Anyone Can Whistle including GOD!

Anyone Can Whistle is one of Sondheim's lesser known musicals, and because it's his 80th birthday this year, even the lesser known musicals are getting productions. For something like five days this month NY City Center did a "staged reading" of Anyone Can Whistle. Now, for those of you who are familiar with staged readings they can fall on a WIDE spectrum ranging from a few actors standing on stage around music stands to a full on production with musical numbers, a band, costumes and sets that the actors move around in while happening to be carrying their scripts.

This version of Anyone Can Whistle fell in the latter category. It had a 29 person cast, including Sutton Foster, Donna Murphy, and Raul Esparza (who in my head is my Broadway Boyfriend - I'll digress for one second and say that I first fell in love with Raul Esparza when I saw him in Company, and the specific moment he became my BB was when I saw him sing "Being Alive." That was when I knew that I would have to see Company again and that he would forever hold a place in my heart. Now, I try to see him in everything (though budget often prohibits that) and I was thrilled when he turned up in the DVDs of the (sadly cancelled) show Pushing Daisiess and am hoping he turns up many other places as well) but alas, I digress.

What was I saying? Oh, right, there was a 29 person cast and though the sets were on the minimal side, I would bet that the budget for sets and costumes alone in this production was more than my entire budget for Dreamers of the Day. And, on the full musical production number front, they didn't scrimp at ALL. In fact, in this show, there was one of the most incredible dance moves I've ever seen...I'm going to try to describe it:

So there's this whole massive dance number in the middle of the show. It's like 15 minutes long. And it is chaos - beautiful, controlled chaos. The entire 29 person cast is running and dancing around the stage (no small feat because the orchestra was also on the stage - upstage center). It's basically this massive chase scene where a small group are chasing a larger group and one by one throwing the larger group into jail (which is Stage Right). So one dancer in particular is being pursued by 4 other dancers and the pursuee starts on the Stage Right side and starts to run, flat-out towards the proscenium arch on the other side of the stage. Her four pursuers are right behind her running with her and, just when it looks like she is going to smash right into the arch two pursuers grab her outstretched arms on either side of her and, with their support, she runs up the proscenium arch and flips over to land face down on the stretched-out-in-front-of-them-forming-a-cradle-like-landing-place-arms of the other two pursuers. Let me say that again...She RUNS UP THE PROSCENIUM ARCH AND FLIPS OVER!!! It was unbeLIEVABLE. In the middle of a crowded theater I believe I actually said out loud "HOLY S**T!" (luckily the music was very loud). RUNS UP THE PROSCENIUM ARCH AND FLIPS OVER! I've done a little computer diagram of the running up the arch thing:

It was AWESOME! Truly one of the most amazing things I've seen on stage. And then came the possibly the most amazing thing I've ever seen on stage. Are you ready?

So, in the program was the following note: "All patrons attending the Saturday matinee performance of Anyone Can Whistle are invited to attend a post-performance dialogue. Members of the artistic team will be joined by musical theater historian Robert Kimball and members of the cast. The discussion will immediately follow the performance and will run approximately 45 minutes." Now, usually when there is a talk back this means that maybe an actor or two will come out and, if you're really lucky the director or writer might appear and take some questions. It's great if you're a theater person but otherwise, a lot of the time, it's not something people care much about.

So, I'm there with Mom and Dad (by the way, thanks, Mom and Dad, for being Sondheim lovers, and for bringing me along with you to all of these Sondheim shows. Have I mentioned that you guys TOTALLY ROCK?!?!) and we're talking about whether we want to stay for the talk-back. When we saw Company the first time there was a talk back that we happened to be around for and it was really cool so we decide, sure, we'll stick around afterwards and, if some of the actors come out, it'll be worth it...and if it's boring then we'll just leave. But for me, any chance to see my BB for a little while more is comPLETely worth it.

So, Mom and I run to the bathroom before the talk back and Dad hangs out with our coats in the theater. We're on this crazy long line for the bathroom when we hear a swell of applause from the crowd and I say to Mom, "Oh, I bet Sutton Foster just walked out on stage."

Then there's another swell of applause, "Oh, I bet that was Donna Murphy and my BB" and then there's a huge swell of applause, much louder than the other two swells and I look at Mom with the expression of, "yeah, I have no idea who that was for." Not two seconds later, this woman runs into the bathroom and says (probably to a friend in one of the stalls but we all benefitted from her announcement) "get out here NOW, Stephen Sondheim just walked on stage."

WHAAAAAAT!!!?!??!! God is on STAGE!!!!! To hell with the bathroom trip. There's a mad rush out of the bathroom, our bladders forgotten for the next 45 minutes and we run out to the audience, and there, no lie, not 50 feet away, was Stephen Sondheim. STEPHEN F**KING SONDHEIM!!! In the same room!!! Stephen Sondheim! No kidding, for me, it was like seeing the Beatles. I'm pretty sure there were tears. Here's my picture, which totally didn't come out but I swear to god, the white blurry dude holding the microphone IS Stephen Sondheim. It was AWESOME.

And, as if that weren't enough, the whole cast was there too. Including my BB:

He's the dark blue fuzzy dude in the middle. He's wearing a beret. Heh, a beret. How friggin' cute is my blurry BB?

ANYWAY, it was awesome. God spoke for like 45 minutes (just as the note in the program promised) about the show and the original very brief production and about changes that were made and about theater in general. The cast spoke about their involvement in the show and how they came, in the middle of all of their busy schedules, to do a very short run of a very complicated and dare I say, odd little show. It was exactly the sort of thing I love about live theater. You want a glimpse of the behind the scenes? You want to know what it was like to put it together? You want to know what they think works best and what they think isn't working at all? You don't have to wait for DVD, folks. You just have to find a show that's willing to do a talk back and HOPE that you're lucky enough for Stephen Sondheim to walk on stage. I know I keep saying it, but AWESOME! Awesome, awesome, AWESOME!