From the cheap (cough, free) seats

Apparently, it was a very theatrical week.

On Wednesday, Crissie and I saw A Catered Affair. The reaction? "Well. That wasn't nearly as terrible as I thought it would be." Unfortunately, the show has gotten a bad rep for being too short and too depressing. Ok, so sad and brief it was, but it had its moments. Tom Wopat and Faith Prince carry the show and Harvey Fierstein is...well, Harvey. Which is to say quite good and funny, albeit a bit over the top and obvious at times. The score is forgettable. The set is acceptable. The rest of the cast is tolerable. I'm pretty sure it was nominated in all the right places. (And sadly, probably won't win in any of 'em. But oh, how I would love to see Tom Wopat take home a Tony.)

Exiting the theatre, I couldn't stop singing bits of Grey Gardens and remembering back to last year and wondering where all the remarkable shows went.

And last night, I was forced into going to see Jersey Boys. We had a spare single and I've been bugging my boss for awhile so he made me go. "But John, I don't waaaaaanna," I whined. "I am tiiiiired - would you judge me if I said no?" He said he would indeed, and as my boss, ordered me to go.

Tough job, I know.

So, it was like, phenomenal and stuff. According to legend, it was a dud at the box office and even *GASP* seen at TKTS before it won its Tonys. I don't know why. The show is brilliant, start to finish. Clearly, the public at large just needs some shiny statuettes to know something is worth seeing. (Please oh please oh please oh please oh please let Passing Strange win this year.) But I digress. The show is that magical mix of the stuffs good theatre is made of. And I know it is considered a jukebox musical, given that the entire score is one group's music, but I haaaaate to call it that and drag it onto the same field as Good Vibrations and Imagine and Ring of Fire, etc. I left the theatre beaming. Well. Yawning and beaming.

And now it's Sunday morning and even though I haven't had a full night's sleep this week, my body decided to wake me up at 7:30. Just for funsies. So I'm going to put my pre-work time to good use and cleeeeean. Lori arrives on Wednesday, and I don't foresee having much spare time between now and then.