A dream role for Lea Michele

Now this is one bit of Jewish-related musical theatre trivia that I did not know.

Lea Michele, formerly of Spring Awakening on Broadway and currently in Glee, talks to The Washington Post about the Fox series and her ideal musical role:

"I want to be in Funny Girl. And I want [Glee creator] Ryan Murphy to direct it."

Would she do it on Broadway?

"I would do it in a basement in Brooklyn, if somebody would let me do it! It's the best role ever -- any Jewish girl would want to play Fanny Brice!"

Best role ever? Wow! Although I guess it makes sense - what other musicals are there with a Jewish woman in the lead role?

I don't think I've ever seen Funny Girl, based on the life of comedienne, singer and actress Fanny Brice. (Okay, maybe snippets here and there on tv.) Rest assured I'll be putting the movie in my Netflix queue right away.

The musical ran for three years on Broadway between 1964 and 1967, with Barbra Streisand in the title role, amassing 1,348 performances. Streisand reprised the role for the 1968 movie and won an Oscar, sharing the Best Actress prize with Katharine Hepburn for The Lion in Winter.

And Funny Girl has never been revived on Broadway, although there was a special one-night benefit performance for The Actors Fund in 2002.

With the musical Ragtime and two Neil Simon plays - Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound - on the Great White Way this fall, there'll be more Jewish characters than I can remember. Maybe it's time for a Funny Girl revival?

Here's a great program from 1964 about Funny Girl's opening night on Broadway, featuring interviews with Streisand and others. It's so poignant to hear people talk about her when she was just on the cusp of fame:

Spring Awakening at the Tonys

I mentioned a couple days ago how much I loved seeing Spring Awakening on Broadway with its original cast. Here's their performance at the 2007 Tony Awards, modified a little bit for television:

Spring Awakening

Gratuitous Violins rating: ***1/2 out of ****

Sunday afternoon marked a milestone in my admittedly short theatergoing career. For the first time, I saw a show on tour that I'd seen on Broadway with its original cast.

I saw Spring Awakening in 2007, about a month after it won the Tony for Best Musical. It was a Wednesday matinee, the seventh and final musical during my five days in New York. You'd think by then, I might have had my fill of show tunes. And I wasn't sure I'd be interested in the problems of teenagers in 19th-century Germany.

But Spring Awakening, based on a play by Frank Wedekind, was so unlike anything else I'd seen that week. It was just thrilling to watch. I loved the rock 'n' roll score by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater. The characters and story moved me so much, I was in tears. I left the theatre feeling drained and exhilarated.

The young, energetic cast was wonderful, especially Jonathan Groff as the rebellious intellectual Melchior, Tony-winner John Gallagher Jr. as the awkward and insecure Moritz and Lea Michele as the sweet and innocent Wendla.

At the risk of sounding like a theatre snob, the original cast just occupies a special place in my heart. I met them at the stage door afterward and got to see how incredibly gracious they were with their fans, even though they had another show that evening. Their parents definitely raised them right!

The second time around the story didn't pack quite as big an emotional punch, probably because there wasn't the same element of surprise. But I still felt the same exhilaration, I still loved the way the music and the choreography and the lighting all fit together to tell this story in such an imaginative, compelling way.

I really enjoyed Canadian Kyle Riabko as Melchior, Lost alumnus Blake Bashoff as Moritz and Christy Altomare as Wendla. My only qualm is that I didn't think they were quite as powerful actors or singers as Groff, Gallagher and Michele. But that could be my memory playing tricks on me, too.

Throughout the musical, these teenagers and their classmates explore their sexuality and face pressures both at home and at school.

The musical comes with a parental discretion warning that it contains mature themes, including sexual situations and profanity. There's a masturbation scene that's pretty funny, even if it went on longer than I remembered! And there's a very small amount of nudity during a sex scene - a partially exposed girl's breast and a boy's rear end that you can see fleetingly.

Spring Awakening also deals with child abuse, abortion and suicide. But I think it deals with them honestly, in a very believable way. The show never struck me as titillating for the sake of being titillating, the way sex or four-letter words are sometimes used.

