One Half Buddhist, One Half Christian, One Half Pagan

Every time I listen to the soundtrack of The Producers I'm reminded of how much I like Matthew Broderick in musicals.

And then I remember how much his version of Music Man (as it was filmed at least) sucked. It's nearly unwatchable, and a large part of that can be laid directly at his feet.

One of the things I'd like to do in 2011 is see a show on Broadway. Somebody told me about Broadway.com, where they list all the shows that are currently playing, and I think some that are upcoming.

There are a bunch of classics that I'd definitely enjoy seeing, but nothing that I'd call a "must see." This is... kind of disappointing.

Any of you heard of a show called Passing Strange?

I'm listening to a Fresh Air interview with the creator/star right now, and the show sounds really interesting.

Tom & I went to see Grease in Washington Park last night.

It's one of my favorite shows, but this production was disappointing. The acting was... off somehow, almost as if the actors didn't really understand the words coming out of their mouths (this was especially bad in the song "Greased Lightening"). They also didn't seem to grasp that Grease is a comedy, a tongue-in-cheek spoof of what people think the 1950's were like, not a faithful depiction of what the era really was. They played scenes as straight that should have been funny or ironic, and the few serious scenes crossed over into melodrama.

The costuming looked as if the director showed the actors pictures and then told them to do the best they could at a thrift store, and the sound was really uneven.

Overall, the whole thing felt more like a high school production than anything else.