The cast of the Hamilton spoof, Spamilton, performed at the Broadway in Bryant Park concert this week a medley including “Lin-Manuel As Hamilton,” “1776,” “What Did You Miss,” and “Rap Battle” — Hamilton tunes by Lin-Manuel Miranda with Spamilton lyrics by Gerard Alessandrini, best-known until now for Forbidden Broadway.
Watch the three videos beginning with the opening number from the show, which spoofs the opening number of Hamilton:
How does a whipper snapper student of rap
and a Latin
trapped in the middle of a manhattan
Flat win
Broadway accolades
while other writers kiss
the corporate dollar
grow up to be a hip-hop op’ra scholar?
This blue collar
shining beacon
puerto rican
got a lot farther
by being a lot smarter
by stretching rhymes harder by being a trend-starter.
The second song spoofs Thomas Jefferson’s song “What’d I Miss?” (This one is close-captioned.)
So what’d you miss? What’d you miss?
The lyrics go by so fast You are in the abyss
I see you sittin’ there and looking befuddled I guess my diction is sloppy or muddled
We’re telling a complex plot
In the third video, “Rap Battle,” Nicole Vanessa Ortiz sets what must be a world speed record for her rapping.
The lyrics in the video above include “Lin-Manuel” rapping:
I am not throwin’ away my spot
I am not throwin’ away my spot
I compose like Debussy
But it comes out like BIG Juicy
And I love rapping the way he taught
I am not stoppin’ the way I rap
Till I turn showtunes upside down
I reviewed Spamilton when it opened at the Triad. Now it’s at the 47th Street Theater — down the block from Hamilton.
The cast members performing in Bryant Park:
Tristan J. Shuler, Chris Anthony Giles, Cameron Amandus, Nicole Vanessa Ortiz, Aaron Michael Ray, and Fred Barton on the piano.
A ninth century Pope, a 21st century female Buddha, Liberace with a notorious gangster, Errol Flynn with Fidel Castro, Matthew McConaughey with the devil, a Conquistador’s daughter with a Taino, and a female inmate string band from the 1930’s are among those featured in the 20 new musicals being given full productions at the 14th annual New York Musical Festival — NYMF 2017 — which runs from July 10 to August 6, 2017. Watch songs from six of them below, plus a seventh that will be presented as a concert. The videos were recorded during performances either at rehearsals or at an outdoor concert.
Besides the 20 full productions, NYMF 2017 will offer more than a dozen concerts and “beta musicals,” and 10 “readings” — new musicals in development. Use NYMF’s search-finder to help determine which of these many shows you might like.
Click on the titles below to get dates and details
What if the Buddha were a woman, living in our times? Mama Sid is a modern-day “awakened one” with a worldwide following. But a determined young woman seeks to unearth Mama Sid’s mysterious past,
The musical is inspired by the true story of six female convicts in 1938 Texas who taught themselves musical instruments in prison and became a radio sensation.
A musical based on a real albeit surreal “trial of the ninth century.” In the year 897 A.D., Pope Stephen VII dug up the rotting corpse of his predecessor, Pope Formosus, and placed it on trial. The defense was represented by a sputtering teenage deacon.
“Come From Away” tells the story of the 9,000 residents of Gander, Newfoundland who took care of some 7,000 passengers and crew of 38 airplanes that were forced to land at the local airport because of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The production has gained fans for its foot-stomping Celtic-flavored music, the tight ensemble work of its 12-member cast, and its heartwarming view of humanity, as it’s traveled from La Jolla to Seattle to D.C. to Toronto. But now that it’s in New York, it has to deal with people like me.
As I wrote on the 15th anniversary of September 11th,I was across the street from the Twin Towers on the morning of September 11, 2001 when they were attacked. When an out-of-town friend visiting New York recently bought me a ticket to the 9/11 Memorial Museum, I couldn’t bring myself to go.
