TheatreScene: October 25 - 31

WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED!

• REVIEW: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
• Broadway on TV: Channel 7's Broadway Backstage Fall Preview
• Glee: Best Revival of a Musical?
• At This Performance, The President Will Be Played By...
• Broadway Crossword by Blog #3: The New Season: The Answers
• POLL RESULTS: Rock-tober Tricks and Treats

LOOK FOR A NEW POLL TO VOTE ON STARTING TOMORROW!

OCTOBER 25
HISTORY:

• 1995: The "egregiously overlooked" company of Victor/Victoria opened at the Marquis Theatre.  Julie Andrews got the last laugh, though.  It ran just short of 2 years and spawned a popular DVD of the Broadway production.
• 2009: The ill-fated, but critically acclaimed revival of Brighton Beach Memoirs opened at the Nederlander Theatre, where it ran a sad 9 performances.  The repertory play that was supposed to be paired with it, Broadway Bound, never even began previews.

NEWS:

• Driving Miss Daisy makes its Broadway debut tonight at the Golden Theatre.

FAREWELL:

• Librettist Joseph Stein died today at the age of 98.  He won the Tony for Fiddler on the Roof and wrote the books for such musicals as Rags, Plain and Fancy, and Zorba.  His specialty seems to have been writing about the trials and tribulations of the immigrants and small towns.

TOPS AND BOTTOMS:

• Wicked had both the top attendance (99.9%) and gross ($1.57M) for the week (10/18 - 24/2010).
• Colin Quinn: Long Story Short with only 4 previews had the lowest gross at $60K.  Lombardi had the lowest gross for an 8 show week, with $139K.  A life in the Theatre had the lowest attendance for the week at 46.5%.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Adam Pascal, Actor (RENT, AIDA, Cabaret)

OCTOBER 26

HISTORY:

• 1932: Eugene O'Neill's play Mourning Becomes Electra makes a brief Broadway debut (150 performances) at the Guild Theatre.

• 2000: The Full Monty opens at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, running an impressive 770 performances, though much eclipsed by that season's giant show, The Producers.

NEWS:

• Rain - A Tribute to the Beatles on Broadway opens tonight at the Neil Simon Theatre.
• Priscilla: Queen of the Desert opens tonight in Toronto.  Next stop, Broadway!

BEGINNINGS:

• The Pee Wee Herman Show begins its limited (and already extended) run at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Anthony Rapp, Actor (RENT, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown)

OCTOBER 27

HISTORY:

• 1934: The Most Curious Opening of the Week:  Is it the title - Ted Shawn and His Male Dancers? or is it that it played for 1 performance at Carnegie Hall and is still considered a Broadway show?
• 1966:  Decades before Avenue Q, an all-puppet revival of, get this, The Threepenny Opera opened on this date at the Billy Rose Theatre, where it lasted 13 whole performances.

NEWS:

• Say goodbye to the GWB!  In the Heights, one of the best shows of the decade will be closing its bodega, hair salon and limo service for good on January 9, 2011.  The final two weeks - December 25 - January 9 - will mark the return of original star and author of the piece, Lin-Manuel Miranda, who will close the show he started and brought to Tony-winning glory.  When it closes, it will have played 1,185 performances.
• The Kennedy Center Follies keeps getting starrier and starrier: joining Bernadette Peters will be Linda Lavin, Jan Maxwell and Florence Lacey.  I can see this one getting bigger and bigger.  But let's keep it in DC, OK?  Ragtime...

Jane Connell (in red), Bea Arthur and

Angela Lansbury in Mame (1966)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Jane Connell, Actor (Mame, Dear World, Me and My Girl)

OCTOBER 28

HISTORY:

• 2001: The biggest flop (to date) of Andrew Lloyd Webber's on Broadway opened today at the Helen Hayes Theatre.  By Jeeves came and went with little fanfare or advertising.  And it couldn't fill that tiny theatre beyond 73 performances.
• 2004:  One of Roundabout Theatre Company's biggest hits opened today at the then new-ish American Airlines Theatre.  The stage debut of Twelve Angry Men kept extending and extending and even spawned a national tour, starring Richard Thomas and George Wendt.

NEWS:

Andy Mientus, Carrie Manolakos, Zak Resnick

• With Broadway as its goal, one of my favorite musicals of the new millennium, bare, was announced to be having a New York reading soon, directed by Stafford Arima, and starring Carrie Manolakos (Mamma Mia!, Wicked), Andy Mientus ( The First National Tour of Spring Awakening) and Zak Resnick (The Broadway Boys singing group).  This might be one of those show that Ben Brantley talked about today: small and best suited to off-Broadway.  No matter where it is, I will be there!  If you don't know the show, get the 2 CD cast recording (it comes with an awesome DVD about the genesis of the show) which features Jenna Leigh Green, James Snyder and Matt Doyle.
• Lesley Gore finally brought her party to Million Dollar Quartet as promised tonight.
• In tribute to the late Joseph Stein, Broadway marquees will be darkened at 8PM this evening.
• Mark your calendars, Addams Family fans!  March 21st marks the day that Roger Rees replaces Nathan Lane as Gomez.  Bebe Neuwirth has extended her contract.  Looks like the show might stick around a bit longer.  We shall see...

BEGINNINGS... CONTINUED:

• Leap of Faith looks to be opening in the fall of 2011 on Broadway!

ENDINGS:

• The Las Vegas company of Disney's The Lion King will be closing... at the end of December 2011!  A 14 month closing notice is very generous.

FAREWELL:

• The son of theatre legend Helen Hayes and playwright Charles MacArthur, James MacArthur passed away today.  Best known as Danno in the original Hawaii Five-O, he made his Broadway debut opposite Jane Fonda in Invitation to a March, which earned him a Theatre World Award.  He appeared in several Broadway shows including Under the Yum Yum Tree, Murder at the Howard Johnson's, and Barefoot in the Park.  I had the good fortune to see him in the National Tour of Arsenic and Old Lace, in which he played Mortimer opposite Jean Stapleton, Marion Ross, Jonathan Frid and Larry Storch.  (Above, Top Left) Mr. MacArthur was 72 years old.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Cleo Laine, Actor/Singer (The Mystery of Edwin Drood)

OCTOBER 29
HISTORY:

• 1853: The Oldest Opening of the Week: Shylock: A Jerusalem Hearty Joke, a musical based on Shakespeare, opened at Burton's Chambers Street Theatre.  I guess not many people got the joke... it last 4 performances.
• 1946: Noel Coward's Present Laughter opened at the Plymouth Theatre.  Starring Clifton Webb, it ran 158 performances.  The now-classic play has been revived several times.
• 1952: Same theatre, 6 years later, the quintessential suspense-thriller play, Dial "M" for Murder, opened and ran a very impressive - and deadly - 552 performances.

• 2009: A year ago, the critically acclaimed revival of Finian's Rainbow, starring Kate Baldwin and Cheyenne Jackson opened at the St. James Theatre.  Despite its critical approval, the show managed only 92 performances.  A wonderful cast recording was made.

NEWS:

• Oh, how the vultures descend!  Like chum to a shark, the ugly police sniffed out some trouble when it was revealed that dancer/actor Kevin Aubin (Wicked, Hot Feet) was injured while performing stunts at a group sales event for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.  It was reported everywhere like it was a shocking, never-seen-before on Broadway event.  For shame!  Thankfully, the community - who likes hits because it means jobs, and who support friends - rallied to its defense.  God bless the Wicked folks who reported that that little mishap was nothing compared to the near daily list of casualties at the Gershwin.  Seems a raked stage is hell on the skeletal system.  And I remember (showing my age, I know) when the big news back in the day was when a performance of Cats went by WITHOUT a replacement going in at intermission.  And let's not forget that during both lengthy runs of A Chorus Line, Paul gets injured fictionally, but that injuries were so likely with that show that physical therapists were backstage working on cramps and pulls every time an actor exited.  I guess my ultimate question about all of this is: all of these people who revel in these mishaps because they are against this show or that also purport to be die hard fans of Broadway.  If that is the case, why such joy at problems?  Why dismiss a show before a single person has seen it?  How many times to I need to read, "I refuse to see Spider-Man.  It is destroying Broadway!"  How so?  By creating hundreds of jobs?  They said the same thing about all of the Disney shows, none of which has run less than a year and has contributed millions to the Broadway economy, including thousands of jobs.  Yes, they, and everyone associated with Spider-Man, Women on the Verge and any other target de jour are rotten and deserving of our ire, not our praise.  BULLS@#T!
• On a more positive note: Kudos to the producers of The Scottsboro Boys for allowing 1,800 NYC students to see the show for FREE at several special matinees.  This important show has an important message and deserves to be seen by everyone.  How great that these kids will get the experience of a lifetime without spending a dime.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rufus Sewell, Actor (Rock 'n' Roll)

