The most enjoyable evening I’ve spent in the theater recently was at the Encores! production of “I’m Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road,” which wrapped up a brief run at City Center last weekend.
I didn’t know this 1978 show at all, but the score, by lyricist Gretchen Cryer and composer Nancy Ford, was terrific, especially the ballads. My new favorite song is “Old Friend,” which Renée Elise Goldsberry sang with touching simplicity. Not a single person stirred during the song — though several women were weeping at the end. And then there was sustained, thunderous applause.
That Goldsberry isn’t yet a star is mystifying. But mark my words: She will be.
Before I get too carried away, let me deliver the news: “Act” will likely have a life after Encores! Producer Erin Craig, who runs La Vie Productions, has the rights and will soon be meeting with Kathleen Marshall, who directed the show, to figure out what to do next.
There’s talk of Broadway, of course, but “Act” is an intimate show and would probably fare better off-Broadway, maybe in a nightclub. (The show is set in one.)
A hiccup might be Charles Isherwood’s cool review in the Times. But my good friend Charles is an austere hipster, and this show is for middle-aged, liberated and open-hearted feminists such as myself.
The Post’s Elisabeth Vincentelli called it “a heartfelt celebration of woman’s liberation.”
And there is no doubt this show, about a singer-songwriter trying to make a comeback on her own terms, resonates with women of a certain age — who, incidentally, buy the vast majority of theater tickets.
An “old friend” of mine, who saw the show, wrote: “I loved it . . . I memorized every word [of the original cast album], as many teenage girls in 1978 did. ‘Old Friend’ makes me cry every time. Most songs in the score do.”
Rare is the musical today that moves people like that.
A transfer in the fall will be in Marshall’s capable hands, and I trust she’ll keep Goldsberry and the rest of the excellent cast — including Frederick Weller — together.
I’ll be at the opening night with Charles. I’m going to hypnotize him with my lava lamp so that he gives it a good review.
While “I’m Getting My Act Together” is for ladies in a wistful state of mind, “Magic Mike” is for girls who just want to have fun.
The popular movie about male strippers is being adapted as a Broadway musical, Channing Tatum, who starred in it, confirmed on Twitter yesterday.
Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, who wrote “Next to Normal,” are doing the songs, and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who attempted to fix “Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark,” is writing the script.
A director has yet to beannounced.
But what all the women in my office want to know is: Will Channing Tatum be in it?
Not a chance.
He’s a major movie star, and major movie stars seldom appear in Broadway musicals.
To return its investment, a musical that is star-dependent requires, at the very least, a commitment of at least a year from the star.
“Do you have any idea how much money Channing Tatum would be giving up if he spent a year on Broadway?” a veteran agent points out.
So, girls, if and when “Magic Mike” does arrive on Broadway, you’ll have to content yourselves with Jeremy Jordan (“Newsies”) or Andy Karl (“Legally Blond”) or, perhaps, Sebastian Stan and his chest (“Picnic”) — or any one of Broadway’s reigning hunks.
I wonder if Nathan Lane is available.