Theater Roundup

I've seen a quite few things on Broadway since the August: Osage County posting, here's a quick summary:

In The Heights. Absolutely LOVED this one! Highly recommended! If you haven't heard about it yet it's basically the Latino version of Rent, taking place in Washington Heights. The music is red-hot with many Latin influences (hip hop, salsa, etc), the dancing is pro and the acting is top notch. Everyone in the cast really molds into their characters. The writer of this show, Lin-Manuel Miranda, also plays the main character Usnavi and is endearing from the moment he takes the stage. This show is my vote for the best new musical Tony for this year!

For those of you who missed the partially-staged, limited engagement of Gypsy with Patti Lupone this past summer at City Center, now is your chance to check out the full-blown production on Broadway. As usual, Lupone is a master and is even BETTER than she was this summer (and who would've even thought that was possible)! And Laura Benanti who plays Louise is NOT TO BE MISSED! She's my new fav and once Gypsy is over I can't wait to see what she'll do next! I had never seen the show before this summer and it is definitely a classic. And from what I hear this is the best revival yet. Patti - here's your Tony! Again, go see this one!

Next up was Chicago since I had never seen it before and I was drawn in by the stunt casting of John Schneider as Billy Flynn. Looking every-so-dapper, Schneider sounded great and held his own against all of the Fosse dancers. All-in-all it's a fun show but there are a few too many jazz hands in it for me. I'd only recommend this one when there is someone you like being stunt cast in it.

And finally, I went to see the 2 night only run of Jerry Springer: The Opera at Carnegie Hall. This one started off REALLY fun and it was HILARIOUS to hear people singing opera while dishing the foul-mouthed dirt. Sadly, though I have to say it all kind of fell apart in the second act. Harvey Keitel played Jerry and really he was nowhere near as good as I would've hoped or expected. I'd recommend this one to Jerry fans if you can ever find it playing anywhere again but would advise to leave at intermission.