(no subject)
So my trip to NYC yesterday. What I can say? It was rainy so NYC was cold, wet, and cold. Not the best impression and I don't like being around a lot of people but it was fun nonetheless. Now, onto the trip and the show!
and look what happened to him!
So the worst part had to be the bus ride. Five. Goddamn. Hours. And the heat didn't work so we froze the whole way. We saw trees. Lots of tress. Green gets kinda dull after a while. I longed for a concrete building. New Jersey smells like a dirty sock or at least Seacucus does. Ew. On the plus side we saw a stop light! Yes, a stop light! After 4 odd hours of trees and an occasional power line, stop lights were cool. The Lincoln tunnel wasn't all that "awesome" to drive through after sitting on your ass for five hours but it was nice to see grey after miles and miles of green.
We got dropped off and I was a big, brave girl and asked two girls if I could hang out w/ them. They were cool and said yes so we and one other girl who came along all headed off for food and a bathroom. We ate the Olive Garden were I had dry spaghetti because I am an odd child. I also didn't have any breadsticks because 9 times out of 10, they have garlic on them and I hate garlic. Anyway, we ate, then headed over to the Imperial Theatre for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. The Imperial is a nice little theater thought it could do with more bathrooms but I digress.
I'll get into the show after I talk about what happened after the show. Make sense? I hope.
After the show, we headed off again. One of the girls, Eva I think, asked what we wanted to do. I commented that I wanted to see the Rent theater but she said it was too far so I didn't go see it. :-( We went to Toys R Us in Times Square. That was...interesting. I learned that squiggle pens are controversial. Think about it.
Then we went to the Mariott Marquis (sp?) to this thing called "The View". It was a spinning cafe which was kinda cool but we paid 17 dollars for 4 hot chocolates. Oh well. Then we spent, and I am NOT shitting you, 30 minutes in Sephora. And we couldn't go to Rent theater why? Anyway, then we went somewhere else so someone could use the bathroom then back to the drop off point. Where we stood. For thirty minutes. In the rain. Waiting for the bus. That didn't seem to want to come. yeah, needless to say, we were all hoping for HEAT. We had heat for the 5 hours ride home (we left NYC at 8:45, didn't get back till 2am and we left at 7am. LLOONNGG day). I slept through the rest stop. Figures right? And I had a headache from lack of sleep. Got back, checked email, crashed.
All-in-all, it was an interesting trip. I don't think I could ever live in NYC but I would visit again.
Now for the show!
Cast:
Lawrence Jameson: Jonathan Pryce
Freddy Benson: Norbert Leo Butz
Andre Thibault: Gregory Jbara
Christine Colgate: Rachel York
Muriel Eubanks: Joanna Gleason
Jolene Oakes: Mylinda Hull
Lenore: Rachel De Benedet
Sophia: Laura Maria Duncan
Conductor: Timothy J. Alex
Renee: Rachel De Benedet
Hotel Manager & Nikos: Timothy Edward Smith (in for Tom Galantich)
First off, AMAZING cast. They were just awesome. Jonathan Pryce sounds just like Jonathan Lithgow which is just awesome! Rachel York was great. I didn't even care she wasn't Sheri Rene Scott (who I read will be back in September). And Norbert. What I can say? He. Was. Awesome. As I watched him, I kept thinking how wonderful it would be for him to get a role in a comedic movie because he has awesome timing and great control and respect of his body. "Great Big Stuff" was more amazing than the CD gives you. It's a very physical song. Norbert was everywhere. I've never seen a man move that much in a song. It really rivals Angel in "Today 4 U". He showed us his butt in "Chimp in a Suit", reached into his pants and grabbed himself in "All About Ruprecht." It was the scene with "Ruprecht" (Norbert's character Freddy acting as Lawrence's dim brother) that had him and Jonathan break character for a beat. "Ruprecht" wants a hug from his "brother" so he gets one, he then thrusts into him in a sexual manner while kissing him, then tosses him on the bed and proceeds to pantomime sodomy. Jonathan buried his face in the blanket and you could tell he was laughing. After a few seconds, they moved on. Later during "Ruffhousin' mit Shuffhausen", Jonathan is pretending to be a doctor and he waves a feather around very dramatically as he is about to expose Freddy's lie that he is a cripple. For some reason, both Norbert and Jonathan start giggling. Jonathan (still in character) quips "You want to do this later too?" meaning the 8pm show. They broke the fourth wall a few times (theater people will know what I mean) and that made it soo much better. The line for my cut was from "All About Ruprecht" and Jonathan looked right at the audience to deliver the "look what happened to him line" and they pointed into the crowd a few times.
Norbert seriously stole the show. I'm so happy he got better, that he extended his contract, and that he won a Tony for it. His voice sounds different than it does on the CD for this show, Wicked, and Last 5 Years. I hope it was just the usual difference there is. His voice was great but I'm hoping that it wasn't related to his surgery.
Gregory Jbara was Andre and Andre was awesome too. one of the best moments was when he chased Muriel (Joanna Gleason=AWESOME) in a bathroom saying he'd gotten more champagne with a pair of handcuffs dangling from his wrist.
I never laughed so hard in my life and every so often, I had to think "this is my first show on Broadway" and what a wonderful show to de-virginize myself.
During intermission, I grabbed a $10 program and a shirt. For my first show, I wanted more than just the Playbill. After the show, Jonathan had us all sit down and told us about Broadway Cares, Equity Fights AIDS. After a few more comedic moments (he spent minutes, MINUTES drawing a sketch of his character) we left and I grabbed a $20 signed Playbill (to go with the Rent one my friend Tyler got me).
it was an amazing experience and so worth the $30. I'm definitely doing it again in the fall no matter what the show it. If you're looking for a show to see, I would definitely see this one. Go before the summer is over though because Norbert might not be there and seriously, he *is* the show.
A scan of the Playbill and ticket:
and Rent for good measure:
and look what happened to him!
So the worst part had to be the bus ride. Five. Goddamn. Hours. And the heat didn't work so we froze the whole way. We saw trees. Lots of tress. Green gets kinda dull after a while. I longed for a concrete building. New Jersey smells like a dirty sock or at least Seacucus does. Ew. On the plus side we saw a stop light! Yes, a stop light! After 4 odd hours of trees and an occasional power line, stop lights were cool. The Lincoln tunnel wasn't all that "awesome" to drive through after sitting on your ass for five hours but it was nice to see grey after miles and miles of green.
We got dropped off and I was a big, brave girl and asked two girls if I could hang out w/ them. They were cool and said yes so we and one other girl who came along all headed off for food and a bathroom. We ate the Olive Garden were I had dry spaghetti because I am an odd child. I also didn't have any breadsticks because 9 times out of 10, they have garlic on them and I hate garlic. Anyway, we ate, then headed over to the Imperial Theatre for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. The Imperial is a nice little theater thought it could do with more bathrooms but I digress.
I'll get into the show after I talk about what happened after the show. Make sense? I hope.
After the show, we headed off again. One of the girls, Eva I think, asked what we wanted to do. I commented that I wanted to see the Rent theater but she said it was too far so I didn't go see it. :-( We went to Toys R Us in Times Square. That was...interesting. I learned that squiggle pens are controversial. Think about it.
Then we went to the Mariott Marquis (sp?) to this thing called "The View". It was a spinning cafe which was kinda cool but we paid 17 dollars for 4 hot chocolates. Oh well. Then we spent, and I am NOT shitting you, 30 minutes in Sephora. And we couldn't go to Rent theater why? Anyway, then we went somewhere else so someone could use the bathroom then back to the drop off point. Where we stood. For thirty minutes. In the rain. Waiting for the bus. That didn't seem to want to come. yeah, needless to say, we were all hoping for HEAT. We had heat for the 5 hours ride home (we left NYC at 8:45, didn't get back till 2am and we left at 7am. LLOONNGG day). I slept through the rest stop. Figures right? And I had a headache from lack of sleep. Got back, checked email, crashed.
