Traveling While Vegan in: Mexico City (Part 1: Hipodromo, La Condesa, Roma)by Randi / October 15, 2019The Son: An Effective, Infuriating, Tragic Look at Awful Parenting
It’s Theatre Thursday! Today’s show is The Son, playing at London’s Duke of York’s Theatre until Nov. 2.
As my girl Tahani says in Season One of The Best Show, “As the Brits say, do your best to hide your sadness.” I thought this was supposed to be a joke, but I’ve seen the British parenting styles of the ‘chin-up’ and the ‘be brave and soldier on’ and the ‘keep calm and carry on’ varieties practiced too often in UK culture to brush it off. These terrible ways to parent are on full, stunning display in the play The Son. Sure, it’s a French play by Florian Zeller but I guess the French are like that too (I know I know #notallFrench/#notallBrits), and Christopher Hampton’s translation is a gripping, excruciatingly frustrating and effective teardown of these types of horrible parents and the inexcusable disservice they do their children.
It’s also so, so British in the characters’ ignorance of mental illness, both in not understanding it and in flat out ignoring it; we get both fun treatments of the serious problem. In The Son, Pierre and Anna are recently divorced, and their teenage son Nicolas is not doing well. Sure, a lot of his unhappiness is from the divorce, and the fact that Pierre moved in with the other woman, Sofia, and their new baby. That’s rough for anyone. But Nicolas’s problems are not just teenage angst or misery at the disintegration of his family. His issues are deeper rooted, not an inability to handle the divorce but an inability to handle life (and he says that! repeatedly!), one that is so obviously a serious mental illness.
It’s understandable that Pierre and Anna would want to assume the best and try to help their son be happy in breezy ways. But their ease in ignoring an enormous problem is unforgivable. When someone skips school for a few weeks, even a month, you yell at them. When someone skips school for three months and has nervous breakdowns at the thought of going back, or doing really anything, you need a professional. When you can’t even count the scars, healing and newly bleeding, on your son’s arm because there are just too many, you don’t yell at him that he needs to stop that. Well, Pierre does, because he’s a bad father. If there ever existed a clearer sign that you need to take your son to a doctor, I don’t know what it is. The fact that only one parent mentions professional help literally MONTHS into his serious depression is the most shocking part of this show, which, if you’ve seen it, says a lot. And that paltry attempt went something like this: Pierre (yelling): “Well if you won’t talk to me about it, do you want to talk to…someone else?” (HE MEANS A DOCTOR! YAYYY FINALLY, I THOUGHT!) Nicolas: “No.” Pierre: “Okay.” I LITERALLY ALMOST STORMED THE STAGE. And these are well-to-do people; it’s not that they couldn’t afford or ‘don’t do’ doctors. If you have a huge grand piano in your shiny white flat, you can afford a consultation.
Pierre’s not the only shittastic adult onstage. Anna, this poor kid’s mother, is completely unaware of what’s needed as well. At one point, after moving in with his father, Nicolas thinks maybe he should move back in with mom. He shyly asks his own mother if that would be okay. And instead of shouting ‘yes of course!’ or giving her clearly suffering son a hug, Anna responds with “Oh I thought you were getting on well at your father’s?” and “what happened to make you want to move?” SHITTASTIC. And Sofia might be the worst of all (I mean she’s not but they all are?), worrying about what Nicolas’s moving in with her new fam means for her upcoming holiday to Italy. And, of course, never saying that he needs a g-d doctor. You know it’s going to be tragic because of their stupidity, and the entire ending + Next to Normal-like coda was all so wrenching I could hear my heart beating. I may have been furious the entire show, but that’s not boring, and this was some effective theatre.
Saying they were oblivious and saying his need for real help was obvious feels so insufficient to describe this situation. It was like an elephant was on that stage sitting on top of Nicolas and we’re all sitting there pointing to it and shouting ‘there’s an elephant!’ and Nicolas is like ‘I feel like there’s an elephant on me’ and the adults are telling Nicolas he should really sit up straighter.
And Nicolas, hoo boy. Laurie Kynaston’s performance is gutting. I felt tormented watching this poor boy go through this experience with no real lifelines available to him. He full inhabits this character and I never once considered him outside the character.
