Farewell, Little Orphan Annie

After 86 years Little Orphan Annie, that spunky redhead who survived all sorts of hardships, disappears from the comics pages along with Daddy Warbucks and her beloved pooch, Sandy.

Today's strip is the final one. Apparently it was running in fewer than 20 newspapers, including The Daily News, which had been carrying the comic since its debut in 1924.

But don't despair. Annie will be around in some fashion, according to Steve Tippie of Tribune Media, which owns the license to the character. Among the possibilities he mentions are TV, games and graphic novels.

And there are plans for a 35th anniversary Broadway revival of the musical Annie in 2012.

I saw a lackluster tour of Annie last year (the audience, filled with young children who were really too young to be there, didn't help).

Still, I love the way the book, by Thomas Meehan, and the score, from Martin Charnin and Charles Strouse, manage to evoke the Depression-era 1930s. I'd definitely see a top-notch production.

And I would like to believe there's some truth in this quote:

"Annie is one of those iconic characters in American culture," Tippie says. "If you stop 10 people on the street, nine of them will drop down on one knee and start singing 'Tomorrow.'"

Jersey Boys

Jersey Boys, at the Providence Performing Arts Center.
Gratuitous Violins rating: *** out of ****

I have now seen - on Broadway or on tour - all 16 Tony nominees for Best Musical from 2006 to 2009. The holdout was Jersey Boys and over the weekend I finally took in the 2006 winner.

My verdict: Jersey Boys is a pretty entertaining 2 1/2 hours. Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice do a good job telling the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. And the musical numbers, with Sergio Trujillo's choreography, are terrific. I wish they'd gone on longer.

I enjoyed learning how four blue-collar kids from New Jersey - Valli, Nick Massi, Tommy DeVito and Bob Gaudio - came together to form a band. It was a time, as one of them explains, when young men from the neighborhood had three choices: join the Army, get mobbed up or become a star.

Brickman (an Oscar winner for co-writing one of my favorite movies, Annie Hall) and Elice make each one memorable - Valli the quiet kid with the sweet falsetto, Massi the group's self-described "Ringo Starr," Gaudio the songwriter who's afraid he won't be able to repeat his early success, and DeVito the one who can't seem to stay out of trouble.

The storytelling in Jersey Boys isn't perfect. For one thing, did people really use the f-word that much in 1960? And after a snappy first act, leading up to The Four Seasons' first hit, "Sherry," I thought the second act dragged a bit. (Also, some of the songs seemed to get cut short.)

But I got a good sense of what kept the four together and the pressures that threatened to split them up. I liked the performances: Ryan Jesse as Gaudio, Matt Bailey as DeVito, Steve Gouveia as Massi and especially the dynamic Joseph Leo Bwarie as Frankie Valli. When they were singing, it was like being at a concert back in the day.

What surprised me about Jersey Boys was how many songs I knew that I didn't even know were Four Seasons songs: "Sherry," "Walk Like A Man," "Big Girls Don't Cry," "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You," "Working My Way Back To You," "December 1963 (Oh What A Night)."

Those songs - many of them written by Gaudio and producer Bob Crewe - are reminders of a time when catchy, 3-minute pop tunes ruled the airwaves. For me, and I think for a lot of other people in the audience, swaying to that music was when Jersey Boys truly came alive.

Broadway Across America: Boston 2010-11

Broadway Across America has announced its Boston lineup for 2010-2011:

Wicked Sept. 1 to Oct. 17, Opera House

Rock of Ages Oct. 6-17, Colonial Theater

Jersey Boys Dec. 16 - Jan. 30, 2011, Colonial Theater

Mary Poppins Feb. 17 - March 20, Opera House

Hair March 22 - April 10, Colonial Theater

West Side Story June 19 - July 9, Colonial Theater

Okay, a few thoughts:

I think Hair is an especially great choice for Boston. I saw the Tony-winning revival on Broadway last year and loved it. Under the direction of Diane Paulus, the musical evokes the spirit of the 1960s without glossing over the decade's tumultuous events.

I really enjoyed Mary Poppins on Broadway, too, although parents should know that with an intermission, it runs nearly three hours. But I thought it was a magical show and I loved Matthew Bourne's choreography.

I was also a fan of the West Side Story revival. The score by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim is gorgeous and Jerome Robbins' choreography is thrilling. It's also nice to have a summer show on the schedule. People go to the movies year-round, why not the theatre?

I am a little surprised that Wicked and Jersey Boys are coming back so soon. Both have played in Boston within the past few years. (Providence has them this season, so perhaps there's some rule that they alternate between the two cities every year, along with The Lion King.)

I noticed a few comments about the new season on Facebook:

Someone asked about Billy Elliot. As much as I love Wicked, it certainly would have been nice to have a new show in the lineup. But the producers seem to be concentrating the tour on other parts of the country. I guess New England will have to wait for the 2011-2012 season.