There were elements that definitely hit me stronger this time around - the humor as the boys try to cope with their feelings of lust, the harshness and cluelessness of most of the adult characters - parents and teachers - played by Angela Reed and Henry Stram. (Although I wish the gay love scene had been played with more tenderness and fewer laughs).

One of the things that makes Spring Awakening so exciting is that it's visually stunning - especially Kevin Adams' lighting design and Bill T. Jones' choreography. I could watch the ensemble numbers "The Bitch of Living" and Totally F***ed over and over again, they are so much fun. But there's also a great deal of poignancy, too, in songs like "Those You've Known."

I noticed lots of empty seats at the Providence Performing Arts Center. Maybe part of it had to do with the 88-degree day. The grandmotherly woman sitting next to me said she'd heard a few people walked out during an earlier performance. But she enjoyed it, even thought she told me it was the first R-rated musical she'd ever seen!

Spring Awakening moves to Boston next and I hope it attracts a bigger audience. If you missed it on Broadway, don't worry. This production is thrilling and it touches on some very real issues in the lives of teenagers. If you're seeing it for the first time, bring some tissues.

Spring Awakening in Providence, Boston

Those frisky, angst-ridden 19th-century teenagers of Spring Awakening have wrapped up their nearly monthlong stay in Toronto and are headed for New England! (Sorry, Vance. I know how much you'll miss them.)

The tour of the 2007 Tony-winning Best Musical stops at the Providence Performing Arts Center Tuesday through Sunday. They're giving away tickets to Tuesday night's performance, while supplies last. The promotion ends today so I'm not sure whether there are any tickets left but it's worth a try.

You have to go to one of these locations and ask a staff member on duty about the Spring Awakening Ticket Treasure Hunt. They'll give you a voucher that you'll have to redeem at the PPAC box office by 4 p.m. today. So don't waste any time! For more information, go to the tour Web site, Totally Trucked. (Love the name, btw.)

Providence Central Library, 225 Washington Street, Providence, RI
Mt. Pleasant Library, 315 Academy Avenue, Providence, RI
Rochambeau Library, 708 Hope Street, Providence, RI
Knight Memorial Library, 275 Elmwood Avenue, Providence, RI
Greenville Library, 573 Putnam Pike, Greenville, RI
Seekonk Library, 410 Newman Avenue, Seekonk, MA
Cranston Public Library, 140 Sockanosset Cross Road, Cranston, RI
George Hail Free Library, 530 Main Street, Warren, RI
Rogers Free Library, 525 Hope Street, Bristol, RI
East Providence Public Library, 41 Grove Avenue, East Providence, RI
Borders Book Music Movies & Café, 142 Providence Place, Providence, RI
Borders Book Music Movies & Café, 190 Hillside Ave., Cranston, RI (at Garden City)
J. Jill, 100 Midway Road, Cranston, RI (at Garden City)
Borders Book Music Movies & Café, 1212 S. Washington, N. Attleboro, MA

After Providence, the show moves to Boston, where it'll take up residence at the Colonial Theatre from April 28 - May 24. There are a couple of Boston promotions, including a chance to have dinner and meet the cast, details here; and a discount offer, saving $10 a ticket, which you can find out about here.

I loved Spring Awakening when I saw it on Broadway in 2007. It was the last musical in a seven-shows-in-five-days marathon and it was so unlike anything else I'd seen. I was blown away by the energy and electricity of the young cast and I thought the story was so poignant.

The Boston Globe has a story about the musical's themes and its devoted fans. You can read a guide for parents here. From the reviews by my fellow bloggers Steve on Broadway and Vance, at Tapeworthy, the touring production sounds terrific.

Some musical news and views

Okay, it's been a few days since I've had a theatre-related post and there's quite a bit of interesting news, so it's time for a little catch-up.

The Broadway revival of West Side Story is launching a national tour starting in the fall of 2010. I think this is exciting. Sure, it's fun to see the new shows when they come on tour but it's also nice to catch up with the classics, especially one with a new twist. And a production that incorporates Spanish dialog and songs hopefully will attract a whole new audience. I'm assuming the tour will keep the Spanish parts. So it's definitely something to look forward to.

