Saw Hair on tour in Pittsburgh, PA at Heinz Hall.

I saw it about 18 months ago in the BW Revival and this was pretty much on par with it. (I was most impressed with Berger, of the cast.) They did a good job with the show (and what I remember). I found it somewhat interesting how many people came either dressed from the era or naturally dress (look) that way. (And, once I distinctly thought I smelled the odor of pot, just after the curtain went up on Act II. haha)

I think the songs were all done very well. I wouldn't say it's too far off from the BW show I saw. (That said, I've got to say, I'm not the biggest Hair fan out there.)

One thing that kind of caught me off guard was that this was the first show I've ever attended that was halted for a technical difficulty. It took me by surprise. (And apparently a lot of other people. Many comments could be heard "Is this part of the show?"... haha)

I'm so glad I got season tix to the PNC Broadway series, but I'm not sure I'd have gone to see this if it weren't part of that package. Not that it was bad, just not my favoritest cup of tea.

I recently saw Memphis and Jersey Boys in NYC!!! First Broadway shows ever!

MEMPHIS:
Overall a good show. The score has some lackluster parts, but several very good ones ("Say a Prayer", "Colored Woman", "Memphis Lives in Me", "Big Love", and "Steal Your Rock 'n' Roll" come to mind). Montego Glover as Felicia was vocally excellent--she brought the house down several times, but her acting was kind of all over the place. We saw Chad Kimball's understudy (...I can't remember his name, sorry) and he was excellent, despite having a really irritating character to work with. Overall, an excellent cast and just a fun time with some genuinely moving moments.

JERSEY BOYS:
Oddly enough, I thought it was better when I saw it in Atlanta a couple of years ago. The August Wilson theatre is a great venue for this kind of show, very intimate, and nobody has a bad seat. Three of the Four Seasons were brilliant (especially Frankie Valli, but duh), but I didn't care much for the Nick we saw. But these are minor complaints. It's still an excellent musical, and the crowd just loved it.

Rock of Ages.

Everything about it sucked. No redeeming qualities. I saw Ryan Seacrest, Randy Jackson, Julianne Hough, and Steven Tyler in the crowd. They stood and waved before the show and everybody cheered. That was the highlight of the night. It went downhill from there.

Hair. Stockholm.

If you can forgive its lack off story (its much like Cats, a string off song numbers) its a thruly amazing show to see with tons off great music and an interesting insight in how it was to be a hippie in the 60ties, as well as belonging to a culture that has gonne out off fashion a long time ago. If you enjoyd Cats chances are that youll enjoy Hair. Go and see it!

Show: Shrek the Musical
Where: Pittsburgh at Benedum Center

First let's start with the cast:

Eric Peterson as Shrek - He was great, my only problem though is that sometimes I couldn't understand what he was saying. Whether it was his accent or the sound I had some troubles.

Haven Burton as Princess Fiona- She was hilarious. She stole the show with her acting and awesome singing. Her dancing was a little stiff but otherwise a great Fiona.

Alan Mingo Jr. as Donkey- He would have made Eddie Murphy proud. His comedic timing was perfect. His singing was good too.

David F.M Vaughn as Lord Farquaad- From the moment he stepped out, the whole audience was cracking up. Personally I thought his voice was a bit to high for the part. It wasn't as high as say Mickey Mouse but it was high.

Carrie Compere as Dragon- Let me first say the Dragon puppet has changed a lot since Broadway. It is now a full puppet instead of a head. Carrie's voice was amazing though I did not like the new song "Forever". I mean it was okay but I would've preferred Donkey Pot-Pie.

The set and costumes were great. Unlike some tours that I have seen, these sets moved flawless. The costumes were great too.

I enjoyed Shrek. I must say it was probably the best show of the PNC Broadway Across America 2010-2011 season.

^ I was just headed here to review this.

I agree with just about everything i-train said. I agree about Haven being the best, Eric being good (my take is that something was off with the sound; I didn't really have too much trouble with the spoken parts, but some of the higher vocals during his songs), Alan being a great donkey (and singer too), but I thought David Vaughn was hilarious.

That said, I have never seen the show before or even the movie. I thoroughly enjoyed it. (Not sure if I'd say it was the best, but it was great and I really enjoyed it.... other than getting coughed on by the toddler behind me.)

Sunday, April 10 -1:00 show - Next to Normal

After getting home, I was instantly online to see if I could read any reviews of prior shows of the tour.

While I agreed with some of them, I vehemently disagreed with others. I'm not sure what others think of the rest of the tour cast, I thought they were very good in their roles. However, I could not abide by Alice Ripley's singing. (When I heard her first song, I questioned to myself "Is she even singing? I can't see her moving her mouth." I've since read about her clenching her jaw or something or other that changes her sound.) I wasn't even majorly impressed with the acting. I thought the other roles were much more believable/well-acted.

Asa Somers - played a very believable Dan. Maybe not the vocal range of others, but he did very well with his role.
Curt Hansen - I read some bad reviews, but I thought he was strong in the role of Gabe. Liked his singing a lot.
Emma Hunton - I think I may have enjoyed Natalie's role most of all. Great singer and her acting was strong as well. Maybe my favorite character in the show.
Preston Sadlier - He sang his part well and I liked the role; nice for someone to notice Natalie and bring her out of her shell.
Jeremy Kushnier - He did well in his dual roles; his singing rounded out the cast nicely.

Everyone except Alice was good-great in my opinion. I know my opinion isn't nearly as well-rounded as someone who has seen more shows/knows more about the musical aspects, but the story was so compelling to me, I think I was just wrapped up in it and the great singing, sans Ripley, was just the icing on the cake. I wish I could have seen her when she could perform the role well.

Saw Mamma Mia! on tour last night.

Of the four lead female parts, I probably thought Donna (Kaye Tuckerman) was the best. The funniest part was, when the show first started and she sang, I wasn't that greatly impressed. She got better, but I thought she really blew up in Act II and made her mark. None of the male leads blew me away, but I thought John Bisom (Sam) was strong all around and really felt John-Michael Zuerlein's Bill was really identifiable. (I actually liked him better than the BW Bill I saw.)

Had a really fun time, with someone that hadn't seen the show before. The best part might have been the older usher dancing in the aisle with 2 ladies. It was really cute. Had a great night all-around!

On May the 10th I saw theese show in West End:
Phantom of the Opera (Matinee)
I saw this musical in the late 80ties or early 90ties in Stockholm and remember that I didnt really liked it, I guess I wasnt ready for it by then. But after seeing the west end show I must really upgrade it on my ranklist off great musicals. Its thruly a masterpiece (even thou it cant beat ALWs best musical, Cats.) and have a lot off really good songs and a thruly amazing cast. Its a real classic and a must see for any musical fan that havent seen it yet.

Wicked (evening performance):
I had really high expectations on Wicked after listening to the wonderfull score and I was a bit afraid that the live performance might fell a bit short. But I didnt had to worry since the musical was thruly as wonderfull as the score and it was also a feast for the eyes as well as the ears. The performers lived and exagrated the high standards set by Idzina and Kristin on the CD. They did the songs in theyre own way rather than following in the megastars fotprints and that made me happy. I can also confess that severel off the songs growed on me (Like the wizards Wonderfull.) and that they made much more sence after seing them as a part off the musical. I also want to thank the actors for taking time and signing some autographs for me. This musical has really settled in its place as the worlds second best musical and even manage to get way closer to the worlds best musical, Cats, and that must be an acivement by any standard.

Oh I had the chance to see a matinee of Phantom just the other day. It really does bring back great memories. This is the second time I've seen it although many years apart. I also it at West End also. I came up from sheffield. Such a great show.

Would your Huey happen to have been Bryan Fenkart? I saw him today on the tour and thought he gave a great performance. The entire cast is phenomenal, ensemble members and leads. Their vocal and physical talents are superb. It seemed like they were giving this show everything they had, and that's what you want to see in a cast. As far as the writing goes, there are some good numbers, and I love how even the supporting characters are fleshed out (something you don't see in every musical), but the book could definitely use some revision. While some of the jokes are clever and quite insightful, just as many (if not more) are forced and extremely low-brow humor.