Broadway Musicals Make for a Winter Wonderland
Tis the season to go to the theatre.
Broadway is on fire – and that’s all between cold nights and the chance of snow.
Around April is the typical time that the Great White Way is full of excitement as shows are opening in time to qualify for Tony Awards. But with the beauty of New York, the Rockefeller Center and everyone wanting to “let it snow,” theatre are full of great content to bring people in between shopping, turkeys and the Macys Day Parade.
While I can’t see every show, here’s some highlights of musicals worth checking out.
Death Becomes Her just officially opened and it’s every gay’s dream musical. Very faithful to the movie including the body twisting coming down the stairs and the hole through the stomach, this show has much acid-tongue dialog between the magnificent Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard that the show needs to be seen more than once as the laughter continues between their comical quips. ALWAYS a fan of both, their over-the-top acting style is what gay dreams are made of and the gorgeous sets, costumes and visual effects elevate this show to a stratosphere hard for anyone to reach without a willingness to go out into space and beyond. Truth be told, I had to fly to Chicago to see this in a preview and had to make a trip to New York to see it’s opening. Thank heaven for frequent flyer miles. If you’re not won over by Megan Hilty’s first big number “For the Gaze” in which she conjures up every gay icon in a quick change, then you likely need to have your queer card revoked. https://deathbecomesher.com/
The two leads might have to fight over the Best Actress in a Musical Tony Award but it seems more likely that it will go to Nicole Scherzinger in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Blvd. revival.
This Sunset has brightened up the Broadway stage in the past as well as a world tour – mostly notably with Glenn Close who won the Tony Award and is hoping to re-create the role in a movie version. Her turn was flawless, beautiful and heartbreaking – one of the best performances of one of the most famous characters to ever grace the screen or stage. So when director Jamie Lloyd decided to strip down the show and add an immersive edge to it – which seemed crazy as this show is also known for its elaborate sets and costumes as well as its score and story.
But it works. This time, we are brought more into an intimate world of this Norma Desmond with mostly black and white sets and costumes and the use of cameras. It feels like we’re living one giant movie, complete with a second act title song from leading man Tom Francis who comes into the theatre singing from the streets. Many say it’s a filmed sequence but I see many versions of it on social media so perhaps it’s live every day. But that just adds to the excitement.
Scherzinger’s Norma is a raw and fragile shell of a woman who commands as she sings many of the big numbers her character is given. Vulnerable and real, Scherzinger commands all of our attention and makes this her own. https://sunsetblvdbroadway.com/
Having flown to New Orleans to see A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical, I was so happy to see it come to Broadway and in the hands of James Monroe Iglehart, one of the bear world’s favorite performs and winner of a Tony Award for Aladdin.
The show offers an inside to more of the history of Armstrong, whom we know little of before this production. But Iglehart is able to use his chops to take a bite of the acting and the singing style of Armstrong that it will blow you away. Haven’t seen such a performance to embody a character since Audra McDonald recreated Billie Holiday a few seasons back. Here, Iglehart IS Armstrong. https://louisarmstrongmusical.com/
On other notes:
Tammy Faye won awards in London but its transfer to New York wasn’t successful and has announced its closing days after opening. But you have until Dec. 8 to see the Elton John musical for yourself:https://sunsetblvdbroadway.com/
Too many musicals, too little time. Maybe Happy Ending didn’t win me over in my Broadway pre-planning so I didn’t go. What a mistake as the reviews are mostly glorious and its Showscore is 92%. https://www.maybehappyending.com/
