I sometimes fantasize that a Broadway show will pull a line from one of my posts and use if for an ad or a poster or something.  You know what I am talking about.  It would look something like this: "The most amazing show ever on Broadway!" Bixby Elliot, Yahoo! Broadway.  Something like that.  Today I am going to make a full tilt, all out effort and take my best shot at achieving that dream (it's a small dream, boys and girls, but it's a dream).

I am not shooting for the stars on this one because it is Friday and I am bored, but because I have been inspired to.  Cause, ya see, there is a little ‘ol show that opened last night (you may have read about it here a few times - or a million times, but who is counting); and that show is called [title of show].  Yes, I was inspired by [title of show] because that little show, playing at the Lyceum theater on "THE BROADWAY" proves that if you work hard and think big, one day (just maybe) your dreams can come true.  So here it goes; my attempt at making it as a Broadway show "pull quote".

Option 1:  "You MUST see this show!  Don't miss it.  Run, don't walk.  Get your tickets right now!"  

Note: Too pushy, right? 

Option 2: "You will laugh.  You will cry.  You will LOVE [title of show]."

Note: Too much, right?

Option 3: "For anyone who has ever dreamed.  Dream of yourself at [title of show] and then make that dream happen.  Because dreams do come true and this dream is real and it is happening now.  Wake up.  Stop Dreaming. See [title of show]."

Note: Way too confusing, right?

Option 4: "Brilliant!"  "Amazing!" "Hilarious!" "Grand Slam!" "Don't Miss It!" "The Best Show on Broadway!" "Sure to win the Tony!"

Note:  They love those one word with the exclamation point things in ads, but I'm not sure that is quite right.

Option 5: "[tos] rocked my world.  It will rock your world, too!"

Note: Nope, I'm not that hardcore.

The crazy thing is - I really believe all of those things about the show (ok, maybe not option #3, but the rest - YES).

However, let's forget all this.  It's not working.  I guess I will just tell you what I thought of the show and if the producers find something in that they like, well, then - so be it. Like the show says - the best way to succeed is to do something from your heart.  Here we go...

I saw [title of show], the new musical about two guys writing a musical about two guys writing a musical, last weekend.  I had seen the show in two previous incarnations at Ars Nova and then at the Vineyard Theater downtown.  I will admit that I had mixed feelings when I sat in my seat.  I, like I said, had seen the show twice before and wasn't sure if I would get caught up in it again and I worried that it wouldn't work on a big Broadway stage.  I was wrong.  I loved [title of show] more than I have ever loved it before.  I am now officially a [tosser] (the name they have given their devoted and quite large fan base).  The show was funnier, tighter, more powerful than it has ever been before.

The show is really about the struggle to pursue your dreams.  It is about 4 actors on the outside, longing to be able to do what they love (sing and dance in a Brodway show).  And the simple and pure, but wonderful message is - you can do anything you want to do; just do it from your heart.  With this message, a cart full of expertly written songs and a trunk crammed with side-splitting scenes - these four kids and their four chairs and one key board have packed their bags and headed to "The Broadway"; right where they belong.  With their name in lights and their feet planted firmly on the ground this talented crowd is wowing them 8 shows a week.

Written by Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen with assists from Susan Blackwell and Heidi Blickenstaff, [title of show] is simply the most fun I have had at the theater all year.  It has an amazing spirit that is infectious.  I don't know how else to say it, but I had a [tos]-riffic time (whatever that means).  Bell is a comic master.  Blackwell should have her own sitcom (seriously, hello - cable networks - hello!).  Blickenstaff has a voice that ranks up there with the best Broadway divas and is well on her way to STARDOM!  Bowen's songs are stupendous.  "9 People's Favorite Thing" is pure genius (oh, and he's easy on the eyes too).  

I could go on and on about [tos] but I will end by saying that it is an ah-mazing night at theater by 4 buh-rilliantly talented kids...don't miss your chance to see this wonderful show.  Really.  Run, don't walk...I mean it...now...go get a ticket...now.  

Now we have heard what I have had to say about the show.  Let's find out what the other critics had to say about [title of show].  Did they love it as much as I did

Charles Isherwood - The New York Times - Click HERE to read the full review

It looks like Isherwood is a tosser.  He gives the show a rave and gives "props" to all involved.  My recommendation for a pull quote: "Worth Cheering!".

"...as performed by Mr. Bowen, Mr. Bell, and Susan Blackwell and Heidi Blickenstaff, the talented girlfriends they rope into their makeshift, make-it-up-as-we-go-along opus, it is genial, unpretentious and far funnier than many of the more expensively manufactured musicals that make it to Broadway these days."

"For all its throwaway charm, "[title of show]" can lay claim to a certain worthy pedigree. It's an acutely (and cutely) self-conscious 21st-century update of putting-on-a-show shows like Rodgers and Hart's "Babes in Arms" or Cole Porter's "Kiss Me, Kate." But no, you don't have to be an expert in the lineage of this genre to enjoy it. It would definitely help, however, to share a belief that a life in the theater is a worthy calling, and that a fresh new musical - however insignificant - is something worth cheering."

Eric Grode - The New York Sun - Click HERE to read the full review

Grode is an unqualified slam dunk.  He is a full on tosser.  My recommendation for pull quote: "If you see only one mega-meta-micro-musical this year, make it "[title of show]."

"A defiantly insider and yet sneakily inclusive musical about two guys who write a musical about two guys who write a musical, "[tos]," as it's known, lovingly demolishes Broadway's most durable art form. In its place is a sweet, raunchy, and just about irresistible portrait of how and why we tell stories."

"...there's Ms. Blickenstaff plunging deep into your emotional wheelhouse with the nostalgic ballad "A Way Back to Then."  There's Mr. Bell's open-faced insistence at making Broadway a little bit safer for masturbation jokes and less-than-svelte guys who shimmy well. There's Ms. Blackwell's stirring battle cry against the "vampires" who besiege the creative process, especially those who do so from within. There's Mr. Bowen and his "Cats" ringtone and his bingo-winning mother. (And don't forget Larry Pressgrove, the ever-present and occasionally acknowledged keyboardist.) Their bawdy, brainy, blissful creation should speak to anyone who aspires to make something that nine - or 922 - people might want to hear."

Clive Barnes - The New York Post - Click HERE to read the full review

The grumpy Barnes dismisses the show in a review peppered liberally with [ ].  I guess he thinks he is clever for that, but I just thought it was dumb.  Hey, if he can criticized [tos] I can criticize him.

"ORIGINALITY isn't what it used to be. Take "[title of show]," a Broadway musical - 95 minutes long, top ticket price $111.50 - about people writing about people writing a Broadway musical. These [people] - who doubtless love [people] - must be the luckiest [people] in the [world]. "

"But [d.h. lawrence] or [james joyce] this is not. It's not even [e.e. cummings]."

Those are my thoughts and the thoughts of some reviewers, but you know what I always say...the only way to know if you like a show, is to go see a show.  So head on over to the Lyceum and pick up a few tickets to see this sparkling new original musical - I think you might really like it!

~ See You On The Aisle