I’m not getting my Broadway fix this year, and the Great White Way is full of shows I’d love to see. I’m not sure whether I am writing this post to torture myself further or to savor the thought of all that pleasures that might have been. (And don’t even get me started on London). Here is my fantasy lineup of hot tickets:
An American in Paris: The NYT described this “Broadway Ballet” as “pure joy.” It’s a joint American-French production–very unusual.
Looks like Robert Fairchild, a lead dancer at the New York Ballet, gives the show a suitably Kellyesque athleticism. Click for source (Variety).
The Audience: Yes, Helen Mirren is playing the Queen too much. But I’d still love to be one of the lucky folk who get to see her Keep Calm and Carry On.
Bring on the corgis! Helen Mirren in “The Audience.” Click for source (Variety).
Gigi: This was dismissed by the NYT as “second tier material.” Are they nuts? It’s Lerner and Loewe. My only reservation is that without Louis Jourdain, I might be disappointed. Below: Corey Cott as a very Jourdain-esque Gaston, and Leslie Hudgens as Gigi.
Fun Home: Back when the LSH and I were more into comics, I used to love reading Dykes To Watch Out For. Alison Bechdel has since won a MacArthur “Genius” award!
Hilarious memories of a dysfunctional family in “the first mainstream musical about a young lesbian.” Click for source.
The King and I: Can you tell I love classic musicals? There is a surfeit this season, but with beauteous Ken Watanabe as the King of Siam, you can’t go wrong.
Shall We Dance? Kelli O’Hara and Ken Watanabe polka. It’s one of the most romantic moments in any Broadway musical. Click for article from Vanity Fair.
Wolf Hall, Parts I and II: I haven’t watched the BBC show yet. I’m saving it for when I need a reinvigorating dose of Mark Rylance. This Royal Shakespeare production is said to be “the tastiest dish in town.” Maybe they were talking about Nathaniel Parker.
Nathaniel Parker, doing his best Ciarán Hinds impression as Henry VIII. With Ben Miles as Cromwell. Click for source.
And for good measure, off Broadway I’d love to see The Belle of Belfast, an Irish Rep production about “a teenage girl’s sexual pursuit of an honorable priest in the hothouse of religion and politics that was Belfast in the 1980s.”
Hamish Allan-Headley and Billy Meleady as two priests with some surprisingly unholy habits. Photo by Carol Rosegg.
Sigh. So many shows and so little time. Wish me better luck next year!
Linnet Moss 
Torturing yourself and me here LM! The King and I, Gigi, An American in Paris, Helen Mirren!? Agghhh…dying of being in a state of envy. The very least you could do is attend so I can live vicariously through you. Saw The Woman in Gold today and absolutely loved it, cried me a river. I thought Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds gave beautifully understated performances and the flashback scenes set in Vienna were a visual feast.
LOL. If only I could provide that vicarious thrill… Thanks for the tip on “Woman in Gold”! I really like Ryan Reynolds, so I need to check this out.
I’m expecting The Audience might be available on Digital Theatre at some point. It is one of the shows NT Live does – and they’re reviving it on screen right now, so you might look out for it. I, too miss Broadway theater now that I live in Mexico. I’ve seen some really interesting and good productions at the Irish theater. I think the last one I saw was quite a while ago, Playboy of the Western World, but set in Jamaica.
Synge–that’s one classic I’ve not seen but would like to. I need to check into Digital Theatre. Were there but world enough and time…
you and “B” should get together! she laments that she married a non-Broadway-show-goer …
Inside every non-Broadway-show-goer is a Broadway-show-goer just dying to get out!
oh, NY is like London, well almost ;-)) sorry i have to root for home town 😉 But i am with you there, except i do it mostly with the Met Opera season. I follow a few closely or take an interest but the Met one is the one i’d like to see. Thankfully some are live in cinema now, but i find not always the ones that interest me or they have gotten gradually so expensive that they cost me twice as much as i pay to go live here to the ROH so i have to rationalise. I really wish on Broadway they’d get on board with filming things for cinema… It’s never the same as live but next best to.
Hope that you will get some compensation with interesting things in your trip to Eurpe, fingers x!
Oh, wanted to send you this, ballot open for £10 Hamlet ticket, just need to subscribe:
http://hamlet.barbican.org.uk/
LOL, I see you were already on it!! Many thanks.
The other BW show I am aghast at missing is “Skylight” with Bill Nighy. I can’t believe I forgot to write about that one.