So I was worried that Come from Away would, in contemporary parlance, be triggering. But the exact opposite occurred. The Canadian song writing team of Irene Sankoff and David Hein are so eager to please that Come From Away keeps a safe distance from the horror of 9/11.
Come From Away focuses on the kindness of strangers, and how they ease the fear and inconvenience of the “plane people,” some 1,500 miles away from any real danger.
This is not really a “9/11 musical,” then, but it will certainly be seen that way. The question thus arises: Are we so battered by the trauma of actual events that the only stage depictions we welcome about them are feel-good entertainment?
The answer seems to be yes, judging by the enthusiastic embrace of this musical
Below is the overture and opening number of the Roundabout’s Broadway production of “She Loves Me,” as live streamed by BroadwayHD on June 30, 2016.
The musical starring Laura Benanti, Zachary Levi and Jane Krakowski runs live through July 10 at Studio 54. July 10th is also the deadline for renting the entire BroadwayHD recording “on demand” for $9.99.
(The scene/song begins at around the 7 minute mark)
Lyrics:
ARPAD
GOOD MORNING.
HOW ARE YOU THIS BEAUTIFUL DAY?
ISN’T THIS A BEAUTIFUL MORNING?
SIPOS
VERY.
HEY, SIPOS-
HOW’S THIS?
SIPOS
THAT’S AN AWFULLY ELEGANT POSE
BUT IS ALL THAT ELEGANCE NECE-
‘SARY?
ARPAD
And why not? I represent Maraczek’s, don’t I? We’re not a butcher shop- or a hardware store... we’re a parfumerie. That means we’re...
we’re...
WE’RE STYLISH.
GOOD MORNING
GOOD DAY.
SIPOS
THAT’S IT.
SIPOS
WITH A QUIET DIGNITY
ARPAD
ARPAD
AND WE GET THE TILT OF OUR HATS RIGHT.
SIPOS
THAT’S RIGHT.
ARPAD
WHEN I RIDE MY BIKE,
PEOPLE SEE WHAT MARACZEK’S LIKE.
SO I THINK IT’S VERY IMPORTANT
THAT I LOOK MY BEST.
SIPOS
And how many people did you run over today?
ARPAD
Not one.
SIPOS
Well - it’s early.
ARPAD
Here comes Miss Ritter.
SIPOS
Hmmm…
ARPAD
She spent the night with Mr. Kodaly
SIPOS
Again?
ARPAD
They always kiss goodbye at the newsstand. Then she walks around the block to make us think she’s been home.
YES,
(MISS RITTER ENTERS.)
RITTER
GOOD MORNING.
ARPAD, SIPOS
GOOD DAY.
RITTER
HOW ARE YOU THIS GLORIOUS DAY?
HAVE YOU SEEN A LOVELIER MORNING?
ARPAD, SIPOS
NEVER.
RITTER
IT’S TOO NICE A DAY
TO BE INSIDE SHUFFLING SOAP.
I HAVE NO MORE ENERGY WHAT-SO-EVER.
Anybody mind if I take the day off? Arpad - why aren’t you old
enough to take me away from all this?
ARPAD
I’m old enough!
RITTER
Then marry me and I’ll quit my job.
(SHE gives ARPAD a close scrutiny.)
No. I’m afraid you’re really not– quite- old enough.
ARPAD
It won’t be long, though. I’m catching up. You know, Miss Horvath
always used to say I’d get to be thirty-five before you ever did.
SIPOS
Ah- Mr. Kodaly.
(STEVEN KODALY enters.)
KODALY
GOOD MORNING.
GOOD DAY.
ARPAD, SIPOS, RITTER
KODALY
HOW ARE YOU THIS RADIANT DAY?
WHAT A RARE MAGNIFICENT MORNING!
IS IT?
ARPAD, SIPOS
KODALY (To RITTER)
GOOD MORNING, MY DEAR.
HOW ARE YOU THIS RAVISHING DAY?
DO YOU KNOW YOU’VE NEVER LOOKED MORE EXQUISITE.
RITTER
THANK YOU, KIND SIR.
KODALY
What a lovely dress.
ARPAD
It’s the same one she had on yesterday, Mr. Kodaly.
SIPOS
Ah- Mr. Nowack.
(GEORG NOWACK ENTERS.)
GEORG
GOOD MORNING.
SIPOS, ARPAD, RITTER, KODALY
GOOD DAY.
GEORG
ISN’T THAT A BEAUTIFUL SKY?
WHAT A PERFECT SAMPLE OF SUMMER WEATHER.
IT’S TOO NICE A DAY
TO BE INDOORS COUNTING OUT CHANGE
WHAT A WASTE OF HOLIDAY WEATHER ALTOGETHER...
LET’S ALL RUN AWAY!
RITTER
WOULDN’T IT BE SOMETHING IF WE ALL TOOK OFF FROM WORK?
SIPOS
LEAVING MR. MARACZEK WITHOUT A SINGLE CLERK!
ARPAD
WHY NOT HAVE A PICNIC?
SIPOS
I COULD BRING MY WIFE’S PRESERVES.
KODALY
CHAMPAGNE MIGHT BE NICE WITH HOT HORS D’OEURVES.
ALL (In canon)
IT’S TOO NICE A DAY
TO BE STUCK INSIDE OF A STORE.
WE COULD ALL BE GETTING OUR FACES SUNTANNED.
IT’S SO NICE A DAY
TO BE DOZING UNDER A TREE-
The title character in the musical Dear Evan Hansen is a clinically anxious high school student who is so friendless that he can’t get any classmates to sign the cast on his broken arm, except an even worse misfit named Connor. But then Connor commits suicide, and his death turns Evan’s life around.
In other hands, it might be difficult to suspend disbelief in the series of unlikely, near-satiric events at the heart of this original musical, which is now running Off-Broadway through the end of the month. But Dear Evan Hansen has become a sold-out hit, something of a cult favorite, with plans to transfer to Broadway. It’s easy to see why. Composer/lyricists Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, whose previous musicals include Dogfight and A Christmas Story, have fashioned a tuneful, affecting pop-rock score. Director Michael Greif, who has some experience with shows about adolescent angst (Rent, Next to Normal), has created a first-rate, resonant production.(It’s worth pointing out that Team Evan Hansen includes Hamilton alumni David Korins as the set designer and Alex Lacamoire as the musical supervisor and orchestrator.) And the eight-member cast offer some deep and credible performances, led by the extraordinary Ben Platt…
The cast of Hamilton will perform their show’s opening number live via satellite from the Richard Rodgers Theater sometime during the 2016 Grammy broadcast, which will air starting at 8 p.m. ET tonight (February 15, 2016) on CBS.
This is only the fourth time the Grammy broadcast has featured a performance live via satellite, and only the ninth performance by a Broadway musical on any broadcast of the Grammy Awards. (Previous Broadway shows featured on the Grammys: “Godspell” (1972); “The Magic Show” (1975); “Sophisticated Ladies” (1982); “La Cage Aux Folles” (1984); “Will Rogers Follies” (1992); “Riverdance” and “Bring In Da Noise, Bring In Da Funk” (1997); and “American Idiot” (2010))
“Hamilton” is one of the five Broadway cast recordings that have been nominated for Best Musical Theater Album.
Update: After its live performance, Hamilton was awarded Best Musical Theater Album Grammy — on the broadcast! (Usually it’s one of the Grammys awarded off-camera.)
The nominees are:
AARON BURR
HOW DOES A BASTARD, ORPHAN, SON OF A WHORE AND A
SCOTSMAN, DROPPED IN THE MIDDLE OF A FORGOTTEN
SPOT IN THE CARIBBEAN BY PROVIDENCE, IMPOVERISHED, IN SQUALOR, GROW UP TO BE A HERO AND A SCHOLAR? JOHN LAURENS
THE TEN-DOLLAR FOUNDING FATHER WITHOUT A FATHER GOT A LOT FARTHER BY WORKING A LOT HARDER
BY BEING A LOT SMARTER
BY BEING A SELF-STARTER
BY FOURTEEN, THEY PLACED HIM IN CHARGE OF A TRADING CHARTER THOMAS JEFFERSON
AND EVERY DAY WHILE SLAVES WERE BEING SLAUGHTERED AND CARTED AWAY ACROSS THE WAVES, HE STRUGGLED AND KEPT HIS GUARD UP INSIDE, HE WAS LONGING FOR SOMETHING TO BE A PART OF
THE BROTHER WAS READY TO BEG, STEAL, BORROW OR BARTER JAMES MADISON
THEN A HURRICANE CAME, AND DEVASTATION REIGNED
OUR MAN SAW HIS FUTURE DRIP, DRIPPING DOWN THE DRAIN PUT A PENCIL TO HIS TEMPLE, CONNECTED IT TO HIS BRAIN AND HE WROTE HIS FIRST REFRAIN, A TESTAMENT TO HIS PAIN BURR
WELL THE WORD GOT AROUND, THEY SAID, “THIS KID IS INSANE, MAN.” TOOK UP A COLLECTION JUST TO SEND HIM TO THE MAINLAND
“GET YOUR EDUCATION, DON’T FORGET FROM WHENCE YOU CAME, AND THE WORLD IS GONNA KNOW YOUR NAME. WHAT’S YOUR NAME, MAN?”
ALEXANDER HAMILTON ALEXANDER HAMILTON
MY NAME IS ALEXANDER HAMILTON
AND THERE’S A MILLION THINGS I HAVEN’T DONE BUT JUST YOU WAIT, JUST YOU WAIT . . . ELIZA HAMILTON
WHEN HE WAS 10 HIS FATHER SPLIT, FULL OF IT, DEBT-RIDDEN TWO YEARS LATER, SEE ALEX AND HIS MOTHER BED-RIDDEN HALF-DEAD SITTIN IN THEIR OWN SICK
THE SCENT THICK, AND FULL COMPANY (EXCEPT HAMILTON) (WHISPERING) ALEX GOT BETTER BUT HIS MOTHER WENT QUICK.
GEORGE WASHINGTON
MOVED IN WITH A COUSIN, THE COUSIN COMMITTED SUICIDE LEFT HIM WITH NOTHIN BUT RUINED PRIDE, SOMETHING NEW INSIDE
A VOICE SAYING,
“YOU GOTTA FEND FOR YOURSELF.” HE STARTED RETREATIN AND READIN EVERY TREATISE ON THE SHELF. BURR
THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN NOTHIN LEFT TO DO
FOR SOMEONE LESS ASTUTE
HE WOULDA BEEN DEAD OR DESTITUTE
WITHOUT A CENT OR RESTITUTION STARTED WORKIN–CLERKIN FOR HIS LATE MOTHER’S LANDLORD TRADIN SUGAR CANE AND RUM AND ALL THE THINGS HE CAN’T AFFORD
SCAMMIN’ FOR EVERY BOOK HE CAN GET HIS HANDS ON
PLANNIN’ FOR THE FUTURE SEE HIM NOW AS HE STANDS ON
THE BOW OF A SHIP HEADED FOR A NEW LAND
IN NEW YORK YOU CAN BE A NEW MAN.
COMPANY
IN NEW YORK YOU CAN BE A NEW MAN—
HAMILTON
JUST YOU WAIT!
COMPANY
IN NEW YORK YOU CAN BE A NEW MAN—
HAMILTON
JUST YOU WAIT!
