May 7-14/12 – New York – We got to see 10 shows in NYC, in alphabetical order – Cole Porter Exhibition at the New York Library for the Performing Arts – an unbelievable collection of memorabilia of Mr. Porter, from his Academy Award, Tony Award, various cigarette cases from his adoring friends, great letters from the likes of Vivian Leigh thanking Cole for spending Christmas at his home when she had just separated from Laurence Olivier, correspondence from Katharine Cornell and her female lover, again thanking him for his hospitality, his dressing gowns etc., a treat for everyone; End of the Rainbow - with an incredible performance by Tracie Bennett as Judy Garland during her last days appearing at Talk of the Town, she also plans to tour with the show so it may just end up in Toronto; Gentlemen Prefer Blondes – Megan Hilty from Smash gets to once again recreate Monroe, in a great performance in this Encore presentation of this 1949 broadway musical, a concert presentation with full orchestra and a large number of great actors, fully costumed with settings suggestions, a few years back I saw Donna Murphy in Wonderful Town and it managed to transfer to Broadway. Their shows are always highly professional, and a treat when one gets to see one of their productions; Ghost the Musical, based on the film, with fantastic illusions, and a great supporting performance by Da'Vine Joy Randolph in the Whoopy Goldberg part; Leap of Faith, the final performance with a great performance by Raul Esparza, choreographed by our own Sergio Trujillo; The Lyons with a stand-out performance by Linda Lavin in a very black comedy; The Disney musical Newsies, a very energetic recreation of the newsies strike in 1899 in a limited engagement at the moment but we know it will be around for many years to come – the singing and dancing are both standouts; Nice Work If You Can Get It, a loosely based on an early Gershwin musical with music taken from various Gershwin shows, featuring Matthew Broderick, Kelli O'Hara with featured performances by Judy Kaye, and Estelle Parsons, the show ended up being a pleasant surprise as neither of us expected much after the lukewarm reviews; Once, an Irish musical based on the film, which was a little like Riverdance without the dance – the set is an Irish pub and the audience could go up and get drinks and listen to the music before the show started—the first act had a lot of charm, but by the time it was over we were glad it was, the critics however think it may just win the Tony Award for best musical; the low point of the week, One Man, Two Guvnors, a Commedia dell'Arte version of The Servant of Two Masters, we found just silly, and only a few of the audience members seemed to find it funny as well, in spite of it's success in London and James Corden's raves from some critics; Venus in Fur – a sexual diversion with great erotic performances by Nina Arianda (Born Yesterday) and Hugh Dancy, directed by Walter Bobbie