Flowers for Mrs. Harris at The Ruth

Last night, for the second night in a row, I was able to see a show that was new to me (a rare treat).  This time it was the North American premiere of the musical Flowers For Mrs. Harris at The Ruth.  I really love the movie, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, but I didn't love this adaptation quite as much.  Ada Harris (Dianna Graham) is a war widow in 1950s London who is content with her life working as a cleaning lady and spending time with the spirit of her dead husband (David Morley-Walker) and her friend Violet Butterfield (Janae Koralewski Thomas) until she sees a glamorous Dior gown owned by Lady Dant (Melanie Muranaka), one of her wealthy clients, and dreams of owning one herself.  She scrimps and saves and even takes in sewing in order to afford a Dior original but she still willingly helps everyone around her, including Bob Smith (Tanner Sumens), Pamela Penrose (Neena Warburton), Major Wallace (Jeff Thompson), and Countess Wyszcinska (Marcie Jacobsen).  She eventually travels to Paris to choose her gown and her kindness transforms the lives of everyone at the House of Dior, including Madame Colbert (Melanie Muranaka), Monsieur Armand (Jeff Thompson), Andre Fauvel (Tanner Sumens), and Natasha Raimbault (Neena Warburton).  When she returns home to London, she realizes that she has something much more meaningful than a dress.  I really love the message about the importance of having a dream, even one that is seemingly impossible, and the willingness to work hard in order to achieve it.  I also love the message about the importance of kindness and that it will eventually be rewarded in unexpected ways.  The design of this show is beautiful and I especially loved the multi-level rotating set featuring Ada's London flat on one side and the House of Dior on the other as well as the gorgeous couture gowns based on flowers (my favorite was "The Bluebell").  Graham gives a lovely performance that is very moving and it was fun to see most of the actors playing two similar characters in both London and Paris.  Unfortunately, I did not care for the music because it features lots of dialogue that is sung, instead of spoken, without a melody (much like a recitative in an opera) and I often found the piano accompaniment to be discordant (this may be due to the sound mixing because the music often overshadowed the voices).  The man sitting next to me said that he didn't think he would be humming any of the songs in the lobby after the show because they weren't very memorable.  An exception is the song "Rain On Me" because it is quite poignant and I really enjoyed it and its reprises.  I wish I could say that I loved this more than I did but I am glad that I saw it because it is always nice to see something new.  It runs in the Lindsay Legacy Theater through November 15 and tickets may be purchased here.

The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 at HCT

Last night I was really excited for The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 at HCT because I had never seen it before (this is something that doesn't happen very often). It is a hilarious spoof of both the noir detective thrillers and the slapstick comedies that were popular in the 1940s and I had so much fun watching it! A maid named Helsa Wenzel (Kristi Curtis) is murdered (although no one will notice until the end of Act 1) in the library of a mansion in Chappaqua, New York owned by a wealthy and eccentric impresario named Elsa Von Grossenknueten (Claire Kenny). Elsa has invited Nikki Crandall (Corinne Adair), a young and beautiful singer/dancer, Eddie McCuen (Kyle Baugh), a struggling comedian, and Patrick O'Reilly (Bryan Dayley), an Irish tenor, to the mansion to audition for the creative team behind a new Broadway musical, White House Merry-Go-Round, including the director Ken De La Maize (Zac Zumbrunnen), the composer Roger Hopewell (Dustin Bolt), the librettist Bernice Roth (Jasmine Jackman), and the producer Marjorie Baverstock (Eden Benson). However, it turns out that Ken, Roger, Bernice, and Marjorie were also part of the creative team for the musical Manhattan Holiday during which the "Stage Door Slasher" murdered several women, including Elsa's friend Bebe McAllister. She has assembled everyone together so that an undercover policeman, Michael Kelly (Scott James), can discover the identity of the "Stage Door Slasher" but, instead, there is another murder and Helsa's body is finally discovered. Chaos ensues, including secret passageways, secret identities, and a secret code, until the murderer is revealed! In this production, the plot is presented as a play-within-a-play with an Author (Davey Morrison) who is writing it (with projections of the text on a scrim when the show opens and above the stage periodically during the show) as it is being performed. The Author also speaks all of the stage directions and sometimes interacts with the cast (especially Eddie who is his stand-in during the romantic scenes with Nikki) to great comedic effect. The production design, including the set, the costumes, and the make-up, is incredibly clever and I won't spoil it here because it is such a dramatic reveal! The characters are completely over-the-top and I especially loved the flamboyant Roger and the emotional Bernice because they are constantly bickering with each other as well as Ken because he is so bombastic. The performances are also a lot of fun and the entire cast does a great job with the rapid-fire dialogue and the exaggerated physical comedy. Shout-outs go to Benson for the spectacular way in which she falls out of a chair and Dayley (one of my favorite frequent performers at HCT because he always makes me laugh) for his unhinged facial expressions. I thoroughly enjoyed this because it is both extremely funny and highly original and I definitely recommend it (go here for tickets). It runs on the Sorenson Legacy Jewel Box Stage through November 15 with best availability for the matinees.

