this past weekend i did something i had never done done before - i saw the show twice in less than a 24-hour period. before this it was at least three weeks between shows if not a month or two. not that it's that strange or that there's anything wrong - i enjoyed it immensely!!
the cast was identical both on saturday evening and sunday evening except for the role of squeegeeman (see below) and OH MY GOSH WHAT A CAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
first, a list:
Roger Davis......................................................Manley Pope
Mark Cohen........................................................Jim Poulos
Tom Collins.....................................................Calvin Grant
Benjamin Coffin III.........................................Jacques C. Smith
Joanne Jefferson...............................................Shayna Steele
Angel Schunard....................................................Jose LLana
Mimi Marquez...................................................Yassmin Alers
Maureen Johnson.................................................Carly Thomas
Mark's mom and others............................................Erica Munoz
Christmas caroler, Mr. Jefferson, a pastor, and others...........Byron Utley
Mrs. Jefferson, woman with bags, and others..................Schele Williams
Gordon, the man, Mr. Grey, and others...........................Mark Setlock
Steve, man with squeegee, a waiter, and others.................Dean Balkwill(sat. eve.)/Matt Murphy (sun. eve.)
Paul, a cop , and others.......................................Darryl Ordell
Alexi darling, Roger's mom, and others...............................Tina Ou
last time i saw the show was on norbert's last - a VERY memorable experience. and in less than a month's time i was seeing an almost completely different cast! what was so amazing is how perfect their performance was - no, i don't forget for a minute how talented these people are (how could i - they remind me every time they walk on that stage!) but it still amazes me again and again.
some of my favorites: manley as roger - i love his voice! his roger is perfect - almost too perfect. everything was great! my head spent a bit of time doing playbacks of norbert's last at some points but i love this new roger:) ... yassmin as mimi - ok first of all, the second you hear her prrrrrowl! you're hooked. period. very different mimi than anyone else i've seen - mimi with an edge, sense of danger - very cool. she and manley have great chem!!! what i love most (besides the prrrrrowl! of course;) is how she can improvise her own version of singing mimi's songs and it comes out perfectly and with such ease! ... jacques as benny - rocks each time!! great benny! great dancer! and when i sat in the lotto seat his "hey you bum..." line was being delivered while looking straight in my direction with such a convincing look that it was hard not to burst out laughing!! hope i didn't do anything too distracting ... jose as angel - great!!!!! good voice and an amazing performer!! one of my fav angels!! does lots of fun stuff like his upper-body shake and "suki-suki now" ... calvin as collins - the younger collins - very fun loving, great voice - wonderful! ... shayna & carly as joanne & maureen - THESE TWO BROUGHT DOWN THE HOUSE!!!!! carly's voice is amazing!!! and shayna is amazing in everything she does!!!!!!!!!!!! Take Me Or Leave Me was THE MOST PHENOMENAL I HAVE EVER HEARD OR SEEN!!!!! WOW!!!!!!!!!! ... *jim* as mark (8 shows to date and i have yet to see another mark! won't hear me complaining tho - this is fan heaven:) - as always gave a spectacular performance! some of my new favorites include Tango Maureen w/ Shayna (the drop is very amusing as well:), "more than one dimension", when jim does kneebends!! (wish manley would join in tho!) and every time he lets that great voice out!!!! what you own is amazing and in goodbye love even though jim is smaller than manley in size, you sure wouldn't know it from hearing their confrontation!! great to see a bunch of new voices right up there with him!
about schele williams - I LOVE HER SOLO!!!!!!!!!!!!
sunday evening was matt's last show - we clapped extra hard for one of the best 'will i' soloists:)
and even though the front mezz *still* remains my favorite - lotto seats *are* fun:)
norb's last
FWD
