Hurricane Sandy graphic by Todd Hale. www.ToddHale.com.
“Sandy / Can’t you see / I’m in misery.”
Another hurricane with a music theater name is headed for New York City. With no mass transit (subways, buses and trains are scheduled to shut down at 7:00pm Sunday) and most businesses beginning to shut down, the chances that the show will go on are very slim. I’ll be making updates to this post as soon as I hear anything (and for as long as I have power). Refresh your browser to see the latest and, if you have tickets for a show, check with your specific theater just to be sure.
(Updated 2:15pm)
Sunday matinees are going on as planned but ALL SUNDAY AND MONDAY EVENING BROADWAY PERFORMANCES ARE CANCELED. If you have tickets already, contact the point of purchase for refund information.
(Updated October 29, 5:35pm)
ALL BROADWAY SHOWS HAVE BEEN CANCELED FOR TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30.
Stay safe out there and let’s sing along with Danny who may not be stranded in an NYC 5th floor walk-up with a bottle of poland spring and a box of organic triscuits, but he’s definitely stranded at the drive-in. So he can empathize…
And as is our tradition at The Broadway Blog (does twice count as a tradition or just lazy repetition), we celebrate this turning of the page toward fall and a new theater season with a little song and dance from the immortal Grease 2.
Which got me thinking…and we know how dangerous that can be. In the summer of 1982, my sainted mother took me, her ten year old burgeoning music theater loving son, to see this movie. At a multiplex. In public.
She sat through this (what must have been horrifically uncomfortable to watch with a pre-pubescent) musical number…
It’s officially summer. And you know what that means. Bowling in the arcade. Drinking lemonade. Making out under the dock. Staying out ’till ten o’clock.
If you don’t recognize those phrases then…what are you doing reading this blog? It’s “Summer Nights” from Grease, perhaps one of the most well known by laymen and karaoke’d songs in the music theater cannon. Seriously, I can still do the choreography from the movie and match John Travolta’s breathy “ewh” toward the end of the song without having to even think about it. And I know you can, too.
You want proof of how ubiquitous the song is, how it’s doo-wop, he said/she said veiled smuttiness has permeated our culture? Look at these videos from around the world showcasing the many flavors of Summer Lovin’…
In the build-up to this year’s Tony Awards, let’s step into our handy time machine (I imagine it looks something like Greased Lightning crossed with the spare tire lift from Cats) and take a look at years past. Our destination today: 1972.
Taking a look at the winners and nominees, one thing is clear: the more things change, the more they stay the same. Two of this year’s best revival of a musical candidates, Folliesand Jesus Christ Superstarwere fighting it out in many of the musical categories (alongside Grease and surprising Best Musical winner Two Gentleman of Verona). Mike Nichols was the Best Director for Prisoner of Second Avenue (a possible repeat this year for Death of a Salesman). And Bernadette Peters, like this year, was up for…oh, wait. Sore spot for some. At least forty years ago (Was she 10? Holy Moly, how old is Bernadette Peters and where is the aging painting of her), she was nominated for featured actress in On the Town alongside my secret favorite Adrienne Barbeau (Grease) — both losing to Linda Hopkins (Inner City).
And what would you have seen performing on the stage that night? Oh, my friend, wonders. True wonders. Just look up at the stage (via YouTube clips)…