Splitsville

I was in desperate need of a laugh so my nephew and I went to the Broadway last night to see Splitsville because the trailer looked really funny.  I did laugh out loud at some of the absurdist physical comedy but it is not the funniest film I've seen this year.  After a traumatic experience, Ashley (Adria Arjona) asks her husband Carey (Kyle Martin) for a divorce because she has been unfaithful and wants to continue sleeping with other people.  Carey commiserates with his best friend Paul (Michael Angelo Covino) and his wife Julie (Dakota Johnson) but he is shocked when Paul brags about having an open marriage and suggests that Carey and Ashley should do the same.  However, when Carey and Julie sleep together, both Ashley and Paul reconsider and realize that they didn't appreciate what they had until it was gone.  The entire premise is revealed in the trailer and, while it is amusing to see the increasingly ridiculous lengths to which both Ashley and Paul resort to get their spouses back, the story is really thin and the resolution is a foregone conclusion.  The characters are pretty unlikable and it is a bit frustrating that none of them seem to have any growth (the final scene mirrors one from the beginning beat for beat).  That being said, there are some hilarious scenes, including an extended fight between Carey and Paul that destroys the house (it is much more involved than what is shown in the trailer) and a sequence with goldfish on a roller coaster, and I did really enjoy many of the secondary characters, particularly all of Ashley's former lovers who move in with her and Carey.  This is a lot of fun if you can ignore the shortcomings and simply appreciate it as a screwball comedy and I recommend it to fans of the genre.

Note:  This has been billed as the funniest film of the year but I think it falls short of that description.  I do not see a lot of comedies but the funniest film I have seen this year is The Ballad of Wallis Island (it features very dry British humor so not everyone will agree with me).

Hamilton on the Big Screen

Seeing the Original Broadway Cast of Hamilton was one of the best experiences of my life!  I cannot adequately describe my excitement as I sat in the Richard Rodgers Theatre (in the balcony) eagerly anticipating the iconic opening notes of "Alexander Hamilton" or the exhilaration I felt when I walked out of the theatre with all of my impossibly high expectations exceeded.  A filmed version of this production was released on Disney+ in the middle of the pandemic but it is now in movie theaters for the first time in celebration of its 10th Anniversary!  Even though I have now seen it *ahem* many times on Disney+, I just had to see it on the big screen last night and sitting in the dark with a large crowd made me feel like I was back at the Richard Rodgers Theatre (but with a much better seat).  I loved seeing all of my favorite moments up close, especially Jonathan Groff's pout (and his projectile spitting) when George III whines about the colonies in "You'll Be Back," Renee Elise Goldsberry's look of regret after Angelica Schuyler introduces Hamilton to her sister in "Satisfied," the look of panic Jasmine Cephas Jones gives as Daveed Diggs leers at her when Lafayette walks down the aisle with Peggy Schuyler in "Satisfied," the look of contrition on Lin-Manuel Miranda's face when Washington orders Hamilton to go home in "Meet Me Inside" and his look of disappointment when Angelica announces that she is leaving to get married in "Non-Stop," the mega-watt smile Diggs flashes when Thomas Jefferson milks the crowd in "What'd I Miss" and the look of absolute glee on his face when Jefferson realizes that Hamilton is no longer a rival in "The Reynolds Pamphlet," Phillipa Soo's simmering anger over Hamilton's betrayal of Eliza in "Burn," the devastation on her face over Philip's death in "Stay Alive (Reprise)," and the exact moment she forgives Hamilton in "It's Quiet Uptown" as well as the tears brimming in Goldsberry's eyes in this song, Leslie Odom, Jr.'s look of incredulity when Hamilton endorses Jefferson over Burr in "The Election of 1800," his exasperation when Hamilton delivers all of his grievances one by one in "Your Obedient Servant," and his remorse over Hamilton's death in "The World Was Wide Enough," and the look of tenderness Miranda gives Soo as Eliza describes preserving Hamilton's legacy in "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story."  I also loved the different perspectives shown through the dynamic camera work, particularly the view of Christopher Jackson just before Washington turns around and storms the stage in "Right Hand Man" ("We are outgunned, outmanned, outnumbered, outplanned.  We've got to make an all out stand!") and the views that put the audience in the middle of the action in "My Shot," "Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)," and "Hurricane."  Finally, it was great to see a new introduction featuring behind the scenes footage from the production as well as contemporary interviews with the cast about the legacy of the show.  My crowd was kind of subdued but there were a few of us singing (quietly) and applauding after every number and it was so much fun!  I highly recommend seeing this on the big screen, even if you have seen it on Disney+, because it is the next best thing to being there for the OBC at the Richard Rodgers Theatre!

Jaws

I had a blast seeing Jaws, the original summer blockbuster, on the big screen in a packed theater at the Broadway yesterday.  It is back in theaters with a 4K restoration for a limited engagement in honor of its 50th Anniversary and I think it holds up really well.  After several suspicious deaths happen in the waters around the island of Amity in New England, Police Chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) and marine biologist Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) believe it to be the work of a man-eating great white shark and want to close the beaches until it can be caught.  However, Mayor Larry Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) fears that closing the beaches over the Fourth of July holiday will hurt the economy and refuses to allow it.  After another attack on a crowded beach, Vaughn eventually agrees to hire an eccentric fisherman named Peter Quint (Robert Shaw) and both Brody and Hooper join him on his boat, the Orca, for a perilous hunt for the shark.  The fact that the audience rarely sees the shark but instead hears a menacing score by John Williams featuring the iconic alternating pattern of two notes adds to the unrelenting tension.  The scenes in which the shark actually appears are terrifying as a result, especially when it comes up on the deck of the boat to attack Quint, and I admit that I jumped out of my seat multiple times (although the first time was when Hooper dives down to the wreckage of a boat that was attacked by the shark).  I haven't seen this in a really long time, probably decades, and the narrative is much more thought-provoking than I remembered.  One of the themes that I really noticed is the clash between experience, as represented by Quint, and technology, as represented by Hooper, but I found it very interesting that Brody, the "everyman" character, is ultimately the one who is able to kill the shark (in a dramatic scene that elicited cheers from my audience).  This is such a great movie and I highly recommend seeing it as it was meant to be seen while it is back in theaters.