The Broadway Outside Reading series comes to