Turning on comment moderation

I hated to do it but I finally turned on comment moderation.

It wasn't that I got any nasty or rude or insensitive comments. It was the unrelenting spam via an Internet Service Provider on Taiwan called Chunghwa Telecom.

There were times last year when I got 10 or 11 spam comments on multiple blog posts on the same day. And they had to be deleted one by one, a time-consuming task.

The spam stopped for awhile but recently it's started up again with a vengeance. I understand Blogger is a free service but I wish it would do a better filtering job. And I'd love to know if there's a way to block this one ISP.

When I leave a comment on someone's blog, I like the instant gratification of seeing it appear immediately. But it's getting to be ridiculous. Every day I'm deleting a half-dozen or more spam comments.

I can approve comments by e-mail and I check my e-mail pretty regularly, so there shouldn't be too much of a lag time. And the only ones I plan to reject are spam.

So far, it's working. I had five spam comments in five minutes earlier this evening and none of them got on my blog.

Thank-you for understanding.

1776, 1972 and 2010

I saw the movie 1776 on a school field trip, in one of those single-screen theaters that used to exist before the invasion of the multiplex.

At the time, I didn't know it started as a Broadway musical. And while I was an American history buff, the Colonial period was not my favorite.

Okay, maybe 1776 wasn't a totally accurate account of the writing of the Declaration of Independence, but the music and the story were captivating.

The score, by Sherman Edwards, was by turns playful ("Sit down John,") lyrical ("He Plays the Violin") and haunting ("Molasses to Rum").

And Peter Stone's book made the men who assembled in Philadelphia in 1776 seem so distinct and memorable. It made history very entertaining.

I bought the soundtrack, which I still have in my record collection. (Yes, it was that long ago and yes, I still have my records.) While I haven't listened to it or seen the movie in ages, the experience has stayed with me.

It's amazing to think about how much has changed since the movie came out in 1972. Sandra Day O'Connor was serving in the Arizona Senate and Barack Obama was 11 years old. I'm not sure I'd ever seen a musical on stage, let alone on Broadway.

Here's something else that I couldn't have imagined along with a woman on the Supreme Court, an African-American in the White House and my first Broadway show.

In August, a Kansas City company called Musical Theater Heritage is presenting the first a all-female production of 1776.

To me, it's a reminder that U.S. history has been about breaking barriers, taking risks, expanding equality and creating opportunity, in the arts and elsewhere.

Happy Independence Day!

Born on the 3rd of July!

Happy birthday to George M. Cohan, father of American musical comedy who was born on July 3, 1878, on Wickenden Street in Providence, R.I., where I snapped this photo. (Not July 4th, as the song goes.)

Here are Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade singing one of Cohan's most famous tunes, "Give My Regards to Broadway." It's one of my favorites.

Snapping up a ticket to The Addams Family

The Broadway musical The Addams Family received a particularly negative review from New York Times critic Ben Brantley, yet it's doing great at the box office, taking in nearly $1.4 million and playing to 97.4 percent capacity last week.

And from my purely unscientific survey, I don't think that attendance is going to drop off anytime soon.

There's a new feature at Ticketmaster that allows you to select your seat. I've been looking at tickets for late July and great swaths of the orchestra have already been sold. (The regular-priced orchestra, that is. There are still plenty of premium seats.)

Surprising? Not at all.

It's got name recognition from the TV series and movies and the two stars, Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwith, help, too. It's a known quantity, which is comforting when you're shelling out $136.50 apiece for tickets.

But I think there's something even more important.

Every once in awhile I read the travel forums at Fodors.com. Lots of people who are coming to New York on vacation, and bringing their kids, want advice about a Broadway show. It has to appeal to mom and dad, teens and preteens, boys and girls.

Well, The Addams Family fits the bill, especially if they've already seen some of the other long-running musicals. Prominently displayed on its Facebook page is: "This show is family friendly and appropriate for children ages 10 and up."

So when it comes to musicals, family friendly can trump Ben Brantley.

Hair today, gone tomorrow

The show in which I made my Broadway debut - Hair - is closing today at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre after 548 performances and a Tony for Best Revival of a Musical.

I wish it could have run longer but one thing I've learned, except for The Phantom of the Opera nothing lasts forever.

I love the songs from Hair, I saw the movie in 1979 and I caught a touring production once in Syracuse, years ago.

But this revival, directed by Diane Paulus, is the one that truly got to me. I love the way it evoked the be-who-you-are spirit of the 1960s while not ignoring the more tumultuous events. Here's my review.

Inviting the audience onstage at the end of the show was a perfect way to celebrate a decade that was all about breaking down barriers. It was a thrilling experience and I'm happy I could share it with Kevin, my friend and fellow blogger.

(And how great was it that the cast of Hair were such strong supporters of marriage equality, bringing forward the decade's commitment to freedom and social justice.)