All-in-all, it was an interesting trip. I don't think I could ever live in NYC but I would visit again.
Now for the show!
Cast:
Lawrence Jameson: Jonathan Pryce
Freddy Benson: Norbert Leo Butz
Andre Thibault: Gregory Jbara
Christine Colgate: Rachel York
Muriel Eubanks: Joanna Gleason
Jolene Oakes: Mylinda Hull
Lenore: Rachel De Benedet
Sophia: Laura Maria Duncan
Conductor: Timothy J. Alex
Renee: Rachel De Benedet
Hotel Manager & Nikos: Timothy Edward Smith (in for Tom Galantich)
First off, AMAZING cast. They were just awesome. Jonathan Pryce sounds just like Jonathan Lithgow which is just awesome! Rachel York was great. I didn't even care she wasn't Sheri Rene Scott (who I read will be back in September). And Norbert. What I can say? He. Was. Awesome. As I watched him, I kept thinking how wonderful it would be for him to get a role in a comedic movie because he has awesome timing and great control and respect of his body. "Great Big Stuff" was more amazing than the CD gives you. It's a very physical song. Norbert was everywhere. I've never seen a man move that much in a song. It really rivals Angel in "Today 4 U". He showed us his butt in "Chimp in a Suit", reached into his pants and grabbed himself in "All About Ruprecht." It was the scene with "Ruprecht" (Norbert's character Freddy acting as Lawrence's dim brother) that had him and Jonathan break character for a beat. "Ruprecht" wants a hug from his "brother" so he gets one, he then thrusts into him in a sexual manner while kissing him, then tosses him on the bed and proceeds to pantomime sodomy. Jonathan buried his face in the blanket and you could tell he was laughing. After a few seconds, they moved on. Later during "Ruffhousin' mit Shuffhausen", Jonathan is pretending to be a doctor and he waves a feather around very dramatically as he is about to expose Freddy's lie that he is a cripple. For some reason, both Norbert and Jonathan start giggling. Jonathan (still in character) quips "You want to do this later too?" meaning the 8pm show. They broke the fourth wall a few times (theater people will know what I mean) and that made it soo much better. The line for my cut was from "All About Ruprecht" and Jonathan looked right at the audience to deliver the "look what happened to him line" and they pointed into the crowd a few times.
Norbert seriously stole the show. I'm so happy he got better, that he extended his contract, and that he won a Tony for it. His voice sounds different than it does on the CD for this show, Wicked, and Last 5 Years. I hope it was just the usual difference there is. His voice was great but I'm hoping that it wasn't related to his surgery.
Gregory Jbara was Andre and Andre was awesome too. one of the best moments was when he chased Muriel (Joanna Gleason=AWESOME) in a bathroom saying he'd gotten more champagne with a pair of handcuffs dangling from his wrist.
I never laughed so hard in my life and every so often, I had to think "this is my first show on Broadway" and what a wonderful show to de-virginize myself.
During intermission, I grabbed a $10 program and a shirt. For my first show, I wanted more than just the Playbill. After the show, Jonathan had us all sit down and told us about Broadway Cares, Equity Fights AIDS. After a few more comedic moments (he spent minutes, MINUTES drawing a sketch of his character) we left and I grabbed a $20 signed Playbill (to go with the Rent one my friend Tyler got me).
it was an amazing experience and so worth the $30. I'm definitely doing it again in the fall no matter what the show it. If you're looking for a show to see, I would definitely see this one. Go before the summer is over though because Norbert might not be there and seriously, he *is* the show.
A scan of the Playbill and ticket:
and Rent for good measure: