(Mostly) Musical Musings, Part Two

The previous blog I left off with the last musical I saw on Broadway, the very entertaining Curtains. And I am not nearly finished. Sorry to bother you with all my blabbing :D.

But here it goes once again: Now it is on to London and La Cage aux Folles, the first and third musical I saw on West End. La Cage is likely my favorite musical along with The Producers. For the most part La Cage is a real musical comedy, but –unlike The Producers– it does offer a certain amount of drama. I mainly wanted to see La Cage because I liked its story and its soundtrack. Simply had no clue who the leading men, Roger Allam (Albin) and Philip Quast (Georges), were. Quickly found out that they had five Olivier Awards between them and that they had both played the role of Inspector Javert in Les Misérables. Then they must be good, I thought. Turns out they were better than good, just perfect. I don’t think I have ever seen a better “couple” live on stage, simply sensational (Gary Beach and Roger Bart would probably have come close in The Producers, but alas Bart had just left The Producers when I saw it for the first time).

The great cast and the great score made me see La Cage for the second time, shortly after my furry friend Lucky died. That is when I found out, once again, that music(als) can be therapeutic. La Cage is so very funny, but yet also so very touching. It is such an uplifting musical, just perfect therapy. Left the theater with a big smile! :) Oh and I haven’t met an arrogant West End actor either. The cast of La Cage was very gracious. They just seemed like ordinary people (to my surprise most actors actually left the theater by metro, leading man Philip Quast left the theater on a mountain bike). Ordinary people with an amazing amount of talent that is.

It is funny, I tend to pick musicals which feature men in dresses ;). Beach wore a gorgeous dress, strongly resembling the Chrysler Building, in The Producers. I have seen Roger Allam wear pretty dress after pretty dress in La Cage aux Folles. I also cannot believe how well both Beach and Allam were able to move around in stilettos. As much as I liked Allam, everyone knows by now that –after seeing La Cage– I have developed a particular weak spot for Philip Quast :P. And he did not even wear a dress!! Lol!! Big treat this year: The Night of 1000 Voices at the Royal Albert Hall, with Philip Quast. I have already written extensively about this concert, but here yet another segment (because it fits in perfectly with this blog): 1000 Voices featured some of the greatest songs in musical theater, which were performed by a wonderful, diverse cast and choir. Although I was (sort of) disappointed that Quast did not sing “Song on the Sand” from La Cage, he did sing the beautiful “Stars” from Les Misérables!! I am very picky when it comes to “Stars” (or “Song on the Sand” for that matter). If I have to, I can sit through “Stars” sang by Roger Allam (dark and menacing as Javert), Bryn Terfel (whose impressive rendition of “Stars” is alas sort of ruined by a loud and over-the-top orchestra part) and Earl Carpenter (one of the most recent Javerts), but that is about it. Interesting, I always thought that Philip Quast was a tenor-baritone. My newest CD addition though, Secret Garden: A Musical, has Quast sing the lead role in a high tenor voice. Impossible, especially this lovely song: “Race You to the Top of the Morning”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_BGXcL7Cvs

By contrast two roles, in the lower tenor-baritone range:
- Javert in Les Misérables: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_ymYKYpfSY
- Georges in La Cage aux Folles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb16fg3RxmI

Ok, can I just add that I really want to see Mary Poppins :D.

I very charmingly made a fool out of myself in front of Philip Quast and, earlier, I also did my best with Gary Beach. Well, at least I managed to say something!! I was even able to ask Gary Beach for a picture at the Stage Door (have also interviewed him of course, quite an achievement on my part). The picture with Gary Beach is quite cute and it is still my Hyves picture lol ;). Ahem, the two times I met Philip Quast I did the following: 1) Forgot my camera 2) Managed to bring my camera, but suddenly became too chicken to ask for a picture. Well, the older I get, the weirder I become, apparently :P.

Back to musical number two on West End: Hairspray. Unsurprisingly, yet another musical comedy (with yet another man in a dress). The music was infectious and the cast members were all stand-outs. I especially liked the young lady who played the leading role of Tracy Turnblad. She had just graduated from theater school, but performed like a real pro. I also enjoyed Brian Conley as Edna Turnblad, Tracy’s mother (NOTE: the role of Edna is always played by a man, John Travolta played Edna in the movie version of Hairspray). A pity though that I did not get the chance to see Michael Ball as Edna. Curious how he would fare in this role, playing a female in a fat suit. Years earlier, Ball was a marvelous Marius in the 10th Anniversary Edition of Les Misérables.

In May, I saw my fourth West End musical, a live version of Les Misérables (in its 25th Anniversary year, nice). This musical is beautiful, almost like an opera. And Les Mis is NO musical comedy. Yes, I have finally seen a true musical drama, Les Mis is filled with tragedy (but it does have some comedic parts). The cast was great. There was one actor whom I particularly liked: David Thaxton, who played student leader Enroljas. Thaxton was so good that I was actually expecting to him to be in the 25th Anniversary Edition of Les Misérables. But unfortunately not.

There are actually two plays, which I have seen on Broadway and West End, that I would like to mention in this blog. Since both plays offered a certain amount of music (and a bit of singing), I believe I have the “right” to mention them in my musical blog(s) :D. And One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Cyrano de Bergerac were simply too good to ignore. Cuckoo’s Nest starred Gary Sinise as R.P. McMurphy. He was so good, much better than Jack Nicholson in the movie version (sorry Jack!). Still angry that Sinise did not win the 2001 Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Play. Booh!!! :( :( :( Saw Cuckoo’s Nest twice, once on West End (actually it was more off-West End) and once on Broadway. Yes, I have the tendency to see shows I like more than once ;). I actually had the chance to meet Gary Sinise after the London show (also have a Stage Door picture taken with him, it is nice, but not as cute as the one I have with Gary Beach). While in New York, I was intend on meeting Sinise again. No luck, but I met the leading man of Phantom of the Opera instead. I had absolutely no interest in the poor man, who was supposed to be a big Broadway star. Forgot about his name, only know that it wasn’t Michael Crawford the original Phantom.

Cyrano was just as sensational and mind-bottling as One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, but I saw it only once ;). And I lied, I have “met” a not so kind Broadway star. And it is actually someone whom I admire as an actor (not as a person anymore though lol): Kevin Kline. Kline, the Academy Award winning actor who was an amazing Cyrano, behaved very strangely indeed. Remember him coming out of the Stage Door after the show. And when he was told that his car was late, he hurried back into the theater. He simply ignored the people waiting for his autograph. I later talked to the Stage Door manager, who informed me that Kline never showed any interest in his fans. Once, he actually left the theater right after the curtain call, still wearing Cyrano’s big nose. Weird.

Ok, now I really am done reminiscing about all my musical/theater memories. More memories will probably be produced when I travel to New York in October. I would like to finish off with a man whom I, alas, have never seen perform. The indomitable Toon Hermans (now my blog has at least a little bit of a Dutch ring to it). Fortunately, there are a few clips of Hermans’ performances on YouTube. Here two of my favorites parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSNcV4gfrTg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTmOtZQM80k
Simply hilarious :D. Wish there were still entertainers like Toon Hermans around in the Netherlands….