the craptacular

It sucks.

It sucked after the first preview and after the 30th. It will suck after its first official performance, and after its last, and on its 4,000th, which I’m sure it will play, undoubtedly to a packed house. It sucks worse than anything you’ve seen in ages, and maybe anything you’ve seen in your life. And after everyone’s medical bills are paid, and all the investors have bought vacation homes in Italy, and after Bono and The Edge have gone on four more world tours and made five more mostly-terrible, mostly-tuneless albums, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, the single most expensive Broadway musical in all of human history, after Reeve Carney is tubby and playing the small stage at state fairs, will still completely, inarguably, utterly suck.

It doesn’t even suck in a way that’s fun (Love Never Dies), or ridiculous (Starlight Express), or offensive (Memphis) or presumptuous (Thoroughly Modern Millie) or half-baked (Wicked). That is to say, it’s not even an interesting kind of sucking, or a notable state of suck.

Because for all its money, and injuries, and hype, what happens onstage at the Foxwoods Theatre is mostly just kind of boring.

They fly for like 5 minutes. Five. That’s it. Which leaves an additional 2.65 hours of talking, overarticulated guffawing, a power outage that apparently has something to do with the title of the show, a beauty pageant of badguys that makes no sense, some army guys, a flying spider who wears dominatrix gear, midair spider sex, Gideon Glick pretending not to be mortified, Luther Creek in spandex, Zane Carney looking really bored, lyrics about glasses, a bunch of costumes that just look dirty, a dreadlocked guy drumming on a pickle tub like Angel, and scene after scene after scene of characters you don’t give a shit about a songs that put you to sleep.

This is the part of this review where I would recap the plot if I could remember any of it, but I can’t. Because Spider-Man is, for comic book/blockbuster film nonobsessives like myself, mostly incomprehensible. Like, there’s something about needing to rescue Mary Jane, who is played by poor Jen Damiano with a look of mild but persistent terror in her eyes. Then, once she’s rescued, there’s the matter of Arachne, who’s a giant mythological spider, and that’s when the spider sex happens, but I think that’s after the number where Arachne sings a song about shoes. About spider shoes. Like, a spider wearing shoes. Julie Taymor is so not even shitting you about that. In fact, if I can recommend this show at all, it’s so you can witness the extent to which Julie Taymor is not even shitting you in that exact moment.

I mean, the flying is awesome. It’s elegant and beautifully timed, and when all the bodies get where they’re supposed to be, the effect is breathtaking. There’s a reason why these moments inspire more oohs and aahs than any of the songs, and indeed, the show’s curtain call. It’s because they do something that feels legitimately fresh, and like all that money was, for half an instant, well spent. Because in other places, it’s just not.

Consider the much-hyped, allegedly-awesometastic sets, for example. For those of us who are old enough to remember Miss Saigon, with all its swooping, sliding platforms and hovering pylons, Spider-Man’s mechanics just read as kind of dopey. In one of many crazy-pills moments, a giant cardboard illustration of a baby drops out of the sky and into an equally giant, and equally cardboard hand. Like, really? Just drop a fucking baby doll into someone’s arms and save some cash, Julie!

There are moments when Julie Taymor’s vision peeks out amidst all the overbranded stupidness that’s happening on that stage, when it’s clear that she’s trying to tell a story about one young man’s struggle with his own inner demons and strengths. Part of me wants to rail against all of the obvious corporate influence here, and defend Julie’s unique choices. Like, she’s legitimately trying to create a nuanced, sensitive story that’s about more than just a guy in a suit climbing a building. But honestly, who really wants to see an elegant, mythologically-grounded Spider-Man story with feminist overtones? Who thought Bono was the guy to write that? And in the end, who cares?

It’s not that Julie could have kept this show in previews for another six months and made it awesome. It’s not that Bono could have written a dozen more songs about spiders and suddenly turned it into a masterpiece. It’s not about the work, or the money, or the time. The creators of this show were not the magic bullet of glittering monetary and creative awesomeness here. They are the damn problem. They are why Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is putting people to sleep every single night to the monotonous tune of $150. During this season, I can think of New York City hotel rooms that come cheaper. And offer more comfortable beds.

Secret: Reeve Carney is not a Broadway actor. Or he didn’t start out as one, at least.

The first time I saw him, though, he was indeed playing on a New York stage. And at the time, you’d never have guessed at his future as a Broadway leading man, mostly because he was huddled under a hat, playing guitar in Jonny Lang’s backup band. And I remember noticing him for one reason: He seemed way too pretty to be there.

