a baseball player," Crystal said. "I really hate to leave."
Wearing No. 60 and cheered on by fellow funnyman Robin Williams, the lifelong Yankees fan was no joke at the plate against Pittsburgh.
Players on both teams perched on the top step of the dugout when Crystal came up. They almost saw something special as he took Jeter's advice: "Swing early in the count."
Batting leadoff as the Yankees' designated hitter in the first inning, he took a late-but-solid cut at a fastball from Pirates lefty Paul Maholm. Crystal hit a chopper that got past first baseman Adam LaRoche, but came down 3 feet foul.
Crystal showed a patient, good eye and got ahead in the count 3-1. Maholm came back with a pair of cutters, and the right-handed Crystal swung over both 88 mph pitches.
"I was mad at myself for swinging at 'em," he said.
Especially the last one.
"It was ball four," said plate umpire Mark Carlson, who shook hands with Crystal before the at-bat.
Said Maholm: "I tried to lay it in there for him. I definitely didn't try to blow it by him."
"It was definitely a little nerve-racking," he said. "I'm glad I didn't have to watch it every day, him getting a hit off me."
The fans at Legends Field gave Crystal a standing ovation, and he raised his hand to acknowledge them. Rodriguez signaled Maholm, who tossed the ball toward the dugout for a souvenir.
Then it was time for a quick trip up to the suite level to talk to Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.
"I was worried he was going to trade me for Jerry Seinfeld," Crystal said.
Hank Steinbrenner was pleased.
"As long as the fans enjoy it, it's great. He has a real love for the Yankees. He's going to help us in the opening of the new stadium and all that," the general partner said.
Crystal's debut — and finale — followed the likes of Garth Brooks and Tom Selleck, other celebrities who played in exhibition games.
Johnny Damon took over at DH after the first inning — he was poised to pinch run had Crystal gotten on base. When the game ended, a 5-3 Pirates win, Crystal said his career as a major leaguer was over.
"I can always say I led off for the New York Yankees. That's an amazing feeling," he said. "I don't even know how to describe it. It was so intensely good."
Surely better than getting a World Series ring as part-owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks when they beat his beloved Yankees in 2001.
Technically, Crystal still is under contract to the Yankees. He signed a standard minor league deal Wednesday that commissioner Bud Selig approved; as long as the Yankees officially release him before opening day, they don't owe him any money.
No chance of comeback, Crystal said.
"Not the way my hamstring feels," he said.
Crystal walked away with a lifetime of "mahvelous" memories.
Manager Joe Girardi gave him a signed lineup card, a clubhouse attendant presented a DVD of his at-bat and Crystal kept his pinstriped uniform. He also exited with his socks and shoelaces cut, the culprits being his teammates-for-a-day.
Crystal brought his own black maple bat and a glove that had his name stitched on the side. While the former high school infielder did not need his mitt in the game, his family and friends did: a foul popup by Rodriguez landed a few feet from Crystal's wife and Williams.
Asked whether he'd like a turn as a ballplayer, Williams shook his head.
"No. It'll be a telethon," he said.
Crystal got this opportunity after a chance meeting with Jeter in Costa Rica over the holidays. Crystal said he wasn't too happy about turning 60, and the Yankees captain wondered what would make him happy.
Just like that, Crystal was headed to the majors.
Crystal did his best to fit in. He kept his comedy routines to a minimum in the clubhouse, signed his share of autographs — including one for Maholm — and honored the ballplayers' code by compensating infielder Cody Ransom for taking the minor leaguer's No. 60.
"He upheld his end of the bargain," Ransom said.
Neither said what was exchanged, but there was a fancy wrapped Sony bag in Ransom's locker.
Crystal said he was more nervous than he could remember walking to the plate. Before the game, he tried to act calm. The way he chomped nonstop on his bubblegum gave him away.
"I'm really relaxed, I really am," Crystal said an hour before it started. "That's until I see the 6-foot-2, 230-pound guy who's going to throw who's never been to a Seder."
Crystal strikes out in new career
By BEN WALKER, AP Baseball Writer
3-14-8
Billy Crystal whacked himself in the helmet with his backswing, found his shoelaces and socks sabotaged and watched his team lose. Oh, and the New York Yankees rookie struck out in his one and only at-bat as a big leaguer. "It was the strangest, greatest moment of my life," he said Thursday.
A day before his 60th birthday, the comedian, actor and Oscar host enjoyed every moment of the day he'd hoped for his entire life.
Talking ball with Yogi Berra and Reggie Jackson at the batting cage. Taking infield with Derek Jeter. Jogging in the outfield with Alex Rodriguez. Becoming a victim of clubhouse pranks. Getting a chance for the kind of hit he can't find in Hollywood or on Broadway.
"I felt like a baseball player," Crystal said. "I really hate to leave."
Wearing No. 60 and cheered on by fellow funnyman Robin Williams, the lifelong Yankees fan was no joke at the plate against Pittsburgh.
