Keeping with my policy of not predicting anything about the end of The Pandemic or believing anyone else's predictions, I have no plans to travel anywhere for the foreseeable future. There's nowhere I want to go now and I'm real comfy here in my Fortress of Solitude. I guess I should be calling it The Fortress of Semi-Solitude because select, vaccinated people do get in…but not many of them.
Down the line, I might (might!) drive down to San Diego for the Comic-Con Special Edition on Thanksgiving Weekend but there are a lot of ifs in there, starting with if they even have it and if there's no surprise encore of the virus. And I'm thinking my personal lockdown might be over in time for the next WonderCon in Anaheim next April 1 — but I'm not counting on that.
The only other future event that interests me would require a trip to New York. The long-delayed revival of The Music Man — starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster, directed by Jerry Zaks — is enjoying a long run on the marquee of the Winter Garden Theater on Broadway in Manhattan. It has, of course, not actually opened or even gone into production.
We who love musical theater all have a few shows we never want to miss and The Music Man is on my list. Mr. Jackman and Ms. Foster sound like ideal casting and I've liked every Jerry Zaks show I've ever seen. They're now saying it will begin previews December 20, 2021 and then open for real on February 10, 2022. Well, maybe.
When I heard the announced dates, I momentarily thought about trying to get back there in March, maybe for my 70th birthday. Then I thought: No, probably not. I'm also reticent to get on an airplane for a while. Maybe if the show's two main stars are willing to stay with it long enough — or if it's delayed again — it might still be running on my 71st birthday.
One interesting thing that has happened to this show, which was originally announced to open on 10/22/20, is a change of Producer. Scott Rudin, probably the most prolific Broadway producer of the last decade or two, has announced he will "step back" from active participation in this and his other projects. He had been accused of multiple instances of both physical and emotional abuse as is discussed in this article.
I have no idea how valid the complaints about Mr. Rudin are but a lot of folks involved in his shows seem to be happy he's doing that. So once again, The Music Man has a happy ending…this time, even before it's gone into rehearsal.