"It Shoulda Been You" - 03.25.15

Show/Venue: It Shoulda Been You at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre

Date: Wednesday, March 25th, 2015 @ 2pm

Starring: Tyne Daly, Harriet Harris, Lisa Howard, Sierra Boggess, David Burtka, Josh Grisetti

Website: http://www.itshouldabeenyou.com

When my co-worker, Christina, won free tickets to see It Shoulda Been You in previews, she asked if I would want to go; and with this cast and David Hyde Pierce’s Broadway Directorial Debut, how could I say no!? The show is opening tonight on Broadway, so I wanted to post my review of the preview that we saw, but without giving away any of the great surprises that the show has to offer.

A strong cast, Tyne Daly (“Cagney and Lacey,” Gypsy), Harriet Harris (“Desperate Housewives,” Cinderella, Thoroughly Modern Millie), Lisa Howard (Priscilla Queen of the Desert, 9 to 5, South Pacific), Sierra Boggess (The Phantom of the Opera, The Little Mermaid), David Burtka (Gypsy, “How I Met Your Mother” and Neil Patrick Harris’ husband) and Josh Grisetti (RENT) comprise the leads and the various members of a family being blended together. Even when I got the mailer about the show, I was intrigued by the cast and wanted to go see the show.

Performed without an intermission in previews, the show opens on Howard, who plays the Bride’s sister, Jenny (“I Never Wanted This”). She’s getting ready for Rebecca’s (Boggess) wedding to Brian (Burtka) and helping her mother (Daly) will all sorts of last minute issues. The wedding planner, Albert (hilariously played by Edward Hibbert), helps Jenny deal with her mother and her many changes in requests; do they keep the panini station or cancel it?

Rebecca and Brian enter after a morning jog and Jenny does her best to keep him from the sight of her mother. As everyone leaves to get prepared for the wedding, Rebecca and Jenny have a great sisterly moment (“Perfect”). As Rebecca leaves to go meet their mother, her Maid of Honor, Annie (Montego Glover from Memphis, The Color Purple) and her soon to be Mother-in-Law, Jenny starts to panic. In her panic, she  accidentally calls Marty Kaufman (Grisetti), who’s an old family friend, but also Rebecca’s ex. Grisetti in his Broadway debut role, answers Jenny’s call from one of the box seats in the theatre and then makes an amusing and winded entrance into the hotel/stage to try and stop Rebecca from getting married to Brian (“It Shoulda Been You”).  After this number, it seems like Marty is not the only one thinking that Rebecca should not marry Brian, as her whole family express their concerns.

Then we’re introduced to some of Brian’s family, as he has a lovely song & dance number with his father, George (Michael X. Martin from The Bridges of Madison County, Nice Work If You Can Get It), about growing up and how he should have been a more attentive parent. Any doubts I had about Burtka as a performer, were dispelled here, as he holds his own with Martin and dances his way into the audience’s heart, taps and all.

Daly gets a featured number as she sings about her family in “Nice,” which rolls into a number where Albert sings about all he has seen as an experienced wedding planner to his staff in “Albert’s Turn.” Then we finally meet Brian’s alcoholic mother, Georgette (Harris), who laments about how her efforts to discourage her son away from marriage and to turn him gay have not worked (“Where Did I Go Wrong”).

At what I would believe could be the end of Act One, Howard gets a show stopping number “Beautiful,” as she tells the story of growing up in the shadow of her more traditionally pretty sister and how no one ever calls her beautiful. Jenny shows how her mother’s overbearing personality has begun to take its toll on her emotionally, as she shows a vulnerable side, while getting ready to put on her bridesmaid’s dress.

Finally, the wedding ceremony takes place (“A Perfect Ending”) and the families head to the banquet hall for the reception. Here, the Best Man, Greg, (Nick Spangler from The Book of Mormon, Cinderella) and Annie serenade their best friends with “Love You Till the Day” which is equal parts hilarious and over the top in tribute to Rebecca & Brian.

What follows the wedding and banquet is a series of twists & surprises that really engages the audience and adds to their enjoyment of the whole show. Yes, there’s a happy ending, but not without a few shocks to each side of the Howard and Steinberg families.

Overall, I had a great time at the show. Even without a huge production, as the whole show takes place at the hotel, the small changes that are made in each scene really transport the audience to various places in the hotel; rooms, hallways, banquet halls, bathrooms, etc. The costume team has done a great job with the dresses and suits for all of the actors, which really make some of the surprises even  better.

Once the show opens, I hope to see it again and maybe in a box seat, so I can be next to Grisetti for his big entrance!

Musical Numbers:

1.       I Never Wanted This

2.       This Day (Opening)

3.       Perfect

4.       It Shoulda Been You

5.       Who

6.       Back in the Day

7.       Nice

8.       Albert’s Turn

9.       Where Did I Go Wrong

10.   Beautiful

11.   A Perfect Ending

12.   Love You Till the Day

13.   Jenny’s Blues

14.   Whatever

15.   A Little Bit Less Than

16.   What They Never Tell You

17.   Perfect/Whatever (Reprise)

18.   That’s Family

19.   Finale

"Gigi" - 03.21.15

Show/Venue: Gigi at the Neil Simon Theatre

Date: Saturday, March 21st, 2015 @ 8pm

Starring: Vanessa Hudgens, Corey Cott, Victoria Clark

Website: http://www.gigionbroadway.com

Sometimes in the city, your plans fall through; so what’s better to do than to go see a show. Ever since seeing Corey Cott in Newsies, he quickly became one of my Broadway crushes, so I had been waiting to see him in Gigi. Additionally, my 2007-2008 self, in all my High School Musical fandom, was interested in seeing Vanessa Hudgens in her Broadway debut as Gigi. The TKTS Booth in Times Square always saves the day, when I want to see a last minute show and they didn’t disappoint this time; I got second row, center for the third preview show.