The Tales of the City musical is going to be developed this summer at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Conn., as part of the National Musical Theater Conference. It features a book by Jeff Whitty of Avenue Q and songs by the Scissor Sisters - Jason Sellards and John Garden. I've read the first book in the Tales series and I liked it. Sometimes you read about a planned musical and then, nothing. So I was happy to read that this one is coming together.

McG (Joseph McGinty Nichol) is in talks to direct the movie version of the Tony-winning musical Spring Awakening. I'm not sure how I feel about this one. On the one hand, he does have experience making music videos and a lot of time, Spring Awakening does feel like you're in a club listening to a cool new indie rock band. On the other hand, McG directed Charlie's Angels. I just don't know. I loved Spring Awakening on stage and I don't want them to mess it up.

Inquiring minds want to know

Whenever I check my statcounter to see which Google queries have brought readers to my blog I often find that I've answered about 90 percent of their question. Close, but no cigar. I wish I could run after those people and say, "Wait, give me another chance!"

So as one of my blogging resolutions for 2009, I'm going to try to answer questions from readers on a more regular basis to supply that missing 10 percent. Naturally, I get a lot of questions about theatre and Broadway shows, which I can usually answer; a lot about violins, which I can't; and some random ones about movies, books or tv shows. (Apparently, the movie Ice Castles has a pretty big fan base.)

In the meantime, here are a few recent ones:

1.) Does Daniel Radcliffe come out after shows to sign autographs? I get a lot of queries about whether actors come to the stage door to sign Playbills after a Broadway show. Usually, they will, although matinees can be dicey. And this year, I've had some notable disappointments. But yes, I did get Daniel Radcliffe's autograph after an evening performance of Equus. You can read about it here. And to the person who asked, Leah Michele is DEFINITELY NOT mean at the stage door! Why would you think that? She was very nice to everyone when I met her after a matinee of Spring Awakening in the summer of 2007.

2.) Is the aisle seat good at a Broadway theatre? Well, for me, there's nothing like being smack dab in the middle of the orchestra, in the first few rows. But yes, I think aisle seats are generally good, especially if you think you'll need to make a quick exit. Although there's been a disturbing trend of shows charging more to sit on the aisle. Unless you have a medical reason or you want to reach out and touch the elephant during the parade of animals that opens The Lion King, (And who doesn't!) I'm not sure it's worth the extra money.

3.) Can Spring Awakening be saved from closing? January is going to be a very dark month for Broadway. A handful of long-running musicals are closing and other shows are finishing up their limited runs. At this point, I don't think any of them can be saved, including Spring Awakening. The last performance for the 2007 Tony winning Best Musical will take place on Jan. 18. But don't lose hope. You can still catch it, along with many other terrific Broadway shows, on tour. It's probably coming somewhere near you. Go here for more information.

4.) Can you take pictures at the Radio City Christmas Spectacular? Sadly, yes. At least at the performance I attended. While it clearly states on the show's Web site that photography is forbidden, (as it is in all Broadway theatres and probably all theatres everywhere) people were snapping away at will throughout the performance and no one appeared to be stopping them. But I did attend a 10 a.m. show and Radio City Music Hall wasn't very crowded. Maybe the ushers are more diligent later in the day.

5.) What does Johnna symbolize in August: Osage County? Good question. Johnna, originally played on Broadway by Kimberly Guerrero, is the Native American housekeeper hired by family patriarch Beverly Weston to look after his sick, pill-popping wife. The play takes place in Oklahoma and Johnna is a representative of the original occupants of the land. I think she also symbolizes the importance of family. Playwright Tracy Letts describes her role in an interview with The Times of London.

6.) Where did Carrie Bradshaw go to college? Did she have any family? Where did she grow up? Michael Patrick King, the executive producer of Sex and the City always kept the origins of Carrie and her pals a little mysterious, as if their lives didn't really begin until they moved to Manhattan. Carrie apparently mentioned in one episode that her father left her mother when she was 5 years old and she may have grown up close to New York and gone to college in the city. I'm guessing New York University, but that's just a guess. Here are some more hints.

7.) What's the town in Massachusetts in the Seinfeld finale? This is one of those questions where I smack my forehead (figuratively, not literally). I wrote about watching the final episode of the long-running NBC comedy for the first time this summer, 10 years after it aired. But I never mentioned the specific town in Massachusetts where it takes place. Duh! The NBC corporate jet that Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer are taking to Paris makes an emergency landing in the fictional town of Latham, Massachusetts in the final episode. Here's a rundown on the whole sad incident.

