Wednesday, November 8, 2023

Nov 8 NYC

 I arrived last night and today is Wednesday so it means ——-2 shows!  

1) An early Sondheim revival: “ Merrily We Roll Along”.  I have never seen it before as the original wasn’t considered a big hit but the revival has made enough changes (I am told) to improve it.  The cast included 2 Hamilton alums: Lindsay Mendez (who did Eliza in Hamilton) and Jonathan Groff (who did King George).  Also staring Daniel Radcliffe, who needs no introduction.  I enjoyed seeing them all; they were as good as the script would allow.  To me what was special was hearing songs I have loved for years being staged for the first time e.g.: Opening Doors; Our Time; Old Friends; Not A Day Goes By.  Wonderful music & lyrics—-thank you Mr Sondheim.  The revival book (by George Furth based on an original play by Kaufman & Hart) I am sure was improved but my overall impression was: very good but not great. The BEST part was Sondheim.  

We walked around Times Square a bit after the show.  It’s pretty chilly out—upper 40s, low 50s.  But thankfully no precipitation.  

Dinner was at a restaurant where I ate last time I was here: Blue Fin. I had a lobster/crab roll & wedge salad  YUMMY!  And it’s close to the hotel & theatre.  

2) Tonight’s second feature: “Some Like It Hot.”  I particularly wanted to see this one because I love Christian Borle (I last saw him in “Something Rotten” in NY) and because I was in the earlier musical version of this show: “Sugar” in the 70s.  To me  it seemed  a lot was very close to “Sugar” in the script but all the music was new.  I don’t know what freedom the authors had to borrow from the original story and from Sugar.  The acting & singing were terrific.  The dancing was especially outstanding in this show—-such production numbers!  

So—— A perfect day on Broadway!


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