Whoops, this went out early to the paid list -- I clicked the wrong button in my post-game frenzy. Usually, the Tuesday newsletter goes out at the same time for everyone, but Substack has an option to let people on the paid list read something early, and I clicked that button on accident. At least it's done and not full of placeholder text!!! Enjoy this early edition if you got it! If you have a free sub, I would have gone ahead and sent it to you now, except I don't think I can! I AM SORRY, is it Mercury Retrograde???- J
My son is a VERY superstitious sports fan and this year, he was eating a popsicle when his team finally scored a run... so he had to eat a popsicle every single time Aaron Judge stepped up to bat that game. I was thankful the game didn't go into extra innings because we were down to the last one when they finally won the game. He didn't eat a popsicle at the start of the next game and, well, look at where the Yankees are now (at a beach somewhere, watching the playoffs on TV, I assume)
When I could go to Stars games regularly I had to be wearing my lucky earrings, my black high top Converse with the Lehtinen yellow laces, whichever jersey was in favor at the moment, my grey hat with the pins on it, and my lucky red lipstick. The glitter eye look wasn't lucky but was also mandatory.
(The real one was the first time the Rangers went to the World Series, I couldn't watch them all season or they lost. Even if it was for two minutes on a dorm TV, they lost.)
I am not exactly rooting for the Brewers since they defeated the Cubs, but I feel bad that they couldn't even tie the game with three men on base in the ninth inning. I would vote for Sweeney Todd on the musicals' Mount Rushmore. And possibly Threepenny Opera. On the other hand, I think the Lion King was a real benchmark in musicals, with Julie Taymor's puppets and makeup and staging, and a primarily Black cast. Maybe if you had a category for dark/serious musicals and one for joyful musicals. Then you could add the Book of Mormon and Little Shop of Horrors. And of course Chorus Line is a classic. . .
You don’t hear much about Threepenny Opera these days, but how many other Broadway musicals spawned genuine pop music hits? Bobby Darin’s “Mack the Knife” charted in the US and UK.
We saw the Lion King on Broadway in 2023. It was my 10 year old nephew’s first Broadway show! It was AMAZING. Coincidentally, it was also my first actual Broadway show at age 49. Grandparents for the win, I guess.
I am a big Cubs fan, so I can relate. But I think the Brewers have earned my respect this year so I'll be rooting for them. We Cubs fans know what it's like to finally get that World Series, and I'd like my Milwaukee friends to get that too.
And Sweeney Todd, yes, another stellar Sondheim choice!
I worked as an assistant director at a PBS station for decades, which meant lots and lots of pledge drives. We pledged Les Miz forever, which meant that for years, I only saw the parts leading in and out of pledge breaks. This also means that I’ve always felt like I’ve seen it all multiple times, but really am totally unfamiliar with it. It’s a strange sensation, as I’m also sick of it, even though I’ve never actually seen it!
I did stage crew in college and our stage manager had worked on West Side Story. 32 performances. He HATED the score. So of course we all started whistling & snapping our fingers.
Friday night I watched the Mariners game 5 against Detroit with my parents while wearing a WSU T-shirt and crocheting a baby blanket for a co-worker and did not move from my seat on the couch for the entire 15 innings. So last night, I went to my parents’ house in a WSU shirt with my crocheting, and it worked again against Toronto! Today I had to work and MLB inconsiderately scheduled the game for 2pm — I seriously considered taking the afternoon off but fortunately they did just fine without my help. (The week before I had watched the game at my brother’s house in a Mariners jersey and they lost, so that jersey will not be making another appearance during the playoffs. I also have not yet switched my baseball themed phone case to my WSU one yet.) I so desperately want them to make it to the World Series — even more so for my 78-year-old dad than for me.
Go Cougs!! My BIL, a WSU alum, came to his first Christmas back when he was just my sister's boyfriend, bearing Cougar Gold cheese from the campus creamery. That man knew how to win over a Wisconsin family.
Thank you for your service and GO MARINERS!!! We will be doing our best to secure the win tomorrow by wearing the same clothes to the ballpark that we wore to ALDS games 2 and 5.