I had not seen the movie with Audrey Hepburn, so I sadly had to use Wikipedia to learn about the story of the show. The Neil Simon was a packed house, with a lot of HSM fans sitting around me, eagerly buzzing about Vanessa and their expectations for her performance.

The premise of Gigi, is about a young girl, Gigi (Vanessa Hudgens), growing up in Paris under the eye of her grandmother, Mamita (Victoria Clark). Mamita also has a friendship with the city’s most desired young man, Gaston (Corey Cott). In the opening of the show, Gaston is given advice by his own grandfather, Honore Lachaille (Howard McGillin), to love being in love and not to settle for one woman, because there is no need (“It’s a Bore).

We are then taken to Aunt Alicia (Dee Hoty)’s apartment, where Gigi is learning proper Parisian etiquette, which the young girl does not have the taste for. From Alicia, Gigi is instructed on the finer things in life, like jewelry and how to pour a proper cup of tea. Gigi’s patience wanes and she laments about her life in Paris and not understanding their customs (“The Parisians”).

The audience then sees that Gaston has fallen for Liane d’Exelmans (Steffanie Leigh), even with Gigi in tow. They arrive at Liane’s “singing lesson,” where it’s clear that something more is going on with Liane and her instructor. The newspapers are a buzz of Gaston’s relationship with Liane (“The Gossips”), which is more than he can take. Gaston decides to head out to Maxim’s, an exclusive nightclub, to help make his troubles disappear. To his surprise, Liane is already there with her singing instructor, which basically ends his relationship with Liane (“She Is Not Thinking Of Me”).

When Aunt Alicia and Mamita learn of Gaston’s new bachelorhood, they setup a plan to have him court Gigi. Alicia will continue Gigi’s etiquette lessons, while making sure that Gaston notices the changes in this young girl. In the meantime, Mamita and Honore reconnect and the audience learns of their love, from when they were young (“I Remember It Well”).

Back at Mamita’s apartment, Mamita, Gaston and Gigi have a little celebration and Gigi tries champagne for the first time. This leads in to the Act One Finale of “The Night They Invented Champagne,” which is a big dance number that was a lot of fun to watch, including the can-can influences and when all the female dancers leaped into splits right at the front of the stage!

When the show resumes in Act two, they are at the beach in Trouville, and Gigi is experiencing all the fun that Gaston’s money has to offer, while they enjoy a life of leisure (“I Never Want to Go Home Again”). Then, back in Paris, Aunt Alicia is plotting how to make sure that Gaston will fall for Gigi. She and Mamita begin to work on a new look for Gigi, which leaves Gaston stunned and he insults Gigi’s new dress, before realizing that he’s fallen for her and that’s really what threw him off his guard (“Gigi”).

Once Gaston has realized his feelings for Gigi, he creates a sort of pre-nup with Aunt Alicia and Mamita (“The Contract”), which is a funny number involving lawyers and Aunt Alicia securing a very rich fortune for young Gigi. However, this plan backfires, as Gigi does not want to be courted just like all of Gaston’s previous women. Gaston then works to win Gigi back and they figure out a way to be together (“In This Wide, Wide World”).

Overall, I was very impressed with Vanessa Hudgens acting and performance. All of the things that may have been annoying about her in High School Musical (the overacting, her giggle), those things worked well for her character in the show. She really made the transition from young Gigi to the young woman that Gaston falls for with ease.

But my hands down favorite part of the show was Corey Cott’s performance. Right before “The Night They Invented Champagne,” he broke character after breaking a champagne glass on stage, and he was still adorable! As soon as the glass broke, he looked directly into the audience and said “Previews!” Which everyone laughed about and the other actors quickly recovered and brought him a new “glass” to drink out of.

There was a couple next to me who were seeing Corey perform for the first time and when he was done singing “Gigi,” the woman kept exclaiming “his voice!” and she gave him a standing ovation during the curtain call, so I was not the only fan in the audience. It was easy to see why this show made the quick leap to the Broadway stage after just starting a run in Washington DC at the Kennedy Center. And I would easily recommend it to friends to go and see.

Musical Numbers:

Act One

1.       Opening

2.       It’s a Bore

3.       The Parisians

4.       A Toujours

5.       The Parisians (Reprise)

6.       The Gossips

7.       She Is Not Thinking Of Me

8.       Thank Heaven for Little Girls

9.       Paris Is Paris Again

10.   I Remember It Well

11.   The Night They Invented Champagne

Act Two

1.       I Never Want to Go Home Again

2.       Thank Heaven for Little Girls (Reprise)

3.       Gigi

4.       The Contract

5.       I’m Glad I’m Not Young Anymore

6.       The Letter

7.       Say a Prayer

8.       The Gossips (Reprise)

9.       In This Wide, Wide World