That all the adults were so inept, so oblivious to what was needed, was frustrating, yes, beyond belief, but also so effective in showing how society (and specific anti-mental-health cultural norms) continuously fails victims. The only problem I have is…I don’t know if all this was Zeller’s aim, to show that the parents failed here. I hope it was, because it’s obvious. But if his goal was for this play to simply remark on how difficult mental illness is and how ‘we don’t know where it comes from’, then I’m lost, because the whole point of understanding mental illness is that it doesn’t ‘come from’ an easy excuse, it’s a medical condition with scientific and not social roots and needs a doctor just as cancer does. I’m going to believe Zeller intended to give his audiences credit for knowing this and that we’re all on the same page, but given that the people in my audience were likely parents of the styles mentioned at the start, I worry that they didn’t learn the right lesson.
INFORMATION
The show is 1 hour 45 minutes with no interval. It feels like a lifetime but not in a bad way. Just bring water because you will dehydrate from sweating out all the anxiety.
The Duke of York’s Theatre (I hate the apostrophe) has the Royal Circle (the mezzanine) at street level; the stalls are downstairs. The circle is pretty small, maybe 8 rows? The ladies room is right outside the House Right circle door.
TodayTix has rush tickets for £15, which is an insane value for this very good play, especially if measured in cardiovascular activity.
Related Posts
Promoting Black Voices and Stories in the Theatre
At the time when everyone is (hopefully) sharing information on how to support black voices, I thought it might be nice to celebrate black artists and stories in the theatre. People much more knowledgeable than I am have shared lists of books to read, shows to watch, documentaries to find, places to donate, and I’ve tried to absorb all of that and do what I can, and I hope you have too. So what do I have to recommend except theatre. I thought I’d share some great shows we can watch to maybe open our minds and show some support. The theatre community has always prided itself on including and welcoming everyone from every background, and it really is a special place, especially compared to other communities. But it has a long way to go before the range of voices heard in the theatre reflect the world around us, and before true equality exists in the representation of stories and voices and talent in the theatre.
So I thought I would offer you a list of some shows that promote black voices, actors, and stories that we can all watch this weekend. We have time now that Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Show Must Go On” YouTube series took this opportunity to cancel this weekend’s planned stream! (I don’t know what it was intended to be, but I bet it wasn’t an ALW joint since he stopped sharing his work and instead started sharing…NBC live musicals, woof.) The YouTube channel’s statement said they weren’t sharing a show this weekend in ‘support of Black Lives Matter’. It’s not for me to say whether this is an effective show of support or an empty statement that lets them be lazy and uncreative while maybe saving face, but I would rather the channel share theatre with, say, black creative teams or all-black casts, something to support black voices and stories in theatre and promote them instead of keeping silent. Enormous platforms failing to support such voices when they have the ability to amplify them to millions isssss not my favorite.
Last week’s release was actually a fitting one (albeit a version that’s mediocre) – the NBC live version of the musical Hairspray! Okay, I know, it’s a very white-centered show that treats racism like a lil plot twist and is very, very guilty of the white-savior trope. But it’s bubbly and fun and with a clear message that handles racism in a way that’s accessible to e.g. young kids or impressionable (republican) adults. It’s one of my faves and it happens to be important. Come at me all you want but the Nikki Blonsky (oh she cray)-John Travolta-Queen Latifah-endless amazing names movie version from 2007 is the best. Anyway, ALDubs could have just extended the release window for this one! It also has a mostly impressive cast (Jennifer Hudson singing “I Know Where I’ve Been”?? yes please!) providing the messaging.
Another ‘easy’ but powerful and enjoyable show – and another Best New Musical Tony winner – that deals with racism in America is Memphis, the 2010 show starring Montego Glover, an amazing singer playing an amazing singer, and Chad Kimball as a fictionalized character inspired by Dewey Phillips, one of the first white DJs to play black music on the radio in the 1950s. Fun fact, one day after the matinee of the 2015 revival of ‘The Color Purple’ (see below) I left the theatre speaking with actor Isaiah Johnson about the incredible 104% perfect show and all kinds of things and we were talking and walking down 8th Ave. and we bumped into Montego Glover and they hugged and were catching up and I was just there because we were still talking so that was the gd coolest. (After a few minutes I politely said I would take my leave so they could catch up properly but they were like oh okay cool bye, not like ‘wtf get out of here’ it was awesome.) You can find Memphis on Amazon Prime and BroadwayHD.