OCTOBER 30 - WICKED DAY!
HISTORY:

• 2003: The Broadway phenomenon, Wicked, opened at the Gershwin Theatre.  As of today, the 7th Annual Wicked Day, the show has played 2,902 performances.

BEGINNINGS: 

• The Second National Tour of Billy Elliot, starring Tony winner Faith Prince, begins its angry dance today in Durham, North Carolina.

ENDINGS:

• After 4 and a half years, the London production of Avenue Q closes today.  It will begin a UK tour shortly.  Not a bad run for a very American musical.  I guess Internet porn and masturbation are international phenomena.  Small world, isn't it?

Before Glee, Matthew was a

Broadway Bares star!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Matthew Morrison, Actor (Hairspray, Light in the Piazza, South Pacific)

OCTOBER 31 - HAPPY HALLOWEEN
HISTORY:

• 1956: Auntie Mame starring Rosalind Russell opened at the Broadhurst Theatre, and ran 639 performances.  10 years later, the musical version would open at the Winter Garden, but not with Russell.  No, that role went to Angela Lansbury.
• 2002: Hollywood Arms, the autobiographical play based on the life of legendary Carol Burnett opened at the Cort Theatre, starring Linda Lavin and eventual Tony winner for her role, Michelle Pawk.  Written by Burnett's daughter, Carrie Hamilton, Ms. Burnett had to finish the play when her daughter passed away before the show opened.

NEWS:

• The Scottsboro Boys opens tonight at the Lyceum Theatre.

• Trick or Treat!  Kid's Night on Broadway 2010 happens tonight, with free tickets to shows for the kids and trick or treating at various theatre stage doors, plus a tour of Madame Tussauds Wax Museum.  Hosted by Adam Riegler, aka Pugsley in  The Addams Family, proceeds benefit UNICEF.  Does anyone else remember those orange boxes that we used to carry with our trick-or-treat plastic pumpkins, collecting change for sick kids all over the world?

ENDINGS:

• And this is a biggie in the "endings" category.  Almost 18 years ago, the Third National Touring Company of The Phantom of the Opera opened and began criss-crossing the country.  Known as "The Music Box Company," the others were "The Christine" and "The Raoul," it is the last production in the United States with the exception of the Broadway company.  Led by Tim Martin Gleason (who I saw in the tour as the most boring, wooden Raoul years ago), the production will close following tonight's evening performance.  And tonight's performance will be its 7,284th.  Impressive by any measure.  Congratulations to all.

(You didn't think I'd miss a chance to put

Patti LuPone in this week's TheatreScene, did you?)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Brian Stokes Mitchell, Actor (Kiss Me, Kate, Man of La Mancha, Ragtime, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown)

Comments?  Leave one here, email me at jkstheatrescene@yahoo.com, or Tweet me!
Jeff
2.61

POLL Results: Rock-tober Tricks and Treats

THE ROCK-TOBER/TRICK OR TREAT EDITION OF POLL RESULTS!

Thank you to all of you who took the time to vote in this month's two polls!  A new poll for November will post on November 1st!

POLL #1: Which is your favorite pop/rock musical on Broadway?

0% - Mamma Mia!
I guess I am a little surprised that no one voted for this show, considering who popular both the stage show and the film are worldwide.  Maybe it is hard to call it a "favorite"...

