Sunday, February 3, 2008

An 'All That Chat' survey...

The Giants have won the Super Bowl!!!!!! That was one hell of a game, I gotta say. I got so into it, my blood pressure skyrocketed and I went buckwild after that last touchdown. Think Mary Louise Wilson's acceptance speech times ten. And with more explicitly jubilant language.

Anyway... this was a 20 question survey posted on All That Chat for those who wouldn't be watching the game tonight. Well, since I missed the boat as I was glued to the game, I thought I'd fill it in here and now....

1. The first musical I ever saw on Broadway was Miss Saigan (March, 15, 2000)
2. The musical I would most like to see would be the original production of any of my favorites: this includes Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Mame, Pacific Overtures, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, She Loves Me, High Spirits, Kismet, Kiss Me Kate, South Pacific, et al, et al, et al.
3. The musical I would most like to see again is The Light in the Piazza and/or Grey Gardens.
4. The musical I never want to see again is Cats.
5. The best performance in a Broadway musical by a woman I’ve ever seen is Victoria Clark in The Light in the Piazza (honorable mentions to Christine Ebersole, Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald & Bernadette Peters).
6. The best performance in a Broadway musical by a man I’ve ever seen is Hugh Jackman in The Boy From Oz (what a star turn; what a shit show) and Carousel (wowowow, what a night). Honorable mention to David Hyde Pierce, who made Spamalot more enjoyable than it should have been.
7. The person I wish they never cast was Christine Baranski in Follies.
The person they should have cast was Angela Lansbury (yes I know she's a bit old for the part, who cares?) or Patti LuPone or someone who could sing it on pitch at least.
8. My favorite Broadway choreography was in the show La Cage Aux Folles
9. The lyric/line that always brings a lump to my throat is - many of Sondheim's great works "Children and Art," "Finishing the Hat," "Sunday," "Move On," "Send in the Clowns," "Liaisons," "Another Hundred People," Not a Day Goes By" (I've just decided that I'm going to dedicate an entire post to my favorite Stephen Sondheim lyrics), some of Hammerstein's, some of Guettel's even, though I know people look down on him as a lyricist.... too many indeed...
10. The stupidest lyric/line I’ve ever heard is "I'm a priest and I cannot love her" - that's the hook - the cleverly titled "I'm a Priest" from Notre Dame de Paris. There are others, but this one always stands out in my mind as it was just so god-awful.
11. The first musical I had to go back and see twice was The Light in the Piazza (I started my own trend).
12. The first musical I ever walked out of was - I have never walked out of a show.
13. The most under praised and overly deserving show in my opinion is; well it was technically a play with a lot of music, but it fits: Coram Boy.
14. The most overly praised and under deserving show in my opinion is, even though I enjoyed it, Spring Awakening.
15. The song show tune I’m most likely to sing while I’m dancing around at home is"Not on Your Nellie" Darling of the Day or "A Little Priest" (both parts)Sweeney Todd or whatever catches my ear at the moment.
16. If I could recast any role in a current Broadway musical with a performer of the past it would be Barbara Cook fifty years ago as Clara or thirty years ago as Margaret in The Light in the Piazza. Patricia Routledge in a London Piazza. Kaye Ballard, Susan Johnson or Dolores Gray as Carmen in Curtains.
17. If I could recast current actor in a Broadway musical that was before their time it would be Victoria Clark in Darling of the Day and Street Scene, Donna Murphy in Lady in the Dark. Audra McDonald in
18. The show they should never change a word of because it is already perfect is She Loves Me.
19. The show I'd most like to get my hands on and rewrite is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
20. The role I was born to play on Broadway is Georg in She Loves Me (I feel like he's my musical alter ego) . Not realistically, probably Alice Challice in Darling of the Day (those songs sit right in my comfort zone, isn't that sad?).

I would love to see what your answers would be...

1 comment:

Roxie said...

1. The first musical I ever saw on Broadway was Phantom of the Opera (leave me alone…I was nine and it was a birthday present)
2. The musical I would most like to see would be the Sunday in the Park with George revival
3. The musical I would most like to see again is The Light in the Piazza, Hello Dolly (w/ Tovah @ Papermill), Pirates of Penzance (@ Papermill), Sweeny Todd
4. The musical I never want to see again is Cats, Jerry Springer, or Happy Days.
5. The best performance in a Broadway musical by a woman I’ve ever seen is…well a toss up between Victoria Clark in The Light in the Piazza and Victoria Clark in Follies with super honorable mentions to Patti Lupone in Gypsy and Patti Lupone in Sweeny Todd (see a trend?), Joanna Gleason in Into the Woods, Kate Baldwin in Hello Dolly, Tovah Felshuh in Hello Dolly, Farah Alvin in Pirates of Penzance
6. The best performance in a Broadway musical by a man I’ve ever seen is Michael Cervaris in Sweeny Todd and my total guilty pleasure – Doug Sills in Scarlet Pimpernel (those gold pants! Aiee!)
7. The person I wish they never cast was Christine Baranski in Follies.
The person they should have cast was….hmm…anyone else? Vicki Clark in ten years? Judi Dench? Anyone else!
9. My favorite Broadway choreography was in the show Crazy for You or Contact which I absolutely adored although I’m also a sucker for any sort of tap dancing so I guess 42nd Street is on the list for that.
10. The lyric/line that always brings a lump to my throat is - I seriously have to pick just one? I can’t even pick a line, I can only think of full songs so here in no particular order: the opening chords of Anyone Can Whistle (from the musical of the same name), the choral part of Sunday (from Sunday in the Park…), “Love, love if you can oh my Clara, love if you can and be loved” (Piazza), the choral part of Hail, Poetry (from Pirates of Penzance)
11. The stupidest lyric/line I’ve ever heard is “Even Sanka, Bianca, for you”, "This is my Jerry Springer moment"
12. The first musical I had to go back and see twice was The Scarlet Pimpernel
13. The first musical I ever walked out of was – I’ve always been able to find humor, even in the crap, so I’ve stuck around.
14. The most under praised and overly deserving show in my opinion is Ragtime.
15. The most overly praised and under deserving show in my opinion is (please don’t kill me) Rent. It’s just old.
16. The song show tune I’m most likely to sing while I’m dancing around at home is…any of them!! A lot of Piazza which is funny because none of those damn parts are in my range.
17. If I could recast any role in a current Broadway musical with a performer of the past it would be a really, really, really young (with a much better singing voice) Judi Dench as Clara in Piazza…can you imagine? That would be heartbreaking.
18. If I could recast current actor in a Broadway musical that was before their time it would be Vicki Clark as Petra in A Little Night Music
19. The show they should never change a word of because it is already perfect is...I don’t have one! I mean I love so many musicals but I’ve been a theatre student way too long to not want to fix them in some way. Probably Oklahoma and Cabaret are darn close to perfect.
20. The show I'd most like to get my hands on and rewrite is Witches of Eastwick (just a little!).
21. The role I was born to play on Broadway is a combo of Mama Rose/Dolly Levi/Ruth Sherwood/Aunt Eller/Mame. Ha