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The absolutely beautiful and moving new musical The Bridges of Madison County closed at the Gerald Schoenfield Theatre on Broadway on Sunday. The show had way too short of a life on the Great White Way and should’ve received far more Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical, than it did. Regardless of that, being in the audience for the final performance was something I will cherish forever. The audience whole heartedly embraced the performance, providing thunderous applause throughout and two long standing ovations, one after the show’s most popular and melodic number “One Second And A Million Miles” and the other for Steven Pasquale’s “It All Fades Away.” The show’s lead, the Tony Nominated Kelli O’Hara, gave a heartfelt speech after the final bows from the cast. And she promised this would not be the final performance of the show.  She was joined on the stage by composer Jason Robert Brown (also nominated for the Tony for his work on the show) and book writer Marsha Norman. To read my original review of the show, click here: Theater Review: Bridges of Madison County The Musical, ROCKY: The Musical, Machinal, and All The Way.

Below, Playbill provides an excellent story on the show’s closing:

After 137 performances the cast of the new musical The Bridges of Madison County took their final bow May 18 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. The production finished its run following four Tony nominations: two for composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown (for Best Orchestrations and Best Score), one for Kelli O’Hara as Best Leading Actress in a Musical and one for Best Lighting Design for Donald Holder.

As the audience shouted praise for the performers at the closing performance, five-time Tony nominee O’Hara calmly quieted them as Brown and Marsha Norman, who penned the book, joined the cast on stage. In a quietly moving speech available online, O’Hara firmly asserted that though the new musical was closing on Broadway, it was not the end of the road for Bridges.

“On behalf of our director Bartlett Sher, we want to say something — we want to say thank you for coming to help us send this out into the world, because this is by no means going into the ground,” O’Hara explained to the rapt patrons. “For all those of you who don’t know how it is to be in theatre or what it is to make a show, we work really hard together to do the emotional part, and it’s so heavy for us; and every person in this cast, this crew, the men and the women in the front and the back, all on the stage, the house staff, everybody has done this; and I know I can speak for them all when I say it’s been a labor of love. This is something that we’ve believed in from the very beginning.”

O’Hara went on to explain the intimate journey the cast had taken with Bridges and explained her own five-year affair with the piece and her collaboration with creators Brown and Norman. As she came to the close of her brief and moving words, O’Hara confessed, “I thought today wasn’t going to go over very well, and then I realized that I could do this show because I felt the exact same way every single night of performing it as I felt tonight…which is absolute and complete gratitude; and I will never feel any other way, and I have never worked with more sincere, uncynical, beautifully talented people in my entire life and I don’t know that I will again.”

Her thanks to the audience were drowned out by the surge of applause as the patrons took to their feet. The Bridges of Madison County is a new musical that centers on a brief, four-day love affair between a National Geographic photographer and an Italian-American housewife in 1965 Iowa. Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep starred in the 1995 film adaptation. In addition to O’Hara and her leading man Steven Pasquale (reasons to be pretty, Far From Heaven, “Rescue Me”) the original cast and crew of the Broadway production follow: Tony nominee Hunter Foster (Hands on a Hardbody, Urinetown, Little Shop of Horrors), Derek Klena (Wicked),Caitlin Kinnunen (Spring Awakening), Cass Morgan (Memphis),Michael X. Martin (Catch Me If You Can), Whitney Bashor, Jennifer Allen, Ephie Aardema, Katie Klaus, Luke Marinkovich, Aaron Ramey,Dan Sharkey, Tim Wright, Jessica Vosk, Charlie Franklin and Kevin Kern.

The creative team included Michael Yeargan (scenic design), Donald Holder (lighting design), Catherine Zuber (costume design), Jon Weston (sound design), Deborah Hecht (dialect coach) and Thomas Murray (music director). The musical was produced by Jeffrey Richards, Stacey Mindich, and Jerry Frankel. They were joined by Gutterman Chernoff, Hunter Arnold, Ken Davenport, Carl Daikeler, Scott M. Delman, Aaron Priest, Red Mountain Theatre Company, Independent Presenters Network, Libby Adler Mages/Mari Stuart, Caiola Productions, Remmel Dickinson, David Lancaster, Bellanca Smigel Rutter, Mark S. Golub & David S. Golub, Will Trice, with Warner Bros Theatre Ventures and The Shubert Organization.

