The Shins are apparently the next big “thing.” I had never heard what they sound like and decided to go to the show based on word of mouth. I would say that they have about four songs that are GREAT and worth listening to many times. They have many songs that I would say are “good”, and then they have many songs that are mediocre at best. They are best when they are rocking out. Their ballads are mostly wimpy and repetitive, not so interesting at all. Perhaps if i’d been able to understand the lyrics I would have appreciated them more.

Its always good to hear live music and dance. But its definitely more fun when you know the songs at least a little bit going into the show. Not sure why that is, but it is totally true.

I feel like this band probably reads better on their studio recordings.

Also, the audience was full of obnoxious, baseball cap-wearing frat boys, which illegitimizes the quality of the band in my eyes. At moments I felt like I was at a Barenaked Ladies concert (both due to what the band sounded like and the crowd). Their other (more positive) influences are definitely in the modern indie rock world meets seventies glam rock. Definite elements of Velvet Underground and even some Bowie mixed in there. If they go more in that direction, I will like them. If they do more ballads-for-frat-boys, I will write them off as a lost cause. We shall see what the future holds in store for the Shins. I wish them all the best.

This revival of a 20-year old David Mamet play looked interesting to me based on its strong ensemble cast. And they are as good as it sounds. I caught these powerhouses in one of their last previews before opening. The show features Alan Alda, Frederick Weller, Gordon Clapp, Jeffery Tambor (from TV’s “Arrested Development”), Liev Schreiber, Tom Wopat, and Jordan Lage. They handle Mamet’s fierce drama about real-estate salesmen with ferocity and aplomb. The ugliness of the tone, language, and setting is apparent from Alda’s opening monologue that is mostly an insane, desperate, foul-mouthed rant, trying desperately to keep his job. The stakes are as high as they can possibly be from scene to scene. The whole thing is gorgeously acted, I have absolutely no complaints in that department. What I did find odd is the choice to include an intermission. The first three scenes, which total 50 minutes in length, comprise act one. They all take place in a Chinese restaurant. Intermission comes shockingly soon, but it is apparently needed to complete the scene change, as the remainder of the play occurs within the real-estate offices. The office set is remarkably realistic, complete with a revolving door and florescent lights. I wish they had been able to accomplish the set change without the intermission, it broke up the show in a strange way.

My only other complaint is that some of the lines were played for laughs. The director made choices, especially in the beginning of the show, to make the characters’ speeches so desperate that they were laughable, and subsequently lost some of the darkness I think Mamet had intended. It is a dark play and really shouldn’t be played for laughs, ever. That’s just what I think….granted, I DID laugh in these spots.

I like Mamet’s writing, despite his contempt for women. In this play, there is not a single female character. Which perhaps is a good thing because they usually appear as hookers, tramps, and shrews in his other plays. Mamet’s ability to mimic human speech is remarkable, and if you want to hear it performed by some amazing actors, this show is fantastic. I was disappointed it was so short.

I was eagerly looking forward to seeing this musical adaptation of the 1989 film starring Michael Caine and Steve Martin, as it was one of those movies I’d seen a thousand times. I found it a bit odd that they waited 16 years to come up with the idea to make it into a musical (come on, are we really that starved for musical ideas?) but regardless of the time weirdness, it works. The score by David Yazbek (The Full Monty) is fun and catchy, with some of the funniest lyrics on Broadway. Definitely my kind of humor; totally inappropriate and offensive. The book by Jeffery Lane was taken mostly from the movie script (sometimes entire speeches exactly the same) but tweaked for the stage. The main difference was that the characters of Muriel Eubanks (played by the incomprable Joanna Gleason) and Jolene Oaks (Sara Gettlefinger), who were bit characters in the movie, were bumped up to major characters for the sake of the musical. As was the character of the manservant, Andre Thibault (played by the understated and charming Gregory Jbara).

The three leads were absolutely fabulous. Jon Lithgow, although not a singer, is charming and debonair as the con-artist, Lawrence Jameson. Norbert Leo Butz as Freddy Benson is…dare I say it…funnier than Steve Martin? When he plays the retarded brother Ruprect, he is fall-out-of-your-seat funny. He really steals the show from Lithgow, who often plays the straightman to Butz’s slapstick everyman goofball. Sherie Rene Scott is FAR more endearing and charming than whoever played the character (Christine Colgate) in the film. What an amazing high belt she possesses. Combines character comedy work with leading lady qualities; truly an original artist working in the field. Clearly I am a fan (since I saw her in Debbie Does Dallas!)

The show is funny for audiences young and old, the set is gorgeous, the cast is phenomenal. I have very few bad things to say other than we need more original ideas on Broadway, and fewer adaptations (and revivals). Also, there tended to be a few slow moments in the plot (exposition scenes, mostly). But the funny parts are so funny, you forgive the slower spots.

Going to see a band that you used to LOVE but have recently neglected, is kinda like going home again. The songs you hear/ people you see are familiar and you’d forgotten how much you love them.

After ten years as a band, Garbage is back and better than ever. Having not heard their most recent album, Bleed Like Me, I was curious to hear what direction they were taking after their great, but comparatively dissappointing third album. Glad to hear their fourth album sounds more like their first; gritty, raw, angry, and deliciously sexy. Speaking of sexy….Shirley Manson must have made a deal with the devil, she looks younger and more gorgeous than ever. Her stage presence and theatricality has really grown over the years, and she is no longer the moody, pretty singer of a band. She is a commanding front woman. Shirley IS Garbage. And her voice sounds better than ever, it sounds like she’s been taking voice lessons. She was improvising and going for some higher notes than she sings on the albums, and the tone of her voice is clearer and higher than it has been in the past. She has mastered the art of fronting a band. She would just stick the microphone in the audience and we would sing entire chunks of lyrics back to her (i.e.; Pour your misery down…etc. in “I’m only Happy when it Rains”). She looked monumentally pleased and humbled that so many people sang back at her with such ferocity.

Looking forward to getting the new album. They played every high impact, fun, fast, dance-worthy song from their first and second albums, and only one from the third (incidently, the only song Shirley fucked up the words in). They did no ballads, the whole show was a giant ball of furious, fun, sexy energy.

Noteworthy was how great the crowd was. Everyone was dancing and singing along, SO respectful and great. Shocking for a show at Hammerstein.

Also, technically, the show was gorgeous. The lighting and video projections on several large screens flashed images and words to correspond with the songs. Very post-modern of them.
I was most blown away by how happy and humbled they seemed to be. She kept pointing out how lucky they were and how shocked and pleased they were to be welcomed by the american/ new york audience. I would welcome them back any time, it was an amazing show.