Broadway

I saw my third and final broadway show, Mamma Mia!, in New York for the summer, this Sunday afternoon with Geralyn and her two roomates, Kristina and Megan. Overall, I enjoyed aspects of all three of them.



Mamma Mia! is definitely the "chick flick" of Broadway shows. Taking place in Italy, it involves the wedding of a young girl who wants her father to walk her down the aisle. Raised by a single mother her whole life, she finds her mother's diary shortly before the wedding and discovers from several journal entries that there are three possible men who could be her father. Without her mother knowning, she invites all three, and the comedy begins as she sets about finding her real dad. Ultimately this play had some funny and heartfelt moments, but overall fell a little short because of its constant reliance upon strictly songs from the musical group Abba and various sexual references. Ultimately the theme meanders amongst such topics as fond remembrance of youthful revelry, the independence of women, and the responsibility of fatherhood. Though carried out through somewhat sloppily contrived dialogue, these themes are surprisingly heartfelt and, at times, even teary-eyed, with plenty of of time left over for giggles. The strength of the show is in its efficient yet attractive set transitions and props, as well as glamorous blue, purple, and bluish-green lighting effects. It has its moments, but don't go alone or with less than 50% of your group being female. 5/10



Les Miserables is said to be the longest running broadway show, and it's obvious why. It is brilliant. Based on the classic novel by French author Victor Hugo, the play, like the book, stays true to the various intertwining plot lines of many characters during the era of the Napoleonic wars and shortly thereafter. Jean Valjean is the convict who redeems himself by acts of charity. Fantine is the terminated factory employee who becomes a prostitute to survive and bears a child later rasied by Valjean. This child, Cosette, later marries a revolutionary college student in arms, who is also saved from death by Cosette's guardian, Valjean. And so on and so forth, the plot lines weave to create a masterful piece of storytelling that grips at the heartstrings. I cannot stress how much this play was profoundly emotional. One thing that impressed me is that every character has a different method of singing and a recurring musical theme that correlates directly with his or her personality. There is only one line in the whole play that is not sung, so this is definitely your traditional through-and-through musical. It was a little long, at almost 3 hours, but definitely worth the time. The dull lighting of this often dreary (though at just the right moments sparsely lighthearted) show is not dulling to the senses, for the set pieces constantly change. Such simple creativity as having the stage turn in a circle while a character runs, bringing in new scenery, gives the impression of travel to new scenes. The play has it all: history, tragedy, a bit of comedy, romance, awe-inspiring vocal performances, lifelike props, and a marvelous orchestra. I definitely recommend this play to anyone: the family, the girlfriend, the guys from work, whoever! 9/10



Monty Python's Spamalot is, as the tagline says, "A new musical lovingly ripped off from the motion picture Monty Python and the Holy Grail." The plot includes.....Well, let's just say, "What does the plot not include?!" The opening scene involves Norwegian woodspeople slapping each other with fish, only to have the "director" run in and say they are acting out the wrong play. As you can imagine, from there, the plot line and much verbatim dialogue from the movie creates the hilarity that Python fans (such as myself) are expecting. As the characters take up their God-given quest to find the grail, the recurring theme seems to be poking fun at Broadway, including my favorite, "The Song That Goes Like This." Be warned that this "esoteric class" humour pokes a bit of fun at many "untouchable" topics. For example, God (just as in the movie) tells King Arthur to stop grovelling just like in "those depressing Psalms"; Lancelot, in saving the girlish singing prince, discovers his own attraction to men; the dead and dying souls during the Black Plague are the object of humour; and Brave (cowardly) Sir Robin (who soils his pants upon seeing the killer white rabbit) sings an extended sequence of melodies stating that, in a Broadway, "You haven't got a thing unless you've got a Jew." This was my favourite of the 3 plays I saw. You just leave the theater feeling happy. It's very random and ridiculous, but thankfully so very random and ridiculous, that it affords the audience a complete eclipse of reality and a gratitude that our lives are not nearly as false as these fools parading around on stage with oversized cans of spam and Camelot casino chips. The dialogue is downright hilarious, and the acting is very, very talented. The stage designs are lavishly bright and beautiful, intentionally overdone to complete the surreal aura. The designs are also very witty, and there are lots of "ooh" and "ahh" moments, as when God's feet drop from the ceiling so He can have a chat with Arthur, and when the illustrious Lady of the Lake comes from beneath the watery habitat in a cloud of fog to give Arthur a sword. Also: there is crowd participation. To avoid giving away the surprise, I'll leave it at that. It isn't really family friendly, but it doesn't go further than a "PG-13." Might be offensive on several levels, the least of which being serious Broadway fans will feel they are the object of ridicule. 8/10