A Quick Read on "The Book of Mormon"

Posted by Bruce Miller
On our recent theatre trip to NYC, my daughter Hannah and I saw The Book of Mormon. Almost locked-in to win the Tony Award for Best Musical, Mormon is the hottest ticket on Broadway. So it's the one show we bought in advance, paying $352 (before box office service charges) for two seats in the rear mezz. Yikes!

I read a rave review on Facebook from one of the Richmond theatre artists I most respect. His glowing assessment echoed the sentiments of virtually every mover and shaper in American theatre. Mormon has already won Best Musical nods from the New York Drama Critics' Circle, the Drama Desk Awards, the Outer Critics Circle Awards, and the Drama League Awards.

Ben Brantley in the New York Times called it "the best musical of this century." Peter Marks gushes in the Washington Post: "Matt and Trey: where have they been all my life? The Book of Mormon deserves worship." The critic in Vogue proclaims it "the best new American musical of the last 25 years." And Entertainment Weekly describes it as "a perfect Broadway musical," adding, "This is what 21st Century Broadway can be."

The youthful, packed house on the Sunday evening performance we attended went WILD--the most enthusiastic audience response I've witnessed on Broadway since the euphoric reaction that followed Jennifer Holliday singing And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going in the pre-Tony Award months of the original run of Dreamgirls in 1982.

So what did we think of The Book of Mormon? I liked it more than Hannah did. There were elements I liked a lot. If the rest of the world weren't getting all orgasmic, I'd be talking about how fun it was. But the best musical of the century or the last 25 years? Better than Into the Woods, The Lion King, Rent, Wicked, Spring Awakening, and Light in the Piazza? I have to admit that I just don't get it.

I'm sure part of it is that I'm 60 years old. I've never watched South Park, also written by two of the creators of Mormon, even for five seconds. When I watched that South Park "Hamlet" take-off that James Ricks posted on Facebook a week or so ago, I found it confusing and annoying and not funny in the least. I'm 60 years old, which I know is no excuse, but it seems to me like maybe it's germane.

My taste in musicals was forged during the era of Stephen Sondheim. My favorite musical of all time is A Little Night Music. My favorite musicals of this century are Wicked, Spring Awakening, and Light in the Piazza. I NEVER thought I'd say this about Sondheim (Night Music), but I fear and suspect that my beloved musicals of days gone by now seem terribly old school to young, savvy theatregoers who find Avenue Q and The Book of Mormon to be what American musical theatre needs today.

To me, The Book of Mormon was a lot of fun, clever and energetic, full of sound and fury signifying ... not a heck of a lot. To me, it was mostly derivative. Like Spamalot and Avenue Q, it revels in its irreverence. Like Drowsy Chaperone, it celebrates unapologetic musical comedy technique. Like Urinetown, it finds much of its humor from referencing other musical theatre hits. Like The Producers, it rejoices in an old fashioned bring-on-the-dancing-girls (in this case boys) sensibility that is almost quaint. Like In the Heights, it wraps everything up at the end with a tidy sentimental bow.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Unlike the great works of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, and Kander and Ebb, it breaks no new ground with its production, libretto or score. It challenges nothing (seriously, find me an easier target for satire). It takes us nowhere we haven't been before. It teaches us very little. But it doesn't intend to do any of that.

Also, full disclosure time, I experience discomfort making smart-aleck fun of anyone's faith, no matter what that faith may be. Early in the show, there's a jaunty song that repeats the catch phrase, forgive me, "f... you God," I knew my father, were he alive, would be deeply hurt to see me applauding.

So, let me say what I LOVED about the show:

The CONCEPT: Take the squeakiest clean, fastest growing religion in the world and insert two of its virgin missionaries into Uganda, the most hellish place on earth (at least as described in this show), and see what they can do to convert a populace that is being decimated by AIDS, barbaric war loads, and enforced female circumcisions. View everything though the lens of American musical comedy. A GREAT idea.

