Author: Chris Van Patten

A Little Price Gouging

The American Express exclusive pre-sale for A Little Night Music starts tomorrow and the Telecharge website has listed the prices for the upcoming first-ever Broadway revival of the romantic Sondheim classic. Telecharge has released the ticket price information on the upcoming tuner that stars Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury.

Tuesday – Thursday
Orchestra: $132.00
Mezzanine (Rows A-F): $132.00
Mezzanine (Rows G-J): $102.00
Balcony: $52.00

Friday – Sunday:
Orchestra: $137.00
Mezzanine (Rows A-F): $137.00
Mezzanine (Rows G-J): $107.00
Balcony: $57.00

Tuesday – Thursday:
Premium Seating: $277.00
Aisle Seating: $157.00 (May only be purchased in pairs.)

Friday, Saturday matinee, Sunday:
Premium Seating: $352.00
Aisle Seating: $162.00 (May only be purchased in pairs.)

Saturday evening:
Premium Seating: $377.00
Aisle Seating: $162.00 (May only be purchased in pairs.)

All prices include a $2.00 facility fee.

Well, I do love me some Night Music and I will get to see this one way or another. However, for a minimalist production (and an orchestra of SEVEN) I do feel that this is rather exorbitant ($102 for rear mezzanine…?) Granted you do have the headline making Broadway debut of Oscar winner Catherine Zeta-Jones, but her career since Chicago has been somewhat lacking. Angela Lansbury was the draw for Blithe Spirit, but that revival wasn’t asking for a first born or a kidney in exchange for the privilege. For this sort of money, I expect a lavish set, costumes and the full 26 pieces in the pit. The $52/57 seat at the Walter Kerr is in what my friend Noah terms “that balcony on top of Mount Everest.”

Though the “experts” are telling us we are heading out of the recession that doesn’t mean we are quite there yet. It’s nice to see a plethora of shows opening instead of posting closing notices like they were doing this time last year. However, that doesn’t mean that people can necessarily afford those higher prices for shows. Prices do go up, inflation happens, but this latest pricing is rather absurd. And you know what grinds my gears? The whole “aisle pair” thing. What about an individual with special needs who requires a single seat on the aisle? If ticket prices continue along these lines, theatre going for individuals like myself will become more and more of a luxury than a leisure. Discount codes have yet to be released, and no word yet on a student or general rush policy. Also, depending on how it sells it could also end up on TDF, so there’s hope yet.

However, while there’s the $2 facility fee that’s already included in the price there are also handling fees, service charges and in some cases, shipping fees. So add that to the ticket price. If there’s two of you, multiply it accordingly. Add dinner, travel fare, babysitter money. A night at the theatre seems to be becoming an increasingly upper class affair. It would be nice if the powers that be remembered us normal middle class folk. In the words of the formidable Madame Armfeldt, “Let us hope this lunacy is just…a trend.”

Karen Akers is Luisa Contini…

Back in spring 2004, I received an invitation from Peter Filichia to attend that year’s Theatre World Awards at Studio 54. I graciously accepted and gladly attended – and I have been there every year since. I’ve noted before that it’s one of my favorite events of the entire theatre season, filled with warmth and community, welcoming new talents. One of the fun things about the awards ceremony is that they invite past winners to present and occasionally perform.

Karen Akers was the performer that first year. She won the award back in 1982 for playing Luisa Contini in the original production of Nine, singing “My Husband Makes Movies” and “Be On Your Own,” her characters two songs. I wish this video didn’t cut Akers’ comments between them as she talked about what it was like to work with director-choreographer Tommy Tune. She offered insight, especially regarding the latter song and her difficulty in getting what Tune wanted. His insightful direction, having her stand firm, with legs apart was something she wasn’t comfortable. He realized that she was fearing that the the audience would hate her because of the song. Tapping into this fear, he helped her to give a masterful, masterful performance that garnered the singing actress a Tony nomination, as well as this award. For the ten minutes or so she was onstage, all I could think was “I am seeing Karen Akers…live…performing the songs she originated in Nine opposite Raul Julia…”

