Lunar Eclipse

By Joseph Cervelli

Whenever I read that Reed Birney is going to be appearing in a play, I will be there. There are few actors who are as believable in their portrayals of characters as this immensely talented man. He and his son were outstanding in the last outing I saw him in "Chester Bailey." He and his co-star Lisa Emery are  incredibly moving in Donald Margulies latest poignant play presented by 2ndStage at The Pershing Square Signature Center's "Lunar Eclipse" gorgeously directed by the always exceptional Kate Whoriskey. 

At first glance not a lot goes on and most of the play is a reflection on aging. The play takes place on the farm that George and his wife own.  He comes from a lineage of farmers.  Birney is the curmudgeon George married to the more uplifting and grateful Em (an endearing Emery.)  Reflecting is not uncommon with older people and in most instances they look for the wonderful times they had though here there are differing attitudes. Despite the death of an overdose of drugs that their adopted son succumbed to they seem to have a good long distance relationship with their daughter. Yet, even then George seems to be tied up in a coil of sadness about not seeing her often saying that he was more distraught by the death of his dogs than his son. And what is surprising is that George was more upset that his son stole his beloved telescope to pay for drugs. George has always been fascinated with astronomy and the title of the play which deals with the Earth's shadow falling on the moon covering it completely is a metaphor for his falling into a blackening period in his life. Not helpful is the fact he may be developing dementia.

Em tries to comfort him every way she is able to. She is uplifting and hoping to convince him that they still have many years ahead of them. According to the predictions George has decided up there are about 22 years. They bicker (well George bickers and Em tries to calm things down) about whether he should be wearing a sweater since it has gotten colder as the evening goes on. There is a lot of humor throughout and  yet there is an aura of sadness. 

As the play goes on you begin to wonder if George was ever happy. He has the cloud of senility overhanging but was he always like this. But then Margulies does something wonderful near the conclusion, and you see both characters as teenagers. Having adults playing younger people is always a slippery slope. It rarely works, but when you have two exceptionally fine actors as these two, it works beautifully. They have found each other and there is definitely a love connection here. The growling George is smiling and tender while Em is exactly the same lovable person. It is a beautiful scene played to the hilt by both.

Walt Spangler's set design is bucolic and peaceful and the lighting design byAmith Chandrashaker along with the gorgeous video design by S. Kathy Tucker make the sky look amazingly realistic.

There is not one false moment in this shining show. Looking at it you think about your own personal life and wonder if you could have done anything to have improved up it or are you just happy with the way things turned out. Hopefully, the latter is the way you wish you have gone. And if you are a young person it would be wonderful to see the joys that lie ahead with someone you love and do everything to make it work.

PHOTOS: JOAN MARCUS

Tickets are available at The Pershing Square Signature Center 480 West 42nd Street. As of this date the show ends its run June 22.

 

The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse

  By Joseph Cervelli

When the large canvas (set design by Stephanie Osin Cohen) comes down at the well acted but mostly juvenile new pop musical "The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse" at The Pershing Square Signature Center, I could recognize Paris Hilton but for a moment or two did not make the connection between the other two namely, Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan. They were more infamous than, perhaps, famous and the New York Post really tore into them naming them "Three Bimbos of the Apocalypse" about 20 or so years ago. In this new show designed for the Gen Z audience (a lot of the comments and dialogue I must admit went over my head) we meet teen detective Brainworm (apparently "worm" means something to the younger members in the audience.)  She is a YouTuber sleuth whose job is to try to find "missing girls." Brainworm is played by a wonderful Milly Shapiro whose character is agraphobic though she does venture out after four years in her apartment where she has her internet program to find the missing young woman Coco. 

This Coco (joyously played by Keri Rene Fuller)  is a not very well known pop artist but Brainworm notices the bracelet with her name printed on it. Apparently she has died right after the photo was taken. And there is also a still photo of Coco with her insane mother (think the mother of Carrie from the film here played by the always excellent Sara Gettelfinger) and some unknown person Kiki (Natalie Walker). 

There are two other "worms" in the show namely the flamboyantly gay Earworm (Luke Islam) and the supposedly straight Bookworm (Patrick Nathan Falk.) While both actors are fine they really are not given much to do and basically act as backgrouind singer/dancers. It takes a while to figure out not that they also are YouTubers but from different parts of the country. 

