Just found out that a guy who was in HS with our daughters has been cast in Mama Mia in New York.

He's the second one from the same high school to get a Broadway part. One other guy is on a national tour (Grease, I think) and one young woman has done a lot of Disney stuff.

Maybe the son has a chance.

Maybe...

I JUST saw Wicked here in San Fran yesterday it was AMAZING... I know EXACTLY what you mean about the kick thing, but I dunno.. I thought it was funny, didn't bother me too much. Eden Espinosa is playing Elphaba here and she is AMAZING... gave me goosebumps. She is my new idol, she has the best voice I've heard in a LONG LONG time... OMG I can't say enough good things about her.

I also saw the producers in NYC... VERY VERY FUNNY and the cast was very good, although DolphinChicaDDD says that Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick were better and the two we saw were both just imitating them.

Now you know why I went to see one of the final performances of Brooklyn, The Musical in NY after seeing it's premiere in Denver.

She really is spectacular.

My sister and I saw Wicked on Broadway at the end of July and it was absolutely amazing. All of the cast was excellent; I didn't recognize most of them, but Rue MacCalahan from Golden Girls played Madame Morrible and Ben Vereen played the Wizard. That was really cool.

When I saw Wicked in NY, Joel Gray (Grey?) played the wizzard.

Yawn! Unfortunately, I thought he added nothing to the show.

We just returned from London and saw "Mary Poppins!!!" This is THE show to see!! The music is wonderful and the sets are incredible...there are many songs from the movie and a few new ones. Wait until this show comes to the USA!! The choreography to "Supercalifragilisticexpialadocious." It's too crazy to describe!!!

Going to see Wicked tomorrow night here in Denver.

Great reviews saying it's as good or better than the NY production from a critic who seldom likes anything.

I'll hold my comment until I see it since I saw it in NY with Idina and Kristin.

Looking forward to it one way or the other.

From what I've heard, the Wicked production in Broadway have been lackluster, especially the ensambles. there are rumors that the producers might pull a Cameron Macintosh.

That's too bad. I saw it there not long after it opened and it certainly wasn't lackluster then.

Delt, you should check out the Sweeney Todd revival. It's an interesting concept. The cast also doubles as the orchestra.

The Cast:
MICHAEL CERVERIS - Sweeney Todd - Guitar/Percussion
Patti Lupone - Mrs. Lovett- percussion/glockenspiel/tuba
John Arbo - Jonas Fogg - double bass
DONNA LYNNE CHAMPLIN - Pirelli - piano/accordian/flute
DIANA DiMARZIO - Beggar Woman - clarinet
MANOEL FELCIANO (Tobias Ragg) - violin/clarinet/piano
ALEXANDER GEMIGNANI (The Beadle) - piano/trumpet
MARK JACOBY (Judge Turpin) - rumpet/percussion/glockenspiel
BENJAMIN MAGNUSON (Anthony Hope) - cello
LAUREN MOLINA (Johanna) - cello/tin whistle

I have no idea how they're going to pull it off. Will be interesting to see. For one thing, the production cost is going to be cheap.

Not with Micheal Cerveris and Patti Lupone... that looks like an AMAZING cast

This may be old news to all you guys, but did you know Avenue Q is going to have a perminant spot in Las Vegas. They are building a place just for them

I'll bet the AF of M is not at all amused.

Sounds pretty interesting, though.

I was on Fleet Street in London in May. I didn't see any barber shops.

Right, and as I understand it, there will be no national tours.

Yup, no national tour. Seems that many of the theatre owners are pissed off about it. One of the reason why Avenue Q won the Tony over Wicked was the promised of a tour that is cheap to run, which mean more profit for the theatre owners across the country. Avenue Q have started playing in Vegas. If I'm not mistaken, Phantom and Spamalot will also play in Vegas. For Phantom, it'll be the 90 minutes version, playing twice a day. They're building an actual lake for the show.

As for the Sweeney Todd, the producers made a deal with Equity and the Musician unions.

On another note, West Side Story is slated for a revival in 2007 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the show. Seems like they will cast them young so the cast will be appropriate to the characters.