Breaking News
A Broadway Fairy Tale
Last night Joe and I saw
Hairspray with the marvelous Bruce Vilanche looking for all the world like Jaba the Hutt, shorn of his voluminous beard. Although we might have liked to have seen Harvey, Bruce left nothing to be desired in the role. The entire show was nonstop fun of the highest quality, albeit we had to crane our necks from front row center--aaargh! Never again.
But the best part began when we entered the lobby and saw that the regular Tracy Turblatt would be replaced by her understudy. And her understudy was none other than
Leslie Kritzer.
Apparently talent runs in the Kritzer family, because Leslie was every bit as entertaining as her cousin Benjamin. She sang and danced the hell out of the part and had the audience in the palm of her hand from the word go.
I made a special point of yelling "Yay, Leslie!" when she took her call, standing right above me, where I saw England, I saw France.
Vilanche was quite gracious. Before he made his Equit/Broadway Cares announcement, he pointed out that this was Leslie's first performance as Tracy, which led of course to another round of applause. She had tears in her eyes, and I confess that my own were not entirely dry.
Reading Jose's post about the Met audience trying to dash out before curtain calls, I could not help but think of last night's audience, and the smiles on the faces of all the cast. Hey, folks, these guys just spent over two hours, and God knows how many rehearsal hours, vocal lessons, and dance classes, killing themselves to make you happy. So what does a little applause cost? It's their drug, baby! Give it to them!