My son is a Tigers fan, but the Mariners are his second favorite team, so while the Tigers stung, we're happy to root for the Mariners to reach their first World Series. My distant relative used to scout for the Mariners (we share an unusual last name), so I feel a false familiarl connection and am as fond as I can get for any currrent baseball team (former A's fan here, now without a regular major league team, though GO B'S!!!).
I saw the touring production of “The Sound of Music” this weekend. Funnily enough, I saw a community theater production of it two weeks ago. Both productions were great.
While I have seen the film one zillion times and know every lyric, I had never seen the show live before. It’s such a fantastic score, with three songs that aren’t in the film. This would be one of my Mount Rushmore musicals!
A HS friend was in a local production when I was 15 and I loved the show! I was obsessed with the movie but they’re both great and I like the song additions!
I've always thought that "No Way to Stop It" needed to be in the movie too- it's such a comment on the politics of that moment and it also highlights why a marriage between the Captain and the baroness would have proven problematic over time given those politics.
I saw a touring production a few years ago and it was weird to have the songs in different places. also, shortly into the second act seven long red nazi banners fell from the ceiling and that was quite startling
I was around 13 years old when Baby Boom came out. My mom took me to see it in the theater. She loves Diane from her Godfather days. All I could think about was that I wanted to be “JC Wyatt” when I grew up. She was independent, successful, super smart, had a great wardrobe and was a little quirky. She was my role model in my formative years. I still watch that movie every few years and it still resonates with me. Diane Keaton will be missed and I wish her family lots of love.
"Baby Boom" was my favorite Keaton movie for the same reasons you beautifully stated. My annual Christmas viewing of "The Family Stone" is going to hit hard this year.
OMG, The Family Stone. It's such a good movie but hits a little too close to home for me. My mom was diagnosed with cancer around the same time as the movie came out and whoa, the emotions.
My mom passed away in 2012 from breast cancer. Then my brother told me he really liked this as a Christmas movie so I went in completely blind and was wrecked by it. I yelled at him for doing this to me and he was like "why were you so upset? Oh the mom. Yeah. Oops!". Sigh, brothers.
Between Baby Boom and Secret of My Success I also wanted to be a "businesswoman" when I grew up with little to no sense of what that might actually involve. Imagine my total delight when I rewatched BB a year ago and saw the scene where she is doing market research in the academic library because THAT IS WHAT I DO! We made it, JC!
A perfect, spot-on assessment. And her wardrobe in BB is so amazing. I wanted to be a business lady so bad because of her (not a business lady, but do love wearing heels). And her brown coat!! I have a brown striped coat of a similar style and I toy with adding a big leather belt a la JC. (Though whenever I rewatch it I do think she shouldn't throw her coat across her secretary's desk but that's a knit to pick at a later time)
BB trivia: Diane’s work wardrobe was purchased off the rack at Bergdorf Goodman. The costume designer went over on lunch hours and watched what executive women were buying, then had the personal shopper line up a rack of clothing. I remember seeing women in belted suits for years after that.
It would never occur to me that Empty Chairs at Empty Tables WOULDN'T take place among those items of furniture, but the only Les Mizes I've actually seen (as opposed to listened to obsessively on CD, along with most of the rest of my freshman dorm's hall) was the company that toured the US in 1990 and ofc the movie version.
I'm not enough of a sports person to really have superstitions, but when I'm actively cheering for the Dodgers (which I often am, though I'm very torn on the current series!) and things look a little dicey, I will post a picture of my cat wearing a Dodgers helmet (the soft serve ice cream containers from Dodger Stadium are more or less perfectly cat-sized) and call her the Rally Cat.I think it has about a 75% success rate?
I saw Les Miz a lot in college- could get in for $12 with a student id and the guys were hot! I feel like that rotating stage is part of the choreography of the songs in my head! Now I want to go see it- I've not seen it since college.
I have thoughts about this new Chess- since it's about to open and they're starting to release rehearsal footage. I had the London soundtrack back in the day, never saw it. But everything I've seen just doesn't seem to have the power of the old version. I never thought Aaron would let me down, but he lacks the weight for One Night in Bangkok! We'll see though. I Know Him So Well has been a recurring earworm for 40 years..
