That title would have worked better if it rained. Then again, the day wouldn't have.
It certainly has been the summer of funny stage tragedies for us. This one was planned further in advance ,however. Earlier in the summer, Anabelle and Rosa had a "Manhattan Day" to go see a Yayoi Kusama exhibit.
The reason for that would make more sense if I had already finished writing up our Washington DC trip from May.
I've never gotten my story release times to line up before. Why start now?
Our Manhattan day was to see one of Anabelle's favorite Musicals Little Shop of Horrors. Casting updates were also responsible for this choice. I'm not sure how it became on her favorite list, since when I showed her the movie a few years ago she hadn't heard of it. Then again, I think Camelot became my favorite a mere few days after I still hadn't figured out it was really based on Arthurian legend, so perhaps its a family thing.
We set out to use our new Manhattan access method, the bus from Willowbrook Mall. I was already griping about the parking area being full. Anabelle let Rosa know she had bought the bus tickets because, "Daddy is old and hisses at change."
At least we were better than another family there. The teenage daughter was trying to buy the tickets as the bus was coming. Her mom touched the screen during the process, cancelling everything. This led to much yelling, and the daughter getting flustered by her dad, who kept shouting advice after the initial problem, which in turn led to more kiosk issues.
We've played that kind of game before, therefore I let Anabelle buy the tickets and did nothing, except plug in the credit card when she told me to.
The bus ride in was short and uneventful.
Hiss.
Along with the standard squadrons of head raised Minnies and Elmos were two nearly immobile gorillas, a tyrannosaur, and a somewhat dumpy Predator. We snuck a peek at them while honoring the George M. Cohan statue.
Our destination was the M&M store, as weird events prevented Anabelle from stopping there on her previous two visits.
It is three stories tall.
Nobody needs that many M&Ms.
(Several family members have informed me I am incorrect in this assessment.)
They gave out free samples, using the safety measure of asking, "Are you allergic to anything?" Decades of medical device risk management expertise tells me to expect a closing due to lawsuits any day now.
When I pointed out Anabelle could just buy peanut M&Ms at home, she replied,
"Not in all these colors!"
Ah.
Candy in hand, we worked our way down 9th looking for a place to have lunch. Anabelle was trying to find what was available on her phone. I continued to hiss at change, and was pushing for my practiced in Manhattan "we'll just find a place" method. The first block we were on had no pizzerias, therefore Anabelle narrowed her search, letting me know there was a "too snooty" one close by, but a better looking one later.
The "we'll just find a place" for food in Manhattan worked again. Hiss. (I would not advise trying this in other locations.) On the opposite corner from where we stood, and not listed on the phone, the amazing smells from I Pizza NY (658 9th Ave, at 46th) wafted across to us. Not only was it high quality New York pizza, but they had an extensive Gluten Free selection allowing us to come back with Rosa if we want next time.
We normally joke about seeing things "off off off Broadway... y'know,
Newark."
But this was the first time I've been in a real "Off Broadway" theater. After seeing all of the gorgeous palaces of performance for Broadway shows, this converted church was a tad underwhelming.
However, once the curtain open it was clear, "This is still the Manhattan theater district." The most important parts, the stage itself, the sounds, the sets and, especially the performances, were outstanding. Now I understand "Off Broadway." It means equal quality in a slightly less impressive building a couple blocks away.
By hiding the band backstage (on two raised platforms) and having working doors and windows built into the walls around the stage, the available space for performing was maximized. We learned about this from the awesome encounter with the last performer who came out of the stage door. The cast very nicely brought out a small monitor on stage following the finale to allow the band and their leader to be seen and acknowledged at the end, however.
With any live show it's the abilities of the performers to connect with the audience that makes it special. These actors would have been excellent at that on their own, plus they had an advantage in the source material.
It was kind of like when Anabelle saw Tom Baker's over the top sorcerer in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad which inspired his casting as The Doctor, (wait...this will make sense I promise.)