Spring Awakening, winter closing

Another day, another announcement that a Broadway show I love is closing. This time, it's Spring Awakening, the 2007 Tony winner for Best Musical, which will end its run at the Eugene O'Neil Theatre on Jan. 18, after a total of 888 performances.

Sigh. First Spamalot announces a closing date (although I have to admit I wasn't a huge fan when I saw it on tour), then Hairspray does the same and now Spring Awakening. I know Broadway is cyclical and there are new shows waiting in the wings. But still, I thought Spring Awakening had enough life left in it to hang on for awhile longer.

I saw Spring Awakening last summer as the final show in my seven-musicals-in-five-days marathon and I loved it. Honestly, I wasn't sure whether it would appeal to me. I mean, anxiety and sexual awakening among teenagers in 19th-century Germany didn't exactly sound like my plate of bratwurst.

But I loved the vibrant rock 'n' roll score by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater. I loved the incredible energy and vitality of the young cast, including John Gallagher Jr., Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff. And I loved Bill T. Jones' thrilling choreography in numbers like "The Bitch of Living" and "Totally F***ed."

Even though some elements of the plot were fairly predictable, I got totally swept up in the story of these teenagers and their lives, to the point where I was in tears at the end.

Then, I met the gracious and talented cast at the stage door. The actors were all extremely generous with their time. This was after a Wednesday matinee, when they'd have to come back and do an evening show and meet a whole new group of fans afterward.

It was just the perfect way to end a trip to New York City. This may sound strange given my love for the show, but the day was so perfect, I don't think I want to see Spring Awakening again on Broadway. Don't get me wrong, there are some shows that I'd love see again with a new cast. But I want to keep the memory of that wonderful afternoon as a unique experience.

Spring Awakening is in the midst of its first national tour. I'll see it when it comes my way next year. And I'm glad a whole new crop of fans, who couldn't make it to New York, will have a chance to experience the show.

But there was just something so special about seeing the show on Broadway, with its original cast, then having a chance to meet the actors at the stage door afterward, that can never quite compare.

News from the road

Do touring productions need Broadway? That's the interesting question raised by a Variety article. In between trips to New York City, I've started to see more and more road shows, so I'm always looking for news and trends.

I guess the conventional wisdom is that theatergoers like the cachet of seeing a show that's been on Broadway. If you're trying to build up a base of subscribers for your performing arts center, Broadway is a brand name that consumers recognize. And judging from the size of the audiences at shows I've attended, there's a lot of interest on the part of theatre fans who can't make it to New York City.

In Variety, Chris Jones writes that some shows do a healthy business without ever making a stop on the Great White Way.

(Reading stories in Variety can be particularly challenging sometimes because of the weird terminology it uses. I mean, I get that "prexy" is "president" but who's the "presenter?" I think it's the theatre that presents the touring production.)

Anyway, from what I could figure out, while the big Broadway blockbusters have the name recognition, the road-only shows make a lot of money for the venue operators. As an example Jones cites a show that I've never heard of, Tuna Does Vegas, which is in the midst of a 21-city tour and is apparently very popular. Tickets for Tuna Does Vegas, currently making its way across Texas, range from $20 to $45.

These road-only productions, Jones says, "like the Beatles-themed show Rain or Troika Entertainment's intensely successful Jesus Christ Superstar tour starring Ted Neeley, are also emerging as crucial potential profit centers for presenters squeezed by the terms demanded by the blockbuster titles."

Another example Jones mentions is a new, non-Equity tour of The Wizard of Oz, based on a British production, that fills a niche for family oriented entertainment. "You need some motivating factor for people to know they are getting their money's worth," says producer Ken Gentry. "But when it comes to a title like The Wizard of Oz, you have to remember there is always a new generation of people who have never seen it before."

A second Variety story that caught my eye was about the impending national tour of Young Frankenstein, which kicks off in the fall of 2009. Instead of staying in one city for an extended period of time, producer Robert F.X. Sillerman says the musical will play mostly two- to four-week stints.

