I spent Christmas night in the seventh row at the Richard Rogers Theater seeing a musical that had no spoken roles, only dance routines to a concert of BIlly Joel's music. It was the gayest thing I ever saw. Not that there was anything wrong with it.
Being a holiday show, three of the four main parts were performed by understudies, the pianist/lead vocalist (Darren Holden), Tony (Ian Carney) and Brenda (Karine Plantadit-Bageot). But you don't get to Broadway unless you're Broadway-caliber, and so they were all great, and no one in the audience felt slighted. (Certainly not like when my 10-year high-school reunion was held the day after Thanksgiving 2000, and the New York Athletic Club served us a turkey dinner. Hey, anymore leftovers in the kitchen for us scrubs?)
There show featured many forms of dance — none of which I know the names to — and I really dug the energetic parts. The slower, sappier routines I could have done without. But it was nice when the skirts lifted up on the chicks. What bodies on those broads!
A couple of parts stood out. Once during Angry Young Man when the character of Eddie (John Selya) flipped off the crowd. Most people chuckled, except the seven-year-olds in front of me who looked like they got mooned by Santa. And the Captain Jack routine, which served as the first time simulated oral sex was performed on a guy in a mask while I sat next to my mother. If there was a hole in the floor, I would have pulled a Saddam and buried myself in it.
I won't give away the whole storyline, not because I don't want to spoil it for you, but because I had little idea what was going on. A steel cage match in pro wrestling I get; that dance-fight sequence in Michael Jackson's Beat It video I don't. But I appreciated each scene in Movin' Out because I was awed by the sheer talent it took to perform them, even though I wonder why a bunch of dudes would want to spin around stage with their arms flailing and legs kicking.
In Five Words or Less: Bring Your Uptown Girl Here
Movin' Out Links:
• Movin' Out Official Site — Info about the show, including a song list and cast bios.
• Buy the Soundtrack on Amazon.com — The same CD sells at the show for much more than the $13.99 here.
• NYtheater.com Review — Martin Denton's positive review calls it a cross between Swan Lake, Tommy, Rent and West Side Story.
• CultureVulture.net Review — Gerald Rabkin writes that "dance again is foregrounded as the central conveyer of musical meaning," but forgets to mention the part about the skirts flipping up on the female dancers.
As always, a well-written and entertaining read from start to finish. It sounds like a fun show. Thanks for sharing it with everyone.
(I kept my promise) :)
Posted by Julie at December 26, 2003 1:21 AM