Let It Be @ The St. James Theatre

                  If you always wanted to see the Beatles but thought you missed your opportunity, Broadway has the show for you: “Let It Be.”  “Let It Be” is basically a concert performance of all your favorite Beatles songs including, “Strawberry Fields Forever”,” Revolution”,  “Yesterday”, “Day Tripper”, “Here comes the Sun”, and of course “Let it Be.”  The show is being performed at the St. James Theatre on W. 44ST Street in NYC.   

            

                Let It Be provides the audience with its very own versions of John, Paul, George, and Ringo.   The show takes you on a journey throughout the years with the Beatles.  The stars of the show perform the songs as if they were performing at a concert; playing songs from each album the Beatles had.  The “venue” changes with some different backdrops and pieces as we move through the years.  After each set, the curtain comes down and we get a little history of what era it is and occasionally a Beatle explaining the music they are playing.  We got to go from the beginning “Mop Top”, to “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, to “Abbey Road”, to their famous concert at  Shea Stadium. The show ended with the fan favorite “Hey Jude” which had the audience up out of their seats singing along

                   Although this production has a ton of similarities to the 2010 Broadway hit Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles, the tech is was separates the two productions. Rain tried to appear as the Beatles in the time of their fame, making it appear as if they were using technology from that time. But Let It Be brings a legendary band to the stage using the technology of the twenty first century. Jason Lyons lights make the audience feel as if they were in a rock concert of today and Duncan McLean's video projections helped set the different time periods that the Beatles lived through.

                The show was incredibly entertaining.  The audience was a mix of old and new fans alike, but one thing was certain: everyone was enjoying themselves. You could see the audience really get into the music and start to dance in their seats.  The performers were good at playing the famous songs and were pretty good at singing them.  They each acted the part of whoever they were playing quite well.  At times the audience acted like it was the height of Beatlemania all over again.

If you love Beatles music, and a good time, Let It Be is a must see.

Review By: James Russo

Forever Tango @ The Walter Kerr Theater

 

Forever Tango opens July 14th at the Walter Kerr Theatre for a limited ten week engagement. The show debuted at the Walter Kerr in 1997 and has now returned to add a little spice to the Broadway world. A two hour show that features spectacular partnered dance, gorgeous music, and 5 time Grammy winner Gilbert Santa Rosa delights audiences.

Directed and created by Luis Bravo(Malambo), this dance show captivates the emotional sense of the human psyche as the dancers reveal the inner workings of their souls through one of the most sensual forms of ballroom dance – the tango. Eight couples are featured while the headliners, Karina Smirnoff and Maksim Chmerkovskiy (Dancing with the Stars) show their skill with a dance in Act 1 and Act 2 and guest singer, Gilbert Santa Rosa shares his music.

Although, I do not speak Spanish and therefore could not understand a word being sung, I could not only enjoy the performance as a musician, but also understand the feeling of that which was being sung. Love and heartbreak are universal languages after all.

Juan Horvath(Tango Significo) and his partner Victora Galoto (Love Liza and Sweet Charity) thrill with technical footwork and gravity defying tricks while Natalia Turelli and Ariel Manzanares reveal the lighter side of tango with comedic relief and the use of flirtation. The group dances are a joy to watch and you can really tell the amount of trust and dedication to the art that these dancers possess.

Get to the Walter Kerr Theatre; enjoy the spiciness of Latin dance done as only the best can do it. The show runs until September 15th and will have Luis Enriquez joining as a guest singer for a limited time starting July 30th.

Reasons To Be Happy @ The Lucille Lortel Theatre

“Reasons To Be Happy” closed at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher St) this afternoon after extending its run, which began on May 16, 2013. The MCC world premier, which was written and directed by MCC playwright-in-residence Neil LaBute comes as a sort of sequel, companion piece to LaBute’s 2009 Tony Award Nominee for Best Play, “Reasons To Be Pretty”. If you know the story of “Reasons To Be Pretty”, you’ll find bursts of similarities and references to the show during “Reasons To Be Happy”, however, thankfully to many you don’t need to know the first to understand the second; you would just view them as two completely different entities.

“Reasons To Be Happy” is set in ‘the outlying suburbs, not too long ago’. It’s the story of four friends, turned lovers, turned enemies, who are just trying to live their lives right. It’s a classic telling of the love triangle, and how these young adults futures didn’t unfold as they had planned because of it. The show opens with Greg, played by Josh Hamilton (Dead Accounts, Dark Skies) running into his ex-girlfriend Steph, played by Jenna Fisher (The Office, Blades of Glory) in the parking lot of a Trader Joe’s. Steph is now married to someone else, but clearly hasn’t moved on enough. Who can blame her though, when Greg is now dating Steph’s ex-best friend, Carly, played by Leslie Bibb (Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Talladega Nights). Carly has a three-year-old daughter Jennifer (who’s never seen in the show) with friend of the group Kent, played by Fred Weller (Glengarry Glen Ross, The Shape of Things). Kent is not around a lot in Jennifer’s life and some would even argue that Greg is becoming more of a father figure to her than her own dad. Carly works as a security guard and Kent often works stocking her rather bland break room (one of the two sets in the show), causing them to frequently and awkwardly run into each other. To make matters worse, Greg often drops Carly off as well as picks her up from work, forcing him to run into Kent too. After the run in at Trader Joe’s, Steph reaches out to Greg with an apology, and the two begin to reconcile. Steph suggests they give their relationship one last try, complete with the willingness to leave her current husband. Greg agrees there is something still there and starts seeing both girls simultaneously. He agreed to break up with Carly until she reveals she’s pregnant with his baby. Now Greg has to decide which of the two ex-best friends he would rather be with in this terribly sticky situation, all while tolerating a jealous Kent whom he still sort of connects with just to increase the testosterone in his dramatic life.

