All Good Things...

Geez, you take to your sick bed for a couple of days and all hell breaks loose!  (Thank you to those thoughtful emailers who were actually worried when I missed 2 days!  You are sweet to worry; I appreciate it!)

OK, first comes the news that my favorite revival, West Side Story will NOT feature a retuen of Tony winner Karen Olivo!  Then, to add insult to injury... the show will close!  (I'm not surprised, just disappointed.)

THEN, my other favorite revival, Promises, Promises will be closing, too!  ON THE SAME DAY!  And I am thankful that all of the major players saw fit to extend 1 week to finish out the show.

And if unconfirmed (but highly likely) rumors are true, I will be inconsolable if a certain favorite - absolute favorite - of mine also closes on that date.  I simply cannot name it until it becomes true...

Still... much to be thankful for on all three accounts. 

We will never see a West Side Story again directed by the man who wrote it.  And it will have run longer than the original Broadway production - 732 original, 748 revival.

This Promises, Promises won't even come close to its original run, but what are the chances that this perios piece will be done again anytime soon?  Plus, it inroduced Sean Hayes to Broadway, in what I hope will NOT be his only role.  And perhaps, in the long run, more importantly, we saw one of musical theatres greatest stars, Kristin Chenoweth take a risk in a role that most people couldn't bend their frame of reference enough to see her fit.  In my opinion, she was smashing and brave.

And should the lost one that shall not be named close on that date (or one later in the month as further speculation has it)... who would have thought that a show that serious and off the beaten path would have lasted as long as it did?  And improve with age to boot!  Regardless of your personal feelings about it, the show will eventually hold its place on a very short list of those who changed musical theatre boundaries forever.

Whether 2 or 3 shows (or more) end up closing on that day the joy of the New Year will be short lived for this theatre fan.  Still, it is a reminder that the very thing I love so much about live theater - that it is live, done and gone forever - is also thing that I hate the most.  Gone.  Forever.

But then again, if shows didn't close, there wouldn't be room for the West Side Storys or the Promises, Promises... talk about your "circle of life"!  Any word on when THAT might close!?  :-)

And I am really looking forward to the fun that I am sure will be Priscilla: Queen of the Desert!



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Jeff
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