Florida Trip Day One: A Cold at the Magic Kingdom (Part One)

My brother Jonathan and I had such a great time at Universal Studios last year during the Martin Luther King weekend, I suggested we go to Disney World this year over the Presidents' Day week-long break. I hadn't been there in almost 20 years (I recall making jokes about going down there to help to count hanging chads in the disputed 2000 presidential election) and there have been so many changes and new rides since then. Great idea, but I soon discovered the big difference between

With my brother and Tigger at the Magic Kingdom

Disney and Universal is with the former you need to do a lot more planning than the latter. With Universal, Jonathan got a special deal since we would be staying at one of their resorts. We could get an Express Pass on all of their rides. With Disney, you can only get a Fast Pass for three attractions per day. In addition, reservations are required for almost all of the nicer table-service restaurants. This required downloading the MyDisney app, buying a Magic Band for quicker access, and strategic planning worthy of a military campaign to avoid endless waiting in lines.

After months of conferring and scheduling, the big day of the trip finally arrived and, of course, I had caught a cold. I was sniffling and sneezing on the plane to Orlando, but determined not to let it interfere with my having childish fun. Loaded up on DayQuil and Cold-Eze, I managed to get my ass out of the hotel bed and in my rental car at a decent hour. I had checked undercover tourist.com which as a crowd calendar for the best days to visit each of the four WDW parks. We also bought park-hopper tickets so we could go from one location to another depending on the crowd size. Since it was a school holiday, the mobs were massive, but we picked days for each park that were the least jam-packed. Monday was designated Magic Kingdom Day with the possibility of transferring to Epcot since the two are connected by monorail.

Broadway Update: Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf to Star in 'Death of a Salesman'

Nathan Lane as another sad salesman
in The Iceman Cometh.
Credit: Liz Lauren

Two of the biggest names on Broadway will headline one of the greatest plays of the 20th century. Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf are slated to star in the sixth Broadway production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. The announcement is not official, but Lane confirmed to the Hollywood Reporter that Salesman would be opening sometime during the spring of 2021. It will be staged by Joe Mantello who is currently directing Metcalf in another American classic, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Willy Loman. the desperate drummer of the title, has been played on the Main Stem previously by Lee J. Cobb, George C. Scott, Dustin Hoffman, Brian Dennehy, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Lane is mostly known for his comic roles in such shows as The Producers, The Front Page, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. But this will not be the first time he's played a tragic salesman. He starred as the illusion-shattering Hickey in O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh at Chicago's Goodman Theater and BAM.

Reconstructing the Carol Burnett Show, Part 7

More reviews and commentary on Lost Episodes of the Carol Burnett Show found on my Christmas present--The Carol Burnett Show Lost Episodes Ultimate Collection. As noted in previous blogs, MeTV has moved beyond seasons 1-5 (the seasons no one has seen in over 40 years) and is now broadcasting seasons 6-11 (which we've all seen 100 times in syndication). There is no way of knowing if they will go back to the beginning once all those episodes are used up. How will I ever see the episodes I missed which are not on DVD anywhere? There is another DVD collection called The Best of the Carol Burnett Show featuring several segments from the early years, which I intend to purchase later but there are so many other episodes I can't find. Anyway, here are my thoughts on the segments spread across the three DVD collections in the Lost Episodes Ultimate Collection (The Lost Episodes, Treasures from the Vault and Classic Carol. BTW, Carol's Lost Christmas which contains three yuletide hours was not included in this set, though I have seen it as part of the package on some sites. I will have to buy that one separately through Amazon or eBay.)

Season One:
Jan. 8, 1968
Lana Turner, Frank Gorshin

Frank Gorshin and Carol in the weird scuba finale

This one was probably included in the DVD collection because the guest star was Lana Turner, a glamorpuss from Hollywood’s Golden Age and a veteran of such soapy classics as Peyton Place and The Bad and the Beautiful. The only problem was she really couldn’t act, sing, or dance. She looked gorgeous in a blonde movie-star kind of way. There are weak hijinks with Carol and Lana acting jealous over Lyle and Turner featured in a romantic waltz where she sing-speaks syrupy lyrics to "Greensleeves" and competently waltzes with lead dancer Don Creighton. Frank Gorshin displays his mimicking skills in a number with the girl dancers, each dressed as a different movie legend with Gorshin imitating their male co-stars. He really isn't a great singer either, but his impressions are spot-on including a very rare imitation of Joseph Cotten. Gorshin was a big deal to me as a kid because he played the Riddler on Batman. Now as an adult, I realize he was doing Kirk Douglas the whole time. Gorshin appeared with other impressionists such as Rich Little, Marilyn Michaels, and George Kirby on a short-lived variety series called The Kopykats. The material was pretty lame, but the imitations were brilliant. Perhaps I'll do a blog on that show under the heading of Lost TV.

The direction is pretty poor during a sketch called The Sound of Murder with Frank and Lana as a pair of crooks scheming to murder Carol. The stars appear underrehearsed and the camera angles focus on the wrong spots, missing the punchlines. The whole show wraps up with a bizarre aquatic extravaganza to "By the Beautiful Sea" with Frank, Carol, and the chorus in scuba gear and flippers.  

