You're gonna be bothered by how cool I am.

So, the Tony nominations were out today! There were some glaring omissions - most notably Daniel Radcliffe for lead actor in a musical (I guess it's all my fault for writing that review a few weeks back) - but also for several other famous faces who were thought to be locks for nominations (Kathleen Turner, James Earl Jones, Robin Williams, Chris Rock), who have all done really great work that just didn't happen to be recognized by this particular voting body. There's a notion in some corners of the Broadway community that this is at least partially due to backlash against last year's "star-friendly" ceremony, which saw trophies go to Catherine Zeta Jones and Scarlett Johansson over people believed by many to be more deserving. Bottom line regarding Dan's snub - I'd rather people be shocked he was left out (which most people definitely are) than annoyed that he was included. I certainly don't think it reflects poorly on him, by any means. As for Laroquette, I think he'd have been left out as well if they had left him in the lead category where he was originally (pushing him as "featured" may have seemed strange, given his equal billing with Dan, but it paid off). I was surprised that Tammy Blanchard got in, personally, as her performance the second time I saw her was (imo) not as good as in previews. I would have gone with Ellen Harvey myself, if I wanted to pick a female from that show. Perhaps it's a weak category this year, but I don't really know, not having seen most of the other nominees.

But I was SO HAPPY to see the wonderful Book of Mormon musical make such a strong showing. When the Drama Desk noms came out, I was bummed that Andrew Rannells was recognized but not Josh Gad, so to see both of them in there - along with Rory O'Malley and Nikki James in the featured categories - was awesome. I think that, with 14 nominations, The Book of Mormon is officially the show to beat.

Which brings me to the title of my post (which is a tweak of a song lyric). The BoM cast recording is coming out in about a month on CD (as is the cast recording for H2SIB), but it will be available on iTunes in a couple of weeks. I'm stupidly excited about this (as well as the H2SIB recording), and as a tease, they've released the opening number, "Hello," for downloading. You have to have the special code (which came with the latest South Park DVD) to download it, but you can listen to it on the little player at this link. It's such a charming little song, with a few nudges of religion-teasing but perhaps not as much as you'd expect from Parker and Stone. FAIR WARNING: If you have a dog or dogs in the house, I'd recommend headphones, because there are MANY RINGINGS OF DOORBELLS.

If you're wondering, Andrew Rannells is the first voice you hear. Josh Gad is the unmistakable sore thumb who shows up about halfway through. :P

If you, errr, want to download it, comment and I can give thee the password.

* So glad AMC seems to have finally worked out a deal to keep Mad Men going for two (three?) more seasons. I was so happy I finally uploaded a Mad Men icon. :P Will Don and the others make it to the 1970s? Also ... 30 MILLION DOLLARS?! Can I write for an AMC show?

* Looking forward to seeing kerryblaze today tomorrow (duh) and a whole bunch more LJ folks next weekend. I was going to wait till the day of to secure a ticket to H2SIB for next Saturday, but I've discovered that would be unwise. I passed by the theater the other morning at about 9:30 and there were like 40 people lined up outside the Hirschfeld waiting for the box office to open. This show is huge.

* I'm disappointed in myself for not having broken the 100 movie mark by now. Still, 82 as of the end of March is nothing to sneeze at. Favorite first-run film so far this year - hands down 13 Assassins. I hate to compare it to Seven Samurai, because that's too obvious, but if you like Seven Samurai I think you would LOVE 13 Assassins. Favorite vintage seen for the first time this year - hmmmm, probably Sullivan's Travels.

* Hey, remember Freedom Rock, man? (Well, turn it up, man!) For some reason, I went looking for the old commercial and the song list. I never had the set, but I know that I and my peers gained a sizable chunk of knowledge about 1960s rock due to the commercial alone. I took it upon myself to collect mp3s of all the songs on the list (I'd love to buy someone's used record set on eBay, but I don't have a player right now). Anyway, I was pretty gobsmacked at how much awesome music is on there that I never heard on the commercial (some of which I'd never heard period until I started digging for mp3s). Is "One Tin Soldier" the greatest peace song ever or what?!

* And now to Jim McGuffin for the weather. GO AWAY, WINTER! That is all. Back to you, Ted. (If you don't recognize the name references, your Potter-fu is rusty. :P)

Thanks to uponadream for the link.

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20364394_20476838,00.html

...when Radcliffe is on stage, which is much of the time, How to Succeed perks to life with the bundled dynamism of a born performer and a serious striver for the spotlight. Naked ambition has seldom been so appealing. A-

So I went to the Performing Arts Library, to their archive of recordings of theater performances. I told them I was writing an article about the new How to Succeed production and wanted to watch their tape of the 1996 production to familiarize myself with the show. This, I've told myself several times, is totally true. But I am thankful they didn't press for more details. The archive is supposed to be restricted to theater professionals and students, and I always get a little weird about using it. I mean, the two times I've used it so far.

So, the 1996 production. All I had to go on previously was the original Broadway cast recording, and while I found the songs somewhat amusing, it was not a terribly enjoyable or interesting show to me. I'm sure watching it was a completely different experience, but I was surprised how much I enjoyed the 1996 version. The thing that struck me the most was the spectacular set design, which so perfectly evoked a typical Manhattan high-rise. I wonder if they're going to go that elaborate route this time. There's been a kind of trend of stripping down shows and making them more understated (e.g., La Cage Aux Folles). Sadly, I missed Rob Ashford's previous production, Promises, Promises, so I have no expectations whatsoever with regard to style.

In answer to your question, shocolate, I wouldn't call Matthew Broderick's "Ponty" smarmy, per se. He's got more of a man-child thing going on, presumably going for a false meekness, as if he's counting on being underestimated so that he can impress more dramatically. I have to say that I am quite giddy at the thought of seeing Dan play this character, who is such a departure from the nice, noble guys he's played so far. And while I know he's famous and all, I'm anxious and a little nervous to see how he holds his own at the center of this musical that's so full of scenery chewing characters.

Also, Sarah Jessica Parker was a wonderful Rosemary, giving her the quirk and grace and dorkiness that she's brought to the best of her characters, notably Carrie Bradshaw. She doesn't have a great singing voice, but it's a powerful one. I've only seen clips of Megan Mulally, who preceded her in the character, but she feels too va-va-voom for Rosemary, which is not necessary when you have Heddy LaRue. I think my favorite, though, was Miss Jones, who really kicked "Brotherhood of Man" up a few notches.

I'm also interested in seeing how big an influence Mad Men has on this production. I've already seen how they've clearly made up Hedy LaRue to look deliberately like Joan. And looking at some of the photo shoot footage that's online, there are some other spooky character lookalikes as well. Hedy and Biggley together look like Roger and Joan. Hedy and Rosemary *definitely* look like Joan and Peggy. So that must make Finch Pete Campbell. :P Nah, Pete's too self-satisfied.

And now comes my first call for REQUESTS. I'm seeing this thing in ... EIGHT DAYS, when it opens for previews. Obviously, I'll be open to questions or whatever afterwards, but is there anything you can think of now that you want me to especially look out for? I know not all of you may know the show that well, but I thought I'd put it out there anyway.