NYC2: The Shows

Went to see a few shows in New York:

Wicked - this was in a big theatre, big enough for teenage girls to make lots of noise singing along to the big numbers.

Lots of big sets, loads of singing and 'oh poor me, I'll fight against the world to be myself' type songs. It must've been so hard to grow up in Oz in the old days...

But I enjoyed it - not to be taken too seriously (except by teenage girls) - and the special effects were excellent.

Fiddler on The Roof - starring Harvey Fierstein and Rosie O'Donnell. Not exactly a fun show given the subject matter, but a very entertaining one nonetheless.

Everyone probably knows at least one song from this show - 'If I Was A Rich Man', 'Tradition', Sun Rise, Sun Set', there's lots of them. Harvey has an interesting singing voice (and admits it, ahem).


Doubt - a play, one of the few plays on Broadway at the moment (everything else is a musical) and a very fine one. I was a little dubious at first - a play about a potential paedophile priest from the Bronx in the '60s doesn't sound like much fun, but it was very nicely handled. Light-hearted moments and laughs to relieve the tension and we never find out whether he did it or not (but I think he did).

Excellent performances by the cast of 4 and it's another award winner.

Avenue Q - didn't know much about this musical but was very pleasantly surprised by it - lots of laughs, some very clever lyrics to the songs and some nice comments on modern living ('the Internet is for porn').

A great all-round show! I'd definitely see it again, especially if it transfers over to London. I bought an 'It sucks to be me' badge after the show and proudly wore it for the rest of the evening.

The Radio City Christmas Spectacular - what can I say? This had everything an old-fashioned stage entertainment could possibly want, including the kitchen sink (carefully disguised of course). Great fun, the Rockettes high kicking right, left and centre, dozens of Santas doing synchronised dancing, snow falling from the ceiling of the huge barn that is the glossy Radio City Music Hall, eating popcorn out of a big plastic Santa-shaped bucket.

Both inside and outside of Radio City looked like Christmas had landed early - big trees covered in lights, Christmas lights and decorations all over and models of the Rockettes in Christmas costumes. I loved it!

Also went to see 'New York Doll', a documentary about Arthur 'Killer' Kane, bassist with the New York Dolls. We saw it in the Angelika cinema in SoHo, a small independent cinema, an appropriate place to see a film about a New York Doll. I felt quite sad watching it (and knowing how it ends) but it was well constructed and tried to show the real man behind the Doll. Arthur came across as a likeable man with his glory days behind him until the Dolls got back together in 2004 - and he got his wish.