Broadway Update: Sing Street Transfer, The Nanny

A scene from Sing Street
Credit: Matthew Murphy

Will the Once lightning strike twice? Sing Street, the musical based on the 2016 movie, will transfer to Broadway from its run at New York Theater Workshop. Many of the creative personnel including John Carney who wrote and directed the original film and book writer Enda Walsh also worked on Once which moved from its Off-Broadway perch at NYTW to the Main Stem, winning 8 Tony Awards including Best Musical. The general topic of both shows is similar: economically desperate Irish folk finding release and joy in music. Sing Street did not receive universal acclaim so the move is a risky one. The Broadway musical field is somewhat crowded this year and Street will face competition for awards and box office dollars from Tina, Six, Jagged Little Pill, Moulin Rouge, Diana, Mrs. Doubtfire, Flying Over Sunset, The Girl from the North Country and Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical (though that last young-adult one probably won't receive much Tony love.) No show has emerged as the favorite to take the top Tony Award. Despite criticism from cramming in every social issue known to man from opioid addiction to global warming, Pill is probably the front runner right now to be the big winner on Tony night with the two-part, gay-history play The Inheritance as the favorite for Best Play. Sing Street begins previews at the Lyceum March 26 with an opening set for April 19.

Reconstructing the Carol Burnett Show, Part 6

Reconstructing the missing episodes of The Carol Burnett Shows has been difficult of late. MeTV has advanced to the old Carol Burnett and Friends segments from seasons six through 11 which first aired in syndication during the last year of Carol's show. A YouTube user has been posting some of the lost segments from those first five years but some were taken down, probably because of copyright infringement issues. Amazon Prime has posted only ten segments from the Lost Episodes DVD collections. (Apparently they will be posting more but not until Jan. 22, 2020.) But thanks to a marvelous Christmas present from my husband Jerry--The Lost Episodes Ultimate Collection--I am able to continue my all-important quest of putting together as much of Carol's classic series as possible. There are several different DVD packages which Time Life puts out, so it's kinda confusing as to which one to get so you will have the most episodes. I don't understand why they don't just release them season by season. That way you'd know exactly what segments you are getting and in what order, but they probably make more money this way.

With my Christmas present

This Ultimate Collection contains 22 DVDs with 45 episodes as well as over 20 hours of bonus material including the Carol Plus 2 special with Lucille Ball and Zero Mostel as well as the entire Once Upon a Mattress special from 1972 with Carol, Ken Berry, Jack Gilford, Bernadette Peters, Jane White recreating her role as the evil Queen, and Lyle as Sir Studley (be still my heart). The collection comes in a big box containing five DVD collections--The Lost Episodes, Treasures from the Vault, Classic Carol, and two Exclusive Bonus Features sets. Each set has a accompanying booklet detailing each episode. All of the booklets have an introduction explaining why the lost episodes were lost with a funny story about Tim Conway secreting the tapes in question and Carol and Vickie force-feeding him DVDs of his failed series Rango. Several of the individual discs contain feature bonus material. I will go through the episodes not already covered in previous blogs.

Broadway Update: Meryl Streep and Beth Leavel Switch Roles

Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada

In a rare case of show-biz serendipity, three-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep and Tony winner Beth Leavel, queens of their respective media, will switch roles. It was just announced that Leavel will take on Miranda Priestley the dictatorial fashion editor, in the musical version of The Devil Wears Prada which will open in Chicago in July 2021, presumably followed by a Broadway opening in 2021-22. Elton John will compose the music, Shaina Taub the lyrics, Paul Rudnick the book and Tony winner Anna D. Shapiro directs. Streep won a Golden Globe for the 2007 movie edition.

Meanwhile Streep is playing Dee Dee Allen, the washed-up Broadway star aiming for publicity by supporting a lesbian high-school student, in The Prom for

Beth Leavel

Netflix. Leavel originated the role in the stage version which was named Outstanding Musical by the Drama Desk. There is an extremely funny sight gag involving the DD Award itself. Let's hope it makes the cut for the screenplay and Netflix viewers who are not obsessed with Broadway will get the joke. The Netflix edition will also star Nicole Kidman, Kerry Washington, James Corden, Awkafina, Ariana Grande, Keegan-Michael Key and Andrew Rannells. It will be available for streaming in November.

In other casting news, the potentially controversial Michael Jackson musical, MJ, has announced its lead. The gloved one will be played by Ephraim Sykes who gave a stunning performance as David Ruffin, the most tormented Temptation in Ain't Too

Ephraim Sykes

Proud (he got my Tony vote for Best Featured Actor in a Musical). MJ which features a book by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, is scheduled to open at the Neil Simon Theater on Aug. 13. There is no word on how the show will address accusations of child molestation against the music legend, if at all. According to People Magazine, the story takes place in 1992 when Jackson is releasing his Dangerous album. The allegations of abuse did not begin until 1993. Convenient, huh?

Prediction for 2020 and Beyond

The impeachment hearings wind down

Prediction as the impeachment hearings end: I have a bad feeling the Supreme Court is going to let Trump end DACA and keep his tax returns. The House will impeach, but the Senate will not remove the slime from office. Moscow Mitch will pitch it that yes Trump did attempt a quid pro quo with Ukraine, but that's not a high crime and misdemeanor. Then the Dems will nominate someone like Warren or Buttigieg who is too scary for old white people in the swing states like Penn., Wisconsin etc. Mayor Pete is moderate, but he's gay. The thought of a gay president, no matter what his politics, will be enough to frighten off voters in the middle, plus he doesn't have the black vote. Younger black voters are angry with him because of his record on race relations and policing as Mayor of South Bend and older black voters are additionally turned off by his openness about his sexuality. Not all, but enough to make a difference.

Even if it's Biden, he won't be "flashy" and "energetic" enough for Trump's moronic diehard supporters. Trump will be re-elected. Maybe the Senate will flip and both houses of Congress will be Dem. Trump will get crazier, confident that he can get away with anything even if the Senate is Dem. He'll do something else impeachable and we'll go through all of this again.

I pray that I'm wrong.