Frantic Theatergoing and Free Comic Book Day

John Lloyd Young and Linda Lavin announcing
the Drama Desk nominees at 54 Below

This has been a hectic week of theatergoing and comic book shopping. There are a lot of shows to catch up with at the end of the season as we prepare for Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Tony voting. Another important event is Free Comic Book Day, a promotional event for the comic industry when they try to draw in new customers with free offers at the various comic-book stores, which falls on the first Saturday in May.

The Drama Desk nominees were announced by previous DD winners John Lloyd Young (Jersey Boys) and Linda Lavin (Broadway Bound, The New Century) on Monday at 54 Below. The next day Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Sutton Foster performed similar chores in giving out the Tony nominees. My reactions to both lists and that of the Outer Critics Circle will be explored in an upcoming blog post. Wednesday was the Tony nominees reception and that afternoon I attended the matinee of The Nance with Nathan Lane. Thursday I caught up with Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, which was presented earlier this season at Ars Nova and is now in a new location called Kazino all the way down on 10th Ave. They give you a Russian dinner as part of the show which is based on a section of War and Peace. The show didn't get out until midnight. Friday I was supposed to see Pippin, but Patina Miller, nominated for all the major awards as the Leading Player, was out that night and I had to reschedule.

Saturday was Free Comic Book Day so I spent the morning and early afternoon hitting all the comic stores. There was a huge line outside of Midtown Comics and I only had two hours before the 3PM curtain for Michael Urie in Buyer and Cellar at Rattlestick. So I took the subway to Union Square for St. Marks Comics and Forbidden Planet which were not quite as crowded. St. Marks had a half-off sale on all back issues and a guy dressed as Spider-Man. Then I took the bus to Time Machine and picked up a few Silver Age issues as a birthday present to myself (It's Tuesday, but that's close enough). After wolfing down a cheese steak at Subway, I caught Buyer and Cellar and then literally ran all the way to the Public Theater for the 5PM performance of Here Lies Love where the audience has to stand for the entire 90 minutes as the production recreates a dance club. I only had 20 minutes between shows to make it, but I did. As soon as the performance started, a fire alarm went off and the entire building had to be evacuated. The audience for every Public Theater show had to cross Lafayette Street and wait until everything was checked. The musical continued without incident. Then my friend Diane took me out for a birthday dinner. Today is Bette Midler in I'll Eat You Last: A Chat With Sue Mengers.  

Here is the list of the comics haul:
Action Comics 431, 509, 517
Detective Comics 334 (really nice Silver Age book with a beautiful Elongated Man story drawn by Carmine Infantino, click here for my tribute to this great artist who recently passed away.
Fantastic Four 244, 260, 264
Legion of Super-Heroes 295
Jimmy Olsen 90
Superboy 81 (from 1960, the most valuable purchase)
Superman 277
Free Comics: Infinity, Marble Season (Most of the free comics were gone by the time I got there. Next year, I will have to go earlier.)