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.”

Auntie Maim

Blessed Mother of Maude Adams, what fresh hell is this?

From Variety:

‘[Director Luca] Guadagnino said he and Swinton aspire to remake “Auntie Mame” as a “rock-n-roll, super funny, super mainstream movie.”

They would set their “Mame,” which is about a boy growing up as ward of his dead father’s eccentric sister, in the present-day.

“This is an SOS for Warner Bros. to give us the rights for this remake, which only Tilda could do justice to,” he added.’

You know I have nothing against a revival of Auntie Mame and/or Mame. Or even a filmed remake of either property. However, this isn’t exactly how I pictured a re-emergence of the timeless character. In any incarnation, Mame is a period piece, and continues to work well in said period. Her effusive spirit is something that comes out of the Roaring Twenties, survives the Crash of ’29 and continues into the Big Band Era: living life to the fullest and fighting the Establishment and stuffy provincial bigots along the way.

Elements of Auntie Mame could work today, but I hardly consider her “rock-n-roll.” Mame Dennis Burnside is more than a character, she’s a force of life. A living embodiment of Bohemianism and sophistication that I think most people would love to have in their lives. Not to mention, Tilda Swinton strikes me as all wrong for the part. Swinton is certainly an eccentric personality as attested by her Hefty bag fashion sense on Oscar night, and she leads a rather Bohemian lifestyle as evidenced by her open relationship with both husband and lover. I am pleased that she considers Auntie Mame one of her favorite films, but there is no need for her to reinvent the wheel.

Is there anyone who could bring savvy sophistication like Rosalind Russell, Greer Garson or Angela Lansbury? It’s harder to cast the role of Mame because the character for all it’s glorious lines and costumes, is static. Mame never changes, which is essential to her Mary Poppins-esque way of popping in and out of her nephew’s life. The actress who can successfully play Mame should be patrician, open-hearted and sympathetic. It takes more than a good delivery of a zinger to make a Mame.

I would rather sit through the leaden 1974 film version of Mame with Lucille Ball than see the rape of a classic.

It’s a Fiasco…

The Tony Awards committee decided to revoke voting privileges from first night press members, meaning all journalists are henceforth unable to participate in the Tony process. As many can guess, this decision is being met with a mostly negative response from bloggers, the chatterati on ATC, and inevitably those writers whose privileges have been revoked.

Citing “conflict of interest” doesn’t quite cut it, as the press voters were the most objective parties who had a greater probability of seeing all nominated shows. Remaining voters include producers, actors, writers, union leaders, the Broadway League, et al, et al. You know… the Switzerland of the Broadway community. Anyway, it lowers the number of voters from 800 to 700, a 13% reduction.

When you provoke the media, you’re liable to make them angry. Here are some further articles on the matter:

Chris Caggiano: Critics No Longer Tony Voters
Adam Feldman: This Just In: Tony Awards Nix Crix
Patrick Healy: Journalists Will No Longer Be Voting for Tony Awards
Matthew Murray: Reviewing the Tony Situation
Tom O’Neil: Tonys to Press: Drop Dead
Matt Windman: Destroying the Credibility of the Tony Awards: Banning Journalists as Voters

Quote of the Day

“The Guild objects in the strongest possible terms to the exclusion of this award from the live broadcast. We have received assurances in the past that the Tony producers recognize that this is an important award and that they would reinstate it in the show that everybody sees.

“As writers we understand that the television show needs to be entertaining in order to attract and hold its audience. And the Guild recognizes that many of its members’ brother and sister artists, from designers to choreographers to orchestrators, will be similarly disadvantaged on Sunday night.

“Nevertheless, the theatre is always spoken of as ‘The Writer’s Medium,’ as was even said in last year’s broadcast. So it seems especially ironic that the awards show that purports to represent the theatre gives less recognition to writers than the motion picture industry’s Academy Awards.

“We strongly urge that the Best Book Award be put back where it belongs. Live, on the air.”

-Stephen Schwartz, composer, lyricist & President of the Dramatists Guild of America

Bravo, Stephen!

While we’re on the subject of omissions, I am incensed that for the second year in a row Best Revival of a Play is being relegated to the webcast awards. Four different playwrights (living and dead) with unique voices and exemplary writing are present in a category stronger than Best Musical or Musical Revival. Perhaps the producer and not the playwright does receive this particular award, but it is an insult to drama and the legacies of these authors to push them aside so audiences can be treated to such innocuous fare as the national tours of Legally Blonde, Mamma Mia and the tribute to Jersey Boys.

Over the past few years, the awards ceremony has become a three hour commercial for Broadway. To celebrate achievement in live theatre, which is the most collaborative of the performing arts, it’s rather ironic that the telecast is selecting which awards are important enough to air in the national telecast. But get with it Tony Awards people because we’re on to you.