And a few people were hoping for Next to Normal. Don't be disappointed. While the musical won't be coming to Boston, it will be an hour away at the Providence Performing Arts Center March 22-27, 2011. Here's the rest of the PPAC lineup for 2010-2011.

Finally, someone asked whether there would be any plays in the lineup. Sadly, I don't think so. There simply aren't a lot of plays mounting national tours, nothing on the scale of this season's August: Osage County.

The producers of the Tony-winning God of Carnage had hoped to tour but according to The New York Times, couldn't find enough theaters in major cities that were available for booking.

Next to Normal wins Pulitzer Prize

The 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama was awarded today to Tom Kitt, composer, and Brian Yorkey, lyricist and book writer, for Next to Normal.

The citation calls it "a powerful rock musical that grapples with mental illness in a suburban family and expands the scope of subject matter for musicals."

I did not see this one coming but I think it's a well-deserved award.

I know Next to Normal has provoked controversy for its depiction of psychiatry and of a woman in the throes of mental illness. And I completely respect people who take an opposite view. But please, hear me out.

While I don't have experience with anyone in my family, I know people who suffer from mental illness. I know people who have committed suicide, including someone who killed himself after he decided to stop taking his medication.

You can criticize the choices Diana, the main character, makes as a woman with depression and bipolar disorder but you can't deny that sometimes, people in her situation do make those choices. Depicting them is not the same as endorsing them.

What gives this work its power and emotion, what makes it so gut-wrenching is that we see the devastating impact Diana's illness has not only on her life but on the lives of her husband and daughter. I felt nothing but compassion and greater understanding of their plight.

Kitt and Yorkey, who won the Tony Award for Best Score, convey so well what each character is going through - how they feel, their fears and frustrations - to a vibrant rock 'n' roll beat.

As I said in my review, I did not take the musical as an attack on psychiatry or on antidepressants.

Rather, I think it's an exploration of the difficulty in treating mental illness despite the best efforts of physicians, despite the tools of modern medicine, despite people in its throes wanting to get better, despite the love and care and desperate hopes of families.

Because of the subject matter, Next to Normal is tough to sit through at times but it's one of the most original, compelling works I've seen on Broadway or anywhere else.

Next to Normal is playing on Broadway at the Booth Theatre. A national tour will start in the fall.

Xanadu

Gratuitous Violins rating: ** out of ****

It's taken me awhile but my year of living theatrically, 2010 edition, is finally off the ground. Yesterday, I took in the tour of Xanadu at the Providence Performing Arts Center.

The musical is based on the 1980 movie with singer Olivia Newton-John. She plays a muse, Clio (aka Kira), who comes down from Mount Olympus to inspire a struggling artist in Venice Beach, Calif., named Sonny Malone. Sonny dreams of creating a roller disco at the site of an abandoned theater.

On the tour, Elizabeth Stanley plays Clio/Kira and Max von Essen is Sonny. Larry Marshall is Danny Maguire, the hard-nosed businessman who wants to tear down the building and turn it into condos.

Stanley, from the Broadway musical Cry-Baby, is pretty funny with her faux Australian accent. She spends most of the musical on roller skates, not an easy thing to do I imagine. Von Essen is sweet and goofy and so cute in his short shorts.

And I loved the two wisecracking sister muses who are extremely jealous rivals of Clio, played by Annie Golden and Amy Goldberger. I was especially excited to see Golden, who was in the movie version of Hair. They did a great rendition of Electric Light Orchestra's "Evil Woman."

I have to give book writer Douglas Carter Beane credit for the way he weaves in a refresher course on Greek mythology. He also takes some witty swipes at the current state of musical theatre but they got kind of tepid applause. Maybe they worked better on Broadway?

Xanadu has a score of catchy pop tunes that I really enjoyed, like the title track, "Magic," "Alive," "All Over the World" and "Have You Never Been Mellow?" After seeing more than a few overblown musicals, I like the fact that this is kind of an intimate show that doesn't take itself too seriously.

But I have to admit the plot of Xanadu felt kind of stretched out and while I laughed, I didn't think it was uproariously funny.

Part of it is, the musical may simply work better in a smaller venue. On Broadway, it played in the 597-seat Helen Hayes Theatre. PPAC has 3,000 seats. Sometimes you pick up on the enthusiasm of the people sitting around you, but the energy felt too dissipated in a big house.

Also, there was a major irritation that affected my enjoyment to the point where I'm knocking down Xanadu by half a star.

When I entered the theatre, I was so excited about my fourth-row orchestra seat that I didn't think about the row of speakers set up across the front of the stage. They hid the actors' feet.

Xanadu has tap dancing and roller skating - I wanted to see feet. As it was, I saw the top of Stanley's leg warmers. Dan Knechtges' choreography was lost on me.

Afterward, I spoke to a crew member who told me that the speakers were put on the stage so those of us in the first few rows could hear better. Maybe so but I never remember having my view of the stage blocked like that before.

