Of course in his oh-so-jaded-way, Jonathan had to call it "S**tty S**tty Bomb Bomb."  I don't think he's seen it - it's just kinda required to be negative about shows you're not directly involved with.  Well, I couldn't even rustle up someone to take with me, but I had a really good time.

Robert over at Playbill says his 9-year-old loved it.  Couldn't quite manage to see the show through those eyes, so the theme park experience (as per Michael at the AP) might not have been enough to make me walk out actually humming the stupid tongue-twister theme song (which of course is available online - since some idiot reserved chittychittybangbang.com, the production is stuck with www.chittythemusical.com - go there and the music starts playing.  And I'm a sucker for flying cars - plus I had a crush on Herbie the Love Bug for years.  And I'm a Raul Esparza fan.  But still.  I needed more.

I got more from Marc Kudisch and Jan Maxwell as the Baron and Baroness Bomburst, respectively.  The slightly lukewarm applause the humans got in the first act turned to cheers in the second when the couple went so far over the top they were higher than the flying car.  Although Maxwell has you ready to eat out of her hand from her very first scene - don't miss the "oops" moment.  And eventually, Esparza gets close to the level he achieved in Taboo with his "Teamwork."  

Oh!  That was Philip Bosco as Grampa Munster, just noticed it in the Playbill.  I guess it's Eleven Angry Men now.  The kids ensemble is great, and the large animal cast is pretty unforgettable.  And although it irritates me when the set gets a hand, it was pretty spectacular.  And everything flies, eventually.  Even the outhouse.

And how about this - you can now eat and drink in the theater!  An expensive novelty, but I guess there's certain fathers that will only bring their kids to Broadway if they can drink beer during the show.

On the BroadRay scale of value, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is worth bringing lunch to work for a couple of weeks to see.  Not up to the skip dinner for 2 nights level of Sweet Charity, but not bad at all. And of course I'm taking about the discounted price - if you're not up to the herd at TKTS go to ticketmaster and use code BTELE to save $25 on weeknights and have them waive the service charge - $75 is still a lot of moolah but it's something. Good til July 2, 2005.

There is no question that Harvey Fierstein is miscast in FIDDLER ON THE ROOF.  There’s also no question that a great actor can triumph even over being miscast.  Last night at the Minskoff, I saw Harvey almost triumph.  As this was his very first performance, I have little doubt that before long even the “almost” will no longer be necessary in that sentence.

It didn’t look good at the beginning – between watching the boys of Anatevka prance around in “Tradition” as if meaning to make Harvey look more butch by comparison, the stiffness of his own gestures reminiscent of Zaza trying to learn to be manly in LA CAGE, and the wash of orchestra and chorus completely obliterating Harvey’s singing voice in the first few numbers, I started thinking a parody angle might have been a better choice than playing it straight.

But as my favorite numbers rolled by, from “To Life” to “Tevye’s Dream,” it got easier to notice Harvey’s unique bleat of a voice less and to notice his thrilling power as an actor more.  To his credit, there were no inappropriate laughs, no shortcuts and no apologies.  Whether thundering to Golda, “I am the man of this house!” or having one of his asides to God, he showed such conviction and commitment that, ultimately, the audience was left with no choice but to believe that he is, indeed, Tevye, as much as he clearly does. 

I hate to admit I’d put off seeing this revival partly due to its mixed reviews.  Seeing it for the first time, I was not nearly as put off by the minimalistic (but effective and beautiful, I thought) set, nor by the pace of David LeVeaux’s direction.  The ensemble sparkled throughout, and it was easy to pick the Tony Nominee out of the supporting cast – John Cariani’s quirky, twitchy Motel is the one characterization I will miss most the next time I re-watch my beloved movie version of FIDDLER.  (I also remembered that on the red carpet before last year’s Tonys, he came across exactly as he does on the stage.)

This production is certainly not for everyone; and anyone who believed Harvey’s quirky character would disappear in the marvelous creation that is FIDDLER ON THE ROOF will be disappointed.  But if you’re like me, and you love to have an actor work this hard for you and for the show, if you appreciated Bernadette Peters in GYPSY or Richard Gere in CHICAGO, or any actor stepping far beyond the expected and insisting, “I can do this,” you must not miss this act of faith. 

Hey!  Edie Falco is in a play!  Yeah it sounds serious, but so did Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune, and that wound up having nudity...  How dark could Marsha Norman's Pulitzer Prize- and Drama Desk Award-winning play be?  Well, let's just say if the Hemlock Society gave an award for drama, this would have been a winner. 

'night, Mother is a pretty convincing two-woman play, set in somewhere-way-out-in-the-country home Mama and Jessie have been sharing for an indefinite time since Jessie's husband left her.  Brenda Blethyn's self-absorbed Mama Cates is pushed a little too far in the direction of chirping midwestern widow in the first part of the play, but she brings a real vulnerability to the later scenes.  Edie Falco as her epileptic daugher Jessie, convinced that there's nothing she's good at and sure that she'll never truly enjoy even the taste of tapioca pudding, has planned her own death as neatly as any sociopathic genius. 

As Jessie methodically lays out the various matters her mother's going to have to deal with on her own (she's made a list), from where the candy is kept to which dress to wear to the funeral, Mama bustles about, clearly challenged by something unexpected happening for the first time in a really, really long time.  Theses are women that have stopped living a long time ago.  And the play is most effective as a meditation on what can happen next.

Even though it's clear Jessie is expert at attending to Mama's every need, the play claims there's little else she can do.  Or was ever able to do.  And her one claim to control of her own life is to end it.  'night, Mother explores this idea a little bit, and explores the history of these two women, their marriages, their lives and their claustrophobic world a lot.  The genius of the play is the way you wind up identifying with both characters in turn.  And yet they are so self-absorbed, so very limited in the options they can see, that identifying with either is also chillingly uncomfortable. 

You can see Mama's wheels turning as she occasionally actually slips into planning her future without Jessie.  And Jessie's loathing for everyone and everything is palpable.  There is a great deal of exposition with no truly grand revelations ("your father had fits, too." )  There is one moment that made the audience gasp loudly and, in at least one case, scream.  All in all, it's a suffocatingly dark night of theater.  At its best, it might inspire one to live a little more and exist a little less.  Don't see it alone, and bring the Prozac.

If you do want to go, save a few bucks before December 19th.  Just follow this link: this link and enter code NMDMX27 to save up to 40% on tickets.