{"id":95652,"date":"2026-11-08T16:33:55","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T00:33:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/?p=95652"},"modified":"2026-11-08T16:33:55","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T00:33:55","slug":"try-to-remember","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/blog\/2026\/11\/08\/try-to-remember\/","title":{"rendered":"Try To Remember"},"content":{"rendered":"

Didya hear \u2013 the musical The Fantasticks<\/em><\/strong> is heading back to New York.  The original off-Broadway <\/em>production ran 42 years and closed in 2002.  It returned in 2006 and ran until 2017.  Now it\u2019s back \u2013 but this time on Broadway <\/em>itself.  It opens on November 16th<\/sup> and is scheduled to run until February 7th<\/sup> (for now).  This new production also has a twist \u2013 the romantic leading couple has changed from Matt and Luisa to Matt and Lewis.  Yes, a same-sex couple.  What hasn\u2019t changed is the role of the Narrator, called El Gallo.  He\u2019ll be played by our very own Zane Phillips<\/strong>.  As a preview, a video of Zane singing the iconic \u201cTry to Remember\u201d can be found on BillyMasters.com<\/u><\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

We have some good news for those of you who haven\u2019t had a chance to see The Rocky Horror Show<\/em><\/strong> on Broadway<\/em>.  It has extended through May 30th<\/sup>.  And our very own Margaret Cho <\/strong>is taking over as the Narrator.<\/p>\n

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Since I\u2019m still overseas, I have a few more theatre reviews to share.  First is a new translation of The Cherry Orchard<\/em><\/strong> at the Harold Pinter Theatre <\/em>in London\u2019s West End<\/em>.  This past summer, the Chekhov <\/strong>play was staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company <\/em>in Stratford-upon-Avon with Helen Hunt<\/strong>, Kenneth Branagh <\/strong>and Bill Pullman<\/strong>.  While it\u2019s odd to have two productions of the same play in quick succession, it seems the critics preferred the version I saw.  This translation by Conor McPherson <\/strong>was witty, moving, and relevant to today\u2019s world.  Kristin Scott Thomas <\/strong>appears in the pivotal role of Lyubov.  I\u2019m not a fan of her films, but onstage I find her incandescent.  She presents enormous vulnerability without losing her steely resolve.  And she has a faint patrician air about her that is reminiscent of a young Si\u00e2n Phillips<\/strong>.  The play was uniformly well-cast, but special kudos to Stephen Mangan<\/strong>, who made the role of the serf-turned-master into a multi-layered and conflicted character.<\/p>\n

Then there was Jesse Tyler Ferguson <\/strong>in Tru<\/em><\/strong>.  His tour de force <\/em>as Truman Capote <\/strong>at the Menier Chocolate Factory <\/em>was, in a word, exceptional.  Another word that applies is magnificent.  From the moment he made his entrance, he was no longer the Jesse I knew, nor Mitchell from Modern Family<\/em><\/strong>, nor even Mason from Take Me Out<\/em><\/strong>.  His Truman was a completely different person \u2013 not a carbon copy of Capote, but a strong, well-thought-out portrayal of the man.  It\u2019s clear why people enjoyed spending time with the famed writer and raconteur.  In Jesse\u2019s capable hands, Capote was entertaining, insightful, dishy (to a point), self-reflective (to a lesser point), and vulnerable.  The set design by Paul Farnsworth <\/strong>was also astonishing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Didya hear \u2013 the musical The Fantasticks is heading back to New York.  The original off-Broadway production ran 42 years and closed in 2002.  It returned in 2006 and ran until 2017.  Now it\u2019s back \u2013 but this time on Broadway itself.  It opens on November 16th and is scheduled to run until February 7th<\/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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95652","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\/95652","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=95652"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95653,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95652\/revisions\/95653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}