And Aaron Tveit can rock a pop song but the Broadway Show showed him rehearsing it recently and... disappointing. Hopefully he ramps it up for the show
Lea Michele's "Someone Else's Story" was also not good. Too pop, too smooth, cheesy instrumentation, not enough raw feeling. I assume performing live will help?? -H
I saw Les Mis yesterday afternoon! My mom took my family and my sister’s. It was all our teens (& her husband’s) first time seeing the show—and I hadn’t seen since I was a teen in the 80s. I didn’t see the movie. I agree with all of your notes, Heather. Our Valjean, an understudy, was muuuuch stronger in Act 2. Jalvert was incredible as was everyone else (including those one liners, milking it, ha!). The staging of the sewer and the bridge scene, omg. I do recall a rotating stage in the 80s. I think they did carouse drunkenly in this one? Even Master of the House made me cry since it tickled my dad who was very much alive next to me laughing in 1988, and luckily for thirty years more. My favorite musical, along with Hamilton and Big River on Rushmore. My sister said she needed to be able to change out the fourth favorite with her moods ; )
Javert was SO GOOD. I really respond to those deep voices though. We got an understudy Cosette and she was good, but that's my least favorite part. My girl Eponine killed it. Oh, and also YES to the staging of the bridge and the sewer. After the bridge, Liam was like, "WOW," under his breath. --H
Good question. I remember it feeling progressive when I saw it as a teenager. But poking around the internet now shows it probably was more problematic than I realized at the time (late 80s). Adding Everett’s amazing novel James to the mix further reinforces arguments against it.
My youngest kid is in class with a lot of musical theater majors and I asked this question recently. The consensus is that the show probably can’t be revived as written but the music is so good it will always live on as audition or showcase pieces.
No fan rituals, just wanted to say how much I LOVED your notes on Les Mis. LOVED. I recently saw a staging of Annie here in Melbourne Australia and although I love that musical (so many great songs!) and Anthony Warlow as Daddy Warbucks, I walked out with so. many. notes.
I had to text my mom and tell her that Diane Keaton died, which was…not the highlight of my day. I don’t think Diane was Mom’s favorite actress, but she represented this kind of freedom and quirkiness that had been ground out of Mom at a precocious age (Mom was the eldest daughter of a Marine and is probably neurodivergent, among other things) and we’ve watched Nancy Meyers movies together around the holidays. DK’s death hit harder than I expected.
When I was seven or eight, my grandparents took me along on one of my papa's work trips to New York City, and his boss' boss--the CEO of Whirlpool--was so charmed that they wanted to show me the city that he secured three fourth-row, dead-center tickets to see the hottest show on Broadway...Starlight Express. Listen. Empirically, I know this show is shite. And I know that when I say, "I saw it as a little girl! It was my first show!" that I'm already revealing my clear bias. But damn it, Starlight Express rules. And when you are having a bad day, standing in the middle of your living room belting out, "I AM THE STARLIGHT!", as you clutch the microfiber duster to your chest, you can convince yourself that show was robbed of a Tony and belongs on Heather's Mount Rushmore.
I DID. And I fell head over heels with her--I had no clue who Jane was, obviously, but Dinah was my favorite character (my mother was kinda over me talking about her over and over).
My first Broadway was SJP in Annie- I found the Playbill when parents were downsizing. We did a Broadway show every year for Thanksgiving around 1980 and it is amazing who was in the shows-- I apparently got to see Hinton Battle in Tap Dance Kid!
Hinton Battle is a great one, it's so fun finding old Playbills and seeing who was in them! I saw Ragtime on Broadway in 1998 and apparently got to see Brian Stokes Mitchell and Audra McDonald. I remember being OBSESSED with the singing.
My first Broadway show was Crazy for You on Jodie Benson's (voice of the Little Mermaid) last night. Harry Groener (evil Mayor on Buffy the Vampire Slayer) was the male lead who gave a sweet speech saying goodbye to her. What a wonderful show (and experience) that was.
I love this for you! Truly, not sarcastically! I was always mad I didn’t get to see it, because roller skates!! Les Mis was my first, so it’s the pinnacle of my Rushmore, but I remained salty for a LONG time that I didn’t get to see Starlight Express.
I do remain grateful to my parents, who were (are!) huge ALW fans, that they took me to all the classics at a young age — Phantom, Evita, Cats (I was like ???? which was the correct response, but 7-year-old me really thought I was missing something) — but Les Mis was always my favorite. I would definitely have to add Hamilton to that. I know it’s becoming uncool to love it, but it is amazing. I got to see the original cast, and it remains one of my favorite experiences I’ve ever had.
My parents saw Evita here in LA before it went to Broadway (it's so wild to me that it came here first!) and they're always like, we were very dubious about it when we went in. They were, as you might imagine, convinced. -J
This would definitely be my if I could go back time and see show. I was a nerdy kid obsessed with pop culture growing up in the middle of nowhere and seeing this show was my dream. For God's sake, ROLLER SKATES. I love getting to describe this show to the youths. "So you think a whole show about cats is wild, let me tell you about trains."
it was my first show too!! i was really little and remember it being a blast and kicked off a lifelong love of theatre (I live in NYC but my parents took my brother and I into 'the city' from Queens, and we even stayed overnight in a hotel, if i recall). i saw the revival last year in London and it didn't quite hit the same, but i still have great nostalgia for it.
I saw the West End debut of Starlight and I was OBSESSED WITH IT. Between Dinah and Eponine, I wanted to be Frances Ruffelle so badly. No one else in my family liked it but I was like DO YOU UNDERSTAND THEY ARE ROLLER SKATING? AND THAT ONLY HE HAS THE POWER TO MOVE HER???? -h
I did a semester abroad in London in ‘97, and the student discount meant we could see any west end show (except Chicago, sigh, it was too new) for 1/2 price on Tuesday. I saw so many shows, and Starlight Express was one I went to more than once! Is it good like Hamilton is good? No! Does it contain high energy songs, jokes, and roller skating? Yes, and I love it! Not ashamed!
Hockey players are notoriously superstitious. Sidney Crosby, for example, has famously used the SAME JOCKSTRAP for like 25 years. And has been repaired so much that it’s now a Frankenstein-strap. Super gross.
Whoops, this went out early to the paid list -- I clicked the wrong button in my post-game frenzy. Usually, the Tuesday newsletter goes out at the same time for everyone, but Substack has an option to let people on the paid list read something early, and I clicked that button on accident. At least it's done and not full of placeholder text!!! Enjoy this early edition if you got it! If you have a free sub, I would have gone ahead and sent it to you now, except I don't think I can! I AM SORRY, is it Mercury Retrograde???- J
Blame that weird double play!
That weird double play was incredible and I loved how everyone (including my beloved Ron Darling) kept saying they'd never seen such a thing before.
It really was even if it meant my guys didn’t score. I love that no one has seen something like that.
I legit screamed in my living room. (We are Brewers fans here.)
I was screaming so much my husband shushed me so he could hear the commentators. (Legit. But screaming was also legit?)
Not in retrograde yet, that's next month.
I didn't even get the email and I'm paid, I on;y saw the preview for this on BlueSky just now. Tech gremlins at work!
Did we mean to post this early?
But Go Bums!
My son is a VERY superstitious sports fan and this year, he was eating a popsicle when his team finally scored a run... so he had to eat a popsicle every single time Aaron Judge stepped up to bat that game. I was thankful the game didn't go into extra innings because we were down to the last one when they finally won the game. He didn't eat a popsicle at the start of the next game and, well, look at where the Yankees are now (at a beach somewhere, watching the playoffs on TV, I assume)
I had a thought today when I put on a navy dress that I hoped it didn’t mess with my Dodgers.
When I could go to Stars games regularly I had to be wearing my lucky earrings, my black high top Converse with the Lehtinen yellow laces, whichever jersey was in favor at the moment, my grey hat with the pins on it, and my lucky red lipstick. The glitter eye look wasn't lucky but was also mandatory.
(The real one was the first time the Rangers went to the World Series, I couldn't watch them all season or they lost. Even if it was for two minutes on a dorm TV, they lost.)
I am not exactly rooting for the Brewers since they defeated the Cubs, but I feel bad that they couldn't even tie the game with three men on base in the ninth inning. I would vote for Sweeney Todd on the musicals' Mount Rushmore. And possibly Threepenny Opera. On the other hand, I think the Lion King was a real benchmark in musicals, with Julie Taymor's puppets and makeup and staging, and a primarily Black cast. Maybe if you had a category for dark/serious musicals and one for joyful musicals. Then you could add the Book of Mormon and Little Shop of Horrors. And of course Chorus Line is a classic. . .
I fell into a YouTube wormhole recently watching clips of "5,6,7,8..." From a Chorus Line. I wish I could dance that number!
You don’t hear much about Threepenny Opera these days, but how many other Broadway musicals spawned genuine pop music hits? Bobby Darin’s “Mack the Knife” charted in the US and UK.
We saw the Lion King on Broadway in 2023. It was my 10 year old nephew’s first Broadway show! It was AMAZING. Coincidentally, it was also my first actual Broadway show at age 49. Grandparents for the win, I guess.
I am a big Cubs fan, so I can relate. But I think the Brewers have earned my respect this year so I'll be rooting for them. We Cubs fans know what it's like to finally get that World Series, and I'd like my Milwaukee friends to get that too.
And Sweeney Todd, yes, another stellar Sondheim choice!
I worked as an assistant director at a PBS station for decades, which meant lots and lots of pledge drives. We pledged Les Miz forever, which meant that for years, I only saw the parts leading in and out of pledge breaks. This also means that I’ve always felt like I’ve seen it all multiple times, but really am totally unfamiliar with it. It’s a strange sensation, as I’m also sick of it, even though I’ve never actually seen it!
I did stage crew in college and our stage manager had worked on West Side Story. 32 performances. He HATED the score. So of course we all started whistling & snapping our fingers.
Ack I forgot to add this to my list - below!- of Musicals I Would See Again in a Heartbeat
Friday night I watched the Mariners game 5 against Detroit with my parents while wearing a WSU T-shirt and crocheting a baby blanket for a co-worker and did not move from my seat on the couch for the entire 15 innings. So last night, I went to my parents’ house in a WSU shirt with my crocheting, and it worked again against Toronto! Today I had to work and MLB inconsiderately scheduled the game for 2pm — I seriously considered taking the afternoon off but fortunately they did just fine without my help. (The week before I had watched the game at my brother’s house in a Mariners jersey and they lost, so that jersey will not be making another appearance during the playoffs. I also have not yet switched my baseball themed phone case to my WSU one yet.) I so desperately want them to make it to the World Series — even more so for my 78-year-old dad than for me.
Go Mariners!! The only MLB team never ever to play in a World Series, c'mon!!!
I have a soft spot for the Blue Jays because Canada, but a REALLY soft spot for "never to play in a World Series."
Go Mariners! GO
COUGS!
Go Cougs!! My BIL, a WSU alum, came to his first Christmas back when he was just my sister's boyfriend, bearing Cougar Gold cheese from the campus creamery. That man knew how to win over a Wisconsin family.
I love that cougar gold even won over wisconsinites!
He also introduced us to Tillamook ice cream—boy howdy, he was crushing it.
Thank you for your service and GO MARINERS!!! We will be doing our best to secure the win tomorrow by wearing the same clothes to the ballpark that we wore to ALDS games 2 and 5.
Your dad and my 92yo grandma!
My son is a Tigers fan, but the Mariners are his second favorite team, so while the Tigers stung, we're happy to root for the Mariners to reach their first World Series. My distant relative used to scout for the Mariners (we share an unusual last name), so I feel a false familiarl connection and am as fond as I can get for any currrent baseball team (former A's fan here, now without a regular major league team, though GO B'S!!!).
I saw the touring production of “The Sound of Music” this weekend. Funnily enough, I saw a community theater production of it two weeks ago. Both productions were great.
While I have seen the film one zillion times and know every lyric, I had never seen the show live before. It’s such a fantastic score, with three songs that aren’t in the film. This would be one of my Mount Rushmore musicals!
A HS friend was in a local production when I was 15 and I loved the show! I was obsessed with the movie but they’re both great and I like the song additions!
I've always thought that "No Way to Stop It" needed to be in the movie too- it's such a comment on the politics of that moment and it also highlights why a marriage between the Captain and the baroness would have proven problematic over time given those politics.
I saw a touring production a few years ago and it was weird to have the songs in different places. also, shortly into the second act seven long red nazi banners fell from the ceiling and that was quite startling
The touring production I saw also had the Nazi banners on stage in the second act. So disturbing!
I was around 13 years old when Baby Boom came out. My mom took me to see it in the theater. She loves Diane from her Godfather days. All I could think about was that I wanted to be “JC Wyatt” when I grew up. She was independent, successful, super smart, had a great wardrobe and was a little quirky. She was my role model in my formative years. I still watch that movie every few years and it still resonates with me. Diane Keaton will be missed and I wish her family lots of love.
"Baby Boom" was my favorite Keaton movie for the same reasons you beautifully stated. My annual Christmas viewing of "The Family Stone" is going to hit hard this year.
OMG, The Family Stone. It's such a good movie but hits a little too close to home for me. My mom was diagnosed with cancer around the same time as the movie came out and whoa, the emotions.
Yes I never saw it for this reason. I know so many people who love it but I just can't.
My mom passed away in 2012 from breast cancer. Then my brother told me he really liked this as a Christmas movie so I went in completely blind and was wrecked by it. I yelled at him for doing this to me and he was like "why were you so upset? Oh the mom. Yeah. Oops!". Sigh, brothers.
Between Baby Boom and Secret of My Success I also wanted to be a "businesswoman" when I grew up with little to no sense of what that might actually involve. Imagine my total delight when I rewatched BB a year ago and saw the scene where she is doing market research in the academic library because THAT IS WHAT I DO! We made it, JC!
A perfect, spot-on assessment. And her wardrobe in BB is so amazing. I wanted to be a business lady so bad because of her (not a business lady, but do love wearing heels). And her brown coat!! I have a brown striped coat of a similar style and I toy with adding a big leather belt a la JC. (Though whenever I rewatch it I do think she shouldn't throw her coat across her secretary's desk but that's a knit to pick at a later time)
BB trivia: Diane’s work wardrobe was purchased off the rack at Bergdorf Goodman. The costume designer went over on lunch hours and watched what executive women were buying, then had the personal shopper line up a rack of clothing. I remember seeing women in belted suits for years after that.
I was in high school and JC Wyatt really made an impression. Diane and Sam Shepherd are adult hot in the movie.
It would never occur to me that Empty Chairs at Empty Tables WOULDN'T take place among those items of furniture, but the only Les Mizes I've actually seen (as opposed to listened to obsessively on CD, along with most of the rest of my freshman dorm's hall) was the company that toured the US in 1990 and ofc the movie version.
I'm not enough of a sports person to really have superstitions, but when I'm actively cheering for the Dodgers (which I often am, though I'm very torn on the current series!) and things look a little dicey, I will post a picture of my cat wearing a Dodgers helmet (the soft serve ice cream containers from Dodger Stadium are more or less perfectly cat-sized) and call her the Rally Cat.I think it has about a 75% success rate?
The whole point of the song is the location!
I saw Les Miz a lot in college- could get in for $12 with a student id and the guys were hot! I feel like that rotating stage is part of the choreography of the songs in my head! Now I want to go see it- I've not seen it since college.
I have thoughts about this new Chess- since it's about to open and they're starting to release rehearsal footage. I had the London soundtrack back in the day, never saw it. But everything I've seen just doesn't seem to have the power of the old version. I never thought Aaron would let me down, but he lacks the weight for One Night in Bangkok! We'll see though. I Know Him So Well has been a recurring earworm for 40 years..
Literally ALL I know about Chess outside of this newsletter is One Night in Bangkok, lol
And Aaron Tveit can rock a pop song but the Broadway Show showed him rehearsing it recently and... disappointing. Hopefully he ramps it up for the show
Lea Michele's "Someone Else's Story" was also not good. Too pop, too smooth, cheesy instrumentation, not enough raw feeling. I assume performing live will help?? -H
And I've heard nothing about who the other woman is-- that was also a hit song! Does Lea not want to share the spotlight?
I saw Les Mis yesterday afternoon! My mom took my family and my sister’s. It was all our teens (& her husband’s) first time seeing the show—and I hadn’t seen since I was a teen in the 80s. I didn’t see the movie. I agree with all of your notes, Heather. Our Valjean, an understudy, was muuuuch stronger in Act 2. Jalvert was incredible as was everyone else (including those one liners, milking it, ha!). The staging of the sewer and the bridge scene, omg. I do recall a rotating stage in the 80s. I think they did carouse drunkenly in this one? Even Master of the House made me cry since it tickled my dad who was very much alive next to me laughing in 1988, and luckily for thirty years more. My favorite musical, along with Hamilton and Big River on Rushmore. My sister said she needed to be able to change out the fourth favorite with her moods ; )
Javert was SO GOOD. I really respond to those deep voices though. We got an understudy Cosette and she was good, but that's my least favorite part. My girl Eponine killed it. Oh, and also YES to the staging of the bridge and the sewer. After the bridge, Liam was like, "WOW," under his breath. --H
So did my Dylan, who’s 14. Eponine is my fave musical character, and omg did that singer-actress kill it
I was in Big River many moons ago - do you think it holds up?
Good question. I remember it feeling progressive when I saw it as a teenager. But poking around the internet now shows it probably was more problematic than I realized at the time (late 80s). Adding Everett’s amazing novel James to the mix further reinforces arguments against it.
My youngest kid is in class with a lot of musical theater majors and I asked this question recently. The consensus is that the show probably can’t be revived as written but the music is so good it will always live on as audition or showcase pieces.
No fan rituals, just wanted to say how much I LOVED your notes on Les Mis. LOVED. I recently saw a staging of Annie here in Melbourne Australia and although I love that musical (so many great songs!) and Anthony Warlow as Daddy Warbucks, I walked out with so. many. notes.
You two really are the best
The stage version of Annie is WEIRD if you’ve only ever seen the movie! - J
And vice versa!
I had to text my mom and tell her that Diane Keaton died, which was…not the highlight of my day. I don’t think Diane was Mom’s favorite actress, but she represented this kind of freedom and quirkiness that had been ground out of Mom at a precocious age (Mom was the eldest daughter of a Marine and is probably neurodivergent, among other things) and we’ve watched Nancy Meyers movies together around the holidays. DK’s death hit harder than I expected.
When I was seven or eight, my grandparents took me along on one of my papa's work trips to New York City, and his boss' boss--the CEO of Whirlpool--was so charmed that they wanted to show me the city that he secured three fourth-row, dead-center tickets to see the hottest show on Broadway...Starlight Express. Listen. Empirically, I know this show is shite. And I know that when I say, "I saw it as a little girl! It was my first show!" that I'm already revealing my clear bias. But damn it, Starlight Express rules. And when you are having a bad day, standing in the middle of your living room belting out, "I AM THE STARLIGHT!", as you clutch the microfiber duster to your chest, you can convince yourself that show was robbed of a Tony and belongs on Heather's Mount Rushmore.
Wait did you see it with Jane Krakowski??? That’s my “if you could travel back in time and see one show” show!!!
I DID. And I fell head over heels with her--I had no clue who Jane was, obviously, but Dinah was my favorite character (my mother was kinda over me talking about her over and over).
Oh my gosh that's so cool. I'm seeing JK next week in Oh, Mary! and I'm beyond excited
I am also seeing Krakowski in a couple of weeks in Oh, Mary! and I am really looking forward to it. :)
I’m so envious, you are about to receive the treat of a LIFETIME.
Do you know what I've been thinking about? Jane Krakowski on Only Murders. She would be fabulous!!