To understand this, you need to know a bit about Jonny Lang, the actual leading man onstage that night. A blues guitar prodigy from Fargo, Minnesota, Jonny had a multi-platinum-selling album when he was 15. Until 2005 or so, his band mostly consisted of… well… a bunch of old men. Because if you’re playing the blues, chances of finding a band of like-minded, and like-playing 15-year-olds is just sort of unlikely. So for years, Jonny Lang’s band was an incongruous mix of baby-faced Jonny himself and a bunch of grizzled, hard-playing blues musicians. And then all that changed.

Jonny suddenly emerged on tour with a new band. And they were really pretty. Enter Reeve with his wispy-haired, doe-eyed, porcelain-doll-featured thing, slouching in the background behind Jonny and landing an occasional solo. He played second guitar, and I remembered thinking that he wasn’t a very convincing bluesman. I mean, let’s be real. Reeve is a talented musician—although he never once touches a guitar in Spider-Man, go figure—but he looks like he belongs in a cologne ad, or leaning against a wall in the bar at the W hotel. Or belting out a showtune on a Broadway stage. In that light, maybe Reeve has indeed found his true calling.

Other factoids about Broadway’s high-flying super hero:

• He played the younger version of Ethan Hawke’s character in Snow Falling on Cedars when he was 16.
• He’s the star of Julie Taymor’s film version of The Tempest, which kind of bombed at the box office, but we’ll probably check it out when it’s streaming on Netflix
• He’s friends with former teen pop sensation, and our personal fangirl fav, Taylor Hanson. Taylor has already seen Spider-Man, and if we’d been there, we’re not sure we’d have been able to handle all that pretty in one room.
• His brother Zane, who is—illogically—both hairier and girlier looking than him, is in the Spiderband, too.
• He’s allegedly dating Lisa Origliasso, lead singer of the Aussie band The Vernoicas. That’s kind of ridiculously hot.
• His band Carney was on the verge of breaking very big when this whole Spider-Man thing happened. We’re guessing they’re not exactly bitter.

Photo: Kerry Payne

Last week Kyle Dean Massey posted a Twitpic of himself in his Fiyero costume and, to quote the state of Massachusetts, he looked wicked sexy.

But we here at The Craptacular remember when Shiz’s resident bad-boy looked something like this:

And that is…not the same.   My how Fiyero has changed!

Hair pulled up its roots and set off on a US tour this past fall.  Leading the way is actor Steel Burkhardt, who plays Berger, the loin cloth wearing third of the show’s central love triangle and general class clown.  It’s no secret we here at The Craptacular love Diane Paulus’ revival of the 1967 Tribal Love Rock Musical and Steel Burkhardt, too.  Recently, Steel took some time out to chat with us and, you know, make The Mick fall even more in love with him.  Below, see what he had to say about the show, his tree-hugging tendencies and his Hot Rod High School years.  But be forewarned: you’ll probably fall in love with him too.

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M: So, we have to ask.  One critic saw the show in Seattle and he seemed pretty convinced that your hair was a weave. I was wondering if you’d like to take this opportunity to set the record straight.

Steel: I do not wear a weave. I do not wear extensions in my hair. I did cut my hair, but only because it was getting too long. It was below my nipples and I was having trouble dealing with it on stage and they wanted it to be fluffier and bigger, so I cut about 4 inches off. But I do not wear anything during the show to make it look longer. That is just my hair.

M: Do you have to do a lot of upkeep on your hair?

Steel: I actually don’t. I wash it once a week, after we’re done with the show week—just wash it and condition it and that’s about it.

M: That’s supposed to be very good for your hair.

Steel: Yeah, your hair actually creates natural oils, I’m told, that are very good for you.

M: Has your relationship with your character changed now that you’re playing it full time and not just understudying?

Steel: Oh yeah, sure. When you’re understudying, you’re trying to recreate another person’s vision of what that character is. Of course you have your own ideas, but they’re the ones who created the character. Luckily, Will [Swenson] had a really good idea and Diane Paulus and I kind of stuck with what she and Will had created at first. But we put some new spin on it and made it a little more towards the way I am—goofier and more intense at the same time.

M: Famous nude scene aside, you spend a lot of time running around the stage in a tiny loin cloth with the lights up. What’s that like?