By the way, in the upcoming film version of Nine, “My Husband Makes Movies” has made the cut. However, for some reason (and I hope it’s a good artistic one and not Oscar pandering), “Be On Your Own” has been scuttled in favor of a new solo for Marion Cotillard called “Take It All.” Now I know not to judge something that I haven’t had the opportunity of hearing, but all I will say is that it better be one hell of a good song to erase memories of the stage original. Enjoy…

The First Cantata

The premiere of A White House Cantata was on July 8, 1997 at the Barbican in England. The concert rearrangement of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue was aired on BBC radio a week later. Before each act, the radio announcer talks briefly about what is to be seen (as opposed to the Collegiate Chorale concert in 2008, which ran without intermission). After composer Leonard Bernstein’s death in 1990, his estate set out to revise the original failed musical since the music had remained mostly neglected. With both Bernstein and librettist-lyricist Alan Jay Lerner dead, the estate hired Erik Haagensen to restore the original rehearsal script. From what I understand there was a sort of gypsy runthrough that went over well, then a full production was staged at Indiana State University in 1992. The production later played the Kennedy Center, but was abandoned afterward. In 1997, this revision was established which highlighted the historical musical scenes, eliminating almost all of Lerner’s script.

German baritone Dietrich Hensel played the Presidents, and sings the role with operatic gusto. However, it’s jarring to hear the Presidents of the United States speak in a German accent. American soprano Nancy Gustafson plays the First Ladies. While not quite Patricia Routledge, she’s worlds better than June Anderson, who replaced Gustafson on the studio cast recording of the score, and offers an engaging and colorful “Duet for One” (though she doesn’t cap it with the D above C). Thomas Young and Jacqueline Miura play Lud and Seena, whose energy makes up for their less than stellar vocals. The London Voices comprise the chorus and Alexander Bernstein, Leonard’s son, narrates a dry historical context in between songs.

The live presentation of the score is much better than what was recorded for Deutsch Gramophone the following year. For starters, the musical calls for a 2-disc recording. The musical had about two hours of score when it played in NY, which was trimmed and revised to approximately 90-100 minutes in concert form. The final CD release, listless and wan, runs 80 minutes and becomes highlights of highlights of a musical.

My quibble with the three presentations of this piece that I have encountered is that the powers that be insist on using opera singers. The songs of 1600 call out for theatre actors who can sing with legitimacy. The singers I have seen have serviced the score well, but provide very little color and range in their interpretation. And I’m sorry, but a spoken line in a musical shouldn’t be spoken like a spoken line in an opera. Also, musical theatre choruses are more colorful and textually driven than the staid choral groups who generally provide backup. I am still adamant that this shouldn’t be the final word on the score.

The BBC narration offered me my first glimpse, albeit small, into that showstopper for the ages, “Duet for One.” I’ve been searching high and low to find a production photo or a sketch or anything to give me an idea how the elaborate number was staged. As per the BBC announcer:

“Then comes a schizophrenic “Duet for One” as two First Ladies, the incumbent Julia Grant and the incoming Lucy Hayes – both sung by the same singer – comment on each other while they’re waiting for the election results to come in. Patricia Routledge, who sang it in the original production, described it as a wonderful cliffhanger presented in Busby Berkeley fashion, surrounded by ladies in parasols.”

Well, that sounds like fun.

Jackman & Craig vs. Cell Phone

You’re sitting there in the theatre, suspension of disbelief in full force as you immerse yourself in the story being told onstage. Then in the darkness comes that familiar sound. A cell phone ring tone unceremoniously rips you out of the moment onstage, challenging the concentration of both the actors and audience. It is without a doubt the most frequently occurring audience faux pas at legitimate theatre. The earliest instance I can recall of an actor stopping a show because of a cell phone was when Brian Dennehy chastised an audience member during the run of Death of a Salesman. Even though cell phones are prohibited by law in NYC theatres, odds are you’re likely to hear one.

