I returned to Broadway last Wednesday, November 17.  It was a little more than 20 months since I saw my last show, days before Covid shut down Broadway.  I saw The Lehman Trilogy, a deep dive into the 164 history of the famous family business.  The crowd was wowed by the 3 plus hour show and the standing ovation was well deserved.  It is back on Broadway and is a powerful drama that you should consider seeing.

My brother, another big theater guy, was coming up from DC for his friend’s birthday party.  And, we decided to leap back to Broadway in a big way.  A matinee of Jagged Little Pill, the Tony Award winning musical based on Alanis Morissette’s album was his choice.  The show built around the album’s songs delivered an exciting musical adventure.  The cast and band were top notch. And, the created story was much stronger than the usual “jukebox” musical.  As the show ended, the standing ovation was mammoth.  It felt so good to applaud wildly for a show after all this time.  Seeing the cast, applaud back at us, brought a tear to my eyes.

For the second part of our doubleheader, we headed up to Lincoln Center to see the new show, Flying Over Sunset.  The show focuses on an imaginary day when three famous public figures, who really dabbled with LSD, take a trip together in Malibu.  Cary Grant, Claire Booth Luce, and Aldous Huxley are played by fabulously talented performers.  It is a musical with spectacular staging, nice dancing, and some good songs.  The show runs for about three hours.  The audience did not all get up and applaud.  I will be interested in seeing what the critics and public verdict will be on this out of the box show.

The vaccine check and mask mandate helped the comfort level on entering.  Are you planning to see a show soon and Get Up for a Standing Ovation?