Sunday==>Today is going to be another AWESOME entertainment doubleheader for your favorite blogger here in The Big Apple, The Greatest City In The World, so let’s get today’s posting started with my report cards and observations on Saturday’s entertainment events ... starting with ...
UNBROKEN CIRCLE, the exploration of how abuse and family secrets affect every person in each generation differently==>A
WOW!! This powerful family drama is performed by a stellar cast in a very very small space of only 20 or so seats, all within a few feet of the actors.
The playwright, James Wesley, also plays Bobby, the troubled son with a short fuse. Suzanna Hay is outstanding as Ruby, the stern family matriarch and Eve Plumb, Jan Brady in the Brady Bunch almost 40 years ago, is remarkable as the bible-thumbing Oral Roberts University acolyte, Aunt June.
I have to admit to feeling emotionally drained when the show was over. Unfortunately, the final performance is today and is sold-out.
When the show was over I wandered just a bit and then met up with my theater-buddies Dian Crystal aka My Lady and Vera Olichney at our favorite Ethiopian restaurant, Meske, on West 47th Street in my Hell’s Kitchen ‘hood.
They had just seen the Broadway show HANDS ON A HARD BODY, in early previews, and said it was worth seeing. I am seeing it on Wednesday.
We had a great dinner, each ordering the same thing, the outstanding Vegetarian Platter. Vera is with me in the picture.
When we finished dinner we had some time to kill before our next show, which was at 8:00pm, so we came back to PHC and chilled.
Then we braved the teeming masses, and I do mean teeming masses, to walk East on 42nd Street to The American Airlines Theatre, where we met up with our friends Marty Kosarik aka Numnutz and Cathy.
In the picture, from bottom to top, it is Cathy, Dian and Vera.
The show was ...
THE BIG KNIFE, the revival of Clifford Odet’s 1949 drama about scandal and damage control at a Hollywood studio==>B
Yes, this was only the 3rd public performance but I found the pacing to be very slow moving and the characters undeveloped and often rather tentative.
Hey guys==>“A yelled line does not automatically make it authentic, believable and/or dramatic” (hummmmm ... I just made that up).
Bobby Cannavale, in the role of Charlie Castle, the troubled movie star, seemed to be lost for most of the performance and, frankly, I didn’t care what ultimately happened to his character. Richard Kind, in the role of Marcus Hoff, the studio mogul, was excellent.
I guess the bottom-line for Billi Pod was that he expected more. Hopefully the preview process will do its job and the show will be better when it opens on April 16th.
All four of my theater-buddies had about the same reaction and report cards on the show.
Moving on ...
Today is yet another entertainment doubleheader, starting with ...
2:00==>ENCORES!: IT'S A BIRD...IT'S A PLANE...IT'S SUPERMAN - “In this musical the caped hero attempts to protect Metropolis from an array of villains, including a mad scientist, a megalomaniacal gossip columnist and a mysterious clan of under-employed acrobats.” (Off Broadway - discounted TDF ticket)
This is playing at City Center on West 55th Street and has received very favorable reviews and buzz. I am looking forward to it. I never saw the original 1966 production.
When the show is over I will come back to the warm and cozy confines of PHC for the usual fruit and cheese plate and then just chill until it is time for my second show, which isn’t until 9:00pm (yep, this is the correct time).
9:00==>ART AND SCIENCE - “Adam, an estranged student, visits his former voice teacher, to find he's had a stroke, is partially paralyzed and refuses to go to the hospital because he's a Christian Scientist. The play concerns long-held resentments and struggles to find acceptance.” (Off Broadway - complimentary ticket)
This comedy/drama, written by James Wesley, stars Tony nominees John Tartaglia and Tony Sheldon.
Yeah ... it looks like another AWESOME doubleheader for Billi Pod.
A big HAPPY BIRTHDAY shout-out to my theater-buddy Vera Olichney.
So ... my loyal and faithful readers and followers, it is time to post this and then get ready to begin my Sunday doubleheader.
HAVE A GREAT REST OF THE WEEKEND EVERYONE.
Yesterday was a good walking day ...
Yesterday’s Pedometer mileage==>5.02 miles (or, 10,968 steps)
Total mileage since 7/1/12==>1,267.94 miles
GO GATORS AND GO YANKEES!!
Billi Pod
“Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.”
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