By Wayman Wong GOODSPEED ‘PIRATES' FLOATS HIS BOAT
Pirates, which opens Nov. 1, also stars Broadway veterans Ed Dixon as the Major General, Farah Alvin as Mabel and Andrew Varela as the Pirate King. But Snow, a fantastic 5-foot-11 tenor from Renton, WA, is making his Goodspeed debut and getting his Equity card. "My Fredric is like Orlando Bloom, but he's a lot more naïve. This kid turns 21 and everyone congratulates him for being a man, but the joke is that he's far from it. He goes from believing that everyone tells him the truth, to finding out that all of his friends have lied to him. He grows up and becomes a bad-ass swordfighter."
A recent graduate of Boston Conservatory, Snow, 23, says he first caught the ear of Goodspeed musical director Michael O'Flaherty with his lucky audition song, which happens to have a nautical theme: "Michael came to our school to hold a master class, and he said, 'Here are some songs that guys should never sing at auditions: "Younger Than Springtime" and "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat." No one wants to hear them.' I was next to perform and he asked, ‘What are you gonna sing?' I said, ‘Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat.' He said, 'All right, do it.' At the end, Michael came up and shook my hand and said, ‘Thank you, I changed my mind.' No one ever expects to see a tall skinny guy to sing it, and I love doing it. What a kickass song!"
For more information, visit www.goodspeed.org.
01 Nov 2006
When you cross a Gilbert & Sullivan classic with "The Pirates of the Caribbean" movie, is the result "a paradox" or is it paradise? Director Gordon Greenberg, writer/lyricist Nell Benjamin and musical arranger John McDaniel have revived Pirates of Penzance ¬- without going overboard - at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, CT. Jason Michael Snow, who plays Fredric, the bright apprentice to pirates, says, "It's been a blast. I love Goodspeed, and the rewrites have been hysterical. It feels like a whole new show. We also have cool arrangements. For instance, the local islanders play the officers, so they do this calypso-reggae version of ‘A Policeman's Lot!' and it's a riot. And I still sing ‘Oh, Is There Not One Maiden?!' pretty legit, but it's really funny now. It's Fredric's appeal to the girls on the beach, and halfway through, he starts stripping because he hopes they'll find him sexy. It's kinda hot." [Laughs.]
There's so much to see in New York: Scott Coulter's new show is called Pocket Change, but he'll sound like a million bucks on Nov. 5, 6, 19 and 20 at 7 PM at the Metropolitan Room, 34 W. 22nd St. (212-206-0440). He'll croon tunes by Stephen Schwartz, Tim Di Pasqua and many more. . . . The marvelous Marcus Simeone brings his latest show, My Romance, to the West Bank Café on Nov. 5 at 7 PM at 407 W. 42nd St. (212-695-6909). . . . Jeff Harnar offers A Collective Cy, his salute to Cy Coleman, Nov. 5-6, 12-13 and 19-20 at 8:30 PM at Feinstein's at the Regency, 540 Park Ave. (212-339-4095). Harnar's got terrific pipes and polish, so "hey, look him over, lend him an ear!" . . . Celebrated cellist Peter Sachon makes his Birdland bow on Nov. 6 at 7 PM at 315 W. 44th St. (212-581-3080). He'll include gems by Beethoven, Chopin and Schwartz. Clearly, Sachon is a jolly good cello, which nobody can deny.
Something good is happening: Michael Hunsaker and Colin Hanlon play Marvin and Whizzer in Falsettoland on Nov. 6 at 8 PM at New World Stages, 340 W. 50th St. (212-989-7790). It's a benefit for Miracle House, which provides meals and housing for AIDS patients. . . . "Cryin'" to hear Roy Orbison's hits? MAC Award winner Colm Reilly will perform them in his new show, opening Nov. 12 at 7 PM at Helen's, 169 Eighth Ave. (212-206-0609). . . . Bistro-winning musical director Ian Herman stars in A Musical Benefit on Nov. 12 at 3 and 7 PM at the West Bank Café. He'll be joined by Evy Scheff, David Nathan Scott and Pamela Scott. . . . Marty Geiger returns with his soldout cabaret debut, Making It Fit, Nov. 12 and 19 at 6:15 PM at Danny's, 346 W. 46th St. (212-265-8133). . . . Jack Donahue will swing into Birdland with his cool and playful pop-jazz show on Nov. 27 at 7 PM, and the amazing Euan Morton follows at 9 and 11 PM with a "New/Clear" explosion of songs from his CD.
Finally, in other media, David Kenney celebrates pop singer-songwriter Tom Andersen on his radio show, "Everything Old Is New Again," on Nov. 5 at 9 PM on WBAI (99.5 FM). He'll play Andersen's signature songs, such as "Anyone Can Whistle," which once moved Sondheim to tears, and "Yard Sale," an AIDS ballad that's been sung around the world. The show can also be heard on the Internet; see www.oldisnew.org. . . . And, congrats to Seth Rudetsky on his hilarious and brilliant new book, "The Q Guide to Broadway." He dishes the divas and takes down the Tonys. And about our "Leading Men" column, Rudetsky razzes: "The subheading should read ‘Leading, schmeading . . . . just look cute enough to be in a Tiger Beat foldout.' You'll go for the interviews, but you'll stay for the photos [by Ben Strothmann]!"
Got comments or questions? E-mail me at waymanwong@hotmail.com.
Until next month, let's hear it for the "boys"!
Wayman Wong edits entertainment for The New York Daily News. He has been a movie and theater critic for The San Francisco Examiner, a writer for The Sondheim Review and a Drama-Logue Award-winning playwright.