Things get more incoherent when Brainworm finally meets up with Coco who apparently has been kidnapped by her mother telling her daughter the world is coming to an end. But then later on Coco makes a comeback in appropriately garish costumes by Cole McCarty without much of an explanation except for the help of Brainworm. For some bizarre reason she is suddenly surrounded by her mother (when did the mother suddenly become part of her world?) and Kiki (you will find out who she really is.)

Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley are responsible for the book, music and lyrics. While the book is a mess and, at times, you almost give up on trying to follow it their score is tuneful and not as loud as you would think. Yet, it was not always easy to understand the lyrics. 

Jack Ferver is responsible for the energetic choreography along with Olivia Palacios who provided additional choreography and Rory Pelsue both directed and developed it. I wished he had paid more atttention to individual scenes making them coalesce into a flowing narrative. It appears to be linear in a non linear format.

But the young audience was having a most enjoyable time and with some work it could have been a lot better. You most certainly will not be bored!

Photos: Monique Carboni

Tickets are available at the Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd Street. For theater schedule and tickets please go to: thenewgroup.org.

 Kowalski

By Joseph Cervelli

The title of the new play by Gregg Ostrin "Kowalski" at The Duke Theater should conjure up what you are about to see. Yes, it is that Kowalski. Stanley himself from one of America’s greatest plays  "A Streetcar Named Desire" by one of America’s greatest playwrights Tennessee Williams.  Unfortunately, the play really does not reveal all that much and becomes both talky and tedious.

While taking place at Williams' beach house in Provincetown 1947,  the play actually starts in 1977 with the playwright being interviewed by an unheard voice wanting to know about his latest play namely "Streetcar."  Now we are back to 1947 seeing Williams played much too affectatiously by Robin Lord Taylor who turns campy almost immediately.  Having seen interviews Williams liked to be grandiose but nothing like presented here. Not sure if the director Colin Hanlon's aim was to show the exaggerated humor of Williams or Taylor decided to exaggerate the character he was portraying, but it becomes annoying as the 85 minute play moves along sometimes at a snail's pace. 

We meet Margo Jones (an excellent Alison Cimmet) who is a good friend of Willams and co-directed his masterpiece 'The Glass Menagerie." Williams’ partner the volatile and inebrietated Pancho (a very good Sebastian Treviño) comes in and wants to go with Williams to pick up some sailors at a local bar. Williams is waiting for Brando to arrive to audition  him for the role of Stanley Kowalski as requested by "Streetcar's" illustrious director Elia Kazan, but he is already three days late. Pancho leaves for the bar and Margo goes to makes sure he gets in no trouble. 

While Williams is trying to get the toilet to work (there are also issues with fuses) in a rather cheap looking (terrific design by the always reliable David Gallo) beach house, Brando (Brandon Flynn) comes in and with a brash attitude starts making himself at home opening the refrigerator and acting like the house is his. Williams comes out to introduce himself and wants to know who this fellow is. For some unknown reason Brando only says that he is from New York. What was the point of playing coy? Williams thinks he is just a fan. It takes a while before Brando announces himself which makes little sense. 

The saving grace here is that Flynn not only resembles Brando but never comes on too strong or does an imitation. He is headstrong and full of arrogance but never goes too far over the top to become a caricature. He is perfectly cast for the role of Brando. Most of the play is banter between both of them. He explains why he was late in coming and talks about his acting and being on stage with the always controversial Tallulah Bankhead. Williams thinks he is too young for the role. After Williams tells him what tragically happened to his sister, Brando creates some story about a young woman he knows who also went through terrible mental treatment at a facility. However, he madehis story up for no apparent reason.d

Williams keeps asking Brando why he mumbles. The problem is that Flynn does not mumble which is something Hanlon should have paid more attention to. Flynn is so good that there is no reason I could see why he would not be able to make himself unclear as Brando sometimes did. This is brought up several times which is contrary to how Flynn sounds. 

A number of scenes are based on fact including Brando's  girlfriend who arrives with him. Only here for which gives Brando and Williams more time to blandly converse, the girlfriend is left at the bus station so comes to the house late. Ellie Ricker (Jo) is terrific as Brando's girlfriend in a thankless role which goes no where except for Williams fawning over her to make Brando angry. Why? There is a humorous moment offstage in which as Brandon Flynn calls Jo as he would yell out "Stella!" Williams looks perplexed for Brando told him he did not have the script to the play. You later find out he did.

A mistake is in not giving Flynn a few moments in reading lines from the play. Since Jones was according to what I read actually there when Brando  read it and was amazed by his delivery it would have worked beautifully here.

There is a great deal to work with but with Lord's overplaying the role of Williams even Flynn's terrific portrayal and Cimmet's equally fine performance they cannot do much to improve upon the  play which lumbers along. I doubt if Tenessee Williams would have approved. 

PHOTOS: Russ Rowland

Tickets can be purchased at The Duke on 42nd Street 229 West 42nd Street.

The play's limited engagement is scheduled to close on February 23.

Best of the First Half of the New Season

By Joseph Cervelli

Here are shows in no particular order that I felt merit the best for the first half of the new theater season. There seemed to be more shows during this first half  than I recall but nothing like what will be turning up in March and April. By then every  Broadway theater should have a show. And let's not even get to the off Broadway deluge. So, before that occurs, let me take a deep breath and here are those I felt were the best I have seen from May through December. 

"Gypsy"

For those that thought Audra McDonald's soprano voice would not fit the score of my personal favorite musical "Gypsy" think again. She combines soprano with belting. And the result is pure bliss. We are so overwhelmed with her heavenly voice that it is easy to forget what a truly fine actress she is. I shall never tire of "Rose's Turn" the penultimate 11 o'clock number, and her rendition was stunning beyond all measure. I did have some issues with George C. Wolfe's streamlined version and as much as I like Joy Woods I was disappointed with her portrayal of Louise. Yet, the moment that overture begins I was in pure delight. 

"Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical"

While "A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical" has a disappointing book with too much of an emphasis on his five wives it is vastly entertaining thanks to the music, the actors who portray his wives and the superb James Monroe Iglehart in the starring role. A big minus was not having a character play the one and only Ella Fitzgerald with whom Armstrong made some beautiful music together.   

"Swept Away"

The first half of "Swept Away" was a pulsating musical with a dynamic cast and excellent score. The shipwreck was one of the most ingenius production  numbers I have seen in a long time. But then the second half becomes a bit stagnant with the survivors of the sinking of their ship on a lifeboat. Not a lot you can do in a lifeboat to make the musical that interesting despite the fine performances of five of the actors. Even resulting to cannabilism does not perk your interest that much. Still, it did deserve to have a longer life instead of closing recently. 

"Death Becomes Her"

This new musical might be vulgar and crass but there is no doubt it is also hysterically funny. Based on the fairly entertaining film both Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard are wildly over the top and it works in every way. Also, don't want to forget the terrific Christopher Sieber who really shines in "The Plan"  what seemed like an underappreciated number by the audience I attended with. The sets and scenery were both glorious to look at. True, the score was not top notch, but it worked for the show. 

"Maybe Happy Ending"

Out of nowhere comes a charming little show with a wonderful Darren Criss as an outdated robot. The music is pleasant and the sets are quite remarkable. I was not as enthralled as others were with the show, but it still is worth seeing for Criss and his co-robot Helen  J. Shen. 

"Another Shot"

A show which should have played much longer is "Another Shot" about addiction recovery. Some found it predictable which in a way it was,  but the performances and sincerity in this show made it definitely worth seeing. One of the top shows of the season, thus far.

"Romeo and Juliet" 

This Gen Z version "Romeo & Juliet" is a fun romp before it turns serious. Sam Gold has directed with great creativity and while I was disappointed in a good but not memorable Rachel Zegler as Juliet;  Kit Connor makes a perfect Romeo. 

"Hold On To Me Darling"

Adam Driver gives an amazing performance as a country music star who returns back home for his mother's funeral in a thrilling revival of Kenneth Lonergan's "Hold On to Me Darling." Running about three hours I found it all blended together. Not one false move in this show.

"Our Town"

 If you have not yet caught the superbly moving revival of "Our Town" before it closes may I suggest you go at once. Kenny Leon has directed the show with such sentimental beauty and Jim Parsons is the most humorous Stage Manager of any previous production I have seen. A classic story about remembering the little things in our life could not be more appropriate in the current world we live in. 

"Fatherland"

"Fatherland"was a knockout of a show based on court transcripts and taped dialogue dealing with an ultra right wing instigator who supported the attack on the Capitol on January 6. Turned in to the authorities by his son, there is not one moment that was not gripping. And Ron Bottitta gives a performance for the ages. 

"Hills of California"

"Hills of California" is an unforgettable journey about four sisters who reunite in England for their dying mother. So much is going on that it is almost impossible to condense what is happening here other than the daughters are unique in their own way. Laura Donnelly gives an award winning performance portraying the mother and daughter who moved to America. 

"Someone Spectacular"

Here is an unusual play about a grief counseling center where the participants are not exactly getting along all that well with each other. So, what is going to happen when the counselor does not show up. It is an intriguing work and beautifully acted with quite a special ending. 

