Summing up my 2010-2011 theatre season: Keep the shouting to a minimum

I finally managed to post the last review of my 2010-2011 theatre season - a month after the show closed but who's counting.

So, just a few observations:

• I made progress toward my goal of seeing a show in every Broadway house, adding the Ambassador, the Cort and the Golden to my list. Only four to go! The Golden is cute - 805 seats and because there's only a center aisle in the orchestra, it reminded me of a high school auditorium.
  

• I saw all five Tony nominees for best featured actress in a play and four out of five for best actor in a play. My vote would have gone to Joe Mantello in The Normal Heart, no question about it. And as much as I loved Ellen Barkin in The Normal Heart, there's something about Judith Light in Lombardi that I found so compelling. I wish they could have tied.
  

• Once again, some of my most memorable experiences took place in small off-Broadway houses. I saw my first shows at Playwrights Horizons (home of the most comfortable theatre seats ever) and the Signature Theatre. Signature, I'm looking forward to seeing your new home and seat-wise, the bar has been set high.
  

• Speaking of Playwrights Horizons, at intermission of The Shaggs, almost everyone in my row left. It was me and a couple guys on the end for Act II. The rock 'n' roll score was too loud for some people, I guess. But we were in the second row, so I'm sure the actors noticed. I wonder how they felt?
  

• Maybe it's because I had such great hopes for Catch Me If You Can and I ended up being so disappointed but I'm getting wary of movies being turned into musicals. I'm no longer going to salivate like Pavlov's dog when I hear that a popular film is being adapted for the stage.

• I saw three performances that I can only describe as "shouty." Dan Lauria in Lombardi and Jim Belushi in Born Yesterday both seemed to get by mostly on bluster. Then there was Elizabeth Rodriguez in The Motherf**ker with the Hat, who seemed to scream from start to finish. I hope this does not become a trend.
  

The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World

The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World, at Playwrights Horizons off-Broadway
Gratuitous Violins rating: ***1/2 out of ****

Unfortunately, shows are closing faster than I can write reviews. The last performances of The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World are this weekend, which is a shame because it's such an offbeat and absorbing musical.

The Shaggs tells the true story of the Wiggin sisters in New Hampshire in the late 1960s whose father, Austin, had a premonition - which turned into an obsession - that they were destined to become a successful rock 'n' roll band. Sadly, the girls were supremely musically untalented.

As Austin, Peter Friedman is riveting - becoming more and more unhinged and controlling. Annie Golden as their mother, Annie, watches helplessly while the blue-collar family's savings dwindle and tries to control her husband's outbursts.

As Dot, Betty and Helen Wiggin, Jamey Hood, Sarah Sokolovic and Emily Walton are terrific. They're awkward teenagers who know they're awful and hate being onstage. They want to please their father but at the same time, they're petrified of him. Dot tries to be supportive, Betty is rebellious and Helen retreats behind silence.

Cory Michael Smith is appealing as Kyle, the gangly and goofy classmate who falls for Walton's Helen. (One quibble, it's never completely explained why she remains mute for much of the musical.) Kevin Cahoon, a favorite of mine from The Wedding Singer Broadway cast recording, has a funny turn as their agent.

Now you might ask, "Who would want to listen to 2 1/2 hours of terrible musicianship?" Composers Joy Gregory and Gunnar Madsen have come up with a very effective work-around. When the girls are using their "inner" voices to sing about their lives, they sound like angels. It's only when they're performing that you get an idea of how they really sounded.

And I really enjoyed the score - there's a hilarious ensemble number that takes place at the local high school, "Career Day." Hood is touching in "Don't Say Nothing Bad About My Dad." I was first smitten by the score of Hair from the movie, in which Golden played Jeannie, so it was thrilling to hear her solo, "Annie's Lessons."

Clearly, it would have been very easy to make fun of the sisters and their lack of talent but Gregory, who wrote the book, treats their lives with great sensitivity and poignancy. At a time when too many new musicals seem big and overblown, The Shaggs is human-scale, unique and refreshing.

As a band, you can't really say that The Shaggs faded into obscurity because they were always pretty obscure. But the sisters did get a burst of acclaim when their one-and-only album, Philosophy of the World, was re-released in 1980. Susan Orlean profiled them in The New Yorker in 1999. Here's the title song from Philosophy of the World.)