Comments on Parting Shot

This time we learned that we needed a different star.

Ouch!

I work in the Skinner Building (home of the 5th Avenue Theater) and I sometimes see David Armstrong bopping in and out. This morning he seemed just a little more jaunty than usual.

From the NYT article (Evi is Randy's wife/manager, an explosive combination of powers if there ever was one):

"Everybody's afraid of Evi," says a source, adding that the stage manager, after several angry calls, changed her name on his cellphone to "Do Not Answer."

"What are they afraid of?" Evi responds. "Having a competent person on this show is very disturbing to them, I guess."

You know, competent people generally don't have to point out how competent they are. And people generally aren't scared of them.

So, does this mean my dream of seeing "Kingpin: The Musical!" is forever crushed?

It seems like we're the test bed for a lot of plays and operas lately. Is this just an errant impression, or are we the guinea pigs of the theatrical world?

Wow...a codpiece?

Was that a prop? Was it a time period thing?

I'm sorry, do men actually wear these?

Gitai,

We're definitely a test-bed. After the phenomenal success of "Hairspray!", the producers simply gushed over the "sophistication" of Seattle theatre audiences. Since then, a number of shows have done their out-of-town tryouts here: "The Wedding Singer", "Princeses", "Young Frankenstein" and "Lone Star" (one could, by stretching, include "Light In The Piazza" in that list as well).

Almost all of the shows that actually made it to Broadway from Seattle (the execrable "Princeses" thankfully was canned before doing so) were extensively re-worked based on audience feedback, and so we've developed what is probably a well-deserved reputation for having a rather discriminating, knowledgeable musical theatre audience here.

He wore the codpiece under his jeans, thus giving him a huge bulge. I assume it was also for protective purposes - giventhe nature of the show, he probably got whacked in the crotch several times.

I saw a recent (naked) pic of Quaid from the Last Picture Show and believe me, he could have cut the codpiece in half and still had room to spare