July 9, 2005
[the gayest week ever | part 3] 3:58 PM
People always talk about LA traffic, but LA traffic is really pretty standard. It's the EVENT traffic that's the problem. Premieres in Westwood and Grauman's back things up to disgusting level, and that amount of pain the Hollywood Bowl can cause is simply inhuman, so last night we carpooled to Greg's house in the hills and walked.
By the time we'd gotten to the Bowl, most everone had been seated and they were finishing up the Star Spangled Banner. We sat down, opened a bottle of wine, and Angela Landsbury came onto the stage. Our seats weren't the best, but we saw the stage and has really easy view of a projection screen, and the overriding fact of the whole evening was how amazing everyone looked (espeically Bernadette Peters, who did not look 50).
Jason Alexander is really light on his feet.
Carol Burnett is hysterically amazing. One of my friends proclaims that Sondheim is unsingable, but damned if she didn't put it out there (and played with her lung capacity)
Barbara Cook was just damn regal, and sang "Losing My Mind" so tragically that I almost forgot about my disco cover of it by Liza Minelli.
Josh Groban ... I don't really like Josh Groban. And I don't really like Sweeny Todd, but somehow when you put the two together it's kinda amazing.
Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou were the original leads in Todd on broadway, and they performed in full character to hilarious effect.
Marin Mazzie, I had no idea who you were. But I love you.
Audra McDonald, bitch can belt it out.
Bernadette Peters sang from Into the Woods, which is all you can hope for, really.
Vanessa Williams strut her stuff to "More," but I couldn't help but wonder if she was pulling a Britney Spears by having a large dance ensamble back her up.
One of the highlights of the night was seeing a special video created by Desperate Housewives. Each of the DH episdoe titles are Sondhiem song titles, and in the clip (complete with a Wisteria Lane voice-over introduction by Mary Alice) each of the cast members says a song title in character to hilarious effect. And when I say cast members, I mean all cast members, including Martha Huber, Paul Young and Felicia Tilman (who viciously proclaimed "I'm Still Here"). Marcia Cross should get her Emmy just because of how she said "Losing My Mind."
Streisand really did appear, but the big surprise was Warren Beatty, who apparently no one knew was coming. It was a very surreal experience, to have Barbara Streisand and Warren Beatty lead you in singing Happy Birthday to Stephen Sondhiem.
Afterwards we walked the 2 miles back to Greg's house, faught traffic going home, then I hopped in my car and jetted over to the NuArt for a midnight screening of Neverending Story, which was fun, and in many respects really holds up. And, as Peter pointed out — The Rock Biter looks more realistic than The Thing in Fantastic Four. Hell, the toy of the thing looks better than the film version, and that's just sad.
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