{"id":2395,"date":"2016-12-05T01:18:27","date_gmt":"2016-12-05T09:18:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/?p=2395"},"modified":"2016-12-05T01:18:27","modified_gmt":"2016-12-05T09:18:27","slug":"billy-does-broadway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/blog\/2016\/12\/05\/billy-does-broadway\/","title":{"rendered":"Billy Does Broadway"},"content":{"rendered":"

I spent most of last week in New York City.\u00a0 Because I know many of you travel during the holidays, I’ll tell you which shows to see, and which ones to skip.\u00a0 At the top of the list of anyone reading this column is the revival of Falsettos<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 It is the best production and cast of this show you’ll ever see, although what was once edgy and groundbreaking is somewhat dated today.\u00a0 Rather than play it as a period piece, the show is time-ambiguous, which works if you don’t think about it too much.\u00a0 Along with the illness which is never named, the pitfalls of coming out, relationships and parenting are still salient.\u00a0 Holding it all together is a masterful performance by Christian Borle <\/strong>– whose deflated arms prove that nothing lasts forever.\u00a0 As Marvin, he is never less than captivating vocally and dramatically.\u00a0 Stephanie J. Block <\/strong>plays the role of his ex-wife with enormous color and nuances.\u00a0 This made her “I’m Breaking Down” less schticky and more devastating.\u00a0 I was less enthralled by Andrew Rannells<\/strong>, who plays Borle’s lover.\u00a0 I’m surely in the minority of people who felt that his very specific talents were not a natural fit here.\u00a0 Throughout the show, I kept thinking how wonderful he must have been in Hedwig<\/em><\/strong>!<\/p>\n

There’s no doubt that the hit of this Broadway <\/em>season will be Dear Evan Hansen<\/em><\/strong>, a new musical about teen angst, suicide, social media, and coming of age.\u00a0 The show created quite a buzz last season off-Broadway<\/em>, and that built-in audience has led to a frenzy reminiscent of the lead-up to Hamilton<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 The preview performance I attended was like a rock show, with palpable electricity in the audience from the moment the curtain rose.\u00a0 The show speaks to anyone who has felt like an outsider.\u00a0 Major kudos to Ben Platt <\/strong>(from Pitch Perfect<\/em><\/strong>), who is a shoo-in Tony <\/em>winner.\u00a0 Truth be told, there’s nary a misstep in the entire production.<\/p>\n

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In the annals of theatre, The Front Page<\/em><\/strong> is legendary.\u00a0 The calibre of the cast in the current revival is a luxury rarely accorded to a Broadway <\/em>show; perhaps the strictly limited run helped lock in the best people.\u00a0 Once you get past the dense first act, hold onto your seat, because the show flies.\u00a0 John Slattery <\/strong>(with curious hair) may lead the show, but it’s Nathan Lane<\/strong> who galvanizes it with a frenetic presence that just sucks you into its wake.\u00a0 I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the transcendent Holland Taylor<\/strong>, who gives everyone a run for their money, and Robert Morse<\/strong>, who all but steals the show with two tiny scenes.\u00a0 A must-see.<\/p>\n

I’m less enthusiastic about Pierre<\/em><\/strong>, Natasha & the Great Comet of 1812<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 I know Josh Groban <\/strong>wanted to make his Broadway <\/em>debut in a new musical, but I think he should have waited until a better vehicle came along.\u00a0 Yes, he has two lovely songs, and gets a moving final scene, but it’s really a supporting role.\u00a0 The show is a spectacle, with bells and whistles for days, but those trappings seem to be masking a slender book and less-than-memorable score.\u00a0 Most of the critics disagree with me, but what do they know?\u00a0 And while I’m all for color-blind casting, I must confess I was distracted by the wildly talented Den\u00e8e Benton <\/strong>as Natasha.\u00a0 Not that this gifted African-American actress didn’t play it well – she did.\u00a0 But every time someone mentioned how pale Natasha was, I thought, “Huh?”.<\/p>\n

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I finally saw Hamilton<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Let’s clear something up – the entire show is not rap.\u00a0 In fact, most of it is sung.\u00a0 There are a variety of styles that meld together into a riveting piece of theatre.\u00a0 Would I want to sit down and listen to the original cast recording?\u00a0 Probably not.\u00a0 But with these remarkable performances and inventive staging, it is completely captivating – not to mention provocative and educational.\u00a0 Out of this uniformly gifted cast, I must single out Jordan Fisher<\/strong>, who joined the production mere days before I saw it and fit in seamlessly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I spent most of last week in New York City.\u00a0 Because I know many of you travel during the holidays, I’ll tell you which shows to see, and which ones to skip.\u00a0 At the top of the list of anyone reading this column is the revival of Falsettos.\u00a0 It is the best production and cast<\/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-2395","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\/2395","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=2395"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2401,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2395\/revisions\/2401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}