A problem with these shows is that their creators are white, so the stories are made palatable and play into white people’s ideals of how to solve racism. As time moves forward, I believe, and hope, that creators and audiences alike realize and accept the need for representation on- and offstage of those whose stories are being told, to make sure the right voices have input. (This was the problem with London’s Falsettos fiasco.)
A wonderfully different show springing from the brilliance of one black man is the 2008 musical Passing Strange, written by the artist Stew (who also starred in it). This unique musical was sort of like a rock concert, sort of like performance art, and a completely different feel from everything around it on Broadway. It tells the story of a young man from LA who tries to figure himself out in Europe, where he encounters all sorts of characters but is often the token black guy. It’s a more personal journey and story than the all-encompassing ‘let’s discuss racism’ shows, and that’s what makes it so effective and moving – especially since so much of it comes from Stew himself. Stew won a Tony for the book, beating In the Heights, and I’m like very happy for him. The show is on YouTube for a small fee.
A Raisin in the Sun, the seminal play about a black family’s experiences, might be a cliche to include on such a list as its the pinnacle of black theatre, but cliches exist because they’re true. You all know this play, right, like you wouldn’t be reading my shit if you hadn’t already read A Raisin in the Sun, right? To watch: the Sidney Poitier/Ruby Dee movie is on Amazon, while the movie version of the 2008 Broadway revival production is on YouTube, with the same Broadway cast including Phylicia Rashad (who won a Tony for it), Audra McDonald (who won a Tony for it), and Sean Combs (that’s right).
Another important play with an accessible movie version is Fences, with stars Denzel Washington and Viola Davis recreating their Tony-winning Broadway roles. I like this one because honestly Denzel’s character seems kind of awful, and it’s necessary that white audiences don’t just get to enjoy happy charming black characters and that black actors get to portray the full expanse of humanity.
For a newer play that more directly reflects the current situation, Pass Over is currently streaming on Amazon. This film version, directed by Spike Lee, of Antoinette Nwandu’s superb, tragic 2018 play, will probably have the same emotional impact as the stage version, which means you will feel awful. The play was written as a sort-of response to the killing of Trayvon Martin, so it feels awfully, depressingly relevant now. Of all the ones on this list, this is the one that we should all watch if we are trying to learn about what is happening.
There’s also the 2017 Lincoln Center Theatre production of the play Pipeline, about inequality in education. The mother of a black inner-city teenager works at a public school, but she decides to send her son to private school, and thus has to grapple with this decision as well as the realization that a whiter school won’t protect him. We are planning to watch it this weekend; it sounds great…and upsetting (given how education is indeed unbelievably unequal) which is fine because we all should be upset right now! especially white people! It’s currently on BroadwayHd for free so hurry up.
After those plays, you’re going to need some more musical spirit-lifting. I know I just said white people all should be upset but if you educate yourself on Black Lives Matter and talk to white friends about it and stand up for injustice and challenge the ideas we’re fed about police being helpful and donate if you can then maybe you can have a musical, as a treat.
If you want a fun one to watch with kids, you can’t go wrong with The Wiz, the classic reimagining of The Wizard of Oz with an all-black cast. You can rent the original film on YouTube, Google play, and I’m sure lots of other places, since it’s old and awesome. Starring Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, forking Lena Horne and Richard Pryor?? I mean drop what you are doing and watch it now if you’ve never seen it. For goodness sake, I just realized this was another recent NBC live musical production! WTF! Given that ALW and his “The Show Must Go On” have turned to showing NBC live musicals, it’s kind of ridiculous that they aren’t showing this one. I wonder if it was supposed to be this weekend’s offering; if so, that’s pretty shirty to cancel. If not, why not! It’s easy to acquire and share given that it’s morphed into a platform solely for American televised live stuff. This one had Mary J. Blige! It was awesome! Promote black artists Andrew!
On Netflix, there’s the movie musical Been So Long, starring UK fave Michaela Coel, about a black single mother and a man she falls for. It’s based on a 2009 Young Vic musical, but that’s before my time so I can’t say how it compares. I can say it has 92% on the old tomato meter, so it probably did a good job.
I wish I could find the Broadway musical version of The Color Purple, any version of it, and share it like I had wanted to. This show is so forking good. LIKE A BLAAAADE OF COOOORN, like a hooooooneyyy beeeeee. like a waaaater falllll, all a part of meeee! LIKE THE COLOR PURPLE! omg I FORKING LOVE THIS SHOW. It’s so good. Listen to the 2015 Broadway revival recording with the unmatched Cynthia Erivo, watch the Oprah movie, read Alice Walker’s novel. Do all three. Luckily, there’s a movie version of this musical in the works, so we can enjoy that sometime in the future, if there’s a future, and enjoy the fun of a book-to-movie-to-musical-to-movie musical journey.