The tour runs through the beginning of May and the next stop is Pittsburgh's Benedum Center. I don't know what the setup will be like in other cities but this is one show where you might want to sit a little farther back.

So overall, Xanadu was a fun and frothy way to spend 90 minutes on a chilly February afternoon, not a bad way to start off my year of theatergoing. And best of all, it's only the beginning!

Kids' night isn't just on Broadway

Just a reminder to all of the theatre-loving adults out there that while it's called Kids' Night on Broadway, the annual program isn't limited to New York City.

In cities all across these United States young people ages 6 to 18 can get a free or reduced price ticket on certain dates when accompanied by an adult. (In Boston, the show is The Lion King on Feb. 16. In Providence, kids' night is the March 18 performance of 101 Dalmations at the Providence Performing Arts Center.)

Here's a partial list of theatres but I know it doesn't include every venue. It should be easy enough to call or e-mail the theatre in your area and ask if they're participating. (If they're not, ask them why not. Don't be bashful!)

The Kids' Night on Broadway Web site also has lots of fun stuff for the budding theatre-lover in your life, including a souvenir Playbill they can download. And here's a great Hartford Courant article for parents on bringing children to the theatre.

This is a good opportunity to introduce a new generation to the thrill of live performance. So find a kid, and take them!

Wicked

Gratuitous Violins rating: **** out of ****

This evening, Wicked becomes the 20th longest-running show on Broadway, eclipsing Avenue Q which, ironically, beat it out to win the Tony for Best Musical in 2004.

I saw Wicked for the first time in January 2007, on tour, from the mezzanine of the Providence Performing Arts Center. It was the very first show in my very first year of regular theatergoing and I fell in love with it. The cast recording has been in steady rotation on my iPod ever since.

And ever since then, I've yearned to see it on Broadway, at the Gershwin Theatre. Well, this month I finally accomplished that goal.

After 2,535 performances, this show looks and sounds fresh and vibrant. Eugene Lee's Tony-winning set is more elaborate than the touring version, extending out along the sides of the stage. It's easy to see why the musical still plays to sold-out houses every week and over Thanksgiving week, took in a record $2 million at the box office.

Built in the 1970s, the 1,900-seat Gershwin is a modern venue with brilliant acoustics. The sound is crisp and clear. The seats are raked so perfectly that there's never anyone's head blocking your view. From my perch in Row V of the orchestra I could have body-surfed clear down to the stage!

If you're of a certain age, you remember what it was like in those pre-VCR, pre-cable days to watch The Wizard of Oz when it aired on television once a year. (The flying monkeys always terrified me!)

Part of the charm of Wicked is the witty and clever way the musical pays homage to the movie. Yes, it's a different plot - the back story of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. But I love all of the subtle and not-so-subtle references to the movie, the way some of its most memorable lines are worked into the dialog.

Book writer Winnie Holzman (of My So-Called Life) has done an inspired job stripping away the complexities of Gregory Maguire's very dark novel - which is not for children - and refashioning it for the stage for audiences from preteen on up.

Maguire uses the Wicked Witch of the West to examine the nature of evil. And Holzman doesn't give short shrift to that aspect, with the story of animals being robbed of their power of speech. This is a musical examining how societies often blame their ills on scapegoats and how too few of us speak out, simply going along with the crowd.

The heart of this musical, though, is the relationship between two very different young women who become college roommates and friends - the rich and pampered Glinda (nee Galinda) and the misunderstood, put-upon Elphaba, mocked and shunned because of her green skin. (Among other things, Wicked is a great examination of how cruel adolescents can be.)

Broadway's current Elphaba and Glinda are Dee Roscioli and Erin Mackey and they're great. As the self-absorbed, ambitious Glinda, Mackey is funny without overshadowing her castmate. And Roscioli gets Elphaba's spunk and social conscience, as well as her feelings of awkwardness and longing to belong, to have her family be proud of her instead of embarrassed by her.

The supporting cast includes Michelle Federer, who originated the role, as Elphaba's wheelchair-bound sister Nessarose, P.J. Benjamin as the mysterious Wizard, Kevin Kern as Fieyro, the carefree prince torn between Glinda and Elphaba, and Alex Brightman as the mousy Munchkin Boq.

But the highlight was seeing Rondi Reed play Madame Morrible, the very proper and sinister headmistress of Shiz University. I loved Reed's Tony-winning performance in August: Osage County. The ease with which she captures such a completely different role - and accent - just furthers my admiration for her.

And I cannot say enough how glorious it was to hear Stephen Schwartz' score - so witty and soaring and poignant and catchy - played by a 22-piece orchestra. "For Good" is my favorite song from the score. I sobbed when I heard it the first time and I sobbed again.

How awesome is it that the most tender, heartfelt love song in this musical is not about the romantic love of two people for each other but about the enduring power of an unlikely friendship.

