Oh, Sweet Niblets!

As I've mentioned in the past, I am a habitual list keeper and there are usually a few running at the same time. Among those lists is my blog topic list. Basically, when I spot things that I want to comment on or post about, I add them to the list. Sometimes the topics are just snippets of information that don't warrant a full post and other times they are items that I want to devote more attention to.

In an effort to shorten the list, I'm glomming a bunch of sweet musical theatre niblets into one post:

• The insanely talented Joe Iconis will be performing at Joe's Pub on Monday, February 11th at 9:30pm. The Rock 'n' Roll Jamboree features a series of Iconis tunes performed by some of the most vicious talent in New York. The Jamboree frequently welcomes a guest or two and this performance is no exception. If you haven't had the chance to experience the wild world of Joe Iconis, do it now. Then 30 years from now, when he is named as a Kennedy Center Honoree, you can say "I was one of the first!"
  
• One of the first to have gotten it is Krysta Rodriguez, who frequently appears with Joe and his crew. Krysta is one of Broadway's 20-something juggernauts that was seen in Spring Awakening and A Chorus Line in 2007. On February 14th, Krysta will begin previews for one of the newest Broadway buzz generators, In The Heights. And, yes, she is still finding time for the Jamboree only three days before In The Heights takes Broadway by storm.
  
• And while we are talking about young talent, Jason Robert Brown's 13 is moving to the Goodspeed for it's pre-Broadway out-of-town tryout. For those of you that are too young to audition for Spring Awakening but have the chops to become the next adolescent to realize a Broadway career, the composer has announced audition details on his Web site. And for the rest of us, we will continue to bemoan the "Bitch of Aging".
  
• Perhaps these performers are slightly longer in the tooth but if you happen to be in London on May 12th or 13th, stop by Royal Albert Hall to see Idina Menzel and Josh Groban perform the concert version of Chess. Widely criticized for its weak book, Chess has a beautiful score that I'm sure will be exquisitely rendered by Menzel and Groban's voices.
  
• And finally, the buzz on Great White Way is that following the closing of The Color Purple, Far Far Away won't be any further than the Broadway Theatre. Lord and Princess are to be played by Christopher Sieber and Sutton Foster respectively but the search continues for the big green guy and his adorable sidekick.
  

WOW! Feeling gloriously purged and ready to start anew, I am now sufficiently prepared to tackle my long overdue review of bare: the musical. Maybe that's what I'll do during the Superbowl, when the commercials aren't on.

Rent: Paid Up and Movin' To The Burbs

In life, timing is everything. There are many occasions in my life where I am struck by my own personal sense of timing. Last night I was perusing Steve On Broadway's blog when I was struck by his observations about the extension of August: Osage County, the weight that straight plays are carrying and the Broadway grosses for the week ending January 13th. I toggled over to the report and started to scroll down to look at the "big picture."

I noticed a few musicals with attendance hovering in the 40th to 50th percentile, including The Color Purple, Legally Blonde and Xanadu. However, it was Rent's 54.5% attendance that prompted me to say to my husband, "Rent is going to close soon." I'm serious. I said this just last night!

Then lo and behold, today's headlines on Playbill.com announced that the award-winning rock musical will take its final bow at the Nederlander on June 1st. This comes as no surprise, really, following the summer's stunt of bringing the original leads, Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp, back into the fold. Jumping the shark is always a sign of things to come. I predict a similar fate for Oprah's The Color Purple.

Jonathan Larson's musical, which boasts the credential of being the 7th longest-running musical in history, is deserving of its place in Broadway's timeline. Many compare my adored Spring Awakening to Rent. Largely, in my opinion, because it is a rock musical based on a previously written work that embodies many controversial subjects. I also feel it bears its similarity in the number of young theatrical careers that have been launched by it. The OBC included Pascal, Rapp, Idina Menzel, Taye Diggs, Jesse L. Martin, Daphne Rubin-Vega and Wilson Jermaine Heredia, who won a Featured Actor in a Musical Tony for his portrayal of Angel. I predict similar big things for the OBC of Spring Awakening. You heard it here.

So, to the Production of Rent, I tip my hat. Your seasons of love have been an incredible journey for us. Thanks for bringing us along.