The musical version of Billy Crystal's Mr. Saturday Night opened night before last at the Nederlander Theater in New York. Here's a clip of the curtain call, which is rich with self-congratulation and audience love…
So how good a show is it? The reviews all seem to say the show is flawed, the book has a lot of easy laughs, the songs are unimpressive…but there's so much fun on that stage, mostly courtesy of Mr. Crystal, that it's a crowd-pleaser. This is an interesting reaction and maybe it's a good assessment. It's sounding like a show that will run as long as Billy wants to do it eight times a week. I hope that's long enough for me to get back there and see it…or for it to come out here for a while. And why would he not want to do it in a town where all his show biz friends can see him?