I had a similar reaction to the idea that this play was what led Disney Top brass to believe Ashman and Menken would be a great fit for fairy tale princess songs.
This was a Doo-Wop themed musical about an evil alien plant who eats the entire main cast, providing a moral that humanity's greed will doom us all.
Like she said about Baker's wild turn as the constantly yelling, evil sorcerer inspiring his selection to be an aloof but compassionate alien- "I don't see it."
However, after finally viewing this tale as a play in its original form, why they were chosen became clear for three reasons:
1) Knowledge of structure- This is a fully formed classic Greek Tragedy following all the rules, and including the Greek Chorus.
2) Knowledge of song writing- The songs are almost criminally catchy and poetic, surprisingly enhanced above and beyond the already impressive, but pared down group I knew from the film. .
3) Knowledge of humanity- The emotions in all the songs, whether they be demented joy, hopeful love, or heart breaking sorrow are all one hundred percent real and infectious.
Fortunately, the cast was easily up to the task of delivering on all three.
One of the truest signs of a high quality cast is its depth. We saw Jeff Sears as Orin Scrivello DDS and many others. A convention of the play (that those of us who only knew the movie were unaware of) is that every character who encourages Seymour to become rich off of Audrey II is played by the same actor as the maniacal dentist. (The Doctor also suggests capitalizing on the plant to escape Seymour's lot in life. In fact, its somewhat perplexing how nice, in his own way, Scrivello is to Seymour.) This is both symbolic and hilarious when done correctly, which it was in this case. Sears wasn't the normal lead in this role but he was fantastically good at both singing and comedy, fitting in perfectly with the rest of the ensemble. It's gotta be really tough keeping an abusive dentist entertaining and funny, while still preventing him from becoming likeable.
He was the first out the stage door after the show to sign autographs and take pictures. As I've become more of a seasoned theater goer, I've noticed the understudies are usually the most enthusiastic to greet the fans after the show. It makes sense they'd be eager to thank the audience for their praise after getting time to shine.
The first person we saw after the show wasn't at the stage door, though. Brad Oscar did a wonderful turn as Mr. Mushnick that made it easy to understand why he was praised for the Bialystok role (originally Nathan Lane) in The Producers. When I saw his name in the playbill, I was all ready that if he came out the stage door I would state how much I liked him in both plays and after seeing him do such a fantastic job as Fritz with the original Producers cast on Broadway, they made a huge mistake giving him only a cameo as a cab driver in the film. Anabelle had to stop as we were leaving the theater proper to let a man pass in front of her. By the time I realized it was Brad Oscar, he already exited the building as if he was an audience member and was walking in the opposite direction of the stage door down 43rd.
That made this day a true bookend, as when we saw The Producers in previews back in 2001. (Rosa and My first show together) it was early in our theater going experience and we weren't sure where the Stage Door was. While we were looking, a kid with a backpack, baseball hat and sunglasses passed us. When one of us asked, "Hey! Wasn't that Mathew Broderick?" he was already half way across the street, turned and laughed at us.
The often ridiculed "Marvel Universe Disguise Kit" does work after all.
I feel like Joy Woods had a singular challenge. There have been multiple versions of this story told, with different takes on the characters. However, following the original Off Broadway premier, the West End run, and the movie, if Audrey doesn't sound like Ellen Greene, she sounds off. If the lead did that directly it would make it a copy, not a performance. However, if Audrey doesn't say, "Shu-ah" did you even see "Little Shop?" Woods talked like Greene's accent in general, and would lead into songs that way as well. However, as she progressed through singing them, (and also as she progressed through more extended bits of dialogue) she would make the role completely her own. Her performance brought out more and more of her individual stamp and flair on all the deep and powerful emotions, and personal depths Ashman and Menken wrote into the numbers for what may just be the most tragic character in any musical. Audrey is the only selfless and innocent individual in the entire play, but her low self esteem causes her to take responsibility for the other characters' terrible behavior. It is beautifully heart wrenching.
It's interesting how powerful slight changes in storytelling can be. Anabelle said she preferred the play's "everyone gets eaten" ending to the film's happy ending. Partially because "Don't Feed the Plants" is awesome, but also because it fit the story better. Seeing it on stage I agreed with her for that version. However, finally seeing the directors cut of the film, we understood why the test audiences didn't like the original ending. The slight changes in Orin's and Mushnik's deaths made the true Greek Tragedy progression (The Hero kills his enemy, his father, his love and himself... yes, I looked it up) and ending for Seymour feel undeserved and out of place. Then again, maybe it was because the "Kaiju Audrey 2s" scenes were terrifying and went on for an extended period.
Honestly, didn't Ellen Greene deserve a happy ending after being eaten whole countless times in New York and London?
In a rare case of going to a play with high cast turn over well after it's been running for a while, we do get to hear someone we saw on the cast CD... sort of. At the start of the run Joy Woods was one of the Urchins. It's pretty cool to be able to compare and contrast how the same performer sings outstandingly well in two different roles from the same show.
It was a return that was partially responsible for this trip. Seymour, the other lead, was played by Jeremy Jordan. Anabelle, who is much more plugged in to theater culture than I am, (parenting win there) described him as "Broadway Royalty" and one of the reasons she wanted to go to this show. People behind us (and on the internet, according to Anabelle) had conversations stating that he was too attractive to play the "inner beauty" role that is Seymour. However, I believe that misses one of the main points of the play. Anyone with the levels of low self esteem and poverty Seymour grew up with isn't going to look attractive regardless of genetic arrangements. Jordan did lead the cast. As opposed to the movie (hence the different ending) the audience has to find Seymour as a likeable everyman, since we follow his journey through the story, but, due to the Greek Tragedy nature of tale, the audience also needs to accept that he (and humanity in general) completely deserved to be eaten by a massive, evil, alien plant.
He nailed it.
Speaking of that plant, I should stop a moment and mention that Aaron Arnell Harrington did a fantastic job as the voice of Audrey II. Considering I found myself, at times, comparing him favorably to Levi Stubbs, that should cover my feelings on that matter.
Jeremy Jordan did come out the stage door to sign autographs. Unlike the other cast members and befitting "Broadway Royalty" the security guy walked along side of him the whole way, preventing anyone asking for pictures. Security Guy also interrupted when Anabelle was getting her autograph and thanking him in the middle of her stating it was one of her favorite musicals, "ruining her moment" as Jordan looked up mid sentence to comment on the number of people on line.
He did refocus on her to say thanks for coming afterwards, prompting fellow theater fan friends to ask her, "Was it magical?"
Then we witnessed a true New York theater moment. At the end of the long line of a huge group of fans praising his performance and clamoring for autographs, Jeremy Jordan walked away from all of us and the security guy, down 43rd towards 9th street, and blended into the rest of the Manhattan crowd waiting for the crosswalk light.
Tiffany Renee Thompson, Khadija Sankoh and D'Kayla Unique Whitley rounded out the small cast of main human performers as the Urchins/ lab assistants/ dental patients/ etcetera/ etcetera/ Greek Chorus. Its easy not to notice how important they are because the writing and performing was so well done. They really do drive the story forward and allow a much denser play than would normally be possible for a two hour run time. (Possible prototypes for Menken's Hercules? And while we're on that subject, isn't "Feed Me" just a depraved, horrifying prototype for "Friend Like Me?") They perfectly captured the flavor of their Motown girl group namesakes, (Crystal, Chiffon and Ronnette) when singing, and injected a great deal of humor with their interactions with the other cast members. When they Came out in the red sparkly dresses Anabelle was so excited that she nearly tore my arm off.
