Company/Broadway Bares/Book of Mormon...Again!/Anything Goes (belatedly)

Here's a quick compendium post where I can cover a few things that I missed in order to make myself feel dutiful and as though I'm actually writing everything up...and to help me keep count, though by the looks of it, 100 shows in a year is going to be passed well ahead of schedule.

ANYhoo, let's start with something that only pseudo-belongs on here. Company at the NY Philharmonic with Neil Patrick Harris as Bobby. I had tickets to actually be there which I had purchased before consulting my calendar. I ended up being in LA for the weekend so had to settle for the filmed version, which I'm kind of okay with even though I enjoyed it. Listen, like just about everybody else, I love me some NPH. He should host every awards show ever, is fantastic on sitcoms, and seems hyper-intelligent and a little goofy. He just seems like great people. I saw him in Assassins a few years back, and his acting was spot on, but his singing was just a bit tenuous for my taste. I'm happy to say that his voice was more assured in Company, but coming just a couple years after Raul Esparza decimated this role on Broadway...I don't know how anyone could have topped it vocally. The acting was charming. He was an incredibly charming presence as the 30something single guy surrounded by married couples. His Bobby was much more confused and ambivalent while Esparza's was more embittered. It was a great take on the role, but...c'mon: just YouTube Raul singing "Being Alive." That shit can't be topped.

I had a number of problems with the Broadway production. The Joanne just wasn't as searing as I wanted her to be. In the hands of Patti LuPone, she wasn't just searing, she was broiling. I felt like I found shades in the character that I didn't know were there before. She's a bitter older alcoholic who craps all over her husband (not literally), but she was so precisely and thoughtfully played that I finally understood why her husband loved her and defended her. It was an exquisitely calibrated performance. Also a delight was Christina Hendricks as April, the dimwitted flight attendant. Hendricks isn't much of a singer, and she pitched her performance to full camp, but damned if I didn't eat it up. She played it as a farce, and it just popped like crazy. And she and Bobby had some serious chemistry. So...my other problem with the Broadway production was Marta. She gets the song "Another Hundred People, which...maybe my favorite Sondheim song? It's AMAZING. And it was destroyed by screeching. Actual screeching. Like owl in a woodchipper sounds. So I was so excited to see the clarion-voiced Anika Noni Rose in the role. But you know what? She kind of sucked. Her voice was a terrible match for the song, and her performance just felt completely random. Still, all in all, it's a renter if it comes out on DVD.

Let's move on to Broadway Bares. This'll be short. For anyone who doesn't know, this is basically a strip-a-thon to raise money for AIDS charities. Pretty people bumping and grinding away for about 90 minutes. There is literally nothing not to like about this. It's more playful than sexy, and a dozen or so plus-sized gals nearly tore the roof of with a striptease to "Big Girl, You Are Beautiful." Let's just say that it's not usually the ladies at this event that get the biggest applause. I've been to Bares only once before, and while this one had less big star power (although Judith Light gave the speech at the end), the one-liners were a ton more amusing, and the theme of masterpieces of art lent itself to a lot of fun, campy material. The big girls were, duh, a Ruben painting. Meanwhile, as for legit sex appeal, Josh Buscher was Washington Crossing the Delaware, and while I find him a little creepily buff, the kid just has confidence and swagger for days. He's sexy even in a white wig--that's impressive.

Another super-quicky: I saw Book of Mormon for the third time, and gurrrrrrl, the show actually just gets better on repeat viewings. So often, I feel like musicals have these super-fun first acts and then the second act gets bogged down in conflict resolution. Too many writers are just much better at setting up problems than they are at solving them. This show is so seamlessly written and directed. Its quieter moments are thoughtfully contained (the exquisite, and still amusing, "Sal Tlay Kacity"), and the plotting is just effortless. The cast hasn't lost a drop of energy, and repeated viewings have allowed me to focus more on the stupidly amazing ensemble. Whoever cast this show is a frigging genius.

Last of the recap, I offer Anything Goes which I gave some feedback about in my Tony nominations post. It's a fabulous production of a silly, silly show. A nightclub singer, some mobsters, an heiress, and an earnest boy in love all end up on a boat together. Hijinks ensue. That's actually everything you need to know about the plot. But the music! Cole Porter knew his way around a tune for sure, and the music is bubbly and joyful, just like the show.

Here's the problem: it's a terribly unpopular opinion. I know people love her. And hell, she won the damn Tony. I just...don't enjoy Sutton Foster. I know, I know! She's a pro, and she gives it her all, and she dances up a storm, and has a lovely voice and blah blah blah. I just find her too arch and too self-aware while at the same time never seeming to be able to blast through her good girl sheen. She just reads so flat to me, and she's playing Reno Sweeney, the super-sultry goodtime dame with a naughty side. I didn't buy it for a second. She's a committed stage actress and one of the brightest rising stars of musicals. I want to love her, but instead I amply respect her and admire her. Commence throwing tomatoes....NOW.