I've been sorry for a while that I missed out on Evil Dead The Musical, so when they announced a musical version of Toxic Avenger, I bought tickets as soon as they were on sale (on discount, of course). And I'm really happy I did, as the show was absolutely hysterical. The story is that of Melvin Ferd III, a nerd extraordinaire who is investigating the toxic dumping in his hometown. A run in with the local bullies ends with Melvin dumped into a vat of the toxic waste and re-emerging as the Toxic Avenger a "big green freak" with super [View Full Entry]

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After the last 2 shows I've seen (the depressing 33 Variations and the depressing production of Guys and Dolls), I was in dire need of a comedy. And Blithe Spirit delivered, big time. Noel Coward's frothy show concerns author Charles Cardomine who, while planning a novel about a medium, invites a couple of friends to dine with him, his second wife Ruth and Madame Arcati the local psychic. After dinner, a seance is held, which seems to be a dud, but has in fact brought back the spirit of Charles' first wife Elvira. At first, only Charles can see her, which [View Full Entry]

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In the early 1800s a music publisher named Anton Diabelli wrote a waltz. Then he invited the greatest composers of the time to create a "variation" on the waltz that he would publish and sell as a book. Ludwig Von Beethoven wrote not one, but 33 variations on this waltz. This much is fact. On top of this fact, Moises Kaufman has layered the story of Dr. Katherine Brandt, a musicologist who is working on a monograph about the variations. In addition, we follow Katherine's relationship with her daughter Clara and Clara's relationship with Mike, a registered nurse. Since Beethoven was [View Full Entry]

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I was really looking forward to Guys and Dolls. I loved the 1990's revival (and the Papermill production a few years ago), and thought that this would be a nice fun afternoon. Well, sad to say, it was not fun at all, in fact, it was pretty lifeless. First, the good news. The Nederlander theater looks wonderful. It has been refurbished and repainted in golds and bronze and is quite airy and pretty. However, they have added a row of seats in the mezzanine that blocks what used to be the gap between front and rear mezzanine and which makes it [View Full Entry]

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I don't want to let my travel blog account lapse, so I've decided to use it for Broadway reviews. We start with Shrek-The Musical.... The show did not get off to a great start. When the lights did not go down by 3:15, we knew we were in trouble. At 3:20, one of the actresses came out said there were technical difficulties and they were working on it. A few minutes later, Brian D'Arcy James came on stage and announced the the sound system was out and that it would be a bit longer. He was very gracious, taking questions from [View Full Entry]

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Flight from Sydney to LA was nice and smooth. For a change H and I were seated together. We watched Wall-E and Mamma Mia. Glad I didn't actually pay to watch Mamma Mia! We landed slightly after 6 am and customs was quick and easy. I was originally scheduled to catch a 9 pm flight to NY, but I was able to change to a 10 am flight for only 25 dollars extra, so I got into NY at 7 pm. Below is the link to my photos. I've split them into several albums since I took over 1400. Enjoy, and [View Full Entry]

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Today was our trek to the Blue Mountains. Bus pick-up was at 7:30, then because it was through Gray Line, we drove around the city doing other hotel pick-ups then to the depot and then out of the city. First stop was at the Featherdale Wildlife Preserve. Nice little zoo with a lot of birds, kangaroos hopping free, wombats and echnidas. They have some Tasmanian devils, but they were sleeping and we couldn't see them. Did see a really cool white peacock and some more of the little penguins. This time I was able to take pictures of them. Next stop [View Full Entry]

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Left the hotel at 8:15 this morning and did a little driving tour around the city before heading to a tour of the Sydney Opera House. Opera House is a bit of a misnomer in my opinion, Sydney Opera Center would be a better name, since there are actually 3 small theaters (between 500-750 seats), a concert hall and the actual opera house in it. It's even more bizarre looking inside then I expected, you can actually see the concrete used to build the shells. The exterior tiles are all ceramic and apparently made by only one company in Sweden that [View Full Entry]

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Hi everyone! Mindy felt that I should put my two cents in . . . or something. Eventually, I intend to read through what she has written and make comments, however, since I went to Victoria Market this past Friday for a longer time than she did, I thought I would tell my story. First of all, please understand that I had a dream one night (I'm not sure exactly when, they all sort of blur together). In the dream I was telling Mindy how upset I was to have left Australia without having purchased any boomerangs or digerdydoos (an aboriginal [View Full Entry]

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Another long day on the bus. Breakfast at 7:30 to leave at 8. Breakfast today was not as good as dinner last night. Cold pancakes, and annoying wait staff who didn't seem to understand what was meant when one just asked for a cup of coffee. Everyone was complaining about the hotel on the bus as we left. According to Bo, this hotel is a bit of a problem and he's mentioned it to Globus, but they haven't taken it off the tour. We'll be filling out our customer surveys tonight, so let's hope they listen to us. First thing we [View Full Entry]

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