COMPANY
IN NEW YORK YOU CAN BE A NEW MAN—
IN NEW YORK—
ALEXANDER HAMILTON
WE ARE WAITING IN THE WINGS FOR YOU
YOU COULD
NEVER BACK DOWN
YOU NEVER LEARNED TO TAKE YOUR T(H)IME!
OH, ALEXANDER HAMILTON
WHEN AMERICA SINGS FOR YOU WILL THEY KNOW WHAT YOU OVERCAME,
WILL THEY KNOW YOU REWROTE THE GAME,
THE WORLD WILL NEVER BE THE SAME, OH. BURR
THE SHIP IS IN THE HARBOR NOW, SEE IF YOU CAN SPOT HIM
ANOTHER IMMIGRANT, COMIN UP FROM THE BOTTOM
HIS ENEMIES DESTROYED HIS REP AMERICA FORGOT HIM
MULLIGAN/LAFAYETTE
WE FOUGHT WITH HIM.
LAURENS
ME? I DIED FOR HIM.
WASHINGTON
ME? I TRUSTED HIM.
ELIZA/ANGELICA/MARIAH
ME? I LOVED HIM.
BURR
AND ME? I’M THE DAMN FOOL THAT SHOT HIM. COMPANY
SHOT HIM. SHOT HIM.
THERE’S A MILLION THINGS I HAVEN’T DONE, BUT JUST YOU WAIT!
JUST YOU WAIT 
Below is a two minute video from Papermill Playhouse’s world premiere production of A Bronx Tale: The Musical, with music by Alan Menken (Newsies, Aladdin, Little Shop of Horrors,) which marks movie actor Robert DeNiro’s debut as a musical director. He’s co-directing with Jerry Zaks
Based on Chazz Palminteri’s one-man show and 1993 film (which co-starred DeNiro), “A Bronx Tale” is set against the backdrop of racial strife and organized crime in the 1960s as an Italian-American teenager must choose between the father who raised him and the mob-boss father figure who fascinates him. Which will he choose? The bigger question is: Is this coming to Broadway, and when?
The stars include Nick Cordero (Tony nominee for Bullets Over Broadway) as the gangster Sonny, Jason Gotay (Spider-Man, Bring It On) as the teenager Calogero, as well as Joshua Colley, Richard H. Blake, Coco Jones, and Lucia Gianetta.
Jackie Hoffman is the only person she knows who’s never until now performed in a production of the musical comedy “Once Upon A Mattress,” the comic retelling of the fairy tale The Princess and the Pea that made a star out of Carol Burnett.
“Once Upon A Mattress,” on the other hand, was the very first show in which John Epperson performed as a freshman in college, which helped hook him on musical theater, eventually leading to the creation of his drag persona, Lypsinka.
Jackie Hoffman as Princess Winnifred and Lypsinka as her evil future mother-in-law Queen Aggravain are the main draws for the Transport Group Theater Company’s inspired production of this well-worn musical, which has now opened at the Abrons Arts Center.
The elastic-faced Hoffman, who has been an increasingly visible character actor, singer and comedienne in New York over the past 15 years – most recently playing four different parts in On The Town – has finally gotten a leading role she’s long deserved. It is one that seems custom made for her to chew up and spit out: Indeed, when we first see her, she is striking a heroic pose in wet clothes until she suddenly spits out a mouthful of water. “I swam the moat,” she explains. This woman can just stand still and stare up at the towering Queen, and it’s hilarious. Her rendition of “I’m Shy,” belted out with nuclear force, is a highlight of the season.
There are other charms to this production, which is directed by Jack Cummings III, artistic director of the Transport Group. A 12-piece orchestra plays the fun and tuneful score by Mary Rodgers, which marked this composer’s Broadway debut. A cast of first-rate comic pros executes the daffy plot, about the Queen’s efforts to keep her son unmarried by creating royalty tests that are impossible for any would-be princess to pass – until the very un-princess-like Princess Winnifred comes onto the scene. The set design employs theater illustrator Ken Fallin in a novel way; his drawings form the backdrops for every scene, each of which he completes (sketching in the water to a water fountain, or roses in a vase) in real time as we watch, his magnified hand visible in the projection.