Ahh we'll have to check back in!! I haven't seen the play before, I think I was holding out for JK!
GASP, I didn’t know she was joining the cast!!! You are going to have the time of your LIFE!!
Me too! Going next week to see her in Oh, Mary!
I'm going on Thursday!! HBU??
Sat 10/25. AAAAAAAHHHHH!
My first Broadway was SJP in Annie- I found the Playbill when parents were downsizing. We did a Broadway show every year for Thanksgiving around 1980 and it is amazing who was in the shows-- I apparently got to see Hinton Battle in Tap Dance Kid!
Hinton Battle is a great one, it's so fun finding old Playbills and seeing who was in them! I saw Ragtime on Broadway in 1998 and apparently got to see Brian Stokes Mitchell and Audra McDonald. I remember being OBSESSED with the singing.
My friend won't go see Ragtime with me in Dec cause she saw that cast and really, why see someone else after that?
My first Broadway show was Crazy for You on Jodie Benson's (voice of the Little Mermaid) last night. Harry Groener (evil Mayor on Buffy the Vampire Slayer) was the male lead who gave a sweet speech saying goodbye to her. What a wonderful show (and experience) that was.
I saw Starlight Express with Jane too back in the late 80's. I know everyone rags on that show, but I loved it!
Fellow Starlight Express fan saying hi! (Also saw it at 7, in the West End - clearly a formative age.)
I CAAAAN ACHIEEEEEVE...
ME TOO! -H
I saw it in the West End while on vacation when I was 15 and I had the BEST time. I will love Starlight Express forever.
I love this for you! Truly, not sarcastically! I was always mad I didn’t get to see it, because roller skates!! Les Mis was my first, so it’s the pinnacle of my Rushmore, but I remained salty for a LONG time that I didn’t get to see Starlight Express.
I do remain grateful to my parents, who were (are!) huge ALW fans, that they took me to all the classics at a young age — Phantom, Evita, Cats (I was like ???? which was the correct response, but 7-year-old me really thought I was missing something) — but Les Mis was always my favorite. I would definitely have to add Hamilton to that. I know it’s becoming uncool to love it, but it is amazing. I got to see the original cast, and it remains one of my favorite experiences I’ve ever had.
Evita! Jesus Christ Superstar! Full of bangers!!
Oh man, Jesus Christ Superstar! So good!
My parents saw Evita here in LA before it went to Broadway (it's so wild to me that it came here first!) and they're always like, we were very dubious about it when we went in. They were, as you might imagine, convinced. -J
This would definitely be my if I could go back time and see show. I was a nerdy kid obsessed with pop culture growing up in the middle of nowhere and seeing this show was my dream. For God's sake, ROLLER SKATES. I love getting to describe this show to the youths. "So you think a whole show about cats is wild, let me tell you about trains."
it was my first show too!! i was really little and remember it being a blast and kicked off a lifelong love of theatre (I live in NYC but my parents took my brother and I into 'the city' from Queens, and we even stayed overnight in a hotel, if i recall). i saw the revival last year in London and it didn't quite hit the same, but i still have great nostalgia for it.
I saw the West End debut of Starlight and I was OBSESSED WITH IT. Between Dinah and Eponine, I wanted to be Frances Ruffelle so badly. No one else in my family liked it but I was like DO YOU UNDERSTAND THEY ARE ROLLER SKATING? AND THAT ONLY HE HAS THE POWER TO MOVE HER???? -h
I did a semester abroad in London in ‘97, and the student discount meant we could see any west end show (except Chicago, sigh, it was too new) for 1/2 price on Tuesday. I saw so many shows, and Starlight Express was one I went to more than once! Is it good like Hamilton is good? No! Does it contain high energy songs, jokes, and roller skating? Yes, and I love it! Not ashamed!
Hockey players are notoriously superstitious. Sidney Crosby, for example, has famously used the SAME JOCKSTRAP for like 25 years. And has been repaired so much that it’s now a Frankenstein-strap. Super gross.
omg there are so many Crosby superstitions
Alex Ovechkin eats chicken parm before every game.
Ew.