I also can’t find any trace of the 2016 Broadway musical Shuffle Along, or, The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed, or even the original 1921 sensation of the same name (well the first two words). The original Shuffle Along was musical by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake that enjoyed a surprising long run in New York in 1921 and introduced the world to Josephine Baker, Florence Mills, Paul Robeson, and more. In 2016, George C. Wolfe helmed a new show telling the tale of that original event, with the most exciting cast of stellar black luminaries imaginable, including Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Billy Porter, and more. It was a flawed retelling but its importance and heart were undeniable. It’s worth listening to the cast recording for Audra’s, well, being Audra, and for Adrienne Warren’s take on Florence Mills. You can also take a half hour and watch this interview with Wolfe and stars about the show.
Is it bad that I want a production of Fiddler on the Roof (one of the best and most enduring classics for dern good reason) that amplifies its message of prejudice by having black actors play the Jews while keeping the Russians white? WOULD BE INTERESTING.
Anyway, there are lots of black stories to appreciate and black talent to celebrate – there’s the Dreamgirls movie (with J-Hud in top form, Beyonce killing it, and Tony-winner Anika Noni Rose) which is I believe is on Netflix; there’s Audra’s exquisite Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill on BroadwayHD. And yet there’s obviously not enough, since I am just shooting out a quick list like this. And while of course this list is way incomplete, clearly if such a list can even be made, it means these sorts of works are the exceptions and not the rule. The fact that I can specifically point to all of these examples, leaving off maybe a dozen or so, proves in itself what a dearth there is. Theatre, like all institutions and areas and arts and parts of the universe, has a long way to go before inclusion, colorblind casting, and promotion of minority voices is the norm and not the lauded exception. Make demand for this heard, and maybe start by enjoying some of what we already have.
Rachel Bloom Live in London: The Most Hilarious, Joyous, Loving Show in Town
Last night, Rachel Bloom, creator and star of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, the greatest television musical/show/lifeforce/raison d’etre/new bar for excellence in any field made her London debut (a phrase about performance firsts that is commonly used in theatre but it sounds like I’m talking about debutantes and I feel like she would love that).
Bloom is in town for only two performances at the Palladium, an enormous theatre by Oxford Circus where I’ve seen, off the top of my head, both the transfer of the 2015 Broadway revival of The King and I, starring Kelli O’Hara, AND Whose Line is it Anyway: Live, a forking confusing list of past residents. Since CXG said goodbye, Bloom and her incredible cast have done the opposite of what most entertainers do when their jobs end: they’ve doubled down on working hard for their insanely adoring fans, just live instead of on TV. With the post-finale live show (on Netflix for people who don’t know, which like how do you live), sold-out shows at freaking Radio City Musical Hall and more, Bloom and the cast have been performing the genius, hilarious, wonderful songs from the beloved show, proving that they’re somehow even more talented live and that they have the best, most dedicated, most adoring fans ever. Finally, Bloom came to London, but without the rest of the cast. Or so we were told.
A mostly solo Rachel Bloom show was still a must-see, especially since she was bringing along co-writer and musical genius Adam Schlesinger on the piano (with local musicians on bass and drums) and Emmy-winning choreographer (representing all the show’s deserved Emmy wins) Kat Burns. She promised a few special surprise guests, who I assumed would be British performers, because I like making an ass out of you and me, I guess. I could not have been more wrong or more excited – I literally jumped out of my seat screaming like a forking lunatic fangirl (which I guess this means I am?) when Rachel tried to kill me by bringing out PETE GARDNER and SCOTT MICHAEL FOSTER. The surprise and excitement at either one of them would have been enough to kill me so with both of them I was killed twice which means the murders get negated and I am fine now, if still amped up on adrenaline and dealing with the subsequent nausea that it causes (it’s a true thing; I googled it at 4am).
