Escape To Margaritaville

Exactly five lunar years after our last trip to New York City, Katie and I traveled to NYC last weekend and, while we were there, we saw Jimmy Buffett's new Broadway musical, Escape To Margaritaville! Here is my spoiler-free review:

THE GOOD

• The vocal talent is awesome - especially the women! If you're a Buffett fan, it's really cool to hear familiar songs sung with range, multi-part harmonies, and vibrato! It's especially interesting to hear some classic Buffett songs sung by women, which makes for an entirely new tone - and even meaning - to songs you know by heart. I can't wait to get my hands on the cast recording!
• The song list is a good mix of well known hits and more obscure songs from the Buffett catalog. 
• The musical takes full advantage of the medium and creates some truly fantastic scenes. If you're a Buffett fan, you've been waiting your entire life to see the full audio-visual realization of Cheeseburger, Volcano, and more - even if you didn't know it! Seriously; a few of the music numbers are worth the price of admission all by themselves.
• Some parts of the show are just really, really fun. There is one scene, for example, that makes no sense whatsoever, and seems like more of a "Jimmy said that, if this is a Broadway show, it has to have THIS element in it," but it still totally works because it's so fun. The ending also does a really faithful job of recreating the experience of being at a Buffett concert - so much fun!
• The show is really self aware. It doesn't take itself or its source material too seriously, which is very coherent with its fun tone. There is subtle - and not-so-subtle - political commentary slipped in too, which I really enjoyed.
• The show is loaded with references to Buffett songs. Sometimes those are paid off eventually with a musical number but sometimes they are left as Easter eggs for fans. Because the show is still in previews, it's possible that these references are actually "orphaned" setups for different musical numbers that we didn't see in our show because they are still playing around with the final set list but, either way, I enjoyed all the additional references.
• There are some good characters and plot arcs - especially including some strong women!

THE BAD

• Many of the songs stop prematurely; one or two verses are sung and then the actors return to their dialog. As I have blogged previously, Jimmy Buffett is a storyteller; each of his songs has its own narrative arc. Aborting the song before it reaches its conclusion felt unfulfilling to me.
• Many song lyrics were changed to fit the song into the overall narrative of the show. Some of these changes keep the song's intent but some of them completely change the song's meaning. I totally get why they did it and, in some cases, I found it to be quite clever. In many cases, though, it subverted my expectations so kind of took me out of the song. 
• In a couple of places the show weaves multiple songs together into a revolving medley of sorts. Further to my point above about the song lyrics, in some ways I think it was quite clever (E.g. they blend together Coconut Telegraph and Head Hurts / Feet Stinks, both of which march through the days of the week.) but overall it doesn't quite work for me. I feel like it's almost there but its reach just exceeds its grasp. Again I understand why it was done for narrative purposes but it came at the cost of the music.
• The crowd, at least at our show, was really timid. You could tell that many people really wanted to sing along but weren't quite sure whether that was encouraged or even allowed. During a couple of numbers - and increasingly as the show progressed - people threw caution to the wind and belted it out, which was really fun. If the show could find a better way to make it clear early on if/when singing along is encouraged, I think it would really enhance the experience.
• There are some bad characters and plot arcs - unfortunately including the central love arc.

THE UGLY

• Nothing to see here!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Buffett fans might be disappointed by some of the changes to songs they know and love but overall will love the Broadway spectacle-ization of his canon. Non-Buffett fans may not experience quite the same highs as those who already love the music but also won't have any expectations to be subverted by the changes. Those seeking serious theater should probably stay away (Duh?) but this is a really fun, light-hearted jukebox musical with great music for everyone else. Attending this show will definitely change your latitude/attitude for a few hours!

Weekend in NYC - Part 2

Last Saturday was a long, wonderful day in NYC. We started with brunch at Rosemary's in Greenwich Village, not a far walk from where we were staying. The weather was wonderful for such a walk: sunny and clear, great for enjoying all the snow of the night before! Rosemary's was excellent too. Apparently much of their food comes from their rooftop garden, but when we went up to check out the garden it was buried under a foot of snow! So I'm assuming they make other arrangements during the winter . . . Regardless we had a blast catching up with friends from college and high school over delicious Italian-inspired breakfast food!