2% - Million Dollar Quartet
I guess I am a little surprised that any one voted for this show, considering the critical disfavor and lack of audience it receives each week.  Maybe Levi Kreis is excellent enough to make it a favorite.  Or maybe those of you who saw it went the night the real Jerry Lee Lewis played...

6% (each) - Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson/Jersey Boys
I certainly appreciate both, though I really loved BBAJ and didn't much care for JB.  Still, I am surprised that there weren't more votes for Frankie and Company.  And I can certainly recognize that BBAJ might not be everyone's cup of tea...

8% - American Idiot
The one show that actually started life as a rock album, the show seems like it would be more popular.  It is a live music video, with amazing performances.  Way better than most people can even fathom, I am, unfortunately, not surprised that so few people voted for this one.  And it is a shame.

22% - next to normal
A huge leap in the number of votes from the rest of the pack, it gratifies this fan of the show that so many others also love it so much.  For me, it is the perfect mix of pop, rock and theatre music, all played in the rock band idiom.  One of the many things I love about it.

56% - Rock of Ages
To be perfectly honest, I had no idea which show would end up on top.  I could have lived with Jersey Boys, and would have been disappointed had you voted for Million Dollar Quartet the most.  But Rock of Ages, really?  And in such numbers!  You ROA fans really come together.  I will admit and fully support that this show does have a great rock score.  You are reading the musings of one whose high school and college years were punctuated by 80's rock.  And that is really the very best element of the show.  Rock of Ages, I/we salute you!

POLL #2: Which Halloween-ish show is your favorite?

0% (each) - Lestat and Young Frankenstein
Considering the flops that both of these were, I'm not at all surprised that the vampire entry and the monster entry didn't get any votes.  What is interesting, though, is that I got 3 emails each saying they'd have liked to see Dance of the Vampires and Frankenstein (the off-Broadway musical) as choices!

16% - The Phantom of the Opera
I am a little surprised that there weren't more votes for this one, considering the international phenomenon this show is.  But it is old, and really has that been-there-done-that feel to it.  Plus, unless you saw Howard McGillin's take on it, the Phantom isn't all that scary.

20% - The Rocky Horror Show
There wasn't a single vote for this one until Glee aired this week.  This perennial at Halloween parties for decades makes perfect sense, with or without the Glee effect.

24% - The Addams Family
Well, I am finally starting to feel like less of the Uncle Fester of the Theatre Blog world.  For awhile I was a lone voice in support of this fun show.  But look at this!  The second most favorite in the poll!  Here's to all you creepy, kooky and all together ookie people!

40% - Wicked
Since no one does witches better on Broadway than this show, I am not surprised that this show won (I would have voted for this one, too).  But I am surprised that it wasn't by much more of a margin!  I bet we'll see lots of pictures of little Glindas and Elphabas at our doors tomorrow night!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, THEATER FANS!  STAY SAFE!

Comments?  Leave one here, email me at jkstheatrescene@yahoo.com , or Tweet me!
Jeff
2.60

Broadway Crossword by Blog #3: The New Season: The Answers

Here, at long last, are the answers to Broadway Crossword by Blog #3!  I hope you enjoyed making/doing the puzzle!  Look for a new one soon, plus other new fun games for all of us theatre fans!

The answers are in RED.

Across:

17 Across

1 The first Yazbeck/Lane Broadway musical   Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
7 Star of Equus and the new How to Succeed...   Daniel Radcliffe
9 A superior producer of Sister Act   Whoopi Goldberg
11 He'll be driving Miss Daisy   James Earl Jones
12 Song title: "I Get a _______"    Kick Out of You
15 The writers of Elf also wrote the score to this movie turned musical   The Wedding Singer
17 The Sutton Foster revival   Anything Goes
19 Nervous co-star's recent almost solo musical   Everyday Rapture
20 Spider-Man's Broadway home   Foxwoods Theatre
26 Peter Parker's true love  Mary Jane Watson
28 Verge's locale  Madrid
29 The Book of Mormon's co-director had this hit on Broadway  The Drowsy Chaperone