The most incredible part, well besides seeing these performers that I love singing literally my favorite songs, was this audience. Rachel seemed genuinely moved at how devoted this immense crowd of fans was. The cheering was unlike anything I’ve ever heard – louder than any sports game I’ve been to (she did say, after making a joke about the big football match over the weekend, “oh no this is my first audience that watches sports!”), louder than any concert, and about 10 times the intensity of a closing night of a Broadway show. Like that last one, this crowd also sang along to every single word, which would normally be annoying for me (and it was a little just because the girls behind me were almost louder than Rachel, which like please no) but for the most part was pretty emotional, for me, for everyone, and clearly for Rachel, who kept pausing to take it all in. The only bad thing about the singing along came when a few people would preempt Rachel’s big moments, but we’ll get to that. Because I can’t focus on literally anything else right now, I’m going to go through night to the best of my ability/memory and share everything I can – including some videos! I didn’t take any during the first act because it is SO WRONG TO RECORD IN THE THEATRE, but then once I fully accepted that this was totally cool here, I took some videos (still super short ones though because ahhh).
ACT I
PERIOD SEX
To open with “Period Sex” is a bold move, and I couldn’t stop laughing watching the unapprised guards’ faces. They did NOT know what they were in for. On the show, we had only gotten a few lines of this song in its various occurrences. But here, oh boy, they went all out writing the rest of the song, even including a line about buying new sheets at Primark (to which Rachel commented, rightly, that Primark sounds like a pregnancy test). Amazing start, jumping right in to the crazy.
FEELING KINDA NAUGHTY
This is one of my favorites so I may have started my screaming, which lasted for the next 2 ½ hours, at recognizing the opening. Although nothing beats the image in the show that accompanies the delivery of “like that film with Liberace”, it was still the amazing live.
WE SHOULD DEFINITELY NOT HAVE SEX RIGHT NOW
Rachel roped Adam into performing Josh’s part from this song, which was hilarious since Adam gives off such a serious vibe.
It was around this point when Rachel learned the hard way that this country does not do air conditioning. It was super hot in the theatre, and I was sweating sitting in the audience so I can’t imagine how much worse it was for Rachel under those stage lights. She started the show wearing a plaid shirt open over a tank because she said she hadn’t gotten the tank top tailored yet, but soon she had to take it off.. She definitely undersold how ill-fitting the shirt was, as she definitely almost fully popped out of it several times!
OMG I THINK I LIKE YOU
Ugh my FAVORITE. It was magical. It was especially funny to hear the bridge, just the best bridge ever, about the various forms of contraception including the IUD (“that can stop the image of YOU AND ME”) since she had just talked about a bad experience she had with the NuvaRing and said “Do you guys know what that is? Oh wait you do IUDs here don’t you?” to which the audience shouted “YES”. Rachel said “doesn’t that hurt??” and again, everyone shouted “YESSS”. HILARIOUS.
I’M A GOOD PERSON
I was – we were ALL – SO happy to hear this song start, since it is one of the classics out of this show (like 131 are all classics and amazing, btw). It was the explicit version – all of these were the explicit versions – and while generally the safe-for-TV versions are actually much better (see, e.g., “JAP Battle” and “I Give Good Parent”, two of my absolute faves), the differences with this song are few and they’re lateral moves, so it was no big deal. Where in the show Rebecca comes across the guy choking and says “Sorry, so busy!”, here Adam stopped playing and told Rachel that there was a girl in the audience who was terminally ill. He kept talking and Rachel kept saying ‘uh huh’ and it went on and on and was so Voldemort (TERRIBLE, but GREAT) and then she just resumed singing!
There was a girl in the front row who may have been even more overexcited than I was, because Rachel chose her for the audience participation line, saying she had a bit planned for that pause but just completely skipped it because that girl was so itching to shout ‘YOU’RE A GOOD PERSON!’ Well, she said great; she was very excited.
SEXY FRENCH DEPRESSION
One of the funniest moments when Rachel introduced this song. Earlier I said the list of past performers at the Palladium is wildly varied, and I hadn’t even mentioned the best one: Judy Garland. It seemed like Rachel and I were the only people who appreciated this, because she kept trying to talk about how amazing it was and the audience didn’t seem to react the way she expected, which she kept talking about. As she sat down on the lip of the stage, she said she expected everyone to erupt with recognition that “Judy sat on the lip of that stage just like that!” That would have already sealed this as my favorite intro bit, but then she asked the audience how England feels about France. The crowd erupted in a truly indecipherable way: I heard cheers, boos, everything. Rachel said “what you guys still aren’t over the 100 Years War?” Then, some man (of course it was a man) shouted ‘BREXIT!’ to which the entire audience booed, which was amazing. Rachel was kind of confused until someone explained we were all booing Brexit, not France or her for asking. A totally hysterical way to lead in a hysterical-but-remember-depression-isn’t-hysterical-or-sexy-as-Rachel-reminded-us song, “Sexy French Depression”. I only wish she did the original French lyrics in the back half; there’s nothing funnier than the rush of French with ‘John Wayne Gacy’ stuck in there (but I admit without subtitles it wouldn’t have worked). “Je suis garbage” is still the best line.
