First up on Tuesday was the Elton John/Tim Rice musical AIDA, performed in German, in Berlin. Thank goodness I had seen it before on Broadway, in English, so knew what it was about, and the story is universal anyway. Fabulous production values, and both the audience and I loved it. Was great to be back in Berlin again after 38 years; what a change that city has gone thru, and it whetted my appetite for a decent European trip that Tricia and I must try to do.
The on to New York where the first show I saw, THE TIMES THEY ARE A’CHANGIN’ was somewhat disappointing. I had so enjoyed Twyla Tharp’s previous work, MOVIN’ OUT, set to the music of Billy Joel, that maybe I had unrealistically high hopes of this one based on the songs of Bob Dylan. Admittedly it was in preview, but it needs work, and I noticed many people left before the end. Not a good sign. Conversely, the following night I had been encouraged by a friend in the business to see an Off-Broadway show, called ALTAR BOYZ. This is a spoof of overtly Christian music, charismatic behaviour etc, with a boy band comprising Matthew, Mark, Luke, Juan (Puerto Rican, of course) and Jewish Abraham. Very funny.
The weekend comprised 2 shows each day. The first was a matinee of this year’s Tony Award-winner, JERSEY BOYS, based around the life and times of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons. I knew all the songs of course, as did the entire sold-out audience. It’s a warts-and-all story of their career, with plenty of wit, irony and pathos. Absolutely excellent, and a deserved Tony winner. That was the matinee, and in the evening a re-visit to the long-running BEAUTY & THE BEAST. It remains the gem that it always has been, but the main reason for visiting was to catch up with Donny Osmond again. After fighting my way thru at least 200 fans at the Stage Door, some with LP covers of early Donny albums, I managed to spend some quality time with him alone. We chatted about the recent New Zealand tour,and how he’s enjoying being in ‘Beauty’. While in New York he’ll also be recording a new album, of new versions of major hit songs of the Seventies. We also talked tantalisingly about an idea that (Sir) Tim Rice and I discussed last week in London, that could involve Donny; so all-in-all a great evening.
The last two shows, on Sunday, were a matinee of THE DROWSY CHAPERONE, which won several Tony Awards this year and is a very hot ticket. It is a ‘small’ musical, which means its slightly smaller than the big ones, and in one quote I noted it was described as “a musical within a comedy”, which is probably quite an apt description. I won’t try to explain, but it is very good, with good humour, and the leading actor is actually one of the two writers of the show. My final fling was Monty Python’s SPAMALOT. Typically Pythonesque it is very silly, but huge fun and highly entertaining. Of course we all exited the theatre at the end humming, or whistling, “always look on the bright side of life”. What a way to end a fabulous week of quality entertainment.