Paulus could have turned Hair into an exercise in hippie nostalgia - a look back at a time of sexual liberation, when young people dropped out, got stoned, wore tie-dyed shirts and bell bottom trousers and men grew their hair long.

Instead, she made the story relevant and compelling by keeping the focus on the most divisive and politically charged aspect of the decade - the Vietnam War.

Through Gavin Creel's terrific portrayal of the conflicted Claude, the musical brought home the difficult choices young men faced. Young men, that is, who weren't as fortunate as Dick Cheney or Richard Blumenthal.

For me, more than the fashions and hairstyles, Claude's plight was a stark reminder of how much has changed.

There was an article last week in The New York Times that pointed out, America's "all-volunteer military continues to fight two wars that the vast majority of American society pays little or no attention to."

Forty years ago, at the height of protests against Vietnam, that detachment would have been inconceivable.

I saw Hair on Memorial Day weekend in 2009. It's a powerful reminder of the care we should take before sending Americans into harm's way, whether they're draftees or volunteers, our loved ones or someone else's.

While Hair is closing on Broadway, a national tour begins this fall. I am so glad I had a chance to see it.

The Tonys and marketing Broadway

Just about everyone else has weighed in on Hunter Foster's Facebook group "Give the Tonys Back to Broadway," so here's my 2 cents.

Like the other major awards shows, there are two sides to the Tony Awards. They're supposed to celebrate the best in terms of artistic achievement and act as a marketing tool.

The producers of the Emmys, Oscars and Grammys have it easy. You watch the ceremony and you want to see the TV show or movie or listen to the song, it's cheap and simple.

The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing have more of a challenge.

A theatre fan watching far from Broadway faces the prospect of shelling out $1,000 for a weekend in New York City. And with tourists buying 63 percent of the tickets, that's the audience the show has to reach.

(I wonder why more isn't done to promote the Tonys at theatres that present Broadway tours? And don't think about moving the broadcast from CBS to PBS. I bet some stations either won't carry it or would air it at 3 a.m. a week later.)

Before I became a regular theatergoer, one of the few times I remember watching the Tony Awards was in 2005.

I don't know what made me tune in but it may have had something to do with Spamalot being a Best Musical nominee. I'd been a big Monty Python fan as a teenager.

I watched the cast of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and they were hilarious. I remember Victoria Clark winning for Best Actress in a Musical for The Light in the Piazza and Norbert Leo Butz winning Best Actor for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

Sad to say, neither name meant anything to me and nothing compelled me to start looking into tickets and hotel reservations.

That came a couple years later, when I found out Kevin Spacey, one of my favorite actors, was going to be in A Moon for the Misbegotten. I wanted to see him on Broadway more than anything. And I did - twice.

So, I could have done with less Green Day and Glee and more Marian Seldes and Kate Baldwin on the Tony broadcast. I wish more of the awards could be televised, more of my favorite theatre actors serve as presenters and a better job be done showcasing plays.

All I know is, since 2007 I've attended dozens of shows on Broadway, off Broadway and elsewhere. I'm the go-to person for friends who need some advice about visiting New York City and seeing a show. Now, some of my favorite actors are people you've never heard of unless you follow theatre.

Without the draw of Kevin Spacey, a movie star, none of that would have happened.

Believe me, the prospect of seeing a favorite actor onstage is thrilling. Sure, they have to do their part by being up to the job. But when it works, the experience can turn a very casual theatergoer into a passionate fan.

David Hyde Pierce on theatre and memory

You may recall my bond with Curtains, the first musical I saw on Broadway. Not only did I love the show but I had a great time meeting the gracious cast, including David Hyde Pierce, at the stage door afterward.

So I was thrilled that the American Theatre Wing honored Hyde Pierce with the Isabelle Stevenson Award, bestowed upon an individual from the theatre community who has volunteered time and effort on behalf of a charitable, humanitarian or social service organization.

Hyde Pierce was recognized for his work in the fight against Alzheimer's disease. His grandfather died of the disease and his father suffered from dementia. He's a board member of the Alzheimer's Association and has worked on the local and national level advocating for additional funding for research and care programs.

The award was presented to him during the pre-broadcast portion of the Tonys Sunday night. Here's part of what he said:

"We all say 'I'll never forget' and I think we say it in the theatre more than anyplace else because we're blessed to have so many unforgettable things happen in our world. I'll never forget Marian Seldes' curtain calls. I'll never forget Kelsey Grammer planting a big wet one on Douglas Hodge.

Well I don't use that phrase anymore. My work with the association has taught me that 'I'll never forget' is a phrase, it's a vow, that none of us can honestly make.

But I promise you in honor of my family, the Alzheimer's Association, my grandfather and my dad that I will be grateful for this honor, I will remember this night, as long as memory serves."

The evening at Curtains was one of many unforgettable theatre experiences I've had over the past three years. Rest assured that I will remember it as long as my memory serves.

Here's David Hyde Pierce talking about the award and his latest role, in La Bete, which he's currently rehearsing in London.