FRIENDTOPIA
OH MY BIGGEST REGRET IN LIFE. Ugh I am still heartbroken about this. Without Gabrielle Ruiz and Vella Lovell to join Rachel for this song, she asked the audience for volunteers, two people who REALLY know the song, like every word, who could step in and do the respective parts. I SHOULD HAVE JUMPED UP, but I second guessed how well I knew a few of the lyrics so I stayed seated. Then as soon as the two girls got onstage, they were given lyric sheets!! I could have checked the one I was unsure about (Heather is the one who says ‘take control of the banks’) and then HAD MY LIFE MADE. Oh well, the two volunteers did such a great job being so brave. Kat came onstage to teach them some super quick choreography, which Rachel said was how all her choreography was taught. It also was a great opportunity for Rachel to continue doing terrible accents and talking about the British accent, which she did A LOT. ZIGAZOW!
WE TAPPED THAT ASS ALL OVER THIS HOUSE
In this ridiculous number, Rachel and Kat did the tap dancing of Josh and Greg – but Adam and another musician did the singing. It was funny, and a nice way to show off Kat, but the multiple performer thing made it feel a little off, keeping the hilarious lyrics more in the background. Still so fun though.
IT WAS A SHITSHOW
Rachel sang Greg’s most heartbreaking song, making an already emotional song even more moving. She also shared that, like the situation the song is about, writing the song was a shitshow too because ‘the actor decided to leave us, which was a surprise!’ It was some REAL shade, and it made me uncomfortable (and a lot of the audience since a majority of every crowd (in any place or gathering) is a Santino fan). There’s so much about that situation that is the real life version of the gif of Chrissy Tiegen at the Golden Globes making cringe-face, and I honestly would rather not know!
This song featured one of the most prominent examples of some extra-annoying audience members who kept preempting some songs’ big moments. Here, famously, Greg runs off before singing the final ‘shitshow’ – Rachel and Adam actually explained that there is no final ‘shitshow’ because Standards & Practices would only let them say it twice, but it actually helps with the emotional heft to leave it hanging. But before letting us find out whether Rachel would sing it or not, the audience member/s shouted it out themselves. Rachel made fun of it and we all laughed, but I think she was really annoyed about it. It’s one thing to sing along because we all love it; it’s another to literally make it all about you.
WHAT’LL IT BE
In a really lovely twist, they had Adam sing this, one of my favorite Greg songs, with Rachel introducing it as the song that most impressed her from Adam, that the first draft he sent was literally perfect. Adam introduced it by explaining that it’s inspired, as we know, by a singer named William Joel, “who is a Jewish man but pretends to be Italian.” As someone who is both Jewish and Italian AND whose very first concert was Billy Joel (that’s true), I CACKLED. Adam sang the lyric as “to serve Deb a Grey Goose” instead of “to serve Deb a vodka and cranberry juice”, and he paused the song to explain that Grey Goose was the original lyric, but the lawyers made them change it for the show! Free from the constraints of TV, it’s back to its original form, but I actually prefer the way “vodka and cranberry juice” affects the meter.
MATH OF LOVE TRIANGLES
The final song before the interval break was the one that almost gave me the big heart attack. Rachel said she needed the help of two special guests for this one, and out came PETE and SCOTT and I JUMPED up out of my seat and jumped up and down screaming like I have literally never done before. I was like a contestant pulled from the audience on The Price is Right, and in hindsight equally embarrassing as they all usually are.
But it doesn’t matter how embarrassing I acted because this was the best surprise, especially to use them in a song they originally had no part of. They even had the posterboard props of the different triangles. THE BEST!
During the interval, everyone got even more wasted, buying whole new bottles of wine and ensuring an even rowdier Act 2 crowd, if that was possible. The Palladium toilet situation is not great, and the line for the ladies snaked all the way through that long hallway and into the bar area. (That’s bad.) (Luckily, I know theatres (and talk about them in my regular reviews, ps) and got the seat next to the secret door to the ladies from the stalls – it actually says Gentlemen above the door but it leads to both. Anyway that’s enough about the toilets.)