48 Across

32 The new musical from the guys who brought us South Park and Avenue Q  Book of Mormon
34 She will be playing Peter Parker's true love  Damiano
36 Priscilla's pre-Broadway North American try-out town  Toronto
37 The play that will mark Brendan Fraser's Broadway debut  Elling
38 One of Brendan Fraser's co-stars  Denis O'Hare
40 The company behind Anything Goes  Roundabout
42 ______: A Memoir  Patti LuPone
44 Spider-Man's nemesis  Green Goblin
45 She's Queen of the Desert  Priscilla
48 He wrote everything Brief Encounter is based upon  Noel Coward
50 He sang a song from Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark on Good Morning, America  Reeve Carney
51 The ______ Painters  Pitman
52 He wrote Driving Miss Daisy  Uhry
54 Broadway's only currently running verse play  La Bete
55 A Life in the Theatre playwright  David Mamet
57 The only star of Time Stands Still that is making a Broadway debut  Ricci
58 He plays Andrew Jackson  Walker
59 How to Succeed's J. ______ Finch  Pierrepont





Down:

18 Down

2 The first show to play the Stephen Sondheim Theatre   The Pee Wee Herman Show
3 A state for Scottsboro   Alabama
4 TV show that made Justin Guarini famous   American Idol
5 Lombardi's female star   Judith Light
6 Broadway's new multi-media play   Brief Encounter
8 Song title: "_______, Yea, Yea"   Populism
10 Brian Stokes Mitchell won his Tony in this musical   Kiss Me, Kate
13 She's Miss Daisy   Vanessa Redgrave
14 Tony show for both LuPone and Benanti  Gypsy
16 What the women are on the verge of...   Nervous Breakdown
17 He's Bloody Bloody  Andrew Jackson
18 Kander and Ebb's new Broadway show   The Scottsboro Boys
21 Mrs. Warren's Profession star   Cherry Jones
22 Sutton will be playing this evangelist   Reno Sweeney
23 Scottsboro's Broadway Interlocutor   John Cullum
24 Lombardi's team  Green Bay Packers
25 Play from last season that will re-open this season  Time Stands Still
27 South Park/The Book of Mormon co-creators

43 Down

30 He will play the title character in Elf  Arcelus
31 He wrote the books for Hairspray, Annie and Elf  Thomas Meehan
33 The newest Scottsboro boy, he was once the Favorite Son  Joshua Henry
35 Spider-Man's alter-ego  Peter Parker
39 Boys' director/choreographer  Stroman
41 Anything Goes' tunes are by this guy  Cole Porter
43 Frank Wildhorn's Broadway-bound new musical  Wonderland
46 David Hyde Pierce won his Tony for this show  Curtains
47 Grey's Anatomy star who returned to Broadway this season  TR Knight
49 She was Tony nominated last season for Time Stands Still  Linney
53 Lombardi's first name  Vince
56 Lumley's hit TV show, abbreviated  Ab Fab

Comments?  Find a mistake?  Ideas for another puzzle?  Leave them here, email me at jkstheatrescene@yahoo.com or Tweet me!
Jeff
2.59

The Special Relationship

Michael Sheen seems to have made a career out of playing Tony Blair, first in The Deal in 2003 about his relationship with Gordon Brown, then in The Queen with Helen Mirren and most recently in The Special Relationship, studying Blair and President Clinton’s relationship in the years of the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the war in Kosovo.

The film shows how Blair and his team re-imagined the Labour party, seeking advice from Clinton’s advisors, to make it less dangerously liberal, but more a viable option for change-the building blocks for the idea of New Labour.

It moves on to see Blair meeting with Clinton (Dennis Quaid) a couple of years later, as the President and his team become certain that Blair will win the General Election. When he does, the two men seem united in both policy, as centre left politicians, and in friendship-especially in the eyes of Blair.

Yet the relationship becomes gradually more and more strained as the Monica Lewinsky scandal breaks on the eve of Blair’s visit to Washington, where he swears allegiance to Clinton, only to have the man later admit to having had inappropriate relations with Miss Lewinsky. The outbreak of war in Kosovo, and Clinton’s reluctance to commit to ground troops until the very last minute, leads to Blair finally severing the ties they might have had, by using the right-wing American media to help put pressure on the president to place his troops into Kosovo.

