Today started off oddly productive…laundry.  I think there were still a few Fringe-tainted garments in that pile, so it was definitely in need of doing.  I need SOMEthing to wear to Toronto next week, after all.

After that drudgery, I eventually headed out to the Elmdale Tavern for some Aqua Vitae and some writing, even more direly in need of doing.  I’ve let my non-blog writing get the short shrift of late, and that can’t happen.  As I’ve mentioned before to the two of you paying attention to this thing, I’m trying to write an almost-musical play of my own, and I’m letting that shit slide.  No more!  Got some good work done today on the first draft, and that made me smile.  I took a nice walk after that exercize, over to the Gladstone Theatre, where I had a ticket awaiting for tonite’s show, THE ANDREWS BROTHERS.  Crucial to me since, of course, it was a musical, and I need all the research I can get.

Kicked around for a bit after arriving early (and by the by, beer prices at the Gladstone?  VERY reasonable) afore taking my seat.  The show centers around a WWII era USO show, and a trio of stage-eager brothers (by the name of Andrews)  hoping to trick a recently crowned pin-up princess into believing they’re her new backup singers.  As things would happen, Pinup girl Peggy (played by the downright remarkable Emmanuelle Zeesman) is the opening act herself, for the famed Andrews Sisters.  And once the truth comes out after she and shy brother Patrick start falling for one another…and the Andrews Sisters fall ill, well…

Really, it’s all a glorious excuse for a cavalcade of song and dance numbers from back in the day (I think all of them were period tunes…I recognized MOST of them, anyways) . The first half has our heroes and heroine getting to know one another, swapping showtunes, and generally getting the audience right into the palms of their hands.  The second half is the best drag show you’ve ever seen.

All four leads are dynamite in this, happily dressing the bare-bones plot with song after song after song.  Leading lady Zeesman, in one of her many fetching costume changes, even treats us to a god-damned tap dance number, that makes some of us youngin’s realize why tap used to be such a big deal…it’s fucking AMAZING, is why.

I’m a little sleepy tonite (I don’t seem to have my Fringe-pace energy these days…hopefully I’m saving it all for Summerworks next week), so this won’t last as long as I’d like.  But The Andrews Brothers is going on until August 14, and it’s a bloody good time, and I would like you all to go.  So, there’s that.  Also, I’d like to say for the record that, having seen this show, Emmanuelle Zeesman is now on the short list for the dream cast of MY musical I’m writing.  She’s starring in another Gladstone production, I, later this year, and you better believe I’ll be there for it (and show pianist Nick Carpenter ALSO has a show debuting at Summerworks…guess I should check THAT out, too).   But her, Kodi Cannon, Dave daCosta and Adrian Zeyl all deserve a standing O for their work in this crowd pleaser.

Oh, and the Rosie the Riveter song?  Dynamite.  We CAN do it.  Keep ’em flying,

The Visitor