Donna Murphy came and watched our rehearsal last night since she’ll be out of town during the actual performances this weekend. She’s a famous Broadway lady, so it made the cast all nervous. It was fun. We also had a very successful Equity/AGVA agent watching, but no one cared because he wasn’t in Center Stage.

I love sitting in the hall at 440 Studios, where I can hear the dissonant, ghostly cacophony of audition songs, staged arguments, choral works, and martial arts. Hearing it all at once produces an effect sort of like this:

Thud! “Go back to bed.” “Gloria in excelsis deo–“ Thud! “The sun’ll come out–” “Can I help?” Thud! “Tomorrow!” Thud! “Yes, by going back to bed.” “Admirabilis Deus, fortis Pater futuri saeculi–“ “Bet your bottom dollar–” Thud! “If you’ll just tell me what it is you’re–” Thud! “That tomorrow–” “Gloria!” “There’ll be–” Thud! “Sun!” “Spring cleaning you could call it.” “In excelsis deo–“ Thud! “At two in the morning?”

NB: The thuds come from the martial artists being thrown to the floor repeatedly, in case that wasn’t clear.

It’s been very warm and humid lately, and although it’s uncomfortable during the day, I love it at night. It makes the night seem welcoming. Come to think of it, it’s not so bad in the shade during the day either. And today is just slightly cooler, so it’s not so bad anywhere.

I think today was meant to be a lazy summer day–the kind spent sitting by the lake or on the beach. It would have been a good day to play hooky from work.

I’ve always enjoyed summer nights, as long as they’re not the kind you hear at a karaoke bar.

So… Ash and I moved to Hell’s Kitchen on Monday. We apparently make a pretty good team when it comes to moving. The movers didn’t come until 1:30pm, so they weren’t done moving our stuff until about 5:30pm. We invited a couple of friends over to help unpack the easy stuff while we unpacked the “Where does this go?” stuff. That night we went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to get additional things we needed, and then the next day we went to Target for more things. By 6pm on Tuesday, we were completely unpacked, and everything was set up and put away.

Every once in a while, I see a bunch of Broadway shows in rapid succession. This month is one of those onces.

A couple weeks ago I went with my family to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Beauty and the Beast, and Spelling Bee (which I had already seen off-Broadway).

Chitty was rather lousy except for the amazing flying car. You’ll seriously ask yourself, “How’d they do that?” Other than the car, though, expect a long show full of boring dialogue and painfully-simple songs. Thank goodness for Marc Kudisch’s spoiled-childish portrayal of the Baron of Vulgaria, which was the saving grace of Act II.

Beauty and the Beast was exactly what I expected, basically a staging of the movie, with some beautiful sets and some funny supporting roles, but overall unimpressive. The leads left something to be desired, but I suppose that’s to be expected from a show that’s been here for so long.

Spelling Bee, on the other hand, was just as hilarious as it was off-Broadway, and is definitely my favorite new musical this year. The music isn’t great, but the play is amazing, and it’s complemented by brilliant direction and acting. Also, Circle in the Square really is the perfect venue for this show; it feels like a school gymnasium.

This past weekend, I finally got to see Sweet Charity. Christina Applegate is not a singer, and that was painfully obvious, but her acting (and dancing) more than made up for it. Overall, the show was quirky, fun, and beautiful to behold. The dances were bizarre, as are the musical numbers in general, but it’s really the book that makes this musical great. Neil Simon’s script is perfect, and my favorite scene in the play (as it should be) was definitely the elevator scene between Charity and Oscar (played perfectly by Denis O’Hare). I actually didn’t care for O’Hare’s performance in Assassins last year, so I was pleased to see him redeem himself in another role.

Tonight I’m going to see The Light in the Piazza, which is one of the two remaining Best Musical nominees I haven’t seen. After this, I just need to get tickets to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and I will have successfully seen all the contenders.

I immediately placed an order for Sondheim Sings, Vol. 1: 1962-72 when it came out today. I read about it on Playbill:

The disc, the first in a series produced by Peter E. Jones, “utilizes the demos held in Stephen Sondheim’s private collection, and consists of the composer-lyricist singing and playing songs from such shows as A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Anyone Can Whistle, Company, Follies and A Little Night Music, among others, all digitally remastered.” [Read more.]

I know I’ll enjoy this (even though I’m sure Steve isn’t a great singer) for the same reason I liked hearing (and seeing) William Finn and Jason Robert Brown playing and singing their own songs: There’s just something so perfect about the way a songwriter interprets the meaning of his own song.

My parents and my cousin are coming to visit for a week, starting today. I’m taking a few days off work to spend with them, and I think we’ll have a good time. Our only set plan is seeing The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee on Saturday night. We’re looking for other family-friendly ideas. What is there to do in New York City?

I went shopping with the idea, “I need khaki dress slacks.” I found khaki dress slacks with pink pinstripes at Express Men. I am very pleased.

I just saw an Applebees commercial that made me all misty inside. The Applebees employees are watching the local football team (college or high school, I’m not sure which) playing a game on TV, and they lose. Then the manager is like, “I guess it’s time to close up.” So they start closing down for the night, but then a bus pulls up outside, and the football players get out of it. They look at the closed Applebees and are disappointed. But then the employees look at each other and are like, “I can stay a while longer… me too…” So the manager opens the door and says something like, “You guys must be pretty hungry.”

It made me all misty because it’s so true. The Applebees in La Habra used to stay open late just for us, because they knew we were performing and they knew we’d come to Applebees afterward. They loved having local organizations come in even if they had to stay late, and they usually gave us (since we were a non-profit) a cut of the profits as a donation. They’re so cute like that.

An odd cosmic thing just happened. The accordion player at the 59th and Lex subway station was playing a song in the same key as (and with a harmonious chord structure to) the song I was listening to (“To Be Alone With You” by Sufjan Stevens). It sounded like he knew what I was listening to, and he was jamming along with it. Twilight-zoney, eh?