There is nothing like a Broadway show!

 

HALLIE EPHRON: A few weeks ago I had the great good fortune to see HADESTOWN on Broadway.

The 8 Tony Award-winning play tells the story of two mythical couples--Orpheus and Eurydice, and Hades and Persephone. Eurydice has signed her soul to Hades, and a young guitar-playing Orpheus ventures into the underworld to rescue her and (with the help of Persephone) bring her back.

Things don’t go well…

It’s a Broadway musical which, in the tradition of great Broadway musicals, has a moment when the set and the lighting and the actors and the music align and the theatre feels as if it breaks open, revealing some breathtaking real-world truth.

If you’ve seen WICKED, you’ll recognize it as the moment when Elphaba sings “Defying Gravity” (and she literally does, rising off the stage).

In HADESTOWN, that lightning strikes during “Why Do We Build the Wall.” The set literally breaks open and the music pulses, and it feels as if we’re in the belly of an enormous belching furnace and… it left me literally breathless. Shooting to my feet and madly clapping when it ended.

Here are some of the lyrics…

Why do we build the wall?
My children, my children
Why do we build the wall?

Why do we build the wall?
We build the wall to keep us free
That's why we build the wall
We build the wall to keep us free

How does the wall keep us free?
My children, my children
How does the wall keep us free?
How does the wall keep us free?

The wall keeps out the enemy
And we build the wall to keep us free
That's why we build the wall
We build the wall to keep us free

And that song was written long before there was… a wall.

Here's a short segment from the beginning, just to give you a feeling for the way it draws you in.
What are the moments when you’ve had an epiphany watching a live performance?

Curtain up!! In praise of live theatre, even if it gives us nightmares

HALLIE EPHRON: The only awards show I watch is the Tony Awards. I find the theater completely magical--the curtain goes up and my neck prickles and I go into a trance. The awards show always lets you sample the first-run casts and see many of the nominees perform. And it's live, like a real Broadway show.



This year I was thrilled to see Elaine May, at 87!,  win a Tony for her role in "The Waverly Gallery." She graciously attributed part of her success in playing the family matriarch to "My family was played by everyone you've ever wanted to be on stage with."

Before Ali Stroker won the Tony for her role as Ado Annie in "Oklahoma" (the girl who cain't say no) she performed and brought down the house. No wonder she won! Never mind that she's in a wheelchair.

And I was delighted to see "The Ferryman"--the story of a family during The Troubles--which I remember Lucy had gone to see and raved about! "Hadestown" (best musical) is now on top of my list to see next time we're in NY.

As much as I love the theater, it's weird that a recurring nightmare I have is that I am IN a play and don't have a clue what my lines are.

LUCY BURDETTE: We've seen several of these shows, though I did not watch the Tonys--The Waverly Gallery, The Ferryman, and Tootsie.

Broadway is an incredible splurge, but we love it enough to justify. The talent, the music, the costumes! I am still raving about THE FERRYMAN--want all of you to see it! It's intense and dark, but brings the Irish troubles to life and all the actors were incredible. Elaine May was terrific in The Waverly Gallery, but it was a difficult play--not "fun." At all, though she had some funny lines. Alzheimer's=not fun. Tootsie: I was crazy about this movie, can remember lines and scenes so clearly. I worried that the show couldn't do as well. But the lead was fantastic--he transformed himself into a totally believable woman. Great music, great costumes, great dancing. Next up for us will be Ain't Too Proud this fall.

About being IN a play, only if I can stop and say "oh I forgot, give me a minute and it will come to me."

JENN McKINLAY: When I lived on the east coast, I went to see Broadway shows all the time. Fabulous! Like you, Hallie, I am completely under the spell of the performance. I love, love, love live theater. Being in AZ, we catch a lot of the touring shows when they come to ASU's Gammage theater. Hub and I try to go a couple of times a year. Our most recent favorite was Something Rotten. It really spoke to the writer in me and was witty and funny and smart. Delightful!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: LOVE live theater. And such fun to see the Tonys. Jenn, Something Rotten is first on my list,  even though it's oldish. I love the songs, --"It's hard to be the Bard!" We should all just sing that every day.


(We just saw the pre-Broadway preview of the new Moulin Rouge--first act awesome, second act, not so much.)

Random thoughts: I wanted to be an actor in high school and college. Loved it. I sang I Cain't Say No  in a big audition once, and every time I hear it, it brings back that memory. (I always got the role of the character's best friend or the Rosalind Russell type.)

And for YEARS I had that "oh, no I don't know the lines" dream. Often. And then, a about a year ago, I started to have it, and then in the dream, I said to myself--this is a dream. And it doesn't matter. And anyway, you can figure the lines out as you go, no problem. I never had the dream again.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I love the Tonys, watched most of the show but had to record the end as I was drooping. I thought it was a good show--why do the critics always have to complain about the awards shows? And Ali Stroker was fabulous.

I have to admit, however, that I have never seen a Broadway show. The West End, yes, although not as many as I'd like. I'm always so busy doing book research and trying to squeeze everything in when I'm in London (or writing frantically) but next trip I'm determined to see something. The last thing I saw was one of the final shows of the final run of Billy Elliott--so glad I did! Live shows really are magical--and I loved James Corden's opening number on the Tony's!

No dreams about forgetting my lines on stage--I have enough trouble in real life!



HALLIE: Have you had a transporting theater experience? Ever been IN a play? And what about nightmares about unlearned lines?