Peter Morgan applies enough dramatic tension to make the story gripping, and, as with Frost/Nixon, I had little real awareness of the problems with NATO at the time of the Kosovo war, nor much knowledge of the relationship between Blair and Clinton-‘The Special Relationship’ is a term now almost indefinitely linked to Blair’s relationship with the man who followed Clinton-George W. Bush. Morgan also manages to keep the story intresting with a cast of few main characters; it is really just Blair, Clinton, Cherie Blair (Helen McCrory), Hillary Clinton (Hope Davis) and Blair’s advisors Alistair Campbell (Mark Bazeley) and Jonathan Powell (Adam Godley).

This is in part due to the great performances given by the cast. There is a reason that Sheen is cast again and again as Blair, and that is because he gets the mannerisms so very right, and he is supported well by Quaid as Clinton, who is brilliant as a man desperately trying to cling on to power and the respect of the American public. My favourite performance of the film however, was that of Hope Davis as Hillary Clinton, she stood out throughout as a woman who keeps her dignity, despite coming up against horrible circumstances. McCrory was also good as Cherie Blair, a woman who was constantly made fun of in the press during her husband’s time as leader of the country, even if she is the subject of one of the films funnier jibs from Clinton; ‘She’s from Liverpool, its like the Arkansas of England’.

The best aspects of the film also came in the foreshadowing of events to come. In Blair’s passionate speech to the House of Commons on how we can never deny war on humanitarian grounds-an argument that would resurface in the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq. There is the conversation between Blair and Clinton in the kitchen of Chequers on the day of George W Bush’s election, where Clinton accuses Blair of having never been a ‘centre left’ politician, again, another criticism that has been levied at Blair in the past few years as he moved the Labour party closer and closer to the more ‘centre right’ Conservative party-an action that the new leader of Labour, Ed Miliband, has said that he wants to reverse.

The Special Relationship was a fine television movie, it was perhaps too small for the big screen (a criticism also levied at Frost/Nixon and The Queen by some), but it was a perfect piece of docu-drama, about some of the most important moments in recent political history, about the failure of a dream of widespread centre left politics and about the importance of legacy. It is interesting to note that despite their respective good works, both Clinton and Blair are finally tied by their respective tainted legacies, one for sexual misconduct, the other for a hugely unpopular war.

At This Performance the President Will Be Played By...

NOTE: Thanks to my good blog-buddy, Steve, I have made a correction to this entry! (I have highlighted the corrected sentences in RED.)

Cherry Jones once played the role on TV, and now Benjamin Walker is doing the same 8 times a week on Broadway.  Yes, both critically-acclaimed actors have played the President of the United States.  Of course, neither was the first, and I am sure neither will be the last on TV or Broadway.

As Mr. Walker continues to be all sexypants in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson I got to thinking about other shows devoted to the man in the oval office.  What I found was pretty interesting, actually.  Seems that nearly all of our 44 presidents have appeared as characters in Broadway plays and musicals.

It might be easier to tell you which men have NOT been portrayed in a Broadway show - there are only 7 - and even two of them have potential special circumstances.  The 8 are: Benjamin Harrison, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Jimmy Carter, George Bush, and Bill Clinton.  Hoover doesn't appear, but his "handiwork" does in Annie, where they sing, "We'd Like to Thank You, Herbert Hoover."  Of course, F.D.R. makes an appearance in that show.  The other exception might be that while Benjamin Harrison himself is not a character, his wife was, and she was played by none other than The First Lady of the American Theatre, Helen Hayes.

Which brings me to one of the most interesting Broadway-related presidential facts.  Ms. Hayes appeared in a play called The White House, a 23 performance play about the inhabitants of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  Among the cast (all of whom played 5 or more characters was: James Daly, Helen Hayes, Fritz Weaver, and Gene Wilder.  The Henry Miller's Theatre has never been so powerful!  23 performances, featuring 23 presidents!

The most recent president to receive Broadway treatment was George W. Bush, played by Will Ferrell in You're Welcome, America.  A Final Night with George W. Bush, which played a brief run in 2009.