By detailing the human and vocal members of the cast I left out a huge contribution to this show, which is known as "THE Puppet Show" by puppet performers. I know it is known as this because shortly after Anabelle said, "Wouldn't it me amazing if one of the puppeteers came out?" One did!
Audrey II, in breathtaking feats of puppet performance, came across as a living, breathing member of the cast, with an equal status to the human players. (Performed by the Puppet Captain and Weston Chandler Long, Najah Hetsberger and what looked like others when they popped out the doors and windows with tendrils at the curtain call. Seriously, you people can find out who it was by yourself online. You don't need my links. I only figured out Instagram a couple of months ago. Hiss.) This came to a crescendo during the "Don't Feed the Plants" finale. Sure the "buds" of the eaten characters looked a little goofy (to prevent it from being too horrifying). However, the horror did remain, and Anabelle and I both decided if we were in the front row we likely would have peed our pants. Audrey II is impressively alive throughout the show, but stationary. The climax changed all that though. As the last song was performed, the now enormous Audrey II moved to the front of the stage, and with the final notes, opened wide revealing a Xenomorph like smaller version of itself tongue that sprayed smoke and confetti out as the main mouth lunged forward at the audience, right before all the lights were dowsed. I have no technical guess on how this was accomplished, which means I am falling back on, "It was magic."
When Teddy Yudain, the Puppet Captain (Woo!!! and Derelict, can't forget that.) exited the stage door to meet the fans, either he or the security guy let everyone know that he was the last one coming out. Because the line does fade over time, we were the last ones, furthest from the door. (Hence my lack of knowledge about the announcement. This is different from most cases of my lack of knowledge which are usually due to "me.") Because of this announcement, as he signed each playbill the person left. Therefore, when he reached the end of the line, he was alone with two obvious puppet nerds wearing Muppet t-shirts.
He graciously talked to us for a long time, and it was SO COOL! Before he got to us we heard him explaining about how "eaten" people passed through his legs. (Anabelle knew this already, due to her extensive research on her favorite currently running show along with the fact that Audrey II was designed by Martin P. "Telly" Monster" Robinson, but I thought it was fun to learn.) He recognized and complimented our shirts immediately. It seemed clear how excited he was to realize he could name drop having worked on this show at one point with Noel MacNeal (the Bear in the Big Blue House who had worked directly with Jim Henson) to folks who would recognize the name. We complimented his performance, and he told us about this being "THE Puppet Show." We were specifically praising his ability to move Audrey II in synch, live and in real time, with another actor's voice. He said that was one of his favorite bits about the show, because if an understudy takes the role, it changes all the timing and inflections, allowing him to vary his performance as well. He told us sometimes that performer is a woman, changing the body language of Audrey II completely. Anabelle has vast Muppet performer, and puppeteer in general, knowledge allowing the conversation length to work
We talked about suspension of disbelief, and I mentioned how special effects inspired me to be an engineer, (yes, I consider stop motion to be veeeeery slow puppetry) making me vary between trying to figure out how things work, and just enjoying being taken in by it. He pointed out medical devices and special effects probably aren't that far off from each other. We also discussed how great the immediacy and intimate connection of live theater is. I tried to explain how the feeling is so powerful but doesn't last... meaning I can never fully remember it unless I'm in a theater again, but enough of the emotion remains to know I want to go back.
He said he fully understood exactly what I meant. This was comforting as my random and wandering explanation could have easily led him to back away slowly and call security.
Completing what was an outstanding personal puppet nerd high for both of us, we walked down Ninth Avenue to go back to the bus. (Hiss) Required stopping for a few obligatory bus station macarons (those peanut butter and jelly ones are both horrifying and wonderful) led to a brief pause. We jumped on a bus just before it left and were buffeted into two seats in a row as it pulled out.
Some quick texts between us during the ride determined dinner would be at the Bonefish Grill. again Having my pizza for lunch meant I could be happy with the healthy option this time. We returned home to regale Rosa with the story of our fun filled and impressive adventure.
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