Getting My Broadway Fix on Friday Night TV

A guy sometimes just needs his theater fix, you know? I can't get to Broadway every weekend or even every month.  When it's been awhile, even the cast recording of Pippin just won't cut it.  Neither version.  So you learn to live without.  (See what I did there?) And you take your Broadway thrills where you can get them...

Like tonight, when I was watching TV, and saw a ton of Broadway stars doing what they do best.

Don't you laugh when you see that commercial for glasses with Brooke Shields and Heidi Blickenstaff? That's memories of Grease, Wonderful Town, Cabaret, The Addams Family, [title of show] and The Little Mermaid in 30 seconds!  Speaking of Grease, how about that new ad for Chanel that uses a really slow arrangement of "You're The one That I Want"?

Sad enough that I'm home watching TV on a Friday night, right?  Well, at least this week's Blue Bloods picked me up... There's show stars Tom Selleck (A Thousand Clowns) and Tony-winners Len Cariou (Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, Applause, Proof, etc.) and Gregory Jbara (Billy Elliot, Victor/Victoria, Damn Yankees, etc.), and there's guest stars Vanessa Ray (Hair), John Bolton (Damn Yankees, A Christmas Story) and James Carpinello (Saturday Night Fever, Xanadu, Rock of Ages) - and he was this week's "scum bag."

As the show progressed, there were ads for Sunday night shows - a Broadway gold mine! The Good Wife has Julianna Marguiles (a brief stay in Festen counts!), Chris Noth (That Championship Season, The Best Man - class of 2000), and Tony-winners Christine Baranski (Rumors, Nick and Nora, etc.) and Alan Cumming (Cabaret, Macbeth).  Madam Secretary has Tony-winners Bebe Neuwirth (Sweet Charity, Chicago, etc.) and Patina Miller (Pippin, Sister Act), plus Tim Daly (Coastal Disturbances), Tony-nominee Zeljko Ivanek (Brighton Beach Memoirs, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial - also with Tim Daly - Two Shakespearean Actors).  One of this week's guest stars is Sebastian Arcelus (Elf, A Time to Kill, Jersey Boys). Honorable Mention goes to Erich Bergen, who was a recorded voice in An American Daughter, and he has been all over the country in the national tours of Jersey Boys and Anything Goes, among others.

Good news!  On Wednesday, I can look forward to Nashville with Tony-winner Laura Benanti (Gypsy, Women on the Verge..., etc.), Jeffrey Carlson (Taboo, The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?) and Will Chase (The Mystery of Edwin Drood, High Fidelity, The Story of My Life, etc.)

But the best news is... in exactly 2 weeks, I'll get a Broadway fix for real! Side Show and Hedwig, here I come!

Jeff
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