The article makes the point that that shorter stays are a way to encourage people to subscribe for an entire season, lest they run the risk of getting shut out of a show that they really want to see. I guess you should always leave them wanting more.

"Even a potential behemoth like Disney's Mary Poppins, which kicks off its national tour in March 2009, does not plan a sit-down production for the road. And more significant, its longest engagement clocks in at 13 weeks, in Chicago, the tour's first city, followed by much shorter stays in St. Louis, Cleveland and Los Angeles."

Disney Theatrical's marketing director, David Schrader, says, "We're being a little conservative and not stretching it out to the max. The way we book is we learn the appetite before we lock into the second season."

Here's something else I learned from Variety: "Traditionally, 15% of all road grosses come from just three shows. Thanks to Wicked, The Lion King and Jersey Boys, that percentage more than doubled in 2007-08 and could approach, according to some producers and bookers, nearly 50% in the current season. Translation: more shows vying for less of the pie."

Finally one of this fall's shows - Spring Awakening - turned out to be a tough sell, both because of its subject matter and the fact that it's not based on a popular movie. Variety raises the question: "If the road found The Producers too edgy, how will Middle America respond to a story of teen pregnancy, abortion and homosexuality?" (The Producers is edgy?)

Simma Levine, president of On the Road Booking, tells Variety that she has tired of presenters telling her, "I don't know how my subscribers will like it. We've got a lot of blue-haired ladies. Right now, most tour theaters are booking Spring Awakening for one week only. But it's a start. As one top-of-the-line presenter put it, 'My subscriber base is old, but this will bring in a younger audience.' ''

Well, I'm much older than the target demographic, but I loved Spring Awakening and I was in tears at the end. The 2007 Tony winner for Best Musical is one of the shows I'm most looking forward to seeing on tour. If you're wondering whether or not it's appropriate for you - or your teenager - there's a special section, Spring Awakening for Parents, on the show's Web site.

I believe in Claude

I've rarely felt this excited about a movie or a television program, but I'm pretty much salivating at the thought of seeing Hair this summer in Central Park with Spring Awakening's Jonathan Groff. It runs from July 22-Aug. 17 as part of the free Shakespeare in the Park program.

Groff will be reprising his role as Claude from last summer, when Hair played for three nights in Central Park's Delacorte Theater to commemorate the musical's 40th anniversary. The show premiered at the Public Theater on Oct. 17, 1967, before moving to Broadway's Biltmore Theater on April 29, 1968. The original "tribe" included Diane Keaton, costar of Annie Hall, one of my favorite films of all time.

I've never seen a show in Central Park, I've never seen a show from the legendary Public Theater, I loved Spring Awakening when I saw it last summer, and for some reason, I've always loved Hair.

Maybe it's my inner flower child speaking, or the fact that although I lived through the 1960s, I was too young to enjoy them. So I've always had to experience the decade vicariously, through music, theater, movies and literature.

I saw a touring production of Hair in Syracuse, N.Y., many years ago, I've seen the movie, I've even been to Manchester, England, and I was excited to be in the very same Biltmore last April, to see LoveMusik. (Ok, maybe LoveMusik wasn't so thrilling, but to be in the same theater where Hair played was a thrill!)

There's some great footage in the series Broadway: The American Musical of Hair on the Great White Way. After seeing the actors coming out into the middle of the startled audience, I decided that if I could go back in time and see one show during its original run, I would choose Hair. It just looked like so much fun.

Sure, the book, by James Rado and Gerome Ragni, about a tribe of hippies living a bohemian life in New York in the 1960s and opposing the war in Vietnam, is hopelessly dated. And long hair isn't exactly a sign of political rebellion anymore. But the songs, with lyrics by Rado and music by Galt McDermot, are terrific. "Aquarius," "Manchester, England," "Hair," "Let the Sunshine In." Need I go on? Here's an interview with McDermot that aired on the American Theatre Wing's Downstage Center program in which he reminisces a little about the show.

I didn't realize this, but Hair was the first off-Broadway show to transfer to Broadway. It seems almost impossible to believe that there was a time when that didn't happen. Now, shows seem to do it routinely. Last year, it was Spring Awakening and Grey Gardens. This year, In the Heights and Passing Strange are making the leap.