Casa Valentina (The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre): When I first heard that Harvey Fierstein was in the process of bringing a new play about cross dressers to Broadway, I wasn’t incredibly surprised. I mean, let’s face it, that type of content isn’t really foreign to him. But Casa Valentina is far from the cheeky fun that is Kinky Boots. Its subject matter is serious–and although laughs are graciously provided throughout, there’s a serious message to be had here, somewhere. Set at a resort in the Catskill Mountains that caters to heterosexual transvestites in the 1960s, the show attempts to explore a subset of men with a fetish behavior who want desperately for said behavior to be accepted by society at large. However, in order to sanitize their activities, any sense of a homosexual identify (or sex, which seemed to define gay people in the 1960’s) must be erased. The performers here are truly wonderful.

The Green Goblin himself, Patrick Page, shows great variation in his portrayal of his testosterone-fueled male persona George with that of his female alter ego Valentina. The other actors in the production are equally as good. Tom McGown brings an oversized and lovable character named Bessie to life while Nick Westrate wonderfully personifies the hypocritical dichotomy of a homophobic and intolerant woman who desperately seeks societal approval despite her own differences with the mainstream. And Mare Winningham, who plays George’s wife Rita, convincingly portrays the struggle of a woman trying desperately to validate her marriage while supporting the cross dressing ways of her husband and his friends. The set is beautiful and dark–it feels intimate and brings the audience into the world of these men and women nicely.

The show begins with the real promise of a deeper look into a unique behavior in a conservative time in American history. But unfortunately, it gets somewhat lost in its politics. The characters’ desires to prove themselves as staunchly heterosexual, gay affirming, or apathetic to the topic, becomes redundant and overdone. And the attempt to link transvestite behaviors to homosexuals feels a bit forced. Regardless, the effect of the show on provoking thought among its viewers is strong. The struggles of the gay community at the time are prominently (although superficially) presented; and it is difficult to not consider the modern issue of transgendered persons being labeled as outcasts to the GLB(T) community at the show’s conclusion. And if that was the purpose of this show, it succeeds. But if you’re looking for something more psychologically educational regarding the transvestite subculture of the 1960’s or even want some type of resolution about these characters themselves, you’re more than likely going to be disappointed. Check out highlights from the show courtesy of Playbill.com below:

In 1998, Sam Mendes directed an absolutely incredible revival of the classic Kander & Ebb musical (set in a nightclub in Berlin) that ultimately tells the story of a liberal society of debauchery clashing with a dangerously changing sociopolitical climate that gives rise to Nazi rule. The show is one of my all-time favorite musicals because it masters the task of bringing out almost every human emotion that exists; and by the time the cast takes its bow, you feel physically and emotionally drained. To this day, that 1998 production (starring the late Natasha Richardson) is seared in my memory as one of the most incredible theater experiences I’ve ever had. So my expectations were high for Mendes’ second outing of the material. This revival is essentially the same show that was staged in 1998. And although it probably cost them the Tony nod for Best Revival, that’s a good thing–perfection shouldn’t be toiled with too much at the risk of much peril. And besides, that 1998 show garnered 12 Tony nominations–winning 4 (including Best Revival). And speaking of Tony Awards–Winner Alan Cumming has returned to play the role he was born for–his emcee is beyond perfect–he is spine chillingly incredible. Sally Bowles is played by two-time Academy Award nominee Michelle Williams. At first, I was somewhat concerned that she was a little too reserved for the outrageous and over-the-top star and queen of Berlin’s underground  and risqué nightlife.

But as she develops as the show progresses, I really began to appreciate the uniqueness she brought to the character. And by the time she performed the title song during Act II, I was convinced she was great. That number really brought down the house; the audience greeted the conclusion of the song with a rapturous applause. Fraulein Schneider is effectively performed by Linda Emond, who conveys the transition of staunch businesswoman to one with a firm grasp on the realities of the horrors unfolding around her, wondrously. Her love interest, Herr Schultz, is skillfully played by veteran stage actor Danny Burstein. He is able to convey the naievity of Schultz’s character heartbreakingly well–so much that I found myself deeply saddened knowing the fate that awaits him despite his ability to see it. Cumming, Williams, Emond, and Burstein are enough to carry the show on their own. But they don’t have to because they are surrounded by an ensemble cast that is as talented and able as any I’ve seen.