Steel: The loin cloth was really no big deal. I think it’s more interesting, actually, because it lets your imagination run. When you’re naked, you’re just naked. There’s no imagination. I think that’s why when I watch a movie or a scene, and it’s supposed to be sexy, I prefer it to be where the person is, of course, revealing some skin, but is still covered, because then it lets your imagination run wild and you create what is underneath those clothes. When a person is naked, there’s nothing for your imagination, you’re just like “Oh, they’re naked.”

M: Do you have any crazy audience interaction stories?

Steel: In Portland, when I pulled a woman up to tell the audience she was my mother, she basically started telling everyone how she birthed me. She started doing this… downward motion, from, uh…from where, you know, where the babies come from. She’s just making this downward motion and it was just so funny that the cast and I, we just lost it.

M: You mentioned before that you’ve brought some of yourself to the character of Berger. Were you always a little bit of a hippie, or has playing Berger made you one?

Steel: I definitely have some hippie in me. Both of my parents are, I would say, kind of hippies as well. Maybe bohemian is more the word for it.

I’m not as much of a hippie as Berger would be, or as most of the characters of the show would be. I’m a big outdoors-y person, so that’s pretty hippie. And I would say I love trees so I guess you could call me a tree hugger.

M: Where did you grow up? And what was it like?

Steel: I grew up in Union, New Jersey. It’s a suburban town outside of New York City. I think it’s pretty cool. It’s right outside the city, so you’re really close. A lot of people live there and commute to New York for work. It’s also close to the Delaware Water Gap, and to areas where you can hike or camp.

M: Did you have an opportunity to see a lot of theater growing up? What was the first Broadway show you ever saw?

Steel: I saw the revival of Damn Yankees with Jerry Lewis. I saw The Who’s Tommy, and I saw The Phantom of the Opera. The first Broadway show that I really remember was Phantom of the Opera. I saw that on my birthday.

M: Did you always want to act?

Steel: No. No, I wanted to be a chef. I used to have one of those chef’s hats, you know? And I always used to help my grandmother and my mom cook in the kitchen. But then I took a cooking class in middle school and I got a C. My mom said if I didn’t pull my grade up in cooking, I’d never be a chef. And I never did.

M: Wow! Dreams dashed at such a young age. When did you get into acting, then?

Steel: I just always kind of did it. My brother Meridoc started acting when he was 11 or 12. I’m five years younger, and I started watching him. I was one of those kids who wanted to be just like their brother. So I started doing everything he did. And I just stuck with it, and just kept doing it all through high school and figured ‘Well, I might as well go to school for it.’ So I did, and then I luckily hit with this show and was able to run with it. It just kind of happened.

M: So, what is your dream role in another musical?

Steel: For a long time I wanted to sing Phantom. Maybe that’s still a goal. But really, I don’t know. At this juncture, I’m content with doing this show and this role.
M: It sounds like you have a pretty laid back approach to your career.

Steel: Yeah, I may be too laid back. [Laughs.]

M: We love your tattoo at The Craptacular. Is there a story behind it?

Steel: I was 18 and I was in a rock band with a bunch of guys and we were really into ‘50s Hot Rods.  I used to own a ’57 Oldsmobile two-tone Super 88.  A bunch of my guys had cars like that too; they all had tattoos and were really big into the Stray Cats and that kind of music.

I’d always wanted to get a tattoo of Superman, because, you know, I’m the ‘Man of Steel’ or whatever. [Laughs]  But I wanted it to be something that was mine. So I came up with this idea that I wanted it to be engulfed in these 1950s-style flames, like my car had at the time. So I brought my idea to the tattoo artist and he drew it up for me. We went through two or three different version, so I was almost 19 when I got it.

M: Okay, a couple quick questions that we ask everyone we interview. Just say whatever comes to mind first. What are some words that you use too often?

S: “Awesome” or “Cool.” I use those words to express myself all the time.

M: What are some words that you don’t use often enough?

Steel: Uhm. The right ones. [Laughs] I’m always like, ‘I’m looking for a word that means this.’ And I come up with 5 different words that kind of mean what I’m trying to say but I’m never able to find the perfect word. And then two days later I’m like ‘That was it! That was the word!’ You know, you always remember.

M: What was the last book that you read?

Steel: I’m really bad about reading books. I only get halfway through them. Right now I’m reading The Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. Before that, I read his book about how he had moved back to America after living in London for 20 years [A Walk in the Woods]. A friend gave it to me, which was fitting because I was just in London.

