I Got Life, Mother!

I saw some more Broadway shows in New York, but nothing really blew me away this trip.

After Next To Normal, I saw Rock of Ages, an 80s hair-band inspired show using music of Journey, Def Leppard, Poison, Whitesnake, you get the jist...



It was a pretty fun light musical. We were all given a "lighter" upon entrance that we were to use during one of the slow songs in the show. Gimmicky, but fun.

The draw for most people was Constantine from American Idol, but I wanted to see this because Kerry Butler was in it, and I'd already seen her do a great job in both Xanadu and Catch Me If You Can. Here they are on the Today show, singing Don't Stop Believin':



Then I saw a play, just to mix it up a bit. God of Carnage stars James Gandolfini, Jeff Daniels, Marcia Gay-Harden, and Hope Davis and is a comedy about two sets of parents coming together to discuss a fight between their two sons.



It was alright. Not as funny as I was hoping it would be, but entertaining I suppose. James Gandolfini seemed to mumble through his lines at points - maybe he's better playing mafia man on a TV show than he is doing a stage play?

Then, there was Hair. Winner of the 2009 Tony for Best Revival. I don't know much about Hair, other than a sprinkling of songs, and I liked what I saw from some of the performances they've shown on TV. But some people told me it wasn't that great. Joe actually saw it and told me it had no storyline and that only the first and last songs were catchy. Hmm... should I have listened to Joe, or just go see for myself?



I should've listened to Joe. I mean, it wasn't terrible. But he was right in that the storyline was very thin. I did enjoy a few of the songs including Age of Aquarius, Let The Sun Shine In, Hair, and I Got Life. It would've been more fun if I was in an aisle seat and the actors came and danced with me or something, but I was sandwiched between grandma and a war veteran. I was surprised by how sad the show was at the end. The girls behind me were bawling.

I think looking back on it, I enjoy it more than I did when I was sitting there wishing I had gone to West Side Story. The cast recording is now on my iPod, I can't stop chanting "Hair, hair, hair, hair, Hair, hair, hair!" and I'm obsessed with this song: