GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL!
Actor's Playhouse, 3/16/07
Last week, The Apiary alerted readers that not only were there some free tickets to the 3/16, 8pm performance of Gutenberg! The Musical available, but that my generation's most famous Guttenberg would be in attendance. I coincidentally already had tickets for that evening's performance and was quite excited that I would experience the bonus of having Steve Guttenberg in the audience, in the flesh.
Even though everything I've heard about this show has been nothing but praise, the show still managed to exceed my expectations. Here's the basic storyline; these two guys have written a musical about Johanne Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press. The two guys regard you, the audience, as potential producers of the musical and want to pitch it to you. They pitch it by performing the entire musical for you. They have an arsenal of hats with characters' names written on them and each time they change character they change hats. The hat changing seemed like such a daunting task that I kept getting nervous that one of them might grab the wrong one; but it was all so well choreographed that it was really stupid of me to worry. The songs were phenominally funny and even though they were legitimately good musical numbers, I got the sense that they were simultaneously giving the finger to the more pompous, corny musical numbers that plague Broadway.
What REALLY enhanced the experience for me was the fact that Steve Guttenberg was sitting two rows in front of me and was having the time of his life. He was clapping, cheering, whooping, leaning forward in his chair with a gape of a smile the whole time. To see him really truly enjoying himself with a veritable childlike wonderment was heartwarming to me.
The Actor's Playhouse is a small enough theater where there really isn't a bad sat in the place. So you have the option to spend $65 for good seats or $35 for seats towards the back. OR you can take advantage of the Saturday 10:00pm shows where ALL SEATS are $35. Get your tickets here. I'll also admit that the seats are a bit tight and that if you have any claustrophia whatsoever you might want to try to get an aisle seat.
Actor's Playhouse, 3/16/07
Last week, The Apiary alerted readers that not only were there some free tickets to the 3/16, 8pm performance of Gutenberg! The Musical available, but that my generation's most famous Guttenberg would be in attendance. I coincidentally already had tickets for that evening's performance and was quite excited that I would experience the bonus of having Steve Guttenberg in the audience, in the flesh.
Even though everything I've heard about this show has been nothing but praise, the show still managed to exceed my expectations. Here's the basic storyline; these two guys have written a musical about Johanne Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press. The two guys regard you, the audience, as potential producers of the musical and want to pitch it to you. They pitch it by performing the entire musical for you. They have an arsenal of hats with characters' names written on them and each time they change character they change hats. The hat changing seemed like such a daunting task that I kept getting nervous that one of them might grab the wrong one; but it was all so well choreographed that it was really stupid of me to worry. The songs were phenominally funny and even though they were legitimately good musical numbers, I got the sense that they were simultaneously giving the finger to the more pompous, corny musical numbers that plague Broadway.
What REALLY enhanced the experience for me was the fact that Steve Guttenberg was sitting two rows in front of me and was having the time of his life. He was clapping, cheering, whooping, leaning forward in his chair with a gape of a smile the whole time. To see him really truly enjoying himself with a veritable childlike wonderment was heartwarming to me.
The Actor's Playhouse is a small enough theater where there really isn't a bad sat in the place. So you have the option to spend $65 for good seats or $35 for seats towards the back. OR you can take advantage of the Saturday 10:00pm shows where ALL SEATS are $35. Get your tickets here. I'll also admit that the seats are a bit tight and that if you have any claustrophia whatsoever you might want to try to get an aisle seat.
posted by Dale Gribble at 2:48 PM
<< Home