So last Wednesday, during a matinee of A Steady Rain, a rather intense two-hander starring Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig, a cell phone rang. Not once, but twice. Rather than silence it, the person chose to let it ring lest he or she be found out. Each actor without breaking character (bravo!) broke the fourth wall to address the phone issue. Thankfully someone was upstairs committing another theatre-related crime videotaping the production. TMZ has the footage of what went down:

Once Nearly Was Mine…


Oh dear readers, how I wanted this for my collection of memorabilia. An original window card of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (not a reprint) that I stumbled upon by accident on E-bay a couple of days ago. The show closed in 1976 after a 7 performance run at the Mark Hellinger Theatre, and is a piece that has been well-documented on this site. (My obsession with it is a very well known item of interest). I put in the entry bid at $49.99 and set a small buffer in case I was outbid. Well, I was this evening. And now, the going rate for this piece of musical theatre history is now $500.00, a sum much more than my piggy bank can afford. So we’ll hold out until next time…if there is a next time. I’m not Don Pardo and you’ve not been “Spanning the World.”

"Now as the sweet imbecilities tumble so lavishly onto her lap…"

Whenever I listen to the sublime original Broadway cast recording of A Little Night Music, I’m always impressed with how Stephen Sondheim establishes Fredrik Egerman in the musical’s first song. Fredrik is a middle-aged lawyer whose eleven month marriage to naive 18 year old Anne has gone unconsummated. During an afternoon nap he, in true lawyerly fashion, lists all the ways he can go about seducing his wife. (His impetuous but staid “Now” is countered in a few minutes by her “Soon”). His son Henrik interjects with “Later” and eventually all three motifs are weaved together in contrapuntal soliloquies. The English major in me has always been amazed at this patter section in which he vents his sexual frustrations by listing the books he can read to get her into the mood…

“Which leaves the suggestive,
But how to proceed?
Although she gets restive,
Perhaps I could read.
In view of her penchant
For something romantic,
De Sade is too trenchant
And Dickens too frantic,
And Stendhal would ruin
The plan of attack,
As there isn’t much blue in
The Red and the Black.
De Maupassant’s candour
Would cause her dismay,
The Brontes are grander
But not very gay,
Her taste is much blander,
I’m sorry to say,
But is Hans Christian Ander-
Sen ever risque?
Which eliminates A…”

Oh! POTO 2?

The internet has been all abuzz with the new media campaign behind the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, or as we like to call here at Theatre Aficionado at Large, POTO. There is to be a major announcement (by the Phantom himself, no less) next month regarding the new musical. The show has been in gestation for some time, known as Phantom 2, Phantom in Manhattan and now (and presumably forever) known as Love Never Dies, which is poised to make its world debut in 2010.

Meanwhile, POTO continues to break its own record as the longest running show in Broadway history, and there are productions, tours, etc. going on all around the world. The show made headlines when Lloyd Webber’s beloved kitten accidentally erased the score from his clavinova (which I find circumspect – you don’t write down what you’ve written?). Anyway, the Really Useful group is gearing a mass media blitz to hype up this new show as the next big thing from the Lloyd Webber franchise. This Phantom is on twitter.

But I’d like to wax prosaic about musical sequels: they fail. I’m not saying that Love Never Dies is going to bomb. George M. Cohan’s The Talk of New York, a sequel to Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway, was a success back in 1907. More recently, William Finn has done quite well by his Marvin trilogy – In Trousers, March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland (the latter two combined for Broadway in Falsettos). However, I’m just saying the statistics are not in Lloyd Webber’s favor. Let’s take a look at a few musical sequels from over the years…

Let ‘Em Eat Cake – The Gershwin brothers crafted a follow-up to their 1931 Pulitzer Prize winning smash Of Thee I Sing. Figuring lightning would strike, the creative team and some of the original cast reunited with this decidedly darker satire on American government and politics. President Wintergreen has been defeated in his re-election campaign, so and his Vice President, Throttlebottom, plot a Fascist takeover of the United States to get back control. The show ran 89 performances at the Imperial in 1933.

Divorce Me Darling – Sandy Wilson had a monumental success with The Boy Friend, his 1954 musical spoof of the 1920s that played for five years in London and introduced Julie Andrews to Broadway. The show was such a success that in 1965, Wilson wrote a new musical that brought the same characters to the same location (Nice, France) ten years down the road, with relationships on the rocks. However, audiences in London didn’t seem to care what Polly, Tony and the gang were up to and the show closed after 91 performances.

