I was swamped with work and chorus concerts during April, but Jeff and I also managed to fit in eight Broadway/Off-Broadway shows.

The two I enjoyed the most were The Drowsy Chaperone and [title of show], both meta-musicals. The Drowsey Chaperone features “The Man in the Chair,” a cast-recording obsessed shut-in who plays his favorite LP for the audience, providing footnotes while the show comes to life in his apartment. It’s basically CASTRECL the Musical, so it’s no surprise Mike and I both enjoyed it. It’s generating a lot of Tony buzz lately, but I still think Jersey Boys will come out on top.

[title of show] (they have a blog!) chonicles two friends’ attempt to write a new musical in 3 weeks to submit to a festival (i.e. the very musical we’re watching, performed by the writers and their 2 female friends). It reminded me of a contemporary take on the “Bobby & Jackie & Jack” section of Merrily We Roll Along. Full of delicious flop musical references, Mike definitely has to catch it when it reopens in July (today was the final performance). And cutie Hunter Bell is only 2 degrees away from me on Friendster.

The Lieutenant of Inishmore can be described as “an episode of Three’s Company as directed by Quentin Tarantino,” and reportedly goes through 40-50 gallons of stage-blood a week (spoilers). The Wedding Singer is a harmless exercise in 80’s nostalgia, but one of my favorite songs (“Right on Time,” which was reprised several times), was cut in previews. And I’m embarrassed to admit that I enjoyed Hot Feet as much as I did (the music of Earth, Wind, & Fire and cute chorus boys can be mildly diverting).

Not so enjoyable was Festen, an English-language version of the Danish film (Jeff and I took his Mom for her birthday; at least we got to spend time with her). Awake & Sing featured a fine performance by Mark Ruffalo, but I didn’t care for the creaky script (I don’t care that Odets is making a comeback). And lastly, since I can’t say anything nice about Tarzan, I won’t say anything at all.