With all the anti-immigrant sentiment floating around our there, I thought that I would celebrate a Broadway song that is all about the reasons behind people coming to America. True, the song I'm referring to reveres "America" in contrast to Puerto Rico (which is, incidentally, in America), but the sentiment is the same. We are supposed to be a nation of promises and hope. Thinking about Puerto Rico today post-hurricane and distressed that the powers that be have forgotten that they are a part of our nation. My heart also aches about how we don't include he human race in our fold, but we are a world of haves and have-nots, and that attitude tends to prevail.
Whatever Happened to Predictability? – Fuller House, Season 3
Whatever happened to predictability? It turns out it’s alive and kicking on the Netflix series Fuller House which just released Season 3 of the feel-good comedy, a revival of the popular 80s/90s sitcom Full House. For those who are into nostalgia (and I can be), the show hearkens back to a simpler time where situation comedies about families ended each episode pat and resolved, with very little effort put into the writing toward character development. It was a formula that worked and though it was heavy on feel-good laughs, it was short on substance.
Patti LuPone: Don’t Monkey With Broadway – CD Review
I cannot begin to articulate the feeling of joy and warmth that has washed dover me while listening to the new Patti LuPone album Don’t Monkey With Broadway. This collection of delightful anecdotes and perfectly chosen numbers is TRIUMPH! With a capital “T” and that rhymes with “P” and that stands for “PATTI”!
Kid Victory – Cast Album Review
As I sit here listening to the recently produced cast recording of the John Kander and Greg Pierce musical Kid Victory, I am of two minds about how to approach this review. Do I simply look at the technicalities of this album and report back that Broadway Records has dutifully captured this hard-to-digest little musical for posterity with their usual high standards and aplomb for preserving musical theatre with verve and precision? Or do I dig a little deeper and share my reactions to a musical that is both compelling and unsettling, a challenging piece of theatre that ultimately leaves me unsatisfied, if intrigued by the choice to tell this story to begin with?