Friday, January 28, 2005

Figgy Pudding on the Wine Cellar Shelf


So I saw Fiddler on the Roof, starring Harvey Fierstein, last night--my first Broadway show at an actual Broadway theater (almost right across from the Virgin megasewer megastore in Times Square). And lemme tell ya--everything I anticipated about a Broadway show came true--expen$ive sets, great lighting, talented performers, alls of it. Really, a Broadway show is just leagues and leagues ahead of less well-funded theater. Not that I'm going to start seeing Bway shows now--I wouldn't have $pent $100 on those seats--but it's just that Bway theater really is good. And I have to say that the one thought that's always careening through my mind everytime I see good theater or a concert is that I wish I had stage lighting and sets where I lived. I would LOVE to have a room that would simulate a sunset like the lights on the stage last night, or lighting that would instantly turn me into an iPod-esque silhouette like the close of last night's show.

Show notes: First the disclaimer: I know nothing of: theater, so these are just my thoughts: Harvey Firestein as the lead: it took me until act 2 to start seeing him as an old man; it may just be the fact that I and everyone else thinks of him as a drag queen, but I found his gestures to be more matronly than paternal in the beginning. I was, however, able to suspend my disbelief before the end. His voice is unique--he should totally have been playing opposite Macy Gray. I love his low register, cux it just sounds cool--really airy and bellowing; his higher register, if you can call it that, does indeed sound like a kazoo. And when he goes between them, if you close your eyes you can really imagine Eartha Kitt singing the role. But he's a great actor, of course, and has tons of presence. In fact, the entire cast has mad skills, but you'd expect nothing less from a Broadway cast. Some of the cast I would have to assume do voice acting, cux some would be great in cartoons. One thing about the women that occurred to me, however, was that if the characters were real people, I'd really not want to hang out with them, cux the daughters spoke pretty much as they sung, which is to say that they spoke in a resonant soprano, and I couldn't imagine being at, say, Burger King with one of them and having her say, 'Ohhh, these onion rings are giving me mad gas,' in that yawningly open, piercingly resonant voice. Of course no one talks like that all the time, so it's all a hypothetical. On an aside, I can see why my friend Suxanne the opera queen finds musical theatre-type singing to sound nasal.

As for the story, well, I'd never seen the play before last night, so I had no expectations. Of course, I'd have preferred something modern, but what can you do--free tix are free tix. I'd have also preferred the use of some kind of electro fake drums to back up the orchestra à la Moulin Rouge, but I guess they didn't see it that way. I mean, you could totally add a jungle beat to some of those dances--the waltzes perbably not. I will say this for the story: there are 5 daughters and each breaks with tradition in marriage, the last one marrying a gentile; for the sequel, which someone has prolly written already, the 4th daughter should be a lesbian and the 5th a porn star.

And that's alls I can recall right at the moment. In elsewhere news, some plans for the weekend--nothing huge. Party here, party there. May go, may not go. Who knows. Have to stop by L'Occitane, will perbably look @ computers, blah blah blah.

And I guess that's my beep for now!

Beep!
Ed Shepp


1 comment:

Jase said...

I'm glad you had a good time! Woohoo!