Another play, Wilson in the Promise Land, played the ANTA Theatre for 7 performances, and featured 6 of our leaders.

In all, there are 14 plays or musicals that feature the White House as a setting listed in the Internet Broadway Data Base, including 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Mr. President, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and Teddy and Alice.  While it is too early to tell about BBAJ, the others I listed, along with the few above were fast flops.  But there have been successes, too.  Frost/Nixon and Sunrise at Campobello did well enough.

Two of the more famous shows to deal with the Leader of the Free World are: 1776 and Assassins.  In the latter, only two presidents actually appear (live, not in photos): James Garfield and Gerald Ford.

Ronald Reagan, an actual actor, never appeared on Broadway, though his son was a photographer for a production in the 80's.  Mr. Reagan's likeness appeared in The Wedding Singer and a musical that never actually opened, Senator Joe.  But his voice was used in the musical Doonesbury.  Speaking of Senator Joe, Richard Nixon also appeared in that show, as well as Frost/Nixon, An Evening with Richard Nixon and..., and Jackie, which also featured JFK's only appearance on Broadway.

By far, the most "regular" Broadway President of the United States is Theodore Roosevelt (not including the character who thinks he is Teddy in Arsenic and Old Lace).  He has been a character in 6 different shows, including two specifically about him: Bully! and Teddy and Alice.

And while Andrew Jackson appears in Bloody Bloody, it isn't his debut.  He also appeared in The White House, Wilson in the Promise Land, and his actual debut came in a play called The Awful Mrs. Eaton.  Benjamin Walker is the fifth actor to portray the populist president (not including his two understudies or the understudies of the four others.

OK, I bet you are wondering how our newest president, Barack Obama, made it into a Broadway show already.  Well, technically, he hasn't, yet.  But there is serious talk of the Kenyan (as in African nation) production of Obama: The Musical making the big leap across the ocean in the coming years.  I guess we'll have to see!


Comments?  Leave one here, email me at jkstheatrescene@yahoo.com or Tweet me!
Jeff
2.58

Technical Hitch

So, my laptop isn't looking that bad, but technology is still failing me. I have fallen curse to the Blue Screen of Death whenever I try and load it up, meaning I'm running it through 'Safe Mode with Networking' which is less than ideal.

Here's hoping the Christmas fairies will impart a nice new one on me (this one has lasted me around 3 years...I'm not sure if that's good or bad in PC terms).

Anyway, I've been slacking a little with my reading/TV watching/Film watching as well. But hopefully I'll have reviews up of Peter Morgan's The Special Relationship with Michael Sheen & Dennis Quaid (I've *finally* watched it) and the first couple of episodes of Pillars of the Earth, Channel 4's adaptation of the Ken Follet novel starring Rufus Sewell, Matthew Macfayden & Ian McShane, to name but a few.

I have also sent off my university application, it went off to UCAS last week and four of the five unis have acknowledged that they'd recieved my application, here's hoping they want to give me a place as well (:

So, hopefully I'll be back soon-ish.
Amy

Glee: Best Revival of a Musical?

THE FOLLOWING BLOG CONTAINS PLOT SPOILERS ABOUT THE OCTOBER 26TH EPISODE OF GLEE.

What an interesting two weeks for Glee, the nation's hottest TV show.  In the two weeks since an original episode aired, the show has been all over the news. 

In typical fashion, the media can't let a good thing go on without stirring up ugly.  Not that the Glee kids didn't have a part in it.  I'm talking, of course, about the racy and controversial photo shoot for GQ which had the three principal stars (Cory Monteith, Lea Michele and Diana Agron) in "hyped-up" - read sexualized - versions of their characters.  Parents cried, "Foul!"  How would they ever explain this to their 9 year old daughters who are rabid gleeks?  Easy.  It is an adult magazine that your 9 year old has no business even knowing about, let alone seeing.  And never mind that all of the cast is actually adult, a fact that the show even plays up occasionally.  Sure, the pictures are a risque, and maybe keeping an image of wholesomeness would have been wiser.  But, really folks.  If you want your kids to be completely sanitized, stick to the Disney Channel.  Oh, wait... Britney, Christina, Justin and now little Miley all started there.  And look what became of them.

