I'm visiting New York City September 16 to 21, mostly to decide whether or not I would like to go to graduate school (arts administration or theatre management) - but of course I'll also have to go see as many shows as I possibly can while there!
What should I see? The problem is, the week I'm going is right in between summer festivals and the start of "regular" season. Shakespeare in the Park will be over, but the Metropolitan Opera will start the week right after I leave (aww), same with Carnegie Hall. New York City Ballet and ABT don't get going for months yet. The Broadway & theatre seasons are all in transition, too, coming off of Tony season and the summer - many of the interesting things from Tony season are already closed (Grey Gardens, Frost/Nixon, etc.), so there's not much left on the boards that I haven't already seen.
Right now, the shows I would like to see are:
- Spring Awakening: this year's Best Musical Tony winner which, conveniently for a theatre marathoner, has a Monday evening performance (a dark night for most other shows).
- the New York Philharmonic, which is also conveniently doing a Friday midday performance. It's Beethoven's Violin Concerto, Tchiakovsky's 2nd Symphony and a Luciano Berio opener.
- Martha Graham Dance Company at the Joyce Theatre, if not to see the pieces, which I have seen before with MGDC, then to experience the Joyce itself as one of NYC's major dance theaters.
Other curiosities:
- Xanadu: everyone has been saying it's so much fun!
- Margaret Garner at New York City Opera: a new opera, based on Toni Morrison's Beloved, a book I thought would lend itself very nicely to musical interpretation. But it's also a brand new opera, which can be sketchy. I wonder - has heard anything about this?
- Scarcity at Atlantic Theatre Company or Iphigenia 2.0 at the Signature Theatre. These are more a curiosity about how New York's play producing theaters operate, and the Public hasn't posted a schedule yet.
Anyone know what other dance stuff will be going on? And any theater or other recommendations? (And somewhere in between there I'll decide what I want to do about grad school...)
5 comments:
I would see "Rent", purely because two original cast members (Adam Pascal & Anthony Rapp) are in it...but not completely sure if they will still be there in September.
The "Color Purple" rocks, and everyone's been saying such good things about Fantasia, from 'American Idol'. I haven't seen it in over a year, I loved the original cast, but I'm sure the cast now is good too.
Lea Salonga is currently "Fantine" in Les Mis...she's definitely worth a trip to see Les Mis...I'm not a fan of the new revival, but for Salonga's performance, definitely worth a watch.
My favorite cast on Broadway is Jersey Boys. By far, muuuch better than the cast at the Ahmanson right now, but not sure if you'd want to see a show you've already seen. John Lloyd Young's performance as "Frankie Valli" is unforgettable.
"pygmalion" will be open in previews when you're in NYC; featuring Claire Danes, Jefferson Mays (one of my faves), and Boyd Gaines (recently from "Journey's End" and "Gypsy")
Good luck!
P.S.--Frost/Nixon wasn't that good...don't worry, you didn't miss much ;)
Thanks for the recommendations. Most of those shows fall into the category of "seen it" - Rent I've seen at least three times over the years, and it hasn't left me a desire to rush back even with two original cast members. Les Mis I've seen twice enough, and though Lea is fantastic, she's only on stage for like 20 minutes of the whole three hours. Color Purple will be at the Ahmanson soon, and as great as Fantasia looks, I'm not sure if it would warrant buying in New York for me. And Jersey Boys - seen that also (and worked on it), so I'm not sure if I'll need to see it in NY. My roommate actually liked Frost/Nixon and she's my play buddy, so thats where that interest came from. I've just already seen most of the still-running stuff on Broadway right now: Ave Q, Wicked, Spamalot, Hairspray, etc etc.
Art, what a shame that there's so little dance in NY the week you'll be here. Glad to hear you're planning to see the Martha Graham Company, they haven't had a real NY season in a couple of years. The Joyce is a great theater for dance - I don't always love the companies they bring in, but the space is great for a small company. I'm going to at least 2 performnces, so hopefully I'll see you there!
The academic programs sound interesting. Keep us posted on what you decide!
Hi Susan! Hopefully I will see you there also. I haven't decided exactly which programs to see yet, but I would like to see Heriodade, since that is one major work that I haven't yet seen.
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