Summer vacation in New York!

I'm almost ready to head to New York City for my first visit of 2010.

I've done my sandwich research and decided to go for No. 77.

I've got my tickets for La Cage aux Folles, Lend Me A Tenor, Fela! and The Addams Family on Broadway and Trust off-Broadway. I'm also planning to take in a concert at Joe's Pub to benefit Broadway Impact and its fight for marriage equality.

Given the heat wave, I'm not sure how much energy I'll have for sightseeing but I've picked out a couple of exhibits: Race to the End of the Earth at the American Museum of Natural History and Curious George Saves the Day at The Jewish Museum.

One thing I won't be seeing is Al Pacino in Central Park in The Merchant of Venice. When you've got a too-short summer vacation, spending three hours with Shakespeare and anti-Semitism isn't very appealing.

Yeah I know, opinions differ, it has to be understood in the context of its time, it's a plea for tolerance, yada, yada, yada. Maybe another time.

Nicholas Nickleby in Boston

When it comes to theatre, I like to think ahead. And what has me dreaming currently is the 2010-2011 season from Boston's Lyric Stage Company. I saw Follies there in 2009 and really enjoyed it.

Located on the second floor of a YMCA, the Lyric is an intimate space with about 240 seats on three sides of the stage.

There are several shows in the lineup I'd love to see, including the play My Name is Asher Lev, based on the novel by Chaim Potok, and the musical Animal Crackers, by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind.

But what truly has me salivating is the adaptation of Charles Dickens' The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby from Oct. 21-Dec. 19

I love epic stories and at two parts totaling 6 1/2 hours, with a cast of 25 playing 150 characters, I think this would qualify.

The original Royal Shakespeare Company production on Broadway, which took eight hours with 39 actors, won the 1982 Tony Award for Best Play.

Here's associate director Courtney O'Connor on Nicholas Nickleby:

"As with any play, the strength of the story is in how we relate to it. Though the events take place in 1830’s England, parallels to our contemporary world are clear. Thoughts and concerns of money, family, and morals are everywhere – just as they were 180 years ago."

It's the largest production in the theatre's 37-year history and is being sponsored in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Lyric has set up a backstage blog, which I'll be following.

Whether or not I get to see it, I think it's great that the Lyric Stage is tackling something so ambitious.

Go to a show, buy some tickets!

Since it's bypassing Boston, I expect quite a few New England theatre fans will trek to Providence next year to see Alice Ripley sing her heart out in the touring production of Next to Normal.

It's not often that a performer goes on tour in her Tony-winning role and I thought Ripley gave a gut-wrenching performance as a wife and mother in the throes of mental illness. Here's my review of the musical, which you can still see on Broadway.

Individual tickets go on sale Monday, July 26, at 10 a.m. at the Providence Performing Arts Center. But you can click here to buy them now, using the code PPAC. Next to Normal runs from March 22-27, 2011.

Other musicals on PPAC's 2010-2011 lineup that go on sale next week include South Pacific (Dec. 7-12), In the Heights (Jan. 11-16), and West Side Story (April 26-May 1). I enjoyed all three of them on Broadway.

As President Obama said last night, during a concert at the White House saluting Broadway and musical theatre: "Not that I’m trying to boost the economy or anything but go to a show! Buy some tickets!”

A bait and switch from La Cage aux Folles?

What do you do when the actor you came to see is out of the show? And are the producers obligated to tell you about the absence of a "name above the title" performer before you buy a ticket?

I'm asking those questions because apparently I won't be seeing Kelsey Grammer as Georges in the Broadway revival of La Cage aux Folles this weekend. Grammer's understudy, Chris Hoch, posted on Facebook that he'd be performing Wednesday through Sunday.

I found out about it Saturday night, on the Broadway World message board, and contacted Telecharge to confirm. They checked with the Longacre Theatre, which wasn't aware of any absences. I called back this morning and was told that yes, indeed, Kelsey Grammer will be out.

Hoch posted his message on Thursday. That means producers Sonia Friedman, David Babani and Barry and Fran Weissler used Kelsey Grammer's name to sell tickets knowing full well the Cheers and Frasier star would not be appearing.

I know there are no ironclad guarantees. Actors get sick, they have emergencies. I had a wonderful experience seeing Saycon Sengbloh go on for Fantasia in The Color Purple.

But as soon as the producers of La Cage knew about this absence, they should have informed the ticket-buying public. I asked the Telecharge representative why there was no notice online and he said there should have been.) Update: After my call, a note was added.

In contrast, the producers of A Little Night Music made it very clear far in advance the weeks that Catherine Zeta-Jones was going to be out.

We all know that nearly 65 percent of tickets to Broadway shows are purchased by tourists, people like me who plan our trips far in advance, often pay full price and can't return for a second chance.

I was lucky. Most people won't find out about Grammer's absence until they get to the theatre. And by then, it'll be too late to change plans.

In this case, while it would have been nice to see Kelsey Grammer he's not a make or break for me. The question mark is Hoch. I'm sure he's a fine actor but I'm worried that at 34, he's too young to be believable as a man with a grown son.

While I could get a refund, I don't know when I can make another trip to Broadway. I'd still like to see the musical and Tony winner Douglas Hodge as Albin. Telecharge says as far as they know, he's in.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed and I'll be stopping by the theatre a little early just to make sure.

Update: I've posted my review of La Cage aux Folles - I loved it. Both Chris Hoch and Douglas Hodge were terrific. They make such a lovely couple! Hoch was giving 110 percent and I'd see him on stage again anytime. You can hear him, and other performers, talk about what it's like to be a Broadway understudy in this NPR story.

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.