M: What is your favorite mid-to-late-90s pop song?

Steel: I can’t even think of—I’m a melody person. I know songs but I never remember the names of them. My favorite album in the 90s was Michael Jackson’s “Dangerous.” And I used to love listening to the song that’s in “Free Willy.” I used to play it all the time.

M: In honor of your name we have prepared a series of Steel related questions. They’re either/or questions, so just go with your gut instinct, okay?

Steel: Okay.

M: Blue Steel or Stainless Steel?

Steel: Stainless Steel.

M: Steel Magnolias or Steel Pier?

Steel: Ooooh. Steel Pier.

M: Steely Dan or Stealer’s Wheels?

Steel: I would say Steely Dan.

M: Remington Steele or Man of Steel?

S: Man of Steel.

M: Last one. Danielle Steel or the Pittsburgh Steelers?

S: Pittsburgh Steelers, all the way.

Credit: Francyne Carr Photography

It’s counter intuitive: Some of the most exciting moments in live theater are on video, poorly-edited and grainy and with tinny sound. But for a theater fan, YouTube is a treasure trove of off-the-beaten-track performances. We’ll be doing more of these in the future, but we wanted to kick off this series with something we love lots: handsome leading men.

Raul Esparza singing “Defying Gravity”

Raul’s version of “Defying Gravity” is so much more than a cover, or a fun little take on a song that he’d never get paid to sing eight times a week. It’s a brilliantly-performed sendup of the whole Broadway phenomenon that is Wicked, including its now-famous stars. (Check his hilarious nod to Cheno about two minutes in.) Lots of guys can sing a song. Only Raul can do it with this much wit and panache.

Patrick Wilson singing “If I Loved You”

So, I will admit bias on this one: I was there when it was filmed. I had lived in New York City for three days and managed to catch Patrick Wilson at Seth’s Broadway Chatterbox in the last moments before he embarked on a Hollywood career for realz and more-or-less kissed Broadway goodbye. Patrick sang this because he played Billy Bigelow on the road in Nicholas Hytner’s revival of Carousel. For those of us who couldn’t make it to, say, Rhode Island in 1997, this is a splendid treat.

Norbert Leo Butz singing “I Could be in Love With Someone Like You”

All of the bootleg-y videos of Jason Robert Brown’s Last Five Years are fun to watch, but none are quite as excellent as this one. Singing a song that was eventually cut from the show (Brown’s ex threatened to sue, saying that the song felt a little too close to their real relationship), Norbert was never more on-the-nose as an actor or singer as he is here. Everything about this performance is so right—the subtly neurotic delivery, the crazy big notes. We’re glad this is captured for (hopefully?) posterity on the smallest of small screens.

Aaron Tveit singing “Run Away With Me”

Aaron Tveit wants to run away with you. No, he really does. Stop packing your suitcase for a minute to watch this video, though. It’s a good song nicely performed, but really, we love this video for the way it plays right into the hands of all of our schoolgirlish fantasies of one of our favorite Broadway heartthrobs. If only he’d taken his shirt off…

Gavin Creel singing “I’ve Been”

Gavin Creel singing Next to Normal? Fuck yeah. Well, sort of. Taken from a showcase of Tom Kitt’s songs at Joe’s Pub, this video of Gavin singing an early version of “I’ve Been” is totally rad for its shear novelty. And for the fact that Gavin sings better than basically anyone on earth, natch.

Johnny Gallagher singing “All That’s Known”

Moritz singing Melchior’s song? Stop it! But yeah, it happened, and the effect is… kind of awesome, if a tad disorienting. Gallagher’s take on this song is a complete 180 from Jonathan Groff’s. Like, imagine if Melchior forgot to take his antidepressants, never cut his hair, and was too wrapped up in his moody poetry to notice Wendla staring at him from across the room. We love it. And we can’t help but think that we might have liked that Melchior better…

Jonathan Groff singing “Here I Go Again”

So, yes, this performance does kind of make us feel like we’re taking crazy pills. But against all odds (A Motown-ish arrangement of hair metal? Seriously, what?), this performance from Jonathan Groff’s equally surreal Joe’s Pub set actually kind of works, thanks to Jon’s singular determination that it should work, damnit. As always, a little of Groff’s charm—the thing that constantly gets him cast as the doe-eyed fallen angel—goes a long, long way. Maybe he really does love Whitesnake. Or maybe he just knows how to wrap a crowd of swooning girls around his finger.

