This past January, I took a brief 3 night trip to NYC. I saw Darren Criss in HOW TO SUCCEED...., the Revival of PORGY & BESS, Harry Connick Jr in ON A CLEAR DAY...., and nestled in between those Shows was a new musical that I knew nothing about called LYSISTRATA JONES. I knew it had had a successful Off-Broadway run and so without doing much research, I bought a ticket. The night before I saw the Wednesday matinee, the Closing Notice was posted for the next Sunday. I was seeing the final Wednesday matinee performance. I entered the theater thinking that there would be a feeling of gloom and sadness surrounding me, but instead, the Cast came onto that stage like Warriors who were there to prove a point! The energy bounding from that stage was palpable and LYSISTRATA JONES ended up being my favorite Show of that particular trip. I thought it was so clever and had a great score. Not to mention that the Cast absolutely kicked ass that afternoon! They were relishing every final moment at the Walter Kerr Theatre. I was honored to be in their presence. LYSISTRATA JONES is a modern day retelling of the classic LYSISTRATA and rather than have the women hold onto their "goodies" until the war is over, in this version the Cheerleaders withhold sexual privileges until the Basketball team begins winning! Ridiculous right? Of course....but so much fun. When I left the theatre smiling that afternoon, I secretly hoped that in spite of the premature closing, they would still find time to record the clever score. So it was with great pleasure that I popped LYSISTRATA JONES, the Original Broadway Cast Recording into my CD player yesterday! The music and lyrics are by Lewis Flinn and although I don't believe the Score is going to be remembered as a Classic, it is extremely clever and fun with some terrific hysterical lyrics and memorable melodies. Highlights are the opening number RIGHT NOW: OPENING, CHANGE THE WORLD, and HOLD ON. The Cast is sensational and sings their guts out on this crisp recording. The treasure of the Recording is the Bonus Track....HOLD ON sung by none other than Jennifer Holliday! It's glorious! If you were one of the lucky ones to see LYSISTRATA JONES, then this CD is a fun revisit. If you missed the opportunity, then sit back with the CD, put the lyrics in front of you, and you will get lost in the true definition of an audience pleasing score. No heavy thinking allowed....just have fun. I believe that LYSISTRATA JONES should still be running. The audience that afternoon felt the same way. So happy that the CD can hopefully keep a Regional life beating for this charmer!
No comments:
Post a Comment