Last night Karl, Caroline and I headed off to Times Square to see the new Broadway sensation, Mary Poppins. One resident of Casa del Thomas decided not to join us. Not naming names…

But, boy, did that guy miss out! The musical absolutely rocked! The special effects were magical, the cast fab-o, and the set was jaw-droppingly good. 17 Cherry Tree Lane, the Banks children’s home, was brought to life by an enormous dollhouse that the cast ran up and down the stairs in. It’s difficult to describe, but sooooo beautiful.

g.com rating? 10/10. I can’t think of a thing I wanted them to do differently!

I read a review that said: “this version is considerably darker than the film, taking its inspiration much more from the original books”, and it surprised me for a number of reasons.

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After almost two years in NYC we finally visited one of the must-see tourist attractions – The Radio City Christmas Spectacular! Admittedly, the show is aimed at young children, but since we’re so darn young at heart, we (read I) felt pretty confident we’d enjoy it.

The show first ran in 1933 as a short song and dance between movie screenings, and featured only the “parade of the wooden soldiers” and the “living nativity”. These are still two of the favourite acts, but they are now just a small part of the 1.5 hour programme.

Things we liked about the show:

• This Santa has the best looking crew of reindeer ever: thirty high-kicking rockettes sporting cute little antlers
• Watching the little kids around us jumping up and down and dancing, and one nervous little boy who kept asking his Dad, “Is it already over?” between scenes
• Seeing the Music Hall’s famous stage – with 10 separate substages that can be raised, lowered, and moved backwards and forwards over each other – in action. The band kept appearing and disappearing in this fashion
• The efforts that had been made to keep it current, such as Santa receiving messages on his Blackberry
• The parade of the wooden soldiers, which is like a precision car show, except with girls dressed as soldiers moving in perfect formation
• The 3D animation of Santa in flight, which was great after we realized that there were a pair of 3D glasses in our programmes
• The surprise of seeing an ice-skating rink rise up out of the stage with two figure skaters performing on it
• The inclusion of the living Nativity, and the retention of the name “Christmas” in the title of the show, in a country that has almost wiped the word out (replacing it with “Holidays”)
• The New York-centric plot and sets
• The visual spectacle of it all – so big, bright, colourful that it really does get you exited about Christmas

I’d give the show a 9/10. The transition from Santa into Christ was a bit jolting (like two separate shows stitched together) but other than that it had me clapping and cheering like a six-year-old. If you like all things Broadway, Christmassy or nostalgic, this is the show for you.

On Monday night, the folks and I went to see an off-Broadway show called “I love you, you’re perfect, now change”. It’s described as a “comedy revue about everything you have ever secretly thought about dating, romance, marriage, lovers, husbands, wives and in-laws, but were afraid to admit” and that about sums it up.

I thought we were in for something rather sedate when the two theatre-goers ahead of us struggled up the stairs, one with a walker and the other lugging his oxygen tank. But the show turned out to be quite humorous, entertaining and modern! Mum was all the more entertained when one of the four performers started reminding her of Glenn Robbins! I don’t know if it was his face or his mannerisms… What do you think?

Spanning all different experiences of love – dating, online dating, the single man drought, marriage, children, weddings, and finding love as a widower – there was something there for everyone. And judging by the audience reaction, the longer you’d been married, the more you could relate to the comedy. Clearly it wasn’t Gerrod’s scene but I think even he would have laughed at certain songs. For instance, who wouldn’t relate to “men who talk and women who pretend to listen” and a song about women dragging men to see chick flicks? Cynicism was even put aside for a moment with a lovely song called “shouldn’t I be less in love with you” about a fellow that’s surprised to find how much he still loves his wife 30 years on.

Though you can’t compare a four-person cast to the experience of a broadway show, it was certainly a fun night out!

A bunch of us went to see the musical Avenue Q on Sunday night. Yes, even I went along – I mean, with great reviews from everyone I know that has seen it, a slogan of “Just like your life, only funnier”, and – most importantly – with the main characters played by puppets, what’s not to like?

Well, we certainly weren’t disappointed on the funny angle. The show featured many hilarious lines, songs, and situations that raised heaps of laughter from the audience, albeit sometimes a little crude for my taste. My favourite characters were the “bad idea bears” – 2 furry little things that looked a bit like Care bears, who drifted in and out to signify the evil side of the puppets’ conscience.

Though I enjoyed this musical, it certainly isn’t for everyone; folks that are easily offended would be walking out before half an hour is up. I definitely thought it was an “Adults Only” type of play, so I was a bit shocked to see some very young faces coming out of the theatre – I would not be taking kids to this one!

And like most musicals I’ve seen (with the exception of The Lion King), I felt myself fading towards the end. On reflection, I think this is because the level of humour isn’t really kept up throughout the show – it starts out extremely funny, but as the show rolls on and they have to “tie up all the ends”, the laughs are fewer and further between. Nonetheless, the length was probably about right, and since it started at 7 PM we even managed to have an early night.

gerrod.com rating: 7/10.

With all the plays, shows, and musicals that New York has to offer we decided to check out an off-off-broadway show last night called ‘Line’.

A broadway theater is one that holds 500+ people, and the more ‘offs’ in the title, the smaller the theater gets. This one held about 60 people. Though we’ve heard that off-off-broadway shows can be a bit dodgy, this one’s been running continuously for 31 years in New York (and 10 in Paris) so we thought we were on a sure thing.

Boy, were we wrong. It was weird. Really really weird. Offensive in parts. Annoying in others. And at 75 mins in length, it was about 60 mins too long.

The five characters were waiting in line and trying to scheme their way into first place. Some of them think they’re waiting for movie tickets, others for baseball tickets, and some are in line just because it seems like a popular thing to do.

The depths of deception, violence and anti-social behaviour that they sink to reminded me of things going on in the hurricane-devastated south at the moment.

I’d give the play 2/10. One point because nobody forgot their lines (as far as I could tell) and another because nobody fell off the stage. And if you think that’s harsh, the gerrod.com rating is 1/10. How could so many people have been so wrong for 31 years?

As mentioned in the previous article, Kristy and I joined Jean and Racey to see The Lion King last night. I’m not exactly the biggest fan of the live theatre genre, having never seen a musical or a play that I’ve really enjoyed. But everyone (especially Craig) said that The Lion King would be the musical to change all of that.

Suffice to say that everyone was right on this one – the show was just spectacular. The costumes, sets, and the music were just breathtaking – especially in the opening scene when all the animals come together to the music of “Circle of Life”. I was particularly impressed with the elephants and the giraffes! But by far my favourite costume was Simba’s warthog friend – Pumba.

I’m sure it helped that (having seen the movie) I roughly knew the story line, which makes the whole thing easier to follow. The only criticism I had was that the microphones were a bit low, or something – which made it hard to understand the dialogue in some parts. But that’s a very minor thing – The Lion King has restored my faith that there actually are musicals that are worth seeing. gerrod.com rating: 9.5/10.