2sweets, our posts overlapped or I would have addressed your House of Blue Leaves comment as well. That's one of my all time favorite plays (and one which I've directed twice) so I've been very anxious about this production -- although the last Lincoln Center production of it with John Mahoney, Swoozie Kurtz, and Christine Baranski seems unbeatable in my book.

Here's a link you might want to browse through -- these are reviews of previews (so you know that the show may get better by the time it opens) and they are mostly by avid theatre goers and quite a few of active theatre "workers" in NYC -- not by professional theatre critics. You often have to read between the lines, but I can't remember many of these links that are so universally negative in their comments of any show before. Sounds like other than Edie Falco's performance, no one thinks it's really working.

http://broadwayworld.com/board/readm...t=59&boardid=1

I am so glad Anything Goes is getting it's well-earned reviews. I thought Joel Grey was very good in his role! He is older now, like all of us lol, but he didn't forget lines or miss a beat when I saw the show last month, and his diminuative stature and his persona were perfect for the role, I thought.

Sutton Foster is just beyond phenomenal. Now I really wish I had seen her in Thoroughly Modern Millie - so why didn't you guys tell me to go see that one?? Maybe that was before the Broadway Banter threads started...lol

I had hoped to see Anything Goes again before it opened, as now the discounts will stop. But alas, at least I got to see it once at an incredible rate in wonderful seats. That production of Anything Goes reminds me of the scene in "Last Samurai" when Ken Wantanabe is dying on the battlefield, and he says as he is dying, his last word, (as he is having visions of blooming cherry blossoms), one simple word..."Perfect." That is how I felt when I left the Sondheim theater. How often do you get that?

God I love Broadway.

NeoPatrick: no, no problems with foul mouthedness;
It was the WSJ review which called the show amateurish and mediocre, suitable mainly for 12 year old boys!
here's the link:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...086713370.html

emd3. I was lucky enough to see Sutton Foster in Thoroughly Modern Millie years ago with tickets from TKTS. I am really hoping to see Anything Goes when I am there in late May this year. I am watching for discount tickets now :)

hpeabody - the local radio stations are already promoting the show and quoting the NY Times. There won't be discounts for a loooong time. But, if you find one, please post here! Having said that, some shows are worth full price. I just might have to bite the bullet myself :)

Broadway Box has codes for Anything Goes good through May 15, but it currently says "must buy by April 8" Today! That's the code I used to get front row mezzanine at $99 for May 11.

Patrick, I too cherish fond memories of the production of The House of Blue Leaves starring John Mahoney, Swoozie Kurtz nd and Christine Baranski. That devastating final scene still remains a vivid memory.

I saw 'High' with Kathleen Turner a few days ago. I thought Evan Jonigkeit's Broadway debut was impressive. It's always exciting to see fresh young talent in theater. There was a lot to discuss after this play (that's a good thing), but I was left with a number of loose ends. I'm not sure if it was some plot details or Stephen Kunken's performance (the priest) that diminished it somewhat for me.

For a newbie wanting to purchase tickets on-line, what sites do you recommend? Hopefully with discounts. Broadway Box is good?

www.playbill.com register for a user id to check for discounts

Both broadwaybox.com and playbill.com are recommended for discount offers. For full price you're better off going to the "original" agent, either ticketmaster.com or telecharge.com, depending on the show.

Thank you, both. I will try those two.

When I double-checked full price at Ticketmaster just now, I found much better seats available today, same price level, for the exact same performance. Row P first time I looked, amd Row E now. Huh? Confusing to this newbie. I guess house seats were turned back in, or some such. I wish my four friends would make up their mind on buying seats!

We saw a preview of 'People in the Picture' with Donna Murphy today. Her performance was wonderful. She shifts back and forth as the same character as young and elderly; she does it seamlessly. At times this play could be Fiddler on the Roof meets Mel Brooks. Although the end of Act I was slow, by the end of Act II, it is so moving that many (including me) needed a tissue. The choreography was nothing special; I did like how they did the sets. The book and lyrics were written by the author of 'Beaches,' the novel that the movie of the same name (with Bette Midler) was based on. Some of the music was by Mike Stoller. I recommend this one!

Thanks for the comments re: The House of Blue Leaves.
We are trying to decide between that show and Good People.

If that choice were mine, I'd definitely make it Good People. (In fact that IS the decision I made.)

"Catch Me If You Can' reviewed today.

http://theater.nytimes.com/?adxnnl=1...Cqa41QcK/kAhtQ

I still feel despite this review and my own criticisms, this will be popular.

As I predicted earlier in this thread, the reviews for CMIYC were poor. In spite of that, we throughly enjoyed it (may have partially had to do with great seats at a discount)and I agree with CPG it will be popular, like the Adams Family was/is despite reviews.

Catch Me just isn't edgy enough to garner good reviews, of course as we saw with American Idiot and Spring Awakening, good reviews and Tony awards do not guarentee a long run.

"Catch Me just isn't edgy enough to garner good reviews". I don't know, Frank, the RAVE of this week in reviews was Anything Goes,which is even way less edgy than Catch Me if You Can.

American Idiot did NOT win any Tonys (except for lights and set design) and had very mixed reviews (although the all important one from the NYTimes was a rave). And Spring Awakening which did get mostly raves and won a raft of Tonys, ran for over 2 years. Admittedly that's not a very long run on Broadway.

It just seems impossible to determine what's going to make a show a sure-fire hit these days. Look at Wicked which got mixed reviews and an outright pan from the New York Times, and lost the Tony to Avenue Q which got mostly raves that year. Who would have guessed that Wicked would still be playing to totally sold out, non-discounted houses 7 and a half years later, while Avenue Q quietly closed and moved off-Broadway to a tiny house?

The Catch Me If You Can situation sounds a lot like Dirty Rotten Scoundrels by the same team, which seemed very popular with audiences, got mixed reviews, and didn't have a particularly long run, but over a year.

Any opinions/thoughts on the new show with Chris Rock?

<<Has anyone seen Avenue Q lately? If so, I'd love to hear what you thought.

My sister and I saw this at World Stages last year and we enjoyed it - it's a fun show.

karens - 'Motherf**ker with the Hat.' See the first post in this thread. I enjoyed it - great dialogue.