This weekend was a big weekend for the theater freak in me. Two shows that I coordinated finally came about: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Curtains.
On Friday evening, we (Lee Leman, Cousin Spacey, Ellvin Kelvin, K-mart, Timotei, and me) went down to the Pantages Theater in Hollywood to catch Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. I had seen the show in New York and was blown away by Norbert Leo Butz's performance as Freddie Benson. The show has some genuine laughs and is mostly raunchy humor, but there are only a handful of good songs. At the stage door where you can meet the cast, I had tried to get Mr. Butz to sign my program, but the two times I was there to meet him, he had slipped away quickly. I had learned that he would be touring with the show, so after watching some bootleg videos on YouTube, I was motivated to see the show again, despite the hefty $80 price tag (in New York I paid $25). So the show was okay. Mr. Butz was as good as ever, but the rest of the cast seemed to be asleep during the whole thing. Oh well, after the show we got to meet Butz. He was gracious enough, signing a ton of programs (including mine) and taking pictures willingly. Just in case you were wondering why anyone would even care to meet this guy, he was in the original cast of RENT, he originated the role of Fiyero in Wicked, and won the Tony for his part in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
On Saturday afternoon, we (and there's too many of us to list off; basically everyone in my entire family) went to the Ahmanson Theater in Downtown Los Angeles to catch Curtains; a world premiere murder mystery musical comedy starring Fraiser's David Hyde Pierce. This was more of an old-fashioned musical with a modern twist. There's so much story going on it's hard to keep track and not get too bogged down while watching. Basically, an actress is murdered at the end of a new terrible musical on opening night. A detective (Pierce) is called in to investigate. He names everyone in the show a suspect, but becomes more interested in fixing the musical for a reopening night. More people die and eventually he finds the truth and love in the end. I thought it was really inventive (the way they staged stuff) and the story was interesting and the detective character was funny and charming, but because the show was old-fashioned, some of the music wasn't to my taste. But still, it was really fun to watch, for $20 to boot!
And speaking of which, I got my confirmation for my group order for Wicked coming to Los Angeles next March. I've got 40 tickets reserved, great seats, at $96.50 a piece. Wanna go? Let me know soon!
Take that!!!
Ricky
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