Bouncing Around Broadway

Two weekends ago, I went with the Weiss gals to see Ghost The Musical on Broadway.  As a huge fan of the movie version, I was anxious to see the new theatrical production.  The show has been getting a lot of flack from critics for focusing on the big budget production rather than the story and I tend to agree.  The lights and special effects were incredible but, to me, took away from any substantial character development.  In every scene from the movie you could get the sense of love between Sam and Molly, but the musical didn't have the same focus.  All of this is not to say that I didn't enjoy it, it was extremely entertaining.  Molly's voice was incredible, Oda Mae Brown was hilarious, and Sam wasn't too terrible to look at either.  If you are a lover of special effects and pretty lights, its worth checking out; if you are looking for the same romantic love story from the movie, I'd just log into Netflix and park it on the couch with Demi, Swayze and Whoopi.


This weekend my family was in town and we checked out Death of a Salesman starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Andrew Garfield.  I think Hoffman is one of the best actors of our time and I've loved Garfield since his breakout in The Social Network.  Neither of them disappointed, which is corroborated by the fact that both received well-deserved Tony nominations last week for their portrayals. The play, written by Arthur Miller in 1949, is a timeless story of a traveling salesman and his relationships with his two sons.  It has been revived four times on Broadway and been made into a major motion picture.  Since I had never seen it before, I don't have anything to compare the production to but I thought the way the flashbacks were portrayed, the staging and the acting were all phenomenal.  It's a dark story at times, but Hoffman, Garfield and the other characters all evoke a plethora of emotions throughout the performance.  I would absolutely recommend this to anyone looking for a good Broadway play, but act fast because it's only out for a limited time!   

Disclaimer: this review may be slightly skewed since we met Andrew Garfield after the show and he is pretty much the cutest thing in the world.  Also spotted outside were Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber.  Love celeb spottings :) 

Playbill signed by my love