Jelly's Last Jam (Encores!) (2024)

I was blown away by Jelly's Last Jam. The plot is a little muddy but every single song is a showstopper. The music is infectious, the dancing is energetic and the cast is on fire. The first half is a little more exciting than the second half. The tap dance numbers are mesmerizing, the large ensemble really carrying their weight. The supporting cast each get their moment in the spotlight, and they make the most of it, commanding the stage with authority. Tiffany Mann and Okieriete Onaodowan steal their scenes. Leslie Uggams and Joaquina Kalukango too are incredible. Billy Porter's grim reaper-esque character suits him. And Nicholas Christopher as the leading man is fabulous. The Hunnies look amazing considering the three of them are returning to the role some 32-years later. It's a huge production for a two-week run (we caught the last show). Though the set is sparse, it's very handsome with the band onstage. The music is Jelly Roll Morton's himself. I loved the big band orchestrations. 

 There is a complex story about race. Jelly Roll Morton was a light-skinned Creole man who struggled to fit-in with both white and black people. He alienated his friends for it and was left lonely. His superiority complex and insistence that he invented jazz not only damaged his reputation (which needed no burnishing as his accomplishments were nevertheless vast), but also was an insult to the other black forefathers of jazz. There is a paradox that he didn't see himself as black but thought himself the inventor of a quintessentially black genre. And it is this that haunts him in purgatory in the final moments of his life that make up the show.

There was way more use of the N-word than I was expecting and I suspect that is partly why the show is not oft revived. But surely this production must be Broadway bound. They've spent lavishly on it and it deserves a Broadway run.

Once Upon a Mattress (Encores!) (2024)

What a cast they've assembled for Encores! now in its 30th year. Honestly, it's a shame it's only going to run for two weeks, though even that is long by City Center (beautiful ornate theater) standards. Everyone is perfectly cast to type. I'd say special standouts are J Harrison Ghee whose beautiful singing voice and singular stage presence is readily apparent, Sutton Foster good as always, Harriet Harris as the overbearing mother/queen with a regal British accent, Michael Urie as the naive princeling, and Cheyenne Jackson as the dimwitted knight really into his spurs. Sutton Foster's entrance about thirty minutes in is greeted with a huge applause and her big number Shy is a showstopper. I didn't really have any familiarity with the show but I was pleasantly surprised to find a very funny script and catchy songs. There is a lot of physical comedy too, probably not written in, such as Foster re-adjusting atop the mattresses and Urie rolling up the stairs. It's a fun show I recommend, a steal really for $28. The balcony is super far and high (at 5 flights up), but you can still pretty much see everything save for the back of the orchestra (and one scene of smaller physical comedy that I couldn't make out what Foster was doing).

Into the Woods (2022) (Broadway)

You wouldn't have been able to tell from the Disney movie-adaptation of Into the Woods, but Stephen Sondheim's fairy-tale musical is actually raucously funny. The newest production, recently transferred to Broadway from Encores! at City Center, is extremely campy. And it works so well that it leads me to believe it was always meant to be this way. Especially in the first act, which is generally lighter in tone, the comedy is integral to the production. And even when it takes a darker turn in the second act, it's still there. The second act, by the way, is still excellent, despite being basically an entirely different show. The second act is almost a non sequitur in tone and plot. There is a beautiful moral somewhere in there about childhood and innocence and the example we set for the next generation. It just so happens to be cleverly intertwined with familiar fairy tales. 

The set is pretty bare bones, but it's made up for by some very imaginative puppetry, specifically for Milky White(!), the giant's hands and shoes, and the birds. Kennedy Kanagawa is a standout puppeteer, literally endowing emotions into the simple cow puppet. The orchestra sits on stage and Sondheim's lush melodies come through beautifully (looked like maybe a 20-piece orchestra). The songs are such that there are many one or two-liners that various characters pop onto stage to recite before exiting. The lack of set helps make that more believable. 

Standouts from the cast include Patina Miller at the top. I remember being awestruck by her Leading Player in Pippin, and she is deliriously wicked as the Witch here. Sara Bareilles has now gone full Broadway, and her voice is actually beautifully suited to Sondheim. I would've liked to see Neil Patrick Harris but I think Brian d'Arcy James made an excellent Baker too. And Phillipa Soo as Cinderella is good too (Chinese Cinderella!). Jack and Little Red Ridinghood as the child characters can really play up the camp--Julia Lester as sassy Little Red is especially funny.

PS. Morgan slept through basically the whole thing. I kept nudging her back awake and then she'd get mad at me and promptly doze back off. Shame because it was really good! At least she wasn't missing any visuals. The woman in front of me was really tall unfortunately, blocking a third of the stage.