Since friendship plays such a big role it seems fitting to mention that I saw Wicked for the first time at the encouragement of a new friend, Steve on Broadway, whom I'd only met at that point through his blog and through e-mail.

Eventually I learned how much the musical means to Steve and to the love of his life. They have both become my treasured friends and Wicked has become one of my favorite shows. All three have left a handprint on my heart.

Let me tell you, Wicked on tour is terrific and if you have a chance, go see it. But there is something so special about taking in the tuner at its Broadway home. I'm so happy I finally did.

Bid on dinner with the cast of Rent

Imagine a family dinner if your family was the cast of the musical Rent. Fun times, right? All of those struggling young artists singing and dancing on the table.

Well, you and three friends can dine with cast members from the touring production of Rent after the Sunday evening show at the Providence Performing Arts Center. The dinner is being auctioned off, with all proceeds going to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

According to the description, "the Sunday 'Family Dinners' are a tradition with the company and their favorite way to bid adieu to each stop on the tour. No less than 10 members of the company will be there; a great evening will be had by the lucky winner of this auction."

The original Mark and Roger from Rent on Broadway, Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal, are part of the current tour. There's no indication they'll be at the dinner but hey, they've gotta eat sometime, right?

Even if they have other plans, it sounds like a fun evening. You'll probably hear lots of great stories about life on the road and you'll be helping a great cause. Who knows, you may even be breaking bread with a future Broadway star.

The auction ends on Friday afternoon and so far, the high bid is $117.50. If you miss out on that one or you don't live near Providence, here's a list of some other Broadway Cares auctions.

Also, if you're at the theatre over the next month - either on Broadway or a touring production - it's quite likely a cast member will step out of character at the end of the show, explain the work of BC/EFA and ask for your support. Please consider making a donation.

Since its founding in 1988, Broadway Cares has raised over $140 million for critically needed services across the United States for people with AIDS, HIV or HIV-related illnesses.

And remember, some of the money you drop in those buckets will come right back to help people in your community.

This year, for example, Broadway Cares awarded $7.9 million in grants, including $5,000 apiece to AIDS Project Rhode Island, AIDS Care Ocean State and Family Resources Community Action, of Woonsocket.

When ticket prices defy logic

I saw Wicked on tour at the Providence Performing Arts Center in January 2007 and fell in love with it - with the music, with the witty and clever way it tells another side of the Wizard of Oz story.

Ever since then, I've wanted to see the show on Broadway. I just figure it'll be even grander there. But whenever I plan a trip to New York City, there's always so much to see and the lure of new shows is strong, so I always put it off.

Well, no more. With Tony-winner Rondi Reed currently playing Madame Morrible, I didn't want to put it off any longer. So I've got my ticket for December for the Gershwin Theatre. (Another Broadway venue to cross off my list!)

I paid $125, which puts me in the center orchestra, my favorite spot, but toward the rear. (Not my favorite spot.) I could have gotten much closer to the stage with a $300 premium ticket. The cheapest ticket is $65.

I can afford a premium ticket for Wicked without going into debt. But honestly, there comes a point when the price seems too high. Maybe I'll regret it once I see how far back I'm sitting in the 1,900-seat Gershwin! (And I realize that for a lot of people, even $125 is too high.)

So with that background, I was shocked to find out that a ticket reseller is charging $430 for a single ticket to the touring production of Wicked in Syracuse in January.

For that amount of money, you could buy a premium ticket on Broadway, round-trip bus fare to New York City, your meals and have a little left over for souvenirs!

What really makes me angry about ticket resellers is they perpetuate the myth that you practically need a second mortgage to take your family to see a Broadway show, even on tour. Not true! I went to Ticketmaster and tickets for Wicked in Syracuse range from $40 to $95.

Wicked is a wonderful musical - especially for introducing teens or preteens to the theatre. So go, and take the kids. (It's returning to PPAC in December.)

But please, before you spend an outrageous amount of money, check with the official ticket seller first.

Avenue Q

Gratuitous Violins rating: *** out of ****

Even though I graduated from college sometime in the last century, I still remember what it was like: the ink barely dry on my diploma, settling into my first (low-paying) job and my first lousy apartment, my first loan payment due in a matter of months. Oh, the memories.

But I never had the experience of living in a neighborhood like Avenue Q, which is where you end up if you take a very wrong turn off of Sesame Street. (And I mean wrong - despite the presence of puppets, this is not for children.)

So the musical, which tells the story of Princeton, a new college grad who's trying to find his purpose in life, did resonate when I saw it on tour at the Providence Performing Arts Center. It's funny and appealing and overall, pretty entertaining.

Like most of Avenue Q's residents, Princeton is portrayed by an actor manipulating a puppet. (In this case, Brent Michael DiRoma, who also plays Rod, the closeted Republican investment banker puppet.)