Musical Twitter?

It’s an interesting idea using new media and technology to promote a show, but does anyone think this is a bit ridiculous (if original)?

Being reported from NBC News:

Next to Normal will become the first Broadway show to Twitter a full performance.

“For the first time ever, the full story of a Broadway musical will be told via Twitter. Follow the characters of Next to Normal as they tweet their story – all the lows, all the highs – day by day, song by song. Experience it like you never have before. No Twitter account required!” the show announced on its official website this week.

The opening tweet from the @N2NBroadway account earlier this week announced “Starting May 5, follow the characters as they tweet their story – all the lows, all the highs – day by day, song by song.”

The twitterformance (OK, that’s not really a word,) will run through June 7. Next to Normal IRL life has an open-ended run at the Booth Theatre, located at 222 W. 45th St.

Copyright NBC Local Media

Times is Hard…

In case you’ve been curious about the goings-on in my neck of the woods:

The economic crisis is leading desperate people to desperate measures. A financial planner was arrested and charged after robbing a Peekskill bank at knifepoint this week. Here’s where the bizarro comes in:
“Police said that Solomon was wearing a Groucho Marx mask, consisting of glasses, fake busy eyebrows and a fake mustache, when he entered Trustco Bank lobby in a Welcher Avenue shopping plaza a few minutes after its 9 a.m. opening on Jan. 16 and robbed the bank at knifepoint.”

I wonder if this is the first time this stock disguise has ever been used in such a crime…

A Nine Year Old Could’ve Written It..

In today’s NY Post, one of the most random things I’ve ever read…

I WROTE THE BOOK OF LOVE
9-YEAR-OLD REVEALS DATING SECRETS
By Jennifer Fermino

He’s only 9, but this pint-sized pickup artist already knows plenty about pleasing the ladies.

So much, in fact, that Alec Greven’s dating primer, “How to Talk to Girls” – which began as a handwritten, $3 pamphlet sold at his school book fair – hit the shelves nationwide last week.

The fourth-grader from Castle Rock, Colo., advises Lothario wannabes to stop showing off, go easy on the compliments to avoid looking desperate – and be wary of “pretty girls.”

“It is easy to spot pretty girls because they have big earrings, fancy dresses and all the jewelry,” he writes in Chapter Three.

“Pretty girls are like cars that need a lot of oil.”

He advises, “The best choice for most boys is a regular girl. Remember, some pretty girls are coldhearted when it comes to boys. Don’t let them get to you.”

Over a few Shirley Temples yesterday at Langan’s on West 47 Street, Alec said that he culled his wisdom by peeking at his peers at play.

“I saw a lot of boys that had trouble talking to girls,” Alec said.

As for his how-to, he concedes, “I never expected people to buy it like a regular book in a bookstore.”

But with classic plain-spoken advice – like “comb your hair and don’t wear sweats” – it’s no surprise his 46-page book was a hit with boys and girls of all ages.

He believes the best way to approach a girl is to keep it to a simple “hi.”

“If I say hi and you say hi back, we’re probably off to a good start,” he said.

As for his own love life, he said he is not dating anyone at the moment. “I’m a little too young,” he confessed.

In his book, published by HarperCollins, he suggests holding off on falling in love until at least middle school.

Dating – which he defines as going out to dinner without your parents – is for “kind of old” people, who are 15 or 16.

Officials at the Soaring Hawk Elementary School said he wrote the book – which was the runaway bestseller at its book fair – for kids, but believe anyone can find inspiration in it.

Alec’s mother, Erin Greven, credits her son’s beyond-his-years insight to his avid reading.

“He reads nonstop. At dinner, I say, ‘Put your book down,’ ” she said.

Alec – who just finished a children’s book on the Watergate scandal – said he wants to be a full-time writer when he grows up, with a weekend job in archaeology or paleontology.

An Email I Received…

Someone sent me an email asking whether or not they could place advertising on my blog, after sending a reply to her, this is what I received:

HI Kevin,

I apologize; I believe I emailed you by mistake. I was looking for sites that were more geared to Broadway theatre blogging. Thanks for your response.

Betsy

I’m not sure if this is the funniest or saddest email I’ve had in regards to my blog (can it be both…?). Here’s an opinion poll – if I’m not a Broadway theatre blog, what should I be blogging about?

To quote that lady in the Post, “Only in NY, kids…”

Fratelli Metallo

It’s a bit off-topic but my heavy metal enthusiast brother sent me this clip and I found it too amusing not to share. What we have here is Brother Cesare Bonizzi, a Capucin monk in Italy who has gotten into heavy metal after seeing a Metallica concert some years ago.