How interesting that this real life issue of Glee pushing boundaries comes just before an episode where the boundaries of art in education are pushed and questioned.  Yes, this is the week where the kids do The Rocky Horror (Glee) Show.  And boy, was it a winner!  Let me preface what follows with the this:  I appreciate Rocky Horror and I enjoyed the Broadway revival, once, but I am not a huge fan, nor fan enough to understand some of the references I am sure the show made.  That said...

Managing to legitimately work in 7 songs from the stage show/film, many in context of the actual script, the show really managed to give us the fullest flavor allowable by 8PM TV on broadcast television.  Purists, I'm sure will take issue with lyrics changes, but they are perhaps the most realistic part of the episode.  After all, schools are frequently censored in regards to the plays and musicals they produce.  Kurt (Chris Colfer) even mentions the Texas production of RENT that got shut down.  I won't go on a self-righteous diatribe about how I feel about that, but I am glad that the show recognizes the realities of putting on any show, let alone Rocky Horror.

Each number, even out of context of the show, was wonderfully staged, endlessly clever with camera angles and just edgy enough to keep everyone interested.  I knew it was going to be cool with the opening number done just like the film - red lips and nothing else - and a cast list of credits that featured only the character names!  Of course, "The Time Warp" stands out as the most well known song, and they pretty much gave the audience what it expected.  But there were 3 excellent surprises that really made the episode extra fun for this viewer.  First, John Stamos' number was absolutely thrilling.  Man, can he sing and dance!  Why the hell didn't this guy show up in Bye Bye Birdie?  Second was Amber Riley's amazing "Sweet Transvestite".  How great that they worked in some non-traditional casting and recognition that she rarely gets to be a "lead."  And most/best of all...Jayma Mays finally gets to really sing!  And be HOT!  Her "Toucha Toucha Touch Me!" was sublimely funny, sexy and right on given the context of the scene.  GIVE HER MORE TO DO!

Also nice, though, was that the show gave equal time to issues that would definitely come up and need to be addressed.  The constant barrage in the media of the female form and body image is well known, documented and addressed, even as it continues.  But finally someone has taken the other side of the coin and recognized that body image is a serious issue for guys, too.  The show played it mostly for laughs (and more sightings of Chord Overstreet's fabulous body) but the truth is even the most confident male has issues with how he is perceived.  Being cool and not being perceived as gay are addressed frequently in the show, but it was nice to see the two guys watching out for each other, helping each other, and most importantly confiding in each other that they worry about how they look.  I bet a kid made to wear the "traditional" Rocky costume, no matter how terrific he is in shape, would be embarrassed.  And any kid (in this case Monteith's character) who feels he is "big" would agonize over doing a scene in his underwear.

Then there is the parental issue, succinctly but pointedly addressed by Harry Crum's character, whose parents had an issue with him wearing a bustier and playing a transvestite.  And the utter lack of support from a school administrator, leaving the teacher and the kids out to dry should any trouble come up was shamefully true.  In another surprise, for once, even though her intentions were characteristically self-centered, Sue Sylvester's (the always wonderful Jane Lynch) indignant speech of the week was spot on and well-stated, whether you agree with her point or not (I can agree and disagree with what she said, depending upon the given situation about arts in public schools).  Of course, in typical (in the best possible way) Glee fashion, the real points being made turn everything on its ear.

Will (Matthew Morrison) did the show for all the wrong reasons, and he got called on it.  The result?  A private for glee club members only performance, and an important character growth scene for he and Emma, one that will likely bear fruit in the long run.  And Sue said exactly the right thing for all the wrong reasons.  The result?  She got another one over on the glee club, but also lost her personal goal, a local Emmy.  Such is the life on Glee.

Let's hope next year they tackle another musical.  But for now, this might just be the Best Revival of a Musical in 2010.

(Photos from FoxTV.com and TVGuide online, and all are copyrighted by 20th Century Fox Television and Ryan Murphy Productions.)

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Jeff
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