There are non-puppet characters, too, including a would-be comedian named Brian played by Tim Kornblum. His girlfriend, Christmas Eve, is played by Lisa Helmi Johanson, a therapist who speaks with a think Asian accent. The superintendent of the building where Avenue Q takes place is Gary Coleman, played by Nigel Jamaal Clark. (Yes, "the" Gary Coleman.)

Jeff Whitty's book is mostly a boy-meets-girl story. Princeton meets and falls in love with the very sweet and idealistic Kate Monster, played by Jacqueline Grabois. Yes, it's clever and there are plot twists.

For me, the puppets, designed by Rick Lyon, are what give the 2004 Tony winner for best musical, book and score a big chunk of its appeal and originality. (I still think Wicked was robbed that year but in fairness, my theatergoing companion felt Avenue Q had the more universal themes.)

I don't think the musical always hits its mark. Rod's being in the closet and struggling to accept the fact that he's gay is a serious issue. There's a transition from a funny scene to one involving Rod that I think was supposed to be funny but I just found it jarring and sad.

Don't get me wrong - I laughed a lot during Avenue Q, even at some of the more crude and juvenile humor. There are some hilarious songs, by composers Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx.

Take "The Internet is for Porn." I mean, how true is that, right? (Not that I know from personal experience. I'm just guessing.) Yes, it's crude but it's also very funny, especially because it involves a giant furry puppet named Trekkie Monster. I howled at one lyric that I'm too embarrassed to repeat.

The video projections that recall Sesame Street episodes are truly inspired. And like I said, the puppets are great - especially Trekkie Monster, a Mae West-like Lucy the Slut and the "bad idea" bears, who I think are the Care Bears' evil twins. The cast does a great job of focusing your attention on the puppets, not on them.

I loved the dilapidated New York City brownstone designed by Anna Louizos and Howell Binkley's lighting that captured the passage of time from day to evening to dawn so well. (They also did a similar set and lighting for another New York City musical, In the Heights.)

So, while there was a lot to like and I really was entertained, I felt that Avenue Q did go overboard at times. For example, Christmas Eve and her stereotypical Asian accent wore thin. (Sometimes I had trouble understanding her, too.) The song "Everyone's A Little Bit Racist" didn't do a lot for me.

Plus, I saw the show at a theatre that seats about 3,000 people. That's much bigger than the John Golden Theatre, where it played on Broadway for six years before closing last month. It's enormous compared with the musical's new off-Broadway home, New World Stages. I think Avenue Q may lose something in a larger space. (For one thing, in a smaller space you could see the puppets' faces a lot better.)

And speaking of overboard let me tell you, a little hot and heavy puppet sex goes a long way.

Make my Avenue Q super-sized

I bought my ticket yesterday for the tour of Avenue Q, so next month I'll finally get to see whether this cheeky little musical - with full puppet nudity - was worth all the hype. (Did I mention it won the Tony?)

Now I don't mind a little puppet nudity, as long as it's tastefully done and an integral part of the story. But what concerns me a bit is that Avenue Q will be swallowed up in the 3,100-seat Providence Performing Arts Center.

This is a show that played on Broadway for six years at the 805-seat John Golden Theatre, one of the Main Stem's smallest. It closed Sept. 13 after 2,534 performances and will reopen off-Broadway Oct. 9 at the New World Stages complex, in a 499-seat venue.

I don't think the Avenue Q tour is unique. My guess is a lot of touring productions play in theatres much bigger than your average Broadway house, most of which seem to be around 1,500 seats, with quite a few under 1,000. The largest is the 1,933-seat Gershwin, appropriately home to Wicked, one of Broadway's biggest hits.

But in small-sized cities like Providence, there aren't a lot of options for touring Broadway shows to set up shop. They might have one theatre that can handle them. Even if there is a second choice, naturally the producers want to be in the biggest possible space.

For some shows, I don't think it matters as much. I saw Spring Awakening on Broadway at the 1,108-seat O'Neill and in Providence, both times in the orchestra section, and I loved the musical in both places. I saw Wicked sitting in the PPAC mezzanine, and I was captivated.

So I'm looking forward to Avenue Q, the show that snatched the 2004 Tony for Best Musical out from under my beloved Wicked. For comparison purposes, it's fitting that I'll be in the same theatre. In fact, Avenue Q even has an advantage - this time, my seat is in the orchestra.

All I can say is: Puppets, I hope you're up to the challenge. (And I couldn't resist including a poster from the Philippines production. This is not a show for little kids!)

The odds catch up with The 39 Steps

Broadway shows come and go but this one is a little more personal for me than most. The 39 Steps is responsible for my becoming a theatre blogger and it was the subject of my very first Gratuitous Violins post.

So when I heard that the play is closing Jan. 10, I was disappointed. I saw the British import at Boston's Huntington Theatre Company in September 2007, during its pre-Broadway run. And I loved it just as much when I saw it on Broadway in July 2009 at the Helen Hayes Theatre.

But nothing lasts forever on Broadway, except possibly The Phantom of the Opera. And I knew that the nonprofit Second Stage Theatre announced in July 2008 that it was acquiring the Helen Hayes as a venue for contemporary American drama.

