AWESOME BROADWAY SEASON!!

Let me start this posting with a reflection on what an outstanding season it has been on Broadway. Yes, the “season” is officially over as of May 31st.

42 shows opened (14 musicals, 25 plays and 3 specials). Total attendance was 12.53 million, generating an awesome ticket revenue of $1.08 billion, the highest grossing season on record.

Revenues were up 5.9% from last season and attendance up 5.4%. Not bad considering the tough economic times.

On a personal note==>of the 34 shows currently playing on Broadway, Billi Pod has seen 32. The 2 unseen are: SISTER ACT and MARY POPPINS. I will see SISTER ACT when it finally shows up on TDF but ain’t no way will Billi Pod see MARY POPPINS (well, maybe with a comp tix, but otherwise ... no f**king way).

Let me now segue into Billi Pod’s report card on ...

BABY IT’S YOU==>B<==an enjoyable but not mind-blowing evening’s entertainment.

The cast is excellent, led by Beth Leavel who is Tony nominated for her portrayal of Florence Greenberg, the discoverer of the Shirelles and the first female powerhouse in the music industry.

It is what it is==>a jukebox musical (a phrase the theater elite hate) but it is still worth seeing.

When the show was over I came back to PHC and settled in to watch game 2 of the YANKEES/ATHLETICS series. Freddy Garcia pitched a serviceable game and the Yankee bats pounded out hits to lead to a 10-3 win.

The final game of the series is this afternoon at 3:35pm EST, with AJ Burnett aka Loser Boi on the mound, and then it will be on to Los Angeles to take on the Angels.

For the record==>for the month of May the Yankees were: 15 wins and 14 losses, not a performance that will take them to the World Series ... jus sayin.

Billi Pod’s entertainment event for tonight is ...

8:00==>THE SHAUGHRAUN, playing at The Irish Repertory Theatre. “A comedic look at the secret Fenian Uprising in Ireland in 1866.”

Yeah ... yeah ... I know. I have avoided this show largely because, in the past, I have had trouble understanding the dialects in many of the shows at this venue.

Billi Pod is finally seeing it at the “insistence” of some of his best theater buds who have assured him that he will have no problem in understanding what is going on ... so ... we will see ...

Oh, guys ... you do realize, don’t you, that the press blurb for this show has the following admonition==>"Caution: Gaelic spoken here!" Jus sayin’ ... You know ... paybacks can/will be Hell ... jus sayin' ...

GO YANKEES AND GO GATORS!!

Billi Pod

“Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.”