{"id":1806,"date":"2016-04-04T14:23:10","date_gmt":"2016-04-04T21:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/?p=1806"},"modified":"2016-04-04T14:23:10","modified_gmt":"2016-04-04T21:23:10","slug":"billy-hits-broadway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/blog\/2016\/04\/04\/billy-hits-broadway\/","title":{"rendered":"Billy Hits Broadway"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, I spent a few blissful hours in NYC catching some marvelous shows.\u00a0 Boy<\/em><\/strong> is a provocative new off-Broadway <\/em>play which takes its inspiration from a real-life event.\u00a0 In the 1960s, a young couple has twin boys and, during their circumcision, an accident shears off the penis of one of the boys (I know many of you instinctively covered your genitals – I did the same thing in the theatre).\u00a0 Since the children are infants, the parents are presented with an interesting option – do they raise the castrated child as a sexually disfigured boy, or do they have the doctor construct a vagina, put the kid on estrogen, and raise him as a girl?\u00a0 During this time period, most doctors believed nurture trumped nature.\u00a0 The idea was that if the child were raised as a girl and had no knowledge of this medical history, “she” would grow up to be a well-adjusted female.\u00a0 But, there’s something called puberty, and when that kicks in, so does nature.\u00a0 It’s a provocative play – and an extraordinary role to be played by an extraordinary actor.\u00a0 Bobby Steggert <\/strong>is such an actor and more than up to the challenge of playing the titular “boy”.\u00a0 His sensitivity and struggle are palpable, and he never once lapses into caricature.<\/p>\n

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I’m not even sure how to describe Something Rotten<\/em><\/strong> – it’s as if Spamalot<\/em><\/strong> and Book of Mormon<\/em><\/strong> had a baby, which was raised by The Producers<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 It’s irreverent, it’s outrageous, and it’s hysterical.\u00a0 The story of two brothers trying to one-up William Shakespeare <\/strong>is crazy enough.\u00a0 Throw in some catchy tunes and witty lyrics with triple entendres which send up virtually every show in Broadway <\/em>history.\u00a0 Add in great direction and choreography that makes a chorus line of old women in walkers seem tame.\u00a0 And it all comes together in Something Rotten<\/em> – one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.\u00a0 While Brian d’Arcy James <\/strong>and John Cariani <\/strong>are the “stars”, the show is ably stolen by Christian Borle <\/strong>(as a buff rock star of a Shakespeare) and Brad Oscar <\/strong>(the lesser-known befuddled nephew of Nostradamus<\/strong>).\u00a0 There’s not a bad performance on that stage.\u00a0 I was certain I knew one of the sexy men skillfully playing various roles in the ensemble.\u00a0 Sure enough, it was Aleks Pevec <\/strong>– who I vividly remembered from the 2007 LA production of Chess<\/em><\/strong>. \u00a0Yet another reason to check out Something Rotten<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It should be mentioned that when Borle leaves Something Rotten<\/em>, he will go directly into the Broadway <\/em>revival of Falsettos<\/em><\/strong> (previews begin on September 29th).\u00a0 That show will also feature our very own Andrew Rannells<\/strong>.\u00a0 But what’s more exciting is the musical Borle will be doing after Falsettos<\/em>.\u00a0 Alas, I’ve been sworn to secrecy.<\/p>\n

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My next theatrical stop was Charles Busch<\/strong>‘s Cleopatra<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 At this point, it’s almost silly to trot out superlatives about what Charles and his troupe do.\u00a0 I am repeatedly astonished by the skill, talent, and love that his efforts convey.\u00a0 As usual, the entire run sold out even before the first preview.\u00a0 But Busch has earned a loyal following and always delivers to us, his disciples. \u00a0The production has the joy and energy of kids putting on a show in their backyard – and that joy and energy comes right back at them from the audience.\u00a0 Charles’ Cleo <\/strong>is kinda like if Susan Hayward <\/strong>played the role, with more than a dash of Mae West<\/strong>.\u00a0 He steals snatches from Claudette Colbert<\/strong>, Vivien Leigh<\/strong>, Elizabeth Taylor<\/strong>…and even Barbra Streisand <\/strong>(you have to see it).\u00a0 Busch is surrounded by a fabulous cast – most notably Tony Sheldon <\/strong>(from Priscilla<\/em><\/strong>), who plays Caesar<\/strong>, Caesar’s wife Calpurnia<\/strong>, and one of Caesar’s successors, Marcus Lepidus<\/strong>.\u00a0 What Tony does with his voice is mind-boggling – very reminiscent of early Peter Sellers <\/strong>from The Goon Show<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Although the run is technically sold out, there are a few tickets being released before each performance.\u00a0 Try to snag one at SmartTix.com<\/a><\/span><\/strong> – the show closes on April 17.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, I spent a few blissful hours in NYC catching some marvelous shows.\u00a0 Boy is a provocative new off-Broadway play which takes its inspiration from a real-life event.\u00a0 In the 1960s, a young couple has twin boys and, during their circumcision, an accident shears off the penis of one of the boys (I know<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breaking"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1806"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1807,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1806\/revisions\/1807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}