36 just
out • august 20.2004
THEATER
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"La Femme For All Seasons"
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Broadway
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Gay puppets save New York
Sunday
Sept 5, 2004
Itjayni/icju* .ÿnternàtiotiuï2003/2004
season
1 )nor 7pm Pageant 8ptn
from complete disaster
IfàtUûmu yc* to dit 2OO4/2OOÇ
by J on
LA FEMME MAGNIFIQUE
INTERNATIONAL
K retzu
pageant
A pageant to choose the most glamorous
female impersonator in the world
For additional informations & ticket«
cat 503-222'5338
or email
DarcelleXV@aol.com
Tickets $30 1 Tables of 10 $275
Double Tree Inn at jantren Beach
909 North Havden Island, Portland, OK
383-2111
A closeted Republican puppet argues with his roommate in the Broadway smash Avenue Q
heater, and Broadway in particular, is
often referred to as The Fabulous Invalid.
Well, if the 2004 New York City season is
anything to go by, the invalid is on life
support and hanging on by a thread.
On my recent annual pilgrimage I found the
only new musical worth traveling cross country
to see is the delightful Avenue Q, which deserved
every bit of recognition it got at this year’s Tony
Awards (Best Musical, Best Score, Best Btxtk).
Don’t let the faux-Muppets put you off—this
fur and felt thirtysomething is funny, touching and
outrageous fun. Any show that includes gay pup
pets, full puppet nudity and catchy Broadway
showstoppers about racism, schadenfreude and
Gary Coleman is tops with me.
Equally original is the spec
tacle of Hugh Jackman single
handedly making The Boy from
Oz into a smash hit. This musi
cal biography of gay cabaret
icon Peter Allen is a hopeless
muddle—all of Alien’s songs
are clumsily shoehorned into
an often ridiculous hxik that
reduces a sub-interesting life
into a series of “And then I
wrote/And then I fucked”
clichés.
Still, there are compensa
tions: Isabel Keating’s weird
channeling of Judy Garland, Stephanie J. Block’s
impersonation of Lucie Amaz playing Liza Min
nelli. Then there is Mr. Jackman. I am con
vinced that the dull and wooden actor that
turns up on screen is the real deal’s talentless
twin brother. On stage Jackman comes to life
with megawatt charisma. You have never seen
someone work an audience like he does—and
without a shred of effort.
This year’s Emperor’s New Clothes Award
most deservedly goes to the hideous Wicked. This
green elephant of a show takes Gregory Maguire’s
intriguing novel (a satiric prequel to The Wizard
Of Oz subtitled The Life and Times of the Wicked
Witch of the West) and turns it into a lumbering,
noisy tank of a musical. Winnie Holzman’s script
has the graceful wit of a two-ton truck, and the
less said about Stephen Schwartz’s relentlessly
T
dull score (which would be subpar even for a sub
par composer like Schwartz) the better.
Granted, 1 did not see the renowned, Tony-
winning Idina Menzel (of the freakishly high
voice) but her understudy, who seemed to be
doing a fine Menzel imitation. Somehow I don’t
think it would have made much difference who
was wearing the green makeup—this show stinks.
The only other new musical of note is Caro'
line, or Change, one of those shows that carries its
pedigree (btxtk and lyrics by Tony Kushner, music
by Jeanine Tesori, direction by George C. Wolfe)
like a shield before it. Caroline is a show one des
perately wants to love. It is intelligent, stKially
responsible, passionately performed. And yet...if
only it wasn’t so in love with its
own importance. There’s no
getting round the fact it is
opaque in its passions, often
pompous in its socialism and,
finally, a bit of a bore.
Kushner’s libretto is meant
to be a subtle parable about
race relations and societal ten
sions in 1963 Louisiana, but its
poetry is leaden, its impact
vague and its metaphors deep
on the surface. Tesori s music is
forever striving for guts and
glory but settles for volume, and
Wolfe’s direction never soars.
The cast, however, throws itself into the
work with great dedication; Tonya Pinkins’
Caroline is undeniably a powerhouse perform
ance. Still, you come out feeling like you have
to go home and write a btxik report.
The truly txld musical work on Broadway this
season comes in the form of its three hit revivals.
Leonard Bernstein and Comden & Green’s
1950s romp Wonderful Town is a quirky souffle
blessed with a fabulous score. Kathleen Mar
shall’s revival, though, flattens the show into a
limp sitcom. It’s easy to dismiss the vanilla sup
porting cast, but it is impossible to miss Donna
Murphy’s diva turn in the leading role, for
which she has garnered rhapstxlic critical
attention. But after a while all her cute,
squinty-eyed grandstanding and vocai/facial
mugging just made me want to shcxit her.
I am convinced
that the dull
and wooden
Hugh Jackman
that turns up
on screen Is
the real deal’s
talentless
twin brother