Given all the goodies, it is easier to forgive the ways the musical is dated, but not possible to overlook. “Once Upon A Mattress” debuted on Broadway in 1959, the same year as the introduction of the first Doris Day/Rock Hudson movie as well as of the princess phone. A running time of 150 minutes has become too long for what is essentially sketch comedy. (Try dialing a rotary phone now that we’re used to touch-tone.) And, as good as their performances are, the wink and nudge humor is far less funny than it once must have been in such numbers as “Man to Man,” when the mute King Sextimus (David Greenspan) pantomimes the lesson of the birds and the bees to his fully grown schlemiel of a son Prince Dauntless (Jason Sweet Tooth Williams.) Lypsinka elegantly camping it up as the emasculating Queen, whose very red lips sparkle with malice, helps laugh off a character that is surprisingly misogynistic in a musical by a female composer who served as a role model for those to follow.
Mary Rodgers, who died last year, was the daughter of composer Richard Rodgers, and the mother of composer Adam Guettel, and good friend and collaborator with Stephen Sondheim, who has told the story of how he interrogated her about marriage in order to create his musical “Company.” Would it be too much of a stretch to suppose she also influenced Sondheim in creating “Into The Woods,” another musical that subverts the classic fairy tale for our entertainment?
Please click on any photograph by Carol Rosegg to see it enlarged
In “Once Upon A Mattress,” Jackie Hoffman belts “I’m Shy” in the song “Shy” with such force that she knocks out the ensemble.
Once Upon a Mattress
At Abrons Arts Center
Music by Mary Rodgers; Lyrics by Marshall Barer;
Book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer
Cast: Jackie Hoffman and John “Lypsinka” Epperson
Jessica Fontana (Cinderella) as Lady Larken, David Greenspan (The Patsy) as The King, Hunter Ryan Herdlicka (A Little Night Music) as The Minstrel, Cory Lingner (On the Town) as The Jester, Zak Resnick (Piece of My Heart) as Sir Harry, Jay Rogers (Howard Crabtree’s When Pigs Fly) as The Wizard, and Jason SweetTooth Williams (Things to Ruin ) as Prince Dauntless, with Vivienne Cleary, Richard Costa, Michael De Souza, Tim Dolan, Jack Donahue, Amy Griffin, Sarah Killough, Kristen Michelle, Ali Reed, and Doug Shapiro.
Directed by Jack Cummings III
Scenic design by Sandra Goldmark
Lighting design by R. Lee Kennedy
Costume design by Kathryn Rohe
Sound design by Walter Trarbach
Musical staging and choreography by Scott Rink
Musical direction by Matt Castle
New orchestrations by Frank Galgano and Matt Castle
Casting by Nora Brennan Casting
Live drawings by Ken Fallin
Running time: two and a half hours, including one intermission.
Tickets: $45 to $75
Once Upon A Mattress is scheduled to run through January 3, 2016.
Lazarus, the hottest ticket right now in New York, is a startling new musical, featuring 18 songs written by David Bowie (four of them new), a production directed by auteur-du-jour Ivo van Hove that’s a sensory stimulation chamber, and a plot that might as well be from a different planet…..Given the right frame of mind – it helps to be a Bowie fan, and to have seen the movie or read the book – the story is a tantalizing mystery.
One need not be a specialist, however, to enjoy the music – delivered by a terrific band placed behind a glass wall, and sung by a cast (especially Michael C. Hall) as if they had received extensive voice lessons from Bowie himself. .
Jackie Hoffman is the only person she knows who’s never until now performed in a production of the musical comedy “Once Upon A Mattress,” the comic retelling of the fairy tale The Princess and the Pea that made a star out of Carol Burnett.