Anthony Warlow singing “This Is the Moment”

True story: Broadway’s greatest singer has never set foot on Broadway. Australia’s Anthony Warlow, reigning god of all excellent late-eighties/mid-nineties cast albums, has stuck mostly to his homeland, playing The Phantom and roles in opera. In February, he’ll play Dr. Zhivago onstage in a musical version of the film in Sydney, a move that’s making us seriously ponder a trip around the globe. Nothing, however, is quite like hearing him sing songs from Jekyll & Hyde. He never played the role(s) onstage, appearing only on the iconic 1994 cast album, but his mark on the show is undeniable. In fact, it never seemed quite right—or, let’s be real, even remotely good—without him.

19 inches of snow may or may not be enough to keep us inside—seriously, Billie Joe Armstrong is still on the Broadway stage, its mighty tempting to brave the elements.  But.  If we manage to convince our theater-addled brains we need to stay indoors, wrapped up in as many blankets as we can find, here are some of the things we’ll be talking about over hot-cocoa.

Jonathan Groff is all up on the big screen again.  Or.  He will be.  So for now, we’ll just obsessively watch his movie trailers online.

Speaking of the big screen.  Apparently the Broadway stage just wasn’t big enough for President Sexypants’ snug britches.  Benjamin Walker nabbed the lead in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.  We here at The Craptacular like to think we saw this coming—remember when he told us his most recent reading materials had been all about Honest Abe?

The Mick interviewed Steel Burkhardt—who is on tour with Hair playing Berger—for Caught in the Act and didn’t have a heart attack or shout the word ‘boner’ at any time during the proceedings. She’s proud of herself. We’ll be posting the interview next week. Prepare yourself to fall in love.

The cast of Catch Me If You Can met the press.  This is important because it produced a picture (the picture so nice we reblogged it twice) of Norbert Leo Butz and Aaron Tveit about to go in for a sloppy tongue kiss.  Week.  Made.

Phantom of the Opera turned 23 this week and we learned that the Phantom is kind of a manwhore, he popped a whole lot of folks’ #broadwaycherry.  Who popped yours?

Broadway cuteperson Kyle Dean Massey has a new gig – an off-Broadway show called Lucky Guy, which opens at the Little Schubert in May. We’ll buy a ticket, but we’re subtly yet distinctly concerned about this promo photo.

PR people across the entire city of Los Angeles think we should care about Matt Morrison’s solo album, which apparently drops in the spring. And we do, sort of. We care to the extent that we’re still not quite over our crushes on the album’s guest songwriter, *NSync alum JC Chasez? Does that work?

Rocker (and Oscar-winner, true story!) Melissa Ethridge went into rehearsals for her week-long stint as St. Jimmy in American Idiot next week. We’re hopeful. And confused. And hopeful. But mostly confused.

Twitter told us: Cheyenne Jackson’s dog is ridiculously adorable, Gavin Creel went into rehearsals for Prometheus Bound, and Billie Joe Armstrong wore a cheerleading costume on stage for curtain call.

Also. With costume craziness, famous guest stars, and Billie Joe Armstrong stealing people’s cameras, American Idiot’s encore just became the most vibrant, interesting thing on Broadway.  Which goes to show how badly we need some new shows to open!

Now for something completely different: a Blind Vice! …Any idea who this is about? We’ll give you three guesses, and the first two don’t count.

I thought I was done with Hair.  I’d seen it in several productions, with several casts, on more than one continent, and I’d bid it farewell.  Packed the Playbills into the memory box beneath my bed.

But then Steel Burkhardt—current theater love numero uno—was cast as Berger in the touring company.  And a trip to LA coincided with closing weekend at the Pantages.  And all bets were off.  I bought tickets.  I think this is what average folks call ‘addiction.’

Seeing Hair at the Pantages was like seeing Hair for the first time—absolutely joyous.  I left the theater wishing this ‘Where Do I Go Tribe’ had been the Broadway replacement cast.  They were so energetic, natural and exuberant—so everything this past spring’s replacement cast was not.  I credit that mostly to the superb leads, from Steel Burkhardt and Paris Remillard to Kacie Sheik, Darius Nichols and Matt DeAngelis.  They set an amazing standard and the rest of the tribe was right there to support them every step of the way.

Other Important Things of Note:

Steel Burkhardt is glorious. He’s really made Berger his own—goofier and more loving, with less of an asshole underbelly—and he owns that theater.  Honestly, he’s absolutely mesmerizing.