Players on both teams perched on the top step of the dugout when Crystal came up. They almost saw something special as he took Jeter's advice: "Swing early in the count."
Batting leadoff as the Yankees' designated hitter in the first inning, he took a late-but-solid cut at a fastball from Pirates lefty Paul Maholm. Crystal hit a chopper that got past first baseman Adam LaRoche, but came down 3 feet foul.
Crystal showed a patient, good eye and got ahead in the count 3-1. Maholm came back with a pair of cutters, and the right-handed Crystal swung over both 88 mph pitches.
"I was mad at myself for swinging at 'em," he said.
Especially the last one.
"It was ball four," said plate umpire Mark Carlson, who shook hands with Crystal before the at-bat.
Said Maholm: "I tried to lay it in there for him. I definitely didn't try to blow it by him."
"It was definitely a little nerve-racking," he said. "I'm glad I didn't have to watch it every day, him getting a hit off me."
The fans at Legends Field gave Crystal a standing ovation, and he raised his hand to acknowledge them. Rodriguez signaled Maholm, who tossed the ball toward the dugout for a souvenir.
Then it was time for a quick trip up to the suite level to talk to Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.
"I was worried he was going to trade me for Jerry Seinfeld," Crystal said.
Hank Steinbrenner was pleased.
"As long as the fans enjoy it, it's great. He has a real love for the Yankees. He's going to help us in the opening of the new stadium and all that," the general partner said.
Crystal's debut — and finale — followed the likes of Garth Brooks and Tom Selleck, other celebrities who played in exhibition games.
Johnny Damon took over at DH after the first inning — he was poised to pinch run had Crystal gotten on base. When the game ended, a 5-3 Pirates win, Crystal said his career as a major leaguer was over.
"I can always say I led off for the New York Yankees. That's an amazing feeling," he said. "I don't even know how to describe it. It was so intensely good."
Surely better than getting a World Series ring as part-owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks when they beat his beloved Yankees in 2001.
Technically, Crystal still is under contract to the Yankees. He signed a standard minor league deal Wednesday that commissioner Bud Selig approved; as long as the Yankees officially release him before opening day, they don't owe him any money.
No chance of comeback, Crystal said.
"Not the way my hamstring feels," he said.
Crystal walked away with a lifetime of "mahvelous" memories.
Manager Joe Girardi gave him a signed lineup card, a clubhouse attendant presented a DVD of his at-bat and Crystal kept his pinstriped uniform. He also exited with his socks and shoelaces cut, the culprits being his teammates-for-a-day.
Crystal brought his own black maple bat and a glove that had his name stitched on the side. While the former high school infielder did not need his mitt in the game, his family and friends did: a foul popup by Rodriguez landed a few feet from Crystal's wife and Williams.
Asked whether he'd like a turn as a ballplayer, Williams shook his head.
"No. It'll be a telethon," he said.
Crystal got this opportunity after a chance meeting with Jeter in Costa Rica over the holidays. Crystal said he wasn't too happy about turning 60, and the Yankees captain wondered what would make him happy.
Just like that, Crystal was headed to the majors.
Crystal did his best to fit in. He kept his comedy routines to a minimum in the clubhouse, signed his share of autographs — including one for Maholm — and honored the ballplayers' code by compensating infielder Cody Ransom for taking the minor leaguer's No. 60.
"He upheld his end of the bargain," Ransom said.
Neither said what was exchanged, but there was a fancy wrapped Sony bag in Ransom's locker.
Crystal said he was more nervous than he could remember walking to the plate. Before the game, he tried to act calm. The way he chomped nonstop on his bubblegum gave him away.
"I'm really relaxed, I really am," Crystal said an hour before it started. "That's until I see the 6-foot-2, 230-pound guy who's going to throw who's never been to a Seder."
Thursday, February 21, 2008
'Spamalot' musical changes Britney lyric
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080213/ap_en_ce/theater_britney_lyric
'Spamalot' musical changes Britney lyric
Tue Feb 12, 2008
Britney Spears is out, Posh Spice is in — as a lyric for the Lady in the Lake in the Broadway musical "Monty Python's Spamalot." Asked why the lyric was changed in the song "Diva's Lament," "Spamalot" author Eric Idle said Tuesday in an e-mail:
"Because we don't laugh at sad people. Mike Nichols (the show's director) requested it and he's right. We changed the lyrics in London, on tour, on Broadway and in Las Vegas. We think that it's now too sad. Britney Spears is being tortured to death and we don't want to be on that side."
The changes went into the various companies last week.
What the Lady in the Lake (currently played on Broadway by Hannah Waddingham) once sang:
"I am sick of my career
Always stuck in second gear
Up to here with frustration and with fears
I've no Grammy no rewards
I've no Tony Awards
I'm constantly replaced by Britney Spears
Britney Spears!"
It's been replaced by:
"My love life is a mess
I've got constant PMS
My career is about as hot as ice
They hate me there backstage
They say I'm too old for my age
They're trying to replace me with Posh Spice
With Posh Spice!!"
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