Bring Back Birdie – The curtain of the perennial favorite Bye Bye Birdie comes down on Albert and Rosie moving out West where he’s going to be the English teacher she’s always wanted him to be. Happily ever after, etc. In 1981, the creative team (with the exception of the late Gower Champion) was brought back together with director-choreographer Joe Layton at the helm, even returning to the Martin Beck Theatre where the original played. The failure was immense – the book was laughable and crass, the score unmemorable and the design was apparently quite hideous. Though original star Chita Rivera was back and giving it her all, her showstopping poise wasn’t enough to save the sinking ship around her. The musical closed after 4 performances. (Peter Filichia gives an in depth account of the disastrous first act of the very first preview here).

A Doll’s Life – This sequel is unlike the rest listed here, because it was a musical sequel to a play. Henrik Ibsen’s play ends with the character Nora slamming the door on her domestic life, leaving her husband and family in an attempt to find her place in the world. That door slam, once regarded as “the door slam heard round the world,” pretty much told you everything you needed to know about the characters. However, Hal Prince, directed a highly conceptual musical that begins where the play leaves off. With music by Larry Grossman and the unusual choice of Comden and Green for book and score, the tuner looked at what happened to Nora after she leaves. A metatheatrical conceit and messy libretto didn’t help endear the character to audiences or critics and the show closed after 5 performances, though it features a fascinating musical score.

Annie 2 – The musical Annie had taken Broadway and the world by storm in the late 1970s, running for 2377 performances and becoming “The musical of Tomorrow.” So naturally a sequel would be in order. Right? Of course, right. Well, Annie 2: Miss Hannigan’s Revenge turned out to be a disaster. The show brought back Tony-winning Miss Hannigan Dorothy Loudon opposite Harve Presnell as Oliver Warbucks. This time around, Hannigan was out of jail and wanted to kill Annie. Meanwhile Marian Seldes was on hand as a Congresswoman who insisted Warbucks marry within 60 days, or Annie would be taken back to the orphanage. Hannigan posed as Charlotte O’Hara a southern belle, to gain Warbucks attentions. Later she became the prim Frances Riley and was given a morbid, if fun, showstopper “But You Go On.” The show closed out of town in Washington DC, and Loudon left the project. After substantial reworking at the Goodspeed, the wholly different Annie Warbucks opened off-Broadway for a 200 performance run.

The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public – Sex sells. And so did The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, a fun and raunchy musical inspired by the actual Chicken Ranch of La Grange, Texas. Miss Mona runs the nicest little whorehouse you ever saw, and by the show’s end, the moral majority has seen to shutting it down with the women moving on to the next chapter in their lives. The show was a huge success and there was a film version with Dolly Parton. Well, in the sequel Miss Mona was coaxed out of retirement to run a Las Vegas whorehouse. The show, which opened in 1994, starred Dee Hoty, with Tommy Tune at the helm (assisted by Peter Masterson and Jeff Calhoun). The sequel was closer to a cheap Vegas burlesque than book musical and was universally eviscerated by critics. It folded after 16 performances, and Tommy Tune has yet to direct another Broadway musical.

August: Sydney Harbor


It was Steve on Broadway who first reported about an item regarding a 2010 run of Steppenwolf’s production of Tracy Letts’ August: Osage County in Sydney, Australia. I had the news corroborated by a Steppenwolf member only a couple weeks later. However, there was no official announcement from the theatre company until today.

The production, with its superlative direction by Anna D. Shapiro and that miraculous set by Todd Rosenthal, will be setting up house at the Sydney Theatre Company for a month-long engagement from August 13-September 12. Official casting has yet to be announced but the press release mentions that original company members from Chicago and Broadway would be trekking Down Under. Much praise is due to Artistic Directors Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton for importing the production, as well as for exporting their own productions (the STC production of A Streetcar Named Desire, starring Blanchett and directed by Liv Ullmann, will play BAM this fall).

This doesn’t mark the first production of the Tony and Pulitzer prize winning masterpiece in Australia. This past summer, there was a highly acclaimed production with original staging at the Melbourne Theatre Company this past May directed by Simon Philips and starring Robyn Nevin as Violet Weston. The production received expected raves and proved such a success that it extended its limited engagement.

So far tickets are only available as part of the 2010 season ticket, but information on availability and pricing can be found on the STC website. But if you’re in Sydney this fall, Cate is appearing in Streetcar until October 17 and God of Carnage starts performances October 3.

Now here’s the big question: anybody up for a field trip to Sydney next summer…?