ACT 2
FUCKTON OF CATS
With everyone wasted – which is something for fans of a show that uses alcoholism as an important plot point (but in the UK we just ignore that alcoholism is real) – they opened the second act with a song that I don’t love love like the others, but that is so good live, “Fuckton of Cats”, with Scott, Pete, and Kat acting as the cat chorus. Hilarious! This act actually featured a lot of the songs I don’t love love (of course still regular love, I love all of them) but that were vastly improved by a live performance. So interesting, like how “Santa Fe” was the best part of the Rent movie even though it’s like whatever in the original.
I LOVE MY DAUGHTER (BUT NOT IN A CREEPY WAY)
I am OBSESSED that Pete got to sing this live. Such a hilarious surprise and it was so wonderful live. I love that Pete really got to show off both his voice and his humor more than he usually gets to. God this song is so funny. I took a video of my favorite line (“I’m very careful where I tickle my daughter!”)
LET’S HAVE INTERCOURSE
Okay, it’s important to note that this audience was ROWDY for Scott Michael Foster. I said the screaming overall was louder than anything, but when he was onstage (or even when Rachel MENTIONED him) the audience screamed even louder, if possible, like how some infinities are larger than other infinities. This screaming level was the bigger infinity. So to have him sing THIS song for THIS audience, man alive was it awesome. Also I’m deaf now.
GETTING BI
I usually think this song is great, but it’s not one of my faves. Performed live?? it is SENSATIONAL. One of the best performances of the night because of Pete’s exuberance, the audience’s joy, and the fact that it was so fitting for Pride month. I love that as soon as Pete came out wearing a blazer the audience cheered because they knew what song was coming. I love that everyone knows this show inside and out like I do. We’re all so crazy.
I GO TO THE ZOO
Most fans are going to flip out, but this is another song that I don’t really listen to on repeat. It’s fine, it’s so funny, but like okay. But holy shit, live? This was INCREDIBLE. I really wish I had taped it but I was too busy rethinking all my previous opinions.
SPORTS ANALOGIES
Pete joined Scott to take over Josh’s part in this hilarious song. This one is when I feel like some of the male guards finally connected to the show, hearing about men’s relationships with their fathers. I loved that they added a new ending line for the European audience: after “’cause soccer’s just a bunch of foreigners running around” they THEN said something like “don’t call it football, that’s not f-ing football!” Loves it.
THE DARKNESS and A DIAGNOSIS
These two go so well together, it made each one extra poignant. Honestly, with how hot it was on that stage and how dry it was (so bad for the voice), this Rachel-centric section was a huge accomplishment. Those conditions for singers, especially at the end of a long show, are often debilitating. Although she mentioned how hoarse she felt, she sounded amazing.
FUCK ME RAY BRADBURY/STACY’S MOM
THIS was a surprise and I am LIVING FOR IT! I love that both Rachel and Adam showed off their early work. The former is the song that made Rachel famous, when she was making parody songs for Youtube. Aline Brosh McKenna saw this one and decided she wanted to make a musical TV show with this girl and the rest is our magical history. The latter, of course, is the famous Fountains of Wayne song from all our middle school lives. Adam wrote it; he was in FOW. So many young people in the audience didn’t know! He also was nominated for an Oscar for writing “That Thing You Do!” (the song in the movie, not the movie). The movie studio literally hired him to write a song that would be believable as taking over the world and making a band huge, and he did it. GENIUS.
ENCORE: YOU STUPID BITCH
I have to say, I’m the tiniest bit disappointed not to have seen the encore from the Radio City shows – Rachel doing “Heavy Boobs” wearing only pasties – for the sheer insanity of it, but there’s no way I’d give up hearing the true theme song of the show live. It was GLORIOUS…except the annoying audience member/s who kept preempting her continued it here, as you can see in the video. But Rachel made the most of it (I think she was really annoyed though). It was sad to have the night end, but to end it on this song was EVERYTHING.
So obviously this was the best ever and I hope that everyone going tonight has the time of their lives. Just don’t sing the words before she does.
1 Comment
My heart is beating out of my chest right now. Some kids today have no chance with parents so oblivious as these fools. And these type of people should not have children.PERIOD
WONDERFUL REVIEW ALWAYS