It's only fitting that one of the stars of Spring Awakening will be starring in this production of Hair. Like Spring Awakening, Hair has a rock 'n' roll score, a youthful cast and yes, nudity. While those things don't have have the same capacity to shock audiences as they did 40 years ago, I actually think the two shows have the same vitality, the same sense of electricity.

When I saw Spring Awakening in July, I immediately thought, this is what it must have been like to see Hair in the '60s, when it was new and fresh and unlike anything a Broadway audience had seen before.

Adventures in video

Since I'm experimenting with including video on my blog, and I love the Tony-winning musical Spring Awakening, I thought I'd try to post this short clip of the cast singing "I Believe," taken at the time of last fall's Broadway stagehands strike.



Wouldn't it have been great to be walking by the Eugene O'Neill Theatre and see the amazingly talented John Gallagher Jr., and some of his castmates, giving an impromptu concert! (Ok, if you had tickets and couldn't see Spring Awakening because of the strike, that wouldn't have been so great.)

Anyway, now that Gallagher has left the show, his fans are probably experiencing a little bit of withdrawal pain. I hope this helps!

So sorry to see you go

I know I'm way too old to be a "Spring Awakening" fangirl, but what can I say? I love this show. When I saw the Tony winner for best musical, in July, all I could think was, this is how people must have felt when they first saw "Hair" on Broadway in 1968. Spring Awakening is just so exciting, so imaginative in the way it tells its story.

And what an energetic, talented cast. At times, I felt like I was at a concert in a little club somewhere discovering a great new band. I loved the way rock music is used to tell a story that takes place more than a hundred years ago, with the anachronisms of modern lighting and microphones.

When I saw the song list, with titles like "Totally F***ed" and "The Bitch of Living," I wondered how they'd fit into the show, whether they'd be raunchy just for the sake of being raunchy. But the way the cast performed them, they were funny and they worked perfectly and they were really exciting to watch.

At first, I didn't think I'd be all that interested in teenage angst and sexual awakening in 19th century Germany, but I was very moved by the story. I felt for these teenagers and what they were going through and the pressures they faced. While some parts were fairly predictable, I think even a predictable story can pack an emotional punch if you care about the characters. And by the end, I was crying.

"Spring Awakening" was the last show in my summertime marathon of seven musicals in five days. Maybe part of it was reaching the end, but I left the theater feeling drained and exhilarated and wanting to listen to the music again.

My seat was near the rear of the orchestra in the Eugene O'Neill Theatre. I thought afterward that it would be great to see "Spring Awakening" up close, maybe even from the onstage seats, right next to John Gallagher Jr. So of course I'm a little sad that today was the Tony winner's final performance as troubled schoolboy Moritz, but I'm so glad I had a chance to see him in the role.

In addition to being a terrific actor, singer and musician, the 23-year-old Gallagher is also a tremendously gracious young man. Although I'm sorry to see him leave the "Spring Awakening," I wish him all the best with whatever he tackles next. While his band, Old Springs Pike, has concerts coming up this winter, I hope there's more acting in Gallagher's future as well.

I had the pleasure of meeting Gallagher at the stage door after a Wednesday matinee. He was the last cast member to come out. A large part of the very large crowd had left, and I was so disappointed because I thought I'd missed him. But eventually he appeared, smiling and looking like he'd just showered. He chatted and posed for pictures with everyone as made his way down the line.

I'd already arranged with the person next to me that we'd take each other's pictures. When Gallagher got to us, I congratulated him on his well-deserved Tony and said we'd each like an autograph and to have our pictures taken with him. He beamed and said sweetly, "Well, I'd like to have my picture taken with you." Ok, let me just say, Mr. and Mrs. Gallagher, if you're reading this, you raised a very polite son! It was a such a memorable way to end my trip to New York.

While Gallagher has moved on, and Christine Estabrook, who plays the female adult roles, is leaving this week, much of the original cast remains with "Spring Awakening." The equally talented Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele, who portray lovers Melchior and Wendla, have extended their stay through May 18. (I think Michele has an absolutely gorgeous voice). Replacing Gallagher will be film and television actor Blake Bashoff, making his Broadway debut. Tony nominee Kate Burton will replace Estabrook.