Saturday, March 23, 2013

Superman at City Center


There have been several references to Superman in Bruce’s Journal over the years.  You’ll even  find a post or two about Sunshine Superman by Donovan.  Anyway since Lee’s birthday is coming up on Thursday March 28, we decided to see the “encore” of the Broadway show It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman.  This play first was shown at the Alvin Theater in March 1966, but closed after 129 performances.  There is a question if a comic book can be translated to Broadway.  I am not an expert on Broadway shows, but I must assume that it is very difficult for a show to have a very long run.  It is quite possible that the 1966 show closed after a few months since America was in the middle of the Batman (TV series starring Adam West) craze.  There were also several hit musicals competing for the Broadway audience.

This encore was a trip back to the 1966 version.  There was absolute no high tech used as was done in the Spiderman musical.  A cutout of Superman was used to demonstrate his flying.  The music, dancing, and acting were excellent.  Yours truly is too enamored with the TV show starring George Reeves as the Man of Steel.  I was disappointed that Jimmy Olsen and Perry White did not appear in this show.  It will close on Sunday March 24, but I think it deserves a longer run at City Center or another venue.

At the end of the show there was a post-performance dialogue with members of the cast and the artistic team.  It was a very stimulating discussion including questions and comments from the audience,

Some relevant links




Below is a photo of the birthday boy dressed up as Superman.



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