"Still"

Still" was one of the first shows I saw this season and a special play with two very remarkable performances Jayne  Atkinson and Tim Daly as a couple who broke up about 30 years ago and meet again at a hotel bar. The only issue was an ending that left you hanging or does it? 

"Once Upon a Mattress"

The best revival I have seen of "Once Upon a Mattress" which was at City Center has made it to Broadway. Sutton Foster is a complete joy as swamp Princess Winnifred who is a candidate to marry Prince Dauntless (a wonderful Michael Urie). Unbeknownst to her, his mother sabotages each candidate. It is just pure fun.

HONORABLE MENTION

Mia Farrow was the saving grace in the not very good "The Roommate" which so much just did not make a lot of sense. I am not into watching drag shows but heard good things about "Drag The Musical" and it was lots of fun. Runs too long and despite predictability a very enjoyable cast and tuneful score with some clever lyrics. While "A Guide For the Homesick" was a choppy play that had no real central focus the two leads McKinley Belcher III and Uly Schlesinger were excellent--especially Belcher III. While "The Beacon" had a number of issues not quite believable it boasted an award caliber performance by Kate Mulgrew. "Table 17" was entertaining if not totally successful though the two highlights were Michael Rishawn hilariously playing three roles and a very sweetly seductive performance by the always winning Kara Young. "N/A" was a not very exciting play with the two characters basically portraying Nancy Pelosi (Holland Taylor) and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (Ana Villafane.) Taylor is always a pleasure to see on stage and Villafane gave a breakout performance as Ocasio-Cortez. She looked and acted like the U.S. Representative from New York. Tory Kittles gave a standout as a Vietnam objector from the south who meets more problems as a Black  man moving up further north to North Carolina. I had some issues with the play but not the performances most especially Kittles. 

PHOTOS: 

1) Julieta Cervantes

2) Jeremy Daniel

3) Emilio Madrid

4) Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

5) Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

6) Joan Marcus

7) Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

8) Julieta Cervantes

9) Daniel Rader

10) Maria Baranova

11) Joan Marcus

12) Julieta Cervantes

13) Joey Moro

14) Joan Marcus

 

 

A Guide for the Homesick

    By Joseph Cervelli

Despite two outstanding performances, McKinley Belcher III as Teddy and Uly Schlesinger as Jeremy  Ken Urban's "A Guide for the Homesick" at DR2 is a choppy, mess of a play that meanders all over. You also never have any strong feelings for the characters no matter how well both actors each play two different roles.

The action takes place in a hotel room in Amsterdam. Both enter quite jovial and your first thought might be that they are friends though far from it. They are laughing carrying six packs of beer and they have just met a little while ago in the hotel bar. So, what is Jeremy doing in Teddy's room you might wonder. Your  first thought might be that he came up there for sex though Jeremy does firmly insist that he is not gay. It seems that he missed his flight to Boston and has no hotel room. Are we to believe that he expected someone to ask him to share a room? Already this does not make a lot of sense. Teddy seems to be more jittery speaking about a friend of his, the unseen Ed, who left suddenly for the States. It seems Ed was not himself the day before his departure and Teddy is concerned if he even got onto the plane. His phone rings constantly and it is from Ed's fiancee Margo. Why doesn't Teddy answer it as Jeremy asks. His reasoning for not answering it is not to scare her which makes no sense. More like inconsiderateness. 

Teddy who is gay thinks that Jeremy might also be so he casually touches him which Jeremy is repelled by. Teddy thinks it might be because he is Black.  Jeremy assures him that is not the case which is indeed it is not, but more of someone who cannot face his sexuality. Jeremy changes the subject and speaks about his recent year in Uganda as a medical assistant. With the help of Abigail Hoke Brady's lighting which dims a bit there is a flashback of Jeremy helping a gay Ugandan (Nicholas) who has been tested for AIDS (negative). He has a married lover and things are as expected extremely homophobic in that country. Here Belcher III takes the role (excellent African accent) of Nicholas. The action bounces back from Amsterdam to Uganda frequently and as horrific as the conditions are there for gay people the play does not bring forth any new information we are not sadly aware of. It seems the playwright's intent by his interaction with Nicholas,  Jeremy suddenly realizes why his engagement to his fiancée has suddenly ended. Not exactly anything new here and even when Jeremy and Teddy eventually have sex it is hardly surprising.

And then the lighting switches back to the present time but only we are now again in another flashback. Jeremy has taken the role of the manic Ed who may have overdosed on meds and pot. He is jumping all over the room as Teddy is trying to calm him down. Eventually, Jeremy who has been "in the closet" so to speak confronts Teddy about his possibly being in love with his boyhood friend Ed which hastened his departure. 

Belcher III quite good in both "The Royale" and "Death of a Salesman" gave an especially bravura performances in the unforgettable "The Light," a few seasons ago. He again proves he is among our finest actors around. Schlesinger does very well as the confused Jeremy and his role as the unstable Ed is pitch perfect. 

Shira Milikowsky's direction is as good as it can possibly be though she can not make a lot of sense of the absurdly deficient conclusion. 

Speaking of something not making sense, first there is a knock on the door and when Teddy opens it, there are what looks like wash cloths or small towels in an open wooden container. Then later when Jeremy goes out of the room he is soaked by rain you see pouring down. Is the housekeeping service walking around with no overhang and getting soaked? And this being a hotel I would think the corridor would be indoors not like a motel. This was not quite thought out by scenic designer Lawrence Moten III and neither is the play. 

Photos: Russ Rowland

Tickets are available at the DR 2 Theater 103 East 15th Street. Limited engagement ends February 2. 

 Gypsy

By Joseph Cervelli

Having seen all those ladies who portrayed the one and only Madam Rose on Broadway starting with Angela Lansbury, I never thought anyone could match either Lansbury or the more recent one by the galvanizing Patti LuPone. LuPone's interpretation of the penultimate number "Rose's Turn" was an implosion unlike other interpretations with the fury of the ultimate domineering stage mother. But as the line goes, "Here she is boys, here's Rose" and now we have the most incredible and most moving Rose to date. I am speaking of Audra McDonald in the latest production of "Gypsy" at the Majestic Theatre. I was one of those who thought as wonderful an actor and singer as she is, could she as a soprano render those remarkable songs by Julie Styne and Stephen Sondheim in the style they were designed to be done? They wrote those songs fit for a belter not necessarily a soprano. So how does McDonald do it!? She actually infuses her soprano voice with a belting quality. Quite a feat and it works brilliantly. More on McDonald in a bit. 

Let's get to director George C. Wolfe's production of my favorite musical of all time. For me it is the most perfect musical on so many levels. The illustrious score, the book by Arthur Laurents based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, roles that actors can imbue themselves into, etc. Yet, despite the pluses in Wolfe's concept there are several minuses.  First to the postive.   

 

Taking place during the waning days of vaudeville which Rose cannot accept, the variety act she devised for her daughters Baby June (excellently played by understudy Marley Gomes) in the starring role and the older sister Louise (well played by understudy Summer Rae Daney) as part of the ensemble never fully takes off. They travel around the country though never really being successful.  So far things work well with the show under Wolfe's direction. He also makes sure that Rose and the candy salesman Herbie (a wonderful Danny Burstein) who becomes the girls’ agent have a more loving relationship than in other productions of the show. This is the first time that somewhere in the musical I wished the composers had written  a number for him. Burstein would have hit it it "out of the park."

One disappointment is that during the Fourth of July number either Wolfe or choreographer Camille A. Brown decided to do something which falls flat. A small but delightful highlight has always been having the two girls dance in that holiday number with strobe lights on them as they tap to the back of the line transitioning into older versions of themselves. Instead of having June and Louise almost magically appear here they walk out from the strips in the flag. What was always a sparkling occurrence is now uninspired

Brown's choreography is generally fine and Kevin Csolak as Tulsa (the young man whom the teen June leaves with) does a terrific job in the fabulous "All I Need is the Girl." He is joined in the dance number with the now grown Louise (Joy Woods.) 

I admired Woods in "The Notebook" though here I was disappointed. I noticed that her dancing with Csolak just did not work that well. And she was also lackluster in other scenes. Her singing in the  touching "Little Lamb" is just fine but her expression of sadness is not there. But worse yet, and this could be the fault of Wolfe, the problem intensifies. When Rose and the girls go into the Burlesque Theater,  Louise has the opportunity (especially after June departs) to have the one shining moment that Rose wanted for her daughters. Louise is rightfully terrified to break into her stripper number and Woods plays that fear well. But the big problem is that as she travels from one Burlesque Theater to another you see only a moderate change in her personality. She should exude confidence and playfulness, but under Wolfe's unspectacular direction in this part of the show she is sadly quite dull. Her almost halting quality in the role of an established and renowned stripper makes little sense which I am surprised Wolfe was not more attuned to.

