One of my friends wrote me yesterday to ask me why two movies named Aquamarine and Ultraviolet were opening on the same day. I have no explanation for this releasing decision, although you kinda gotta hope that those tween girls don't get confused and stumble into a violent video game when they really wanted to see Splash Jr..
But the pick of this week's litter is definitely Dave Chappelle's Block Party which has great music and an unusually generous spirit to it. Chappelle is hilarious (no surprise). Mos Def is totally charming. Like the rainbow titles above, Mos is pulling double duty at theaters since 16 Blocks just opened too.Theater NYC
Last weekend at Joe's Pub Lisa Howard sang and knocked my socks off. If you're in NYC and need some great genre-hopping vocals for a reasonable price, you should be at her Ars Nova concert on Tuesday, March 7th.
Or if you're in a more touristy mode, The Pajama Game, is lots of fun. Kelli O'Hara, the female lead, deserves her applause and Harry Connick Jr shamelessly goes bare-chested for the finale (to screams from the balcony). The real highlight though is an unknown, Megan Lawrence. She plays the drunk secretary Gladys. I attended with ModFab and as the show's best number "Hernando's Hideaway" started he whispered "sell it. sell it!" Lawrence must have heard him because she took off and never came back down again. If tickets weren't $100+ I'd tell you that her number is worth the price of admission alone. Crossing my fingers for a TONY nomination for Ms. Lawrence.
Internet Goodies
If you can't get enough Brokeback, you can now display your love. T-Shirts are on sale with proceeds donated to the Matthew Shepard Foundation. I love the red shirt with "Jack Twist?" on the front and "Jack Nasty!" on the back.
And here's an interesting article about payscales for this year's nominated Oscar Characters. [source: popontherocks]
