Stephen Sondheim’s Follies in Las Vegas

FUNNY GIRL:  Funny Girl first opened on Broadway in 1964 with Barbara Streisand leading the vaguely biographical story of Fanny Bryce. It ran for 1,348 performances, making it an undeniable hit, but it was not revived until 2022, some 58 years after its debut.  By comparison, Hello, Dolly! which also opened in 1964 has had four Broadway revivals, the fourth being in 2017 with Bette Midler.  Anyone who has watched Glee knows that Lea Michele felt that it was her destiny to play Fanny Bryce but when the revival opened in 2022, it starred Beanie Feldstein instead.  Michele’s press agent claims that she felt she had already gone as far as she could with the character in Glee, but I’ve got to believe it was a money issue.  At any rate, Michele came in to save the show when Feldstein met with weak reviews, and we now have the show touring California with Katerina McCrimmon playing Bryce.  No, I have never heard of her either, but I’m madly excited to see the production. They have stuck with the original songs rather than some that were added for the movie, and it promises to be a lush spectacle so count me in.  Playing at the Los Angeles Ahmanson 4/2-28; The San Francisco Orpheum 4/30 – 5/5; and Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center 5/28-6/9.

A STRANGE LOOP: Tony Award winner for Best Musical and Best Book of a Musical, A Strange Loop, a queer-centric musical, is coming to California and it deserves to be seen.  The story revolves around an overweight black queer man who works as an usher at Lion King.  The character is simply called Usher.  He is writing a story about an overweight black queer man who is an usher (and hence the loop). Usher wishes he could act more like his “inner white girl” but is held back by expectations put on Black boys.  During the show he encounters his mom, his dad, his doctor, an audience member and others (the actors are simply listed as Thoughts 1 – 6).  They all share their expectations of him but these only add to his self-view of being a failure on all fronts.  By the end, he resolves the question of how he should change – or whether he needs to change at all.  Plays San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre 4/18–5/12 and Los Angeles’s Ahmanson Theatre 6/8–30.

SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD: This show is a collection of songs which Broadway’s Jason Robert Brown first wrote for other events or venues.  Shows for which he has written both music and lyrics include The Bridges of Madison County, Parade, The Last Five Years, Urban Cowboy, 13, Honeymoon in Vegas and others. The most exciting news for me is that it is being produced this time by Celebration Theatre, Los Angeles’s on-again-off-again LGBTQ theatre company which is one of the oldest in the country.  Artistic Director Brittney S. Wheeler adds “What happens when you give in to society’s construct of what it means to be radically you? The queer community longs for and continues to fight for radical acceptance and a deeper connection between generations. How we discover and hold on to the joy, the light within our collective strength lies in loving one another despite our differences and that is what I hope audiences take away from this production.” Plays at CelebrationTheatre 4/18–5/25.

FOLLIES:  Stephen Sondheim’s Follies and a Las Vegas Casino would, at first glance, seem to be at opposite ends of the taste scale, but somehow they are colliding this month when Aliante Casino and Hotel presents the 1971 musical about a crumbling Broadway theatre which is scheduled for demolition.  On the eve of its destruction, several former showgirls gather to celebrate the venue, often invoking ghosts of their younger selves.  The production promises a 26-piece orchestra and a cast of over 40 dazzling performers.  And the more I think about it, Vegas used to be filled with girlie revues – the “Tits and Feathers” shows — and most of the hotels that hosted these productions have been torn down, so maybe Vegas isn’t the least likely city in the world for a new production of this Sondheim classic.  Plays at the Aliante Hotel + Casino + Spa 4/1–14.

And Always, Always make sure you are buying your tickets directly from the theatre or their assigned agency.  Scalpers create sites that sound like the real thing but charge double or triple the actual rates.  Re-sellers have usually paid for the first five or six listings that come up when you are seeking tickets.  Be careful!