One of the other incredible aspects of Cabaret is that it prominently features the orchestra–they are a major piece of the production and are on-stage for a large chunk of the show. The theater itself also plays a major part in the production–the lower level is lined with cabaret tables equipped with individual lights and servers traverse the aisles prior to the show’s start. A dazzling and humongous disco ball is utilized at various parts of the show with absolute effectiveness. And the lighting that leads from the stage and encompasses the entire theater (or should I say, nightclub) is used with precision at just the right times. All of these theatrical elements–the amazing supporting actors, the entire theater serving as the set, the prominence of the orchestra, the breathtaking leads–point to one solid conclusion. The director behind this absolutely superb production is one of the most talented directors to ever work in theater. And the fact that his production is immersed in pure excellence with everything– from the performers to the musicians to the set designers to the lighting technicians to the costume designer–designates this as a truly historic production. This show has been a major success and has been extended through January. It should not be missed. Check out video highlights of Cabaret courtesy of Playbill.com below:

The touring production of a musical that I absolutely fell in love with during its short Broadway run back in 2012 is making its way to the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre in Orlando this week. GHOST: The Musical opened Tuesday and plays through Sunday. The show tells the classic love story from the 1990 motion picture of the same name. Sam and Molly are soul mates who become separated after Sam is murdered; but Sam cannot move on before helping Molly solve his murder through the comedic character Oda Mae Brown, who is a psychic that until meeting Sam, isn’t very “gifted.” The show’s music is written by Dave Stewart (of the 1980’s band The Eurythmics) and mega-producer Glen Ballard (the man behind the big hits from the likes of Michael Jackson, Wilson Phillips, and Alanis Morisette) while the book and lyrics were written by the Academy Award winning writer of the film, Bruce Joel Rubin.

The production is non-equity, which set me up with very low expectations. However, I was pleasantly surprised of the high quality of this mounting of the show. Although scaled back slightly, the overall lighting, sets, and digital screens that work in concert throughout the show to serve as backdrops and scenery rivaled the Broadway production. And while the leads Steven Grant Douglas (Sam Wheat) and Kate Postotnik (Molly Jenson) aren’t even remotely comparable to the vocal qualities and abilities of the original Broadway cast (Richard Fleeshman and Cassie Levy, respectively), they get the job done superbly. Postonik gets the opportunity to show her skills most effectively in the first act power ballad “With You.” And she really hit that number out of the park. Unfortunately, she cracked the high note of Act II’s “Rain/Hold On” but rebounded nicely later with the concluding numbers. Douglas’ Sam is played well; and his singing, while not exceptional, is at times absolutely beautiful. He conveyed the dynamics of the character quite well.

But while Douglas and Postotnik are good lead actors, they are dwarfed by the amazingly talented Carla R. Stewart, who truly steals the show as Oda Mae Brown. Stewart has some truly remarkable vocal skill and is also a fantastic performer. She had the audience laughing out loud in countless scenes; and her presence was cherished in each scene featuring the character. Another showstopper is Brandon Curry, who’s Subway Ghost character raps an incredible number in Act II entitled “Focus” that ultimately provides Sam a major advantage to his mission. The villain of the show, Sam’s best friend Carl, is played by Robby Haltiwanger. His performance is adequate and seeing as the audience (which gave the cast an immediate standing ovation at the show’s conclusion) booed lightly during his curtain call, he obviously did his job. The digital imagery of the production coupled with the special effects are at time dazzling. Scenes in which Sam learns how to “float” through doors and passes through other objects are well done. And the digital screens that create everything from the New York skyline to a moving subway car are breathtaking.

Overall, this touring production of GHOST is excellent. The vast majority of our group and everyone around us in the theater really enjoyed the show. While I yearned to hear Fleeshman and Levy together once again, the experience of seeing the show I loved in New York performed and produced quite well made me very happy. This show also concluded the 2013-2014 Orlando Broadway Series and marks the final show in the God awful Bob Carr theater. Many of our group expressed belief that this show was this season’s best. It’s too bad this beautiful production couldn’t have been in the new state of the art Dr. Phillips Center that is opening later this year and will house the 2014-2015 series. Despite the Bob Carr’s terrible acoustics and poor seating, this production is definitely worth seeing. GHOST: The Musical plays through Sunday at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre. To purchase tickets, visit the show’s official Web Site at: http://www.ghostontour.com.

 Composer Jason Robert Brown has won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Original Score for his work in writing the lush and absolutely gorgeous score for the musical The Bridges of Madison County. The awards were announced May 12th. Brown bested other composers within the category, including the composers of the musicals Aladdin, Fun Home, A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder, and If/Then. Unfortunately, Bridges‘ lead star Kelli O’Hara lost the award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical to Audra McDonald in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill. The Bridges of Madison County closes this Sunday at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on Broadway; but a national tour of the show is set to embark in 2015. Congratulations to Jason Robert Brown! Preview the beautiful music from the show below: