Hi-Ho, The Glamorous Life!

The Broadway cast of A Little Night Music has arrived! They started rehearsals earlier this week at The Creative Center at MTC, just one floor below where I work. Of course, I am starting to eat my lunch downstairs in the lobby with increasing frequency. Today, I did just that, and sat at a table just a few feet away from one occupied by none other than...Catherine Zeta-Jones. Unfortunately, I am yet to spot Angela Lansbury. Nonetheless, I did listen in on a some music rehearsals, and I am pleased to report that the cast sounds amahzing. I am super excited to see the show...and of course to creepily stalk the entire cast whilst I can.

In other news, the New York Arts theatre kids saw Finian's Rainbow on Tuesday. The entire group uniformly hated it. I didn't think it was so bad - once I reconciled myself to the fact that the play itself is extremely dated, bizarre, and altogether kind of terrible. I enjoyed a few of the performances, the dancing was nice (although it hit a little too close to home in its similarity to Li'l Abner), and the rainbow at the end was gorgeous. Not to mention that it steadily rained paper at the end of the first act...and we all know I'm a sucker for any kind of precipitation onstage. All in all, I would classify this play as a notch or two above a really good high school theatre production. Thank gawd for free tickets!

And in other amazing news, I finally won a Broadway ticket lottery! On Wednesday, I put my name in for the West Side Story lottery and they picked it...although the man pronounced my name "Libban" - a variation I have ne'er heard before. The seats were lovely - front row just off center. The stage was a little bit above our heads so we couldn't see the dancing feet, but I think we got the point(e). Jerome Robbins' choreography from the original production (and movie) has been reproduced here and it is absolutely explosive and brilliant. Tony and Maria were kind of lame, but Karen Olivo was terrific (and a little bit saucy) as Anita. She alone was worth the price of admission.

And finally, tonight a whole bunch of us (5 to be exact) saw "Where the Wild Things Are" in IMAX - which is kind of funny, because the kid's name in the movie is Max. But anyway, it was very cute and funny and I even cried a little bit at the end. Dare I even say it was better than "Fame"?! Yes, yes I do.

So in closing, I leave you with a selection from Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music:
Bring up the curtain, la la la
Bring down the curtain, la la la
Bring up the curtain, la la la
Hi-ho, the glamorous life!