In the early 1990s, this country was in a suffocating fear of the AIDS epidemic, with treatments only beginning to show possibilities of success and certainly no signs of eradicating this plague on the horizon. Here we are twenty-plus years later and we still haven't found a cure, but have found ways to help people live much longer with the dread disease. It was composer/lyricist William Finn who first successfully captured the fear of the unknown surrounding AIDS and brought it to the musical stage. Finn's 1981 musical March of the Falsettos, a highly neurotic tale about a Jewish gay man named Marvin who tries to juggle his wife, his son, his lover, and his psychiatrist as he explores his own sexuality, set the stage for continuing the tale into the AIDS crisis with the 1990 musical Falsettoland. Picking up where March of the Falsettos left off, this sequel explored the devastation the family experienced when they found out Marvin's lover Whizzer is diagnosed with a mysterious illness that we can only assume is the dreaded AIDS. Though it is never specifically identified as such, all of the indications are there.
Broadway Second Bananas - The Top-Ten Scene Stealing Roles
We all love the Sweeney Todds, the Mama Roses, the Dolly Levis, and the Harold Hills of musical theatre. They are such stuff that legends are made of. Larger-than-life personalities on which you can hang an entire musical. We love our lead characters, but many musicals have such wonderful supporting characters, and some of these lively personalities come close to (or actually accomplish) stealing the show right out from under their star's feet. This week's list is my celebratiion of the Top-Ten Scene Stealing Roles of the Broadway Musicals, the second bananas who have their own special magic.
Guilty Pleasure Thursday - Nick & Nora - The Entire Score
We all know the classic Broadway musical titles: Oklahoma!, My Fair Lady, Hello, Dolly!, Fiddler on the Roof, Annie and the dozens of others that show up in regional theatres, high schools, community theatres and even make their way back to Broadway from time to time. However, there are easily hundereds of Broadway musicals that were deemed unsuccessful and have, for the most part, been forgotten by the theatergoing community despite the fact that they have much to recommend.
"Finishing the Hat" - When a Composer/Lyricist's Soul Comes Through
Who hasn't listened to "Finishing the Hat" from Sunday in the Park with George and not felt like they were getting a glimpse into Stephen Sondheim's soul? The composer has graced us with a plethora of intricately insightful musical experiences, songs that reach down into that confusing and frustrating place we call "humanity" and that extract the unbearable truths of our innermost conflicts . Somehow, though, it is this song that seems to underscore who Sondheim is as a whole.