LENNON's final Performance
Sam, Tim and I got into the city around quarter after 5, and after parking the car, we headed straight to the Broadhurst Box Office. I wanted Sam to go in and ask about tickets because I didn't think I'd be able to take it if they said "Sorry, we're sold out" (Oh, I should mention that a friend had called me earlier that day and told me that that evening's performance was sold out). Somehow I ended up at the window and managed to say "Do you have any tickets that aren't a hundred bucks?" to which that fabulous women behind the window replied "Yes." :-) So we grabbed our tickets and headed off to Planet Hollywood for some eats. It was 80's Prom night and our waiter was wearing a tie on his head. He was hot though - Matthew (the name Sam and I gave him) pulled it off. After dinner we had some time we headed over to Broadway Circle and Sam and Tim grabbed copies of the Grease! script. After we browsed around the store we decided to head across the street and wait for them to start letting people in. We waited for a little while and then they opened the doors. :-) Our seats were upstairs in the mezz - my first time sitting there for this show - I was excited to see it from up there. I ended up sitting next to a very nice young woman named Taylor, who actually knew Will Chase. Then the house lights went to half. :-)
Then the guitar started to play and Will began singing "New York City." As the house lights went out and
Take it to pieces and mend it with glue. - John Lennon"
appeared on the screen for the last time, the audience just went crazy. When the screen flew out and the theatre sat in darkness for a few seconds, the house erupted again - this time knowing that in just a second the entire cast would bound to the apron of the stage and starting belting the crap out of "New York City." Chad, Will and Julie always sound fantastic during "Mother" but on Saturday night they were in absolute top form - they just let it all out...sang the hell out of it and the audience went CRAZY for it. "Look at Me" was really gorgeous and sad - I've come to enjoy it alot more since I did the first time I saw the show during previews. "Money" and "Twist and Shout" are always alot of fun - Mandy never ceases to amaze me. When Terry came on as the Queen before "Twist and Shout" after he said his lines, he just grabbed Will, kissed him and didn't let go. LOL. It was pretty funny. Chuck got lot's of applause for his Ed Sullivan bit. Chuck's first big song is "Instant Karma" and he was in fantastic voice. The man has a vocal range that I would KILL for. One of my favorite moments in the show is when the cast is gathered center stage and he sings "Better get yourself together darling/Join the human race..." and the cast just waves "hello." I don't know why, it's just something that I always look for. "India, India" is one of two songs in the show that John Lennon wrote but never recorded. It's a cute song and I think it worked really well in the context of the show. Terry was making the funkiest hand movements when he and Julia make the hands while sitting behind Mandy. It was cute. Have I mentioned that Will sounds *SO* sexxy when he comes in for the final verse with just the guitar? ::sigh:: "Real Love" is just a tiny bit of the actual song, but again Chuck Cooper is the MAN; and Will sounds sexxy at the end. :-) "Mind Games" has become a favorite amongst all my PA kids who have seen the show, and rightly so - it's a gorgeous song. Here again, Chad and Julie held nothing back and the first few tears of the evening were shed onstage. :-( Another one of my favorite moments is when at the end the cast just sings backup and all of a sudden it crescendo's and all of a sudden the orchestra backs out and it's just the voices singing acapella - gorgeous. When Terry does his bit as J. Edgar Hoover he usually just says "Son of a b!" well, on Saturday night he just went for it and yelled "Son of a bitch!" No, it really isn't that funny, but his delivery was absolutely priceless!
My absolute favorite song in the show is "The Ballad of John and Yoko." It's just a fun, upbeat song and I love it when the actors all sit around the downstage left bench and become the car. And Chad is the cutest when he stands on the same bench and pretends to be an airplane. "How Do You Sleep?" is Mandy's big solo song, and she always sounds fantastic. She's such an awesome belter. While I was watching the show saturday night I thought that she would have probably made a fantastic Janis in "Love, Janis." Michael's big song is "God" and I really enjoyed it - I really like the word's to the song until it gets up to "I just believe in me/Yoko and Me..." I think it's just a bit much. "Give Peace a Chance" is definitely the highlight of the show and is such a fantastic way to end the first act. The cast was SO into it. The number usually has fantastic energy, but on saturday night the energy level was just off the charts and the audience loved it.
