We had sitter coverage, but I didn't want to watch the game, so I went to Broadway.
Alton Fitzgerald White grew up in the projects of Cincinnati ("yes, there are Cincinnati projects"). He was one of seven children. Somehow, he discovered the theater, and he became New York City's most-committed Mufasa. He played Mufasa at the Minskoff Theater for over 4,000 performances.
When she made "The Lion King," Julie Taymor just wanted to cripple her performers; she didn't attempt to murder anyone, as she would in the run of "Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark." I'd heard stories of Simba's back injuries, Rafiki's swollen ankles--but Alton Fitzgerald White taught me something new. The Mufasa eye makeup has left him with something like a permanent stye.
This particular Sunday night, Alton White chose to sing about the many facets of love, and he did this via the Disney songbook. Why not? He paused to wonder aloud why the Emma Watson "Beauty and the Beast" re-mounting abandoned the Tim Rice material from the Terrence Mann stage production. I'm no fan of the 1994 Tim Rice material--but, certainly, it's better than anything that was tossed at Emma Watson. It was nice to hear someone raising the issue--which does continue to trouble me, at least once per week, here in 2024.
I enjoyed my hour with Alton White--although he wasn't always persuasive, as a cabaret "narrator." ("I'm so excited to be turning sixty!" "It's wonderful to be alone!") ....It's really difficult to run a cabaret. Even Audra McDonald can't do it; she is tediously reverent. ("I just hope to be worthy of Harold Arlen's work!") To me, the best author of banter is Bernadette Peters; she ought to have control over everyone's script. Peters tells weird, loopy stories about her resume: "I lied, back in 1959, and I've been meaning to make an edit...I've just been so busy....with El Niño...." That's how you seduce an audience.
I'm grateful to have spent my Super Bowl with Alton White, at "Broadway's Supper Club." A B-plus evening--but it's something that you could find only (only, only, only) in New York.
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