Steel and Paris have wonderful chemistry.  I was worried—Gavin Creel and Will Swenson’s chemistry seemed impossible to beat—but by the time the orgy started in Act II my stomach was in absolute knots. So were my panties.

Speaking of Paris.  After Jonathan Groff, Gavin Creel and even Jay A Johnson, he had some stiff competition in the Claude department.  Mr. Remillard more than rose to the occasion with his beautiful voice and honest, searching vulnerability.

They kept some approximation of Gavin Creel’s Golden Note in “I Got Life.”  It was exciting to hear it again.  I leapt up in my seat and elbowed my friend when it soared out.

Matt DeAngelis’ Woof is ridiculously lovely.  There’s something so pure and pretty about both his voice and his take on fuzz-loving Woof.

Josh Lamon and Allison Guinn make a wonderful pair, on stage as well as off.

You should go see the tour if the chance comes your way.  It’s the best cure for a bad day I’ve ever found, and damn good entertainment any other day of the week.

PS. We scored an interview with Steel Burkhardt, and it was amazing. (He used the word ‘nipples,’ y’all.  Nipples!)  We’ll be posting it next week, so keep your eyes peeled and come back to check it out.

OK, don’t be shocked by this. But there are new shows opening in 2011 that are not Spider-Man. One of them is Catch Me If You Can, a musicalization of the 2002 film that starred Leo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks, and we’re excited. Throw names like “Norbert Leo Butz” and “Aaron Tveit” on the same marquee and we’ll buy a ticket, no matter what.  But with the release of the show’s promotional materials, including a sampler CD of songs, we’ve started to form our first thoughts on this new musical and well… Here’s our take.

1. Where the hell is Norbert? A show that’s employing one of Broadway’s truly great singers, and they forget to put him on the sampler CD? What’s that about? Sure, we get Aaron Tveit singing more flawless, vibrato-free, buttery notes in two songs than he did in the entirety of Next to Normal, but Norbert brings complexity and experience to the table that Aaron, much as we love his biceps him, can’t muster. Maybe it was intentional, so our curiosity would lead us right to the box office. And maybe it was just a bummer of an oversight.
2. I’m already skipping songs. And there’s only four of them. Call it Miss Baltimore Crabs Syndrome. Marc Shaiman is a good composer, but he’s also good for at least one stinker per show. In this case, they actually included it on the sampler CD. Called “Jet Set,” it’s sung by a bunch of stewardesses about, like, all the people they’ve slept with in cities around the world. Yawn. And the melody’s pretty dull, too.
3. It’s pink! One of my favorite things about the film was its very specific sense of style—its vintage primary colors and prickly geometric shapes. (Remember the opening titles? We still do.) The styling for the musical has gone… pink. Neon pink, to be exact. Which is fine, except that the color hardly existed before 1985. We understand that Legally Blonde was a game changer for Broadway, palate-wise, but all that flash is kind of giving us a headache. We hope the show doesn’t do the same.
4. Nice work, Kerry Butler. Girl can sing a song, no joke. And this one certainly works for her. “Fly, Fly Away” has been kicking around for a while now, thanks to a stealth YouTube video or six. As the show’s probable 10:30 number and resident Meaningful Power Ballad, it really seems to work. We’ll have to get ourselves into the theater to confirm, but just listening to the music, there’s something a little callow, not about Butler’s interpretation but about the song itself. Like, yeah. You lost your man. He was great. And a criminal. And he’s Aaron Tveit, so we kind of get it. But we really hope that this song has more heft in person.

15 years ago today most of Broadway’s hot new stars were still living in the suburbs, or the country, or a city far away from New York.  Spring Awakening wasn’t even a glimmer in Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater’s eyes.  And I was still three full years away from first falling in love with RENT.  15 years ago today Broadway lost one of its brightest young minds when Jonathan Larson suddenly passed away.

RENT was huge, and not just at the box office.  It changed the tenor of Broadway shows, started to bridge the gap between rock concerts and theater, and helped theater appeal to a much younger audience.  Also worth noting: Stephen Sondheim liked both RENT and Larson, which is saying something

The sadness and beauty of Larson’s legacy go hand in hand.  Sadness because he was lost just as he was taking off, and we never got a chance to hear what he might say next.  Beauty because he will always, always live on in the musicals that survived him, that reach us all to this day.  Just as he will live on in every life that is touched by his work, inspired to do something, move somewhere, live their life like there is no day but today.