Well nourished, we hopped on the subway (Oh isn't it nice to be in a city with public transportation?!) up to the theater district where we saw a matinee showing of Phantom of the Opera. I was worried that that might be a bit of a cliche tourist trap and that the cast might just kind of mail in the performance but wow, were we ever impressed! Especially the Phantom and Carlotta (for whom it was a Broadway debut) really nailed it - I'm really glad we went!

From there we walked up to Rockefeller Plaza where we paid homage to 30 Rock and popped into a wine bar. After a quick freshening up back at the hotel we ventured out for a long evening. It began with dinner a great high school friend's house. In a city known for night life and fine restaurants, it was encouraging to learn that you could just enjoy dinner at home with some friends as well.

After great food and wine and an introduction to the recent addition to their family, we then made our way over to another high school friend's apartment. He happens to be starting up a new venture related to beer and food pairings so he regaled us with several flights of exotic beers paired perfectly with accompanying cheeses and even desserts!

He then joined us as we walked to our final destination: a bar in Alphabet City where we met up with several old friends from Lovett College at Rice. What a blast from the past - we hadn't seen most of them since college and it was fun to catch up with them until the very wee hours of the morning. It has been a long time since Katie and I stayed out until 3 AM but, if it's going to happen, NYC is probably an appropriate venue!

After our late night, Sunday morning began way too early but we managed to mobilize and make our way to Chinatown for a traditional New Year's celebration. We met friends from elementary school and business school at a dim sum restaurant, where we stuffed ourselves silly for an incredibly low priced meal. The only way to afford living in NYC must be to eat dim sum as often as possible!

As we walked back toward our hotel to pick up our bags and head to the airport we stopped in a Chinatown park where they were setting off fireworks and singing the US National Anthem in celebration - what a great way to ring in the year of the snake!

It was just a short trip to NYC, but I think we did it up right: museums, shows, restaurants, late nights, and - most importantly - friends. We still need to visit the Met and go running in Central Park so I guess we'll just have to return soon!

Weekend in NYC - Part 1

Katie and I had a wonderful weekend in New York City. As much as I travel, both domestically and abroad, I actually haven't been to NYC since before I started blogging - and Katie had never been at all.

One major reason is that I have never really loved NYC. Part of that is just my natural tendency to be a contrarian about "popular" things. I've always been a slow adopter of new popular music, for example, so the more people go on and on about how great "the City" is, the more I usually dig in and claim that you can get the same features elsewhere at a fraction of the price. Moreover, the things NYC is known for - fashion, marketing, [sketchy] finance, and lavish living - all run somewhat counter to the industries and values that I hold dear. Still, I have many great friends there and I always have a great time when I visit.

We flew up Thursday night just before the snow storm hit. We checked into our [tiny] hotel in the East Village and had a good night's sleep followed by a leisurely Friday morning. After breaking our travel fast we headed up to check out some museums, first the Guggenheim and then the MoMA.

The Guggenheim was sort of a bust; part of the museum was shut down due to installation of a new exhibit and the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit about which we were excited turned out to be quite small. The MoMA delivered more although, once again, the Goldfinger and The Scream exhibits we were anticipating were somewhat lackluster - but it made up with lots of impressionism.

The biggest hit by far was our lunch between museums at Candle 79! All organic, all vegan, and with some raw entrees, this restaurant proved emphatically that catering to special dietary needs can still be gourmet and delicious! Plus we were able to catch up with a friend there whom we hadn't in a long time.

After freshening up back at our hotel we had an early dinner at nearby Almond. This definitely satisfied our seafood fix (in a south of France kind of way!) and ensured that we were properly nourished before our evening show. Between the early reservation and people staying in due to the weather, we didn't feel rushed or crowded at all.

Friday evening we attended a performance of Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, one of Katie's favorite Tennessee Williams plays. We knew that Scarlett Johansson was headlining but we were pleased to recognize several of the other actors as well, including Ciarán Hinds and Benjamin Walker, as well. We really enjoyed the production and would recommend it to anyone else who is a fan of the play. Point to New York: top notch theater packed with Hollywood's best is not a feature you find anywhere else.

By the time we left the theater, NYC was dead. The snow was falling heavily, the roads were slushy, and there were only a few other people in Times Square. We decided to call it a night and save our strength for Saturday.