Magi Opening Wednesday

[Steve Schenck]

Well, I realize I had been mistaken about the opening of Burt's new show. I thought it opened last Saturday night, but reading something from an LA TV website, I realized that the opening is on Wednesday, December 7th; the previous days of performances are just previews. So hopefully, we'll get to look at some reviews by Thursday, and maybe in the larger LA papers the following weekend. May the gods smile on this new effort, Burt!

[Blair N. Cummings]

I, too, hope that this is a huge success. I like the songs I have heard to date - both of them. If all 23 or so have made it into the show, it seems like more of an opera or oratorio than a standard musical, `though and I worry. Broadway is a very different animal now than forty years ago and two new generations have come of age: people who now think Broadway musicals are essentially theme parks like Spiderman with special effects and corporate rock anthems. IMHO, Broadway has been an obscenely over-priced tourist trap for at least half a century. I wonder if this is the ideal venue for Some Lovers. Especially given the Christmas theme it may be a tough sell on 46th St (or wherever) in July. I wonder if a huge promotional blitz would make this as or more profitable as a pay cable show or webcast. I know how absurd this sounds but I would also hate to see such genius, talent, and effort stillborn as a result of one or two bad reviews by Gen-X columnists with little or no knowledge of or affection for the tradition being exploited (in the best sense) here.
Again, I really want this to blow everyone away; but I wonder if my initial thought that this would be best received as a killer album might yet prove prescient. I hope not.