I agree completely, SueNYC. And although it's only been a week since I saw it, I honestly couldn't conjur up a single tune or even partial tune from the show.

Has there been any feedback on the new "re-tooled" Spiderman that began previews last week?

HowardR Oh Good God for a second there I thought I was scammed, but I knew that im not THAT stupid xD
absolutkz Sorry did I imply that I had seen it on tour, forgive me, I mean the cast seem outstanding from the youtube vids and the feedback from London! I cannot wait too =)
Thanks NeoPatrick, for clearing that one up

ArtJones, the current cast is awesome ( not sure which cast you saw on youtube)! I knew nothing about the show, fell in love, and now addicted to the soundtrack. Now that I know the music, wanted to see again. Will be interesting in NY since it's a larger theater then Boston. Ony bummed I got presale tickets, and then got 2 offers for half price:-( I'm sure you will love the shows; it's a fun night.

Howard, Hair IS listed on Playbill's list of "current" Broadway productions. I believe they move to that listing once tickets go on sale.

I have watched all casts on youtube but im a massive fan of the current cast especially Steel Burkhardt, obviously. The old DVD was bought for me years ago, actually it was a video xD Fell in love then, even more so the theater version. It is by far my favorite musical ever as cheesy as it sounds. Yeah I did the same with my tickets too because when I saw it announced for Broadway when im over State side I just panicked and bought them straight away. And I had been so rash in approaching this situation all along, Naive old Irish.

Do rent the movie of Hair. It is even better than the show. It has a plot, some great 1970's New York shots and great dancing.

Plays are usually listed on Playbill.com before they go on sale - sometimes even months before. It's a good, quick way of finding out what's coming up.

What's happened here? Nobody seen any plays in the past week?

Well, I saw Book of Mormon on Tuesday night. I still hurt from laughing. Such energy and fun from beginning to end. I think this is what many of the shows I've seen in the past month have lacked. There wasn't a dull spot in the show, and the book (as well as the song lyrics) are surely some of the funniest ever written.

And although I hadn't written about it yet, last week I saw the very funny, campy, over-the-top country western musical off-Broadway, Lucky Guy. I would have recommended it for its pure fun value, but since it's closing this next week, I guess I shouldn't bother. The star was the very funny Leslie Jordan, the 4'11" very Southern, very "queeny" guy from Will and Grace who had the love/hate relationship with Karen.

I also failed to report back on The Normal Heart which I saw last week. I had seen the show (by an amateur group not long after it was written and it was deeply depressing. This time -- as a "period" piece about the early discovery of AIDS, it seemed more a heartwarming and bittersweet ode to that time. Without trying to spoil things, throughout the play the white walls (which look like painted brick until you look closely and see they are inscribed with newspaper headlines about AIDS) have projected on them the names of AIDS victims, starting with the first 50 known cases. By the end of the play when literally even the walls of the theatre light up with thousands of names, there really can't be a heart in the theatre untouched. And I for one was overwhelmed by Ellen Barkin's amazing monologue of anger at the lack of cooperation in attacking the problem or even admitting it existed.

On Friday night, I saw a production of God of Carnage at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, NJ. It was very good, although didn't quite match the effects of the original in NYC. My favorite role -- that of the mother of the boy who did the hitting -- was played by Ann Herada, who originated the role of Christmas Eve in Avenue Q (the Asian girl). Once again that role steals the show for me.

OK - I just saw an off off Broadway production of Marat/Sade (I had seen the Royal Shakespeare Co production in the 60's. We were in the first row, the next row was the last row. It was an intense well done production. For those of you who are not familiar with play, the official title is...The Persecution and Assassination of Jean Paul Marat as performed by the inmates of the asylum of Charendon under the direction of the Marquis de Sade. Need I say more?

Patrick, thanks for the recommendation of Avenue Q. We loved it!

Just an example of what I previously posted. These are three future plays posted on Playbill.com. - 'Man and Boy,' 'The Columnist,' and 'Relatively Speaking.' All three sound quite interesting to me. Take a look.

Sue, where is Marat/Sade playing? I did a couple of searches and can't find a mention of it anywhere. I too saw the original production (but in the US). I'd have enjoyed seeing that this weekend.

What I did --big mistake -- was to accept a half price offer for a preview at Union Square Theatre for a play called Desperate Writers ($32.50) It's billed as a comedy, yet I don't think I laughed, chuckled, or even smiled once. The script makes no sense and wouldn't pass in a beginners' playwriting class. I can't believe how such a horrible play (and one so amateurishly acted) gets backed to open in NYC -- especially after now reading the horrible reviews of it LA. If someone offers to pay YOU $100 and a free ticket to go see it -- DON'T -- it still wouldn't be worth it. The only smart thing the playwright did was to avoid an intermission. But even that didn't fully work, people got up and walked out throughout the show. It was painful.

Ah well, today I see Priscilla to complete my NYC stay. At least that should leave me with a smile on my face.

Sorry, last performance was last night.

http://www.mosesmogilee.com/maratsade.html

On Friday they had a waitlist so you probably would not have gotten. Went for 9 dollars thanks to TDF -- This production needs a longer life. I saw it in NYC too but I think it was done by RSC

Incidentally, RSC is taking over the Park Ave Armory later in the summer and reproducing the Globe in the drill area and doing several Shakespeare plays as part of the Lincoln Center Festival.

The following link is from an amusing article by Ben Brantley with some real truth to it. Enjoy!

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/20...s/?ref=theater

i know it's not summer yet, but this thread is way too long. I will start the summer thread. If anyone can put a link to this one in the new thread, please do.

Yes, that is indeed an "interesting" article by Ben Brantley. One only needs to read the first two paragraphs to realize WHY Mr. Brantley gave Daniel Radcliffe an insulting attack in his review of How to Succeed (saying things NO other critic seemed to see). Clearly Mr. Brantley has an axe to grind and his reviews will reflect his personal crusade against "celebrities on Broadway" -- Mr. Radcliffe being one such victim.