So, with regard to which Broadway shows I’d see during my upcoming trip to New York - as determined by the 2014 Tony Awards telecast; these are the five shows I’d narrowed things down to (in no particular order):

▪Hedwig and the Angry Inch – 8 Tony nominations, and 4 wins; including Best Revival of a Musical, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical - Lena Hall, and Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical - Neil Patrick Harris
▪After Midnight – 7 Tony nominations, and 1 win; for Best Choreography
▪A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder – 9 Tony nominations, and 4 wins; including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Direction of a Musical, and Best Costume Design of a Musical
▪A Night with Janis Joplin – 1 Tony nomination, for Best Actress in a Musical - Mary Bridget Davies
▪Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill – 2 Tony nominations, and 2 wins; for Best Sound Design of a Play, and Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play - Audra McDonald

Right off the bat, I knew I’d be a fool not to see Audra McDonald read a wine list, let alone in her record-breaking Tony-performance, for her portrayal of Billie Holiday; so I went online, to Telecharge, and bought a pair of tickets, in the “Circle Club” (where you sit at a four-top table, onstage, as a ‘guest’ at Emerson’s Bar & Grill).  One night, down!

Then, after some heated inner dialogue, I decided upon After Midnight, featuring Dulé Hill as the Emcee, and guest starring the Empress of Soul, herself, my girl from the El-Vee, Miss Gladys Knight.  And, just to be safe, I decided that if I couldn’t get decent seats at After Midnight, I’d gladly settle for A Night with Janis Joplin. 

This meant that A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder (perhaps the only classically-staged musical of the lot, with both of its talented male leads nominated for Best Performance by a Lead Actor in a Musical) would appear to have drawn the proverbial short-straw; but just give it a minute.

Now, I know a lot of you reading this are thinking to yourselves (especially after NPH’s rollicking Tony performance), “Gee Self - I’d have thought for sure, Shulman would go see Hedwig,” and in most instances, you’d be correct.  But I’d seen Hedwig, with John Cameron Mitchell, in its early incarnations at Don Hill’s (at the rocking weekly party that was Squeezebox), and later, fully-formed. when it debuted, Off-Broadway, in the late ‘90s (after which, coincidentally, I went to grab a late-supper, at Chez Es Sada; where punk icon Jayne County – author of the brilliantly-named autobiography Man Enough to be a Woman, and widely believed, in certain circles, to have been the inspiration for Hedwig – was DJing) – not to mention the film.  And while I’m thrilled that it’s been camped-up to bring Hedwig to the masses, and NPH is indubitably killing it, I prefer to remember it fondly, as the decidedly off-kilter, filthy/gorgeous production that it was. 

So, I’m humming and hawing, and while I began downloading the art for this article, all the Broadway websites started blaring that After Midnight would be closing at the end of June, despite its plethora of Tony noms.  Sonofabitch!  Oh well…  No problem.  I’ll just go see Mary Bridget Davies in A Night with Janis Joplin, right?  Wrong!  That had apparently shut-down, indefinitely, as of the end of April!  Jeez Broadway – try to keep the shows open long enough for them to parlay some national press into ticket-sales, why dontcha?

So now I’m back to seeing A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, and I’m quite delighted.  I love a comedic musical, and I’m guessing that after a night with Billie Holiday, I’ll be in the mood for a light-hearted romp.

And if I’m in the mood, there’s always Hedwig; not to mention a trip back to the Kit Kat Klub, to see Alan Cumming and Michelle Williams, in a revival of the celebrated 1998 revival of Cabaret.  Oh!  Haven’t you heard?  Teutonic gender-dysphorics are all the rage, with theater-goers, this season!  (Dammit, LuPone! Why hast thou foresaken me, oh patron-saint of musically-minded, middle-aged, 'merican 'mos???)

Broadway 2014

Get into it!

Illustrations by SQUIGS