My Trip to Broadway

I learn so much on a solo trip to New York; I'll just go ahead and share some things:

*If a Broadway star has a planned absence from a show, the producers don't always have to advertise this. If the star wattage belongs to Hugh Jackman or Josh Groban, then I guess you can expect clear, blunt announcements. But Victoria Clark can take a vacation with her family, and her show's website can keep mum. You have to go to "Broadway Covers," on Twitter, or you have to visit the star's Instagram.

*"The Shark Is Broken" has seriously miscalculated its ad campaign. Everything I've read suggests that the play is awful, but that it offers three or four minutes of Colin Donnell in a speedo. It seems clear that the director understood the importance of the speedo; "Americans might hate the script, but at least they get that three-minute interlude." So, obviously, the speedo needs to be on every poster, and it should be displayed (also) above the marquee. This isn't rocket science. Someone is asleep on that particular team.

*Almost anything is worthwhile if it means six hours away from your children. You're watching the understudy? Notice that no small creature is crawling on you. You're sad to see that Duane Reade has become an apocalyptic war zone, where even the deodorant is kept behind a locked wall of glass? Notice that you suddenly have personal space; there is air around you, and people are allowing you to breathe. It's the little things....

Stay tuned.

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