The legendary scenic designer Santo Loquasto does a good job in keeping the sets a bit skimpy which falls into place with the demise of vaudeville though there could have been more pizzazz in scenes where Louise performs in larger production numbers as she tours the circuit.  Toni-Leslie James costumes are on target and that long time lighting duo Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer are always tops in their field. 

Those three crowd pleasing strippers--Mazeppa (Lili Thomas), Electra (Mylinda Hull) and especially Tessie Tura (a hilarious Lesli Margherita) do not fail to disappoint. 

As with this and all past productions, you know that Rose loves her daughters and wants to make especially one a big star, but somehow you always had a feeling she was living her own theatrical aspirations through them. But here I never really got the feeling she wanted stardom for herself until the last few moments of her final number which is a refreshing change. When Rose started singing "Rose's Turn" she seemed so unsure of her life. Tears resulting from all the hard work she put into her daughters' careers  (one successful and one not) come flowing with the grateful realization that one of her daughters became a star.  Shortly thereafter in the number frustration that maybe she herself could have had a stage career comes to fruition. The overflowing of all the varied feelings she has during this scene is the most believable and moving I have encountered. 

Despite the reservations in this production, there are none concerning Audra McDonald. She delivers the role with a locomotive determination and yet never over the top. Miss her at your own peril.

PHOTOS: Julieta Cervantes

Tickets are available at the Majestic Theatre 245 West 45th Street. 

 

Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now!

By Joseph Cervelli

If you have seen all the new shows that have recently come in and in need of something different and may I add quite delightful, I urge you to get to New World Stages to see the very enjoyable "Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now!" 

The musical runs about 80 or so minutes and you will certainly be very entertained especially more so if you are acquainted with the three wonderful female perfomers. The show stars three of the women who were leads in one of the most joyous Broadway musicals in decades "Hairspray." Of course, I am referring to Marissa Jaret Winokur, Laura Bell Bundy and Kerry Butler. The three also wrote and co-directed  "Mama."  Winokur won a well deserved Tony for that role while the other two were nominated for shows they hadappeared in. I don't know the dynamics of what happens when shows close or whether performers stay in touch or not but these three have been friends for 22 years. 

All three wanted to be stars as youngstersand they have certainly achieved their goals. Bundy started out as a beauty pageant child and was Miss Pee Wee Hemisphere which gets some laughs. She did look quite adorable as you can see in the video screen behind the performers. She speaks about her mother not realizing how those young girls were exploited without any knowledge of that. Bundy is certainly the most athletic with her baton twirling and mimicing among others Judy Garland. Her most famous role for which she rightfully was Tony nominated was in "Legally Blond:  The Musical." I don't recall whom she ran against but she gave a dynamo performance in that not great but fun filled musical. Sorry I missed her in "Ruthless"  for which she was nominated for Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk awards. She really sings and dances up a storm in her big number from "Blond." She has not lost her abundance of energy. 

Winokur tells three anecdotes about when she was in "Hairspray" and they were a bit upsetting. One dealing with salary, another with the producers and their demands about her clothing and Liza Minelli's backhanded (not intentional) remark about Winokur's weight. Her voice is as strong if not even stronger than when she appeared in that show. She breaks into "Some People" and a few notes from "Rose's Turn." She does more than an admirable job. Maybe, the next "Gypsy" after the current one on Broadway will be one she will audition for. She calls up an audience member whom I am sure was pre-selected to play the character of Linc from "Hairspray" and this young man did a great job. Not sure if he is an actor but might consider audtioning for some roles. 

Butler played in about 12 shows when their Playbill covers were shown on the video screen. And what a difference between all of them. Her voice while excellent is less of a belter than the other two ladies but that is a good counterbalance. I am grateful she sang the more subdued and lovely "Somewhere That's Green" from "Little Shop of Horrors." She was wonderful in that production and she was superlative in both "Xanadu" (Tony Nod) and the underappreciated "Beetlejuice."

Besides singing and dancing (they must have choreographed, wonderfully may I add, since no choreographer is listed) they speak about their friendships and family. Winokur had the very upsetting news about having cancer at the start of "Hairspray" and thankful is now cancer free. It was very sweet to see photos of their children and spouses. 

Near the end of the show they sing a few bars of "Old Friends" and you really believe they most definitely are. You will walk away feeling like they could be your friends, too.

The show happily is now extended till December 21.

PHOTO: Russ Rowland

Tickets are available at New World Stages 340 West 50th Street