The PERFORMANCES: I thought Josh Gad as a Mormon Zach Galifianakis (Jack Black?) and Andrew Rannells as a Mormon Bradley Cooper were full of talent and energy, as were their Mormon back-up singers. Nikki M. James, the beautiful black woman who is the first to convert, is a joy to watch. Everyone sings, dances and acts with such a love of all things Broadway, they send your spirits soaring.

The RESOLUTION: Using the mythology of the Broadway musical to shed light on the mythology of Mormonism (standing in for all the world's religions), and watching the Disneyworld Africans discover that, yes, mythology is make-believe but that's all it's ever been intended to be--stand-ins for the truths of love and interconnectedness. Yes, it is a small world after all.

I honestly did think the show was fresh, excitingly performed, and a lot of fun. At the end, it's even sorta sweet. I wasn't offended, just a little uneasy. In the overall arc of musical theatre, I think this show will go down as very 2011. Which is in many ways a great compliment.

--Bruce Miller

Buying B'way Tics from a Sidewalk Stranger

Posted by Bruce Miller
Last weekend, my family took advantage of the Columbus Day holiday and went to New York City. Hannah’s school was closed all day Monday; Curt was out for half a day. This post is my second installment about our NYC trip (see Our Journey to “South Pacific” below). Today I’ll continue with my personal tale of buying great seats to a sold-out hit from a guy I’d never met.

Like a magician, I’m tempted to say “don’t try this at home.” I can’t vouch for the practice I’m about to describe, nor can I promise that should you try to replicate the procedure you won’t get burned.

Nonetheless, on two occasions I’ve nervously purchased Broadway tickets valued at more that $100 each from guys shouting out show titles on the sidewalk adjacent to the TKTS line. On both occasions, I’ve obtained great seats to a sold-out hit for nothing more than the standard ticket price.

As I mentioned before, Hannah and I really wanted to see South Pacific at Lincoln Center. But tickets for the Columbus Day weekend had been sold out for months. Regular price tickets to South Pacific are $115 to $120. I could have bought Premium Seats in advance from the box office for $300 each, or other good seats from a broker for $225 each. There was no way I could handle that expenditure. So I decided to arrive in NYC empty handed and try my luck.

There are two ways to get good seats at the regular price at the last minute for a sold-out Broadway hit. Neither one is a sure thing.

1 – You can go directly to the box office several hours prior to curtain on the day you want to see the show and ask if and when unsold Premium or House Seats will be released. Often the box office associate will tell you exactly when to return and offer a guess as to your chances for success. Frequently two to ten great seats are released 90 minutes or so before curtain. Armed with this box office advice, you can return at the time suggested and hope you’re close enough to the head of the line to make it to the box office window in time to buy great seats at the regular ticket price.

The Premium Seats that may or may not be released are among the best seats in the house. They are the seats the producer has been trying to sell for $300 each to people who have the means to buy great seats at the last minute without worrying how much they cost. The House Seats that may or may not be released are also among the best seats in the house. They are the seats set aside for purchase by the cast and crew, playwrights, directors, designers, producers etc of the show. If you’re in the cast, and your Great Aunt Harriet comes to town and asks for tickets at the last minute, you as a cast member can purchase House Seats for her, if any House Seats are still available. Once in a while, some House Seats are unspoken for on the day of the show, and they are released for sale to the general public at the last minute.

2 – The second way to buy last minute, hard-to-get tickets is to buy them from one of the broker’s representatives who are sent out to the sidewalks before every performance. They usually ply their trade somewhere near the line of folks waiting to buy half-price tickets at the TKTS Booth. I’ve heard the horror stories about people who bought tickets on the sidewalk only to learn when they showed up at the theatre that the tickets were counterfeit or stolen. When you buy tickets on the sidewalk, it’s definitely buyer beware. Just because I haven’t been burned yet doesn’t mean I won’t be burned next time.

Having issued that warning, here’s what I’ve done. I’ve walked up and down and all around the TKTS Booth area, listening for someone hawking tickets to the show I wanted to see. Several years ago with The Lion King, and last weekend with South Pacific, I heard a man shouting the show title I wanted. I approached the hawker and asked what he had.

In both instances, the man produced a stack of tickets that appeared to be absolutely real and he let me look at them closely. I'm wary if someone is selling only two or four tickets to one show, as they might be stolen. I like it when the street vendor has several tickets for several different hits.

The tickets were marked for group sale and, in the case of South Pacific, the price printed on the ticket was the discount price of $75. I asked how much he was charging for the tickets. He quoted $115, which I knew to be the regular box office price. (The earlier you purchase your tickets from a sidewalk vendor, the greater the mark-up. As you approach curtain time, the mark-up decrease, but so do the available tickets.)

I told the seller that I was interested in buying two tickets, and asked how I could be assured that he was for real. Both times I've made these street transactions, without hesitation or complaint, the sidewalk sellers have given me the name of the broker they worked for, showed me their driver’s license with photo, name and address, and matching credit cards with the same name. They both reminded me that they were standing out in the open shouting loudly, obviously not worried about being noticed and/or questioned by the cops. They both seemed legitimate to me, and completely above board.

After engaging in this back-and-forth, I decided in both instances to purchase the tickets with cash. Checks and credit cards were not an option, but both broker’s reps would have accepted Traveler’s Checks. Several years ago, I purchased four great seats to The Lion King for something like $100 each. This time I purchased two great seats to South Pacific. In both instances, it worked out fine.

If you buy tickets in this way, here’s what you’re buying. When the major ticket brokers sense that a show is going to be a sold-out hit, they purchase tens of thousands of the best seats at group rates months in advance. They then resell those tickets to the public directly or through hotel concierges and travel agents, usually with a considerable mark-up over the regular price and a huge mark-up over the reduced group rate. More than a third of the people who see a sold-out hit buy their tickets directly or indirectly through a broker.

On the day of the show, brokers frequently have a handful of great tickets still available. They give these tickets to their sidewalk salesmen, who go down to the TKTS line and start shouting out the names of the shows they have. Usually the salesmen will have a small number of good seats to several shows. Usually the tickets will be marked with a discounted group rate. Usually they will sell the tickets to you at the regular ticket price. Usually they aren’t offended if you ask them to reassure you as to their legitimacy.

If you’re a gambler and want to see a show badly enough, it may be worth a try. I don’t recommend sidewalk sales of theatre tickets, but for those who want to know, this has been my experience. I haven’t done it often, but the two times I have, I haven’t been scammed.

And remember, of course, most shows aren't sold-out hits. Most shows will allow you to buy regular price tickets from the box office even at the last minute. Often you can buy half-price tickets from broadwaybox.com or at the tkts booth. The current sold-out hits for which last minute tickets are difficult include only Billy Elliot, Jersey Boys, The Lion King, South Pacific, and Wicked.

Coming tomorrow: our backstage tour with Jerold Solomon, and meeting our should-have-been President outside Kelli O’Hara’s dressing room

--Bruce Miller

Where Are They Now? - Michael Cole

Michael Cole was one of the truly great guys of Richmond theatre, and remains a good friend today to a great many who are still singing and dancing in the Virginia trenches. He has moved onward and upward to some pretty exciting places, and we're proud of him. The following is an article that was written about Michael by Holly Timberline for Richmond Marquee Magazine (www.richmondmarquee.com). Holly has granted permission to post it on the Barksdale Buzz.

I Don't Think We're in Oregon Anymore
An Update on Michael Cole
by Holly Timberline

If you were a local theatregoer 15 years ago, then you saw Michael Cole onstage. During his decade in Richmond, he performed with every major theatre company in town. With his sturdy tenor voice, blonde good looks and perpetually cheerful nature, he enchanted people around him, whether he was onstage or off.

Michael grew up in Oregon and found his way to Richmond in the 80s. He moved to New York in 1993, looking for bigger acting fish to fry. What he found was a career working for someone he had long admired: composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz—the man responsible for Wicked, Pippin, Godspell, etc.

RM reached Michael on his cell phone on a recent afternoon, in the middle of his workday. He took a break to answer some questions about his busy, happy life:

How did you become Stephen Schwartz’s assistant?

When Michael got to NYC, he landed an apartment right above Schwartz’s studio. One day, Schwartz complained that the cleaning service he used was no good. The industrious—and hungry—Michael offered his services. "I started out cleaning his apartment for $50 a week," he says. At some point, Schwartz asked Michael to type a letter for him, and it grew from there. "Basically, every time Stephen offered me a chance to take on more responsibility, I said yes." Michael became Schwartz’s full-time assistant about 8 years ago.

What kinds of things do you do?

"One thing I like about the job is that it’s different from one day to the next," says Michael. Schwartz had a presence on the web before Wicked, but the volume of email he receives has expanded dramatically since the show opened in 2003. Schwartz likes the interaction with fans, and the sense that there is an actual relationship there, Michael explains, and he really takes time to respond to questions. Except when he’s too busy, which is where Michael comes in. "I manage a lot of e-mail!" he says. "All of the email comes to me first and then I deal with what I can and forward fan letters and the rest to Stephen.”

One task that falls to Michael is to keep an eye out for people who want a little too much time or attention from Schwartz. "Stephen's fans are terrific," he says, "but of course, some are, well, fanatical. I've learned to recognize this type of personality and have learned to give the potentially demanding ones just enough to make them happy."

What’s going on at work today?

Schwartz is currently writing an opera, a musical adaptation of a 1965 British film, Séance on a Wet Afternoon. It isn’t scheduled to open until spring of 2009, but Schwartz is letting people sample the goods here and there. "Today the singer who is creating the lead role is coming in to sing through some of the music. I can't tell you who she is, but she is an internationally acclaimed opera star. How cool is that?"

Does working for a "celebrity client" come with any sorts of wacky requests? Do you have to find dancing pigs for his kids’ birthday parties or anything like that?

"Well, he’s pretty normal," Michael says with a laugh. "He doesn’t send me off on crazy errands like that." Still, Michael’s role when Schwartz gets a trim may seem a little unusual: "He had a hairdresser he really liked," Michael says, "and she used to be in Manhattan, but now she lives in New Jersey. So sometimes when he needs his hair cut, Stephen has me pick him up at his home in Connecticut, drive him to New Jersey for his haircut, then take him to New York City when it’s over." Even a tri-state haircut is enjoyable for Michael, who says, "I like it because he’s captive in my car!"

What kinds of assignments are difficult?

"I don’t always fully understand the intricacies of how it all works with royalties, publishers, percentages, international rates... I have a pretty good handle on it, but when he asks me to do research on it, it’s challenging." Another less-than-favorite task is to return calls to people "who will talk forever."

What are your favorite memories of your time in Richmond?

Michael’s time in Richmond was his version of college, he says, and he still considers his Richmond friends to be among his closest. Play-wise, he will never forget performing in Falsettos at Barksdale. He says, "It’s one of those rare shows where, with the exception of just one moment in a tech rehearsal, every minute of that production was glorious. It was just a great time."

Where do you live?

Michael and his partner of 10 years, Steven Skybell (currently playing Dr. Dillamond in Wicked on Broadway), live about an hour outside of Manhattan in a town called Mahopac. From his house, it’s a short stroll down the street to Lake Mahopac, where he regularly indulges one of his passions besides theater: water-skiing. "I can ski in the morning and be at work in Manhattan in an hour," he says.

Will you return to the stage any time soon?

"If I lived in Richmond, there’s no question I would still be performing," Michael says, "because people doing theatre in Richmond are doing it because they love it and are passionate about it... Falsettos [in Richmond] was a love fest. To me, it feels more like a business in New York." He’d like to get involved with his local community theatre, but doesn’t have the time right now. He has found time to sing with the Westchester Oratorio Society, including some solo work, which he found "interesting, challenging, scary and fun."

So things are going pretty well for you?

"I have a terrific life! I love it. I love everything about it. I’m in the right place, I love my job. Life is pretty sweet."