Not Ready for Broadway

There’s a show in the works, previewing in San Francisco, called “Beautiful – The Carole King Musical” that opened there to mixed reviews.  One of the caveats mentioned is that, although good, it is not ready for Broadway.  I find this really interesting because it acknowledges that theater elsewhere, even though it is well received, is just not as good as it is in New York.
 

I was reminded of this just this week after seeing a performance of “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder.”  “Gentleman’s” had its debut performances, to great hosannas, in La Jolla, CA and Hartford, CT and it is now in preview at the Walter Kerr Theatre in NYC.  And, yes, it is not ready for Broadway.  And, yes, I admit that although it has not had its official opening (announced for Nov 17) and it is supposedly not kosher to kiss and tell prior to it, I say to hell with that because these “preview” tickets cost a fortune and I’m well within my rights to toss a match on the kerosene that is stinking up the Walter Kerr.  There are some funny bits and some semi-okay music and performances are more and/or less adequate and I won’t say much more than submit this advice:   hey, you guys, you are not ready for Broadway.  Get to work because there is a lot to do before November 17!

 
On a sunnier note I also took in a performance of a long-running off-Broadway divertissement called “Buyer & Cellar.”  Plot:  Barbra Streisand has a book out called “My Passion for Design” and the playwright Jonathan Tolins has fashioned a play (totally unauthorized) around the part where she limns the cellar of the old mill on her property in Malibu with a basement full of small, semi-authentic shops including a doll store, a frozen yogurt stand, a costume “shoppe,” etc.  He assumed that somebody must work down there and he has populated it with one caretaker who, in the play, is a desperate out-of-work actor.  Then he and the producers hired Michael Urie to play all of the parts, including Ms. Streisand herself.  It’s a stroke of genius.  Not the play; the casting.  The play is funny and sweet and kind of sad in a way and, at the same time, uplifting regarding the resiliency of the characters involved.  Urie is pretty great and I walked away not exactly on a cloud but pleased with myself for deciding to plunk down a lot of money for tickets, although considerably less than uptown.

On a side note I need to add that the seating in both venues pretty much sucks.  More and more when I go to the theater I am reminded of our present day airlines where you are crammed into small, hip-bruising seats with no leg room and you are expected to live with it.  Or, rather, endure it as best you can.  Or maybe you should hire Michael Urie to take your mind of your bleeding knees.