Act two starts off with "Power to the People" - which is a song that I have really come to enjoy. Nicole's solo was great - she sounded fantastic and I was excited to hear her big song. During Mandy's solo she just went crazy with the belting and she sounded amazing. :-) Nicole was filling in for Marcy(who's last performance was on 9/22), and I was excited to hear her take on "Woman is the Nigger of the World." Her voice is very different from Marcy's - she has a very good lower register - very soulful, r&b-ish. The beginning of the song sounded great, but somewhere along the way she dropped the ball and it became something of a slight train wreck. She just doesn't have a high belt - it seemed as if she wasn't even singing for some of the song. BUT the thing that totally killed it was at the end when she took "And daaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnncccccccccccccccccccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" down like two octaves. It just sounded like a cow. It was a little upsetting. "Attica State" is a pretty boring song that was never anything special - I don't think it was ever intended to be - at least not in the context of the show. During the Senator Thurmond bit, when Chad goes "BEATLES!....the beatles." Chuck just paused, stared at him and goes "What's wrong with you boy?" It was HYSTERICAL! Yay for ad-libs! :-) Will always amazes me during "Gimme Some Truth." It's amazing that he can scream like that 8 times a week and still sound so amazing. I guess that's where training comes in handy. "I'm losing you/I'm Moving On" was great. I've really come to love Julie's voice since the first time I saw the show. I know alot of people thought Chad was miscast in the show (and so he really couldn't do the accent), but I really enjoyed his work in Lennon. The two of them sounded really great - another point where they didn't hold anything back - it got a great response from the audience. "I'm Stepping Out" is a fun little song. The funniest thing was when while Chuck is singing the whole "If it don't feel right/don't do it..." section the whole cast is behind him moving in slow motion. Chad sits down on the bench downstage center, and Julia gets in front of him and mimes as if she had gone down on him then stands up, turns her head to the audience and wipes her mouth with her finger. It was priceless! Sam turns to me and goes "Did that just happen?" LOL. "I Don't Want to Lose You" is Terry's big song in the show and he sounded absolutely incredible. Everytime I hear him sing it, it makes me wish he would record a slow jazz album. He's just incredible. Nicole's best moment of the night was her Elton John in "Whatever Gets You Through the Night."
She was so cute and it was hysterical. "Woman" is sung when John and Yoko reconcile and I love it when Will gets down on his knee and does a very subtle Elvis impression. It's really cute. The one thing I've never understood is when at the end Michael steps downstage and says "For the other half of the sky." huh? For me, the most gorgoues moments of the show come when Julia sings "Beautiful Boy." She cried through the whole thing on Saturday night, but you could barely tell if you hadn't seen the show before - she sounded amazing (I'm just a LITTLE BIASED). I absolutely love it when she sings "Before you cross the street/take my hand" she stretches out her hand and Chad, who is sitting on the floor next to the bench, looks at it before putting his hand in hers; And when she sings "Before you go to sleep/Say a little prayer" and she looks over at Will lying on the stage floor next to the bench. :::sigh::: "(I'm Just) Sittin' Here Watching the Wheels Go 'Round" is another song that all of us PA kids have fallen in love with. The song absolutely stopped the show on saturday night. The audience cheered so loud and long that Will had to turn around and face the audience twice before he gestured to the other three guys - which just sent the audience into more of a frenzy. It was crazy...but they deserved it. Chuck's last big song is "(Just Like) Starting Over" - and he sang the FUCK out of it. I want to be Chuck Cooper - the man just freakin' rocks my world. I just have to add that Julie looks so cute when she has her hair in the little pony-tail on top of her head. LOL. All of a sudden Chuck is downstage left with the police hat on - and I started to get that feeling - you know the one where you know the end is near and you just want to stop time because you don't ever want it to come. So Chuck does his monologue as the policeman who was called to the Dakota the night John Lennon was shot...he did the entire thing with tears in his eyes and you could hear it just a little bit in his voice. When he said "So I guess his last words...well, word, was 'yeah'" I thought I was going to lose it...but somehow I managed to keep it together. Then the spotlight came up on Julie for "Grow Old With Me." It was the best I've ever heard her do it. She just had tears streaming down her face - and her monologue about explaining his death to Sean was absolutely heartbreaking. She got so much applause that Will had to put out his hand to quiet us down so they could continue on with the next lines (which I've included here):Will:
' You have to do it yourself ' -
Michael:
That's what the great masters have been saying since time began.
Mandy:
The instructions are all there - for all to see.
Nicole:
Have always been, and always will be.
Chad:
You have to do it yourself.
Chuck:
I can't wake you up
Julia:
you can wake you up.
Terrence:
I can't cure you.
Julie:
you can cure you."
And then the first notes of "IMAGINE" started to play and I absolutely lost it. The audience started to clap...and then as soon as Will started to sing the audience just fell so silent... it felt as if, even though they were singing, if someone were to drop a pin, you'd be able to hear it. My absolute favorite line is "Imagine all the people/sharing all the world..." When the video of John singing it came down, the whole audience cheered. When the cast came back onstage for the "Instant Karma" reprise, the entire audience leapt to it's feet and clapped along and stayed there for curtain call and the reprise of "Give Peace a Chance" - which many people sang and clapped along to. There were no speeches, but the cast escorted Don Scardino and Yoko Ono out onstage and they all danced and hugged and cried onstage to the exit music. Julia ran off stage and grabbed her digital camera and was taking pictures of the audience and her fellow cast members onstage. It was cute.
I'm so upset the show didn't have a longer run. Negative word of mouth and reviews really killed this show. Despite the reviews and the word-of-mouth it's been my experience that the audiences that decided to see the show have all really enjoyed it. It wasn't the most amazing thing ever produced, by any means. But the show was incredibly entertaining and had an absolutely stunning cast - even if they were underused (or if you prefer, waster). I know it's something that I will be missing something fierce. :-(
Check out http://photobucket.com/albums/a393/PAKID/LENNON/ for more pictures from closing night and my other visits.
posted by BwayBoy @ 9:22 PM
0 comments