It’s no surprise “Reasons To Be Happy” opened to rave reviews; Neil LaBute is known for other successful ‘modern’ plays such as “Fat Pig” and “The Shape of Things”, so given his immense talent for writing and directing as well as his all-star cast and the success of “Reasons To Be Pretty”, “Reasons To Be Happy” was everything audiences had hoped it would be. It runs roughly 2 hours 15 minutes with an intermission and it’s got a great, chill vibe with modern lighting and scene changes accompanied by alternative rock hits such as “Come As You Are” by Nirvana. When the scenes aren’t taking place in Carly’s break room, a lot of ambiance is created simply with lighting, props such as benches or flowers, and sound cues like children running on a soccer field. You don’t need to be a theatre junkie to appreciate that so much is done with so little. Complete with a lot of profanity, “Reasons To Be Happy” sure gave audiences a good laugh.

What is comes down to be that “Reasons To Be Happy” is relatable to virtually anyone who saw it. Everyone at one point in their life has to make vital decisions, and ultimately everyone is going to chase what makes them happy. “Reasons To Be Happy” is worth seeing at any future chance, and definitely worth reading in the mean time!

Buyer & Cellar @ The Barrow Street Theater

         Buyer & Cellar transfers back off Broadway after its sold out run at Rattlesnake Playwrights Theater. Starring in this one man show is Michael Urie who plays Alex More, the mall attendant of Barbara Streisand basement. Michael Urie and Buyer & Cellar were the recipient of the 2013 Drama Desk, Clarence Derwent, and Off-Broadway Alliance awards. After its run at Rattlesnake, producers decided this critically acclaimed story was not done being told and it transferred to Barrow Street Theater for an extra long extended run.

         Buyer & Cellar is an outrageous comedy about the price of fame, the cost of things, and the oddest of odd jobs. Alex More has a story to tell. A struggling actor in L.A., Alex takes a job working in the Malibu basement of a beloved megastar. One day, the Lady Herself comes downstairs to play. It feels like real bonding in the basement, but will their relationship ever make it upstairs?

         Michael Urie (How to Succeed..) portrays Alex Moore who tells the story of his employment with big well known Barbara Streisand. Urie is outrageously funny, extremely charismatic and an impressive story teller. He has the ability to draw the audience in, have them close to tears and then have them laughing hysterically in a matter of seconds. Truly a genius performance and the best one man show to hit NYC in years.  

         Buyers & Cellar is playing at the Barrow Street Theater Through August 28, 2013. 

Potted Potter @ The Little Shubert Theater

Potted Potter is a re-telling of all seven Harry Potter books in only 70 minutes.  The two actors, Dan and Jeff, quickly perform each book, summarizing the major points of each novel, getting sillier as they go along.  They used awful wigs, “cheap” set pieces, and make-shift props all because Jeff apparently spent the budget, which was supposed to go to getting 20 actors, on an amazing fire-breathing dragon for the fourth novel.  Of course, that turns out to be a tiny dragon puppet, infuriating Dan. The telling of the first 3 books was a bit slow, but still quite amusing.

The performance picked up when a game of Quidditch was started with the audience. The game helped get the audience into the silly spirit of the show.  The audience was split in to two sides: Slytherin and Gryffindor.  One kid from each side was picked to the Seeker and would have to catch the “Golden Snitch”, who turned out to be Dan, one of the performers dressed in a ridiculous golden outfit.  The little girl from Slytherin really got into her role and grabbed Dan by his costume, refusing to let go, somehow spinning him around, and eventually tackling him to the ground! It was by the far the best moment of the whole show. It certainly caught the performers off guard and they lost it.   The rest of the show flew by with some really funny moments.

After they finally make it through five books they realize they only have about ten minutes left to tell the audience about the last two books of the series. So the two of them break out into the song "I Will Survive", quickly spiting out the important battles explains who dies and who survives in the end out the series, quite hilarious.

Potted Potter was charming and fun: a must see for anyone with children or anyone who is a fan of the books.  Don’t expect anything serious; it is light-hearted and relatively informal, a very silly but amusing performance. Potted Potter is playing at the Little Shubert Theater through the summer until September 1, 2013.