Plus, this little play, which began previews in January 2008, beat the odds. It changed theatres twice, transferring from a nonprofit to a commercial run to become the longest-running Broadway play in seven years. That's not bad for a production with no recognizable actors, based on a movie few theatergoers have seen.

In July, I got my ticket at the Times Square TKTS booth and apparently a lot of other people went the discount route, too. The 39 Steps was playing to 60.7 percent capacity last week at the 597-seat Helen Hayes, Broadway's smallest house, with an average ticket price of $64.34.

But I have to give the producers credit for trying different ways to get people into the theatre, including hosting talkbacks, an Alfred Hitchcock lookalike contest, a scavenger hunt based on The Amazing Race and posting clues on Twitter about tickets hidden at various spots in midtown Manhattan.

I've written before about how the play, with its four-person cast and a few props, uses wit and inventiveness to retell the story of the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock movie about a man caught up in a spy ring. I've seen far more elaborate shows that didn't thrill me and or make me laugh nearly as much.

For a brief period over the summer, as this New York Times article notes, The 39 Steps was the only play on Broadway. Arnie Burton, who's been with the production since Boston, called it "an homage to the theatre. It's a valentine to that kind of creativity and imagination, of doing so much with so little."

There's still time to see The 39 Steps on Broadway. Discounted tickets are available through Playbill.com.

The national tour has already been at the La Jolla Playhouse and moves to the Seattle Repertory Theatre from Sept. 25 to Oct. 24. Although the tour "officially" kicks off in November at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven. Here's the schedule.

In his review from La Jolla, Los Angeles Times critic Charles McNulty said that the play "sets out to prove that anything movies can do, theater can do less expensively and more hilariously." I definitely agree.

A medal for Chita Rivera

Congratulations to two-time Tony winner Chita Rivera, among this year's 16 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, our nation's highest civilian honor.

The award will be bestowed today at the White House by President Obama and you can watch the ceremony beginning at 3 p.m. at www.whitehouse.gov/live.

And what a great homecoming for the 76-year-old Washington, D.C., native, born Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero. Here is what she said when the award was announced:

"When my mother was a child, she rolled Easter eggs on the lawn of the White House. And now, to receive The Medal of Freedom from our President, is truly a dream. I am deeply honored to receive this award and to be in such distinguished company. I only wish my parents were here to share it with...but they are!"

This year's recipients were chosen for being "agents of change," people who have blazed trails and broken down barriers.

Among her accomplishments, Rivera was the first Hispanic woman to receive a Kennedy Center honor. And coincidentally, also visiting the White House today is another Latina groundbreaker: there's a reception this morning for newly sworn-in Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. How fitting!

I've written before about how fortunate I was to see Ms. Rivera in the national tour of Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life. That was in May 2007, when I was just starting to become a regular theatergoer. I knew who she was but I can't say that I knew a lot about her. And I never would have gone without a nudge from a wise friend.

I remember writing to my new e-mail pal Steve on Broadway and running down the list of everyone who was coming to the Providence Performing Arts Center that spring. He told me that if I wanted to see a true Broadway legend, I should make every effort to see Chita Rivera. So of course, I did. And of course, he was right.

What a terrific storyteller as well as a terrific singer and dancer! It was great to hear her talk about how she got her start, about working on shows like West Side Story and Chicago. I wish I could go back and see her again.

Update: Here are the White House comments on all of the Medal of Freedom recipients. The president used the words "sassy" and "electric" to describe Rivera, and I liked this quip: "Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero knows that adversity comes with a difficult name."

Young Frankenstein tour is cast

A few developments since I wrote about the Providence Performing Arts Center's 2009-2010 season:

Roger Bart and Shuler Hensley will be reprising their Broadway roles for the national tour of the musical Young Frankenstein, which kicks off in Providence Sept. 29 and runs through Oct. 4.

I was kind of surprised by this announcement, since Broadway tours are normally recast. And normally, I'd be excited that a show is coming to Providence with part of its original cast. Sadly, not this time.

Bart, probably best known as the murderous pharmacist on Desperate Housewives, plays Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, who travels to Transylvania after inheriting the family castle. Hensley is the monster he brings to life.

Unfortunately, I wasn't a big fan of Young Frankenstein on Broadway or Bart's performance. I loved the 1974 Mel Brooks movie and the way it so cleverly spoofed the horror genre. But the musical was a disappointment. While it is a pretty faithful scene-by-scene, joke-by-joke retelling, I didn't find it nearly as clever or funny. Here's my review.

I'm more excited about a new addition to the schedule. Rent is returning to PPAC from Nov. 17-22. What's that you say, another Rent tour? Wasn't it just in Providence like a year ago? Yes, in January 2008, and here's my review.

But this time it features Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal, who starred as Mark and Roger in the Broadway production. My friend and fellow blogger Chris Caggiano from Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals saw the show in Boston and you can read his review.

Finally, as previously announced, the musical Jersey Boys makes its Providence debut next spring, running from May 12 - June 6. The tour is currently in Boston and while I don't know whether it'll have the same cast in Providence, here's Chris' review.

Broadway in Boston 2009-2010

Broadway Across America finally released its Boston lineup for 2009-2010 this week. There are a few shows I really want to see that we're not getting in Providence, (which isn't part of BAA) including August: Osage County.

(But we are getting Xanadu in Providence, so life's a tradeoff. Sometime I would like to find out how these things work, how the producers decide which shows to put in which cities. For example, why is Little House on the Prairie bypassing the Northeast, except for the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey?)

Also coming to Boston are the national tours of In the Heights and Dreamgirls. They're both arriving in the winter, so let's hope it's a mild one.

I really enjoyed In the Heights on Broadway, the 2008 Tony winner for Best Musical. The story, set in a Latino neighborhood in New York City, is a joyous reminder of the vitality that immigrants bring to this country, along with their hopes and dreams. And it's got great music and choreography, too. In the Heights plays at the Opera House Jan. 12-24.

I've only seen the movie Dreamgirls, so I'm very interested in catching the stage version that tells the story of a Supremes-like singing group. The national tour is being launched at the Apollo Theater in November. Dreamgirls is playing at the Colonial Theatre Feb. 2-14.

Luckily, I won't have to worry about the weather by the time August: Osage County comes to the Colonial, from May 4-16. As I mentioned the other day, I only had a chance to see it once in New York so I'm looking forward to a return visit with the dysfunctional Weston family.

I can also recommend Fiddler on the Roof, which is coming to the Opera House from Nov. 3-15. It was a thrill to see the musical in Providence last February, with 73-year-old Chaim Topol as Tevye. Apparently his farewell tour is quite extensive. And he should keep doing it as long as he can - he's still terrific in the role.

There is one other musical coming to Boston that I'm kind of curious about: Cats, which will be at the Colonial April 13-18. I've never seen it and, truth be told, while I like cats I'm really much more of a dog person. If they ever make a musical called Dogs, I will be there.

Still, I'm kind of curious about a show that played 18 years on Broadway. And according to the Web site: "There's no better way to introduce your family to the wonders of live theater than with the magic, the mystery, the memory of CATS."

Theatre that's not for a 10 year old

Now I know why children end up at musicals that are way long for their attention span and way too mature to hold their interest.

I got an e-mail a few days ago from BosTix, which offers reduced-price tickets to Boston-area arts events, about the national tour of The Color Purple. The show begins its two-week stand at Boston's Citi Performing Arts Center tonight.

I was surprised that BosTix was advertising the musical as "appropriate for ages 10 and up." So I checked out the tour's Web site and found this advisory: "The Color Purple may be inappropriate for children 10 and under."

Maybe I'm out of touch with the maturity level of kids these days but I think 10 or 11 is way too young to see this show. It deals with some pretty somber themes - including child abuse, domestic violence and incest.

I enjoyed The Color Purple when I saw it on Broadway and I think it would be fine for a high school student - but not a 10-year-old. Plus, I just can't see it holding the attention of a child that young for 2 1/2 hours.

There are so many musicals that are much more appropriate for kids in that age range, and they'd enjoy them a whole lot more. I would rather have a child's introduction to the theatre be something that will amaze and enthrall them.

So if you really want to see The Color Purple, my advice is to get a babysitter and leave the 10-year-olds at home. The Lion King is coming to Boston in February. Wait and take them to that instead. I guarantee you they'll have a better time.

Annie

Gratuitous Violins rating: ** out of ****

Annie is definitely a four-star show. The original Broadway production racked up a slew of Tony awards in 1977, including Best Musical, and I can see why. All of the elements that stood out for theatre audiences in the 1970s still stand out - the score, the book, the choreography.

Unfortunately, the touring production I saw with Steve on Broadway at the Providence Performing Arts Center didn't quite seem like a four-star show.

Part of it, as I said in my previous post, was the audience. It's hard to enjoy the action onstage when it's competing with squirming, restless children in front of you. With a different audience, Annie definitely would have received higher marks from me.

It's really a shame because there were so many things I loved about Annie.

I loved the way Thomas Meehan's book, based on the comic strip Little Orphan Annie, creates such larger-than-life characters: the sweet and spunky Annie, played by Madison Kerth, the mean orphanage matron Miss Hannigan, played by Lynn Andrews, and the brusque and preoccupied industrialist Oliver Warbucks, played by David Barton.

And Annie does a great job evoking the 1930s - from references to historical figures such as crime-fighter Elliot Ness to showing us a Hooverville - the shantytowns built by the homeless during the Great Depression. I loved the scene at the White House with Annie, President Roosevelt (played by Jeffrey B. Duncan) and his Cabinet. So that's how the New Deal was created. Who knew?!

Plus, the score, by Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin, is incredibly catchy. I can't even think about Annie without starting to sing "Tomorrow, tomorrow!"

And the songs fit the story so well, like the homeless people living under the Brooklyn Bridge facetiously singing "We'd Like to Thank You Herbert Hoover." (Which reminded me of the striking British coal miners in Billy Elliot singing "Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher.")

Peter Gennaro's choreography, re-created for the tour by his daughter Liza Gennaro, is just wonderful. How can you not feel for those bedraggled little girls scrubbing the floors of their orphanage in sync to the tune of "It's the Hard-Knock Life?"

Also, this was my first time seeing a dog on stage. (I missed Legally Blonde). I started smiling as soon as I saw Sandy, played by an adorable pooch named Mikey. I don't know what it was or why, but I was captivated. All I could think was, awww!

Still, as much as I enjoyed the story and the music and the choreography, the performances didn't really grab me. Yes, the orphans were cute but with the exception of Andrews as Miss Hannigan, the main characters seemed kind of bland and lacked pizazz, something that would have made them truly memorable.

But I definitely got a great sense of why Annie thrilled my friend Steve when he saw the musical during a high school trip to London 30 years ago. Annie set him on the course of a lifetime of theatergoing and I'm so glad it did.

Taking children to the theatre

Maybe because it was my birthday weekend and because I was sitting next to Steve on Broadway and I knew what a key role the musical Annie played in spurring his love of theatre, I wanted everything to be perfect at the Saturday matinee we attended.

Well, apparently not everyone at the Providence Performing Arts Center got the message.

I've sat through shows before with talkative adults and squirming children but this was without a doubt the worst theatre audience I've ever been in. (The child at the top is used only for illustrative purposes. As far as I know, she was not in the audience.)

The two adorable little girls in front of me, who couldn't have been more than 3 or 4 years old, spent most of the show standing up in their seats and climbing over their mother until I think they collapsed from exhaustion. (Their father, at least I think it was their father, seemed pretty oblivious to his daughters' inability to sit still.)

I don't blame the kids - they were much too young to be there. I saw many other very young children being carried out of the theatre by their parents. Rest assured, if I'd been disruptive in public as a child, my parents would have taken me out of there, too.

At the end of our row there was an older child who every so often would shout something so loudly everyone in the theatre could hear. I think the child had Down Syndrome or another mental disability, so I don't want to be insensitive. I'm not saying people with disabilities should stay home. But perhaps Annie wasn't the right show for this person.

I know what you're thinking: "Esther, what did you expect at the Saturday matinee of a children's show?"

Parents, despite the way Annie is marketed as "a delightful theatrical experience for the entire family" it is not a musical for children under age 5.

It says right on the PPAC Web site that the running time is 2 hours and 30 minutes, including an intermission. It is simply too long and there is not enough action on the stage at all times to engage very young children. (Interestingly, neither the PPAC site nor the tour Web site have a suggested age for the show.)

I know every child has a different attention span. I've been in audiences at Mary Poppins and The Lion King where young children did fine. There were kids in this audience who were fine. But this is something parents have to figure out before they plop down their hard-earned money for tickets.

If you're unsure whether your children have the necessary attention level, pop a 2 1/2-hour movie in the dvd player and see how they do.

Don't get me wrong, I want children to go to the theatre and fall in love with it. I want their first Broadway musical to be a thrilling, enchanting, memorable experience. But it's got to be the right show at the right time.

If your children cannot sit still and remain quiet and focused on the action onstage, please do not bring them to a 2 1/2-hour musical. You are wasting your money, your children will never remember the experience and you're ruining the show for everyone around you. Wait a few years.

In the meantime, take them to Dora the Explorer instead.

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.

Casting call for 101 Dalmations

I never realized that Playbill has a jobs section until I found information about auditions for the upcoming national tour of 101 Dalmations.

The description of what they're looking for in the musical's principal cast members is pretty amusing:

Prince: Male Dalmatian, 30s. Narrator of the show. Charming bon vivant. Hugh Grant-type.

Pongo: Male Dalmatian, 30s. New father who maintains his sense of humor even with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Dick Van Dyke-type, with a touch of Buster Keaton.

Missis: Female Dalmatian, 30s. Pongo's wife. Feminine, but can bristle when her family is threatened. Mary Tyler Moore (Laura Petrie) type.

Cruella DeVil: Woman, 30s - 40s. BIG belt. Larger-than-life villain who’s as much a diva as she is a devil.

Hey, you wouldn't want to confuse a Mary Tyler Moore (Laura Petrie) type with a Mary Tyler Moore (Mary Richards) type, right? I bet that sent some aspiring Dalmations scurrying to their Wikipedias. I wonder how many of them had ever seen The Dick Van Dyke Show?

Actually, I think this sounds like fun. I'm very fond of Hugh Grant, especially in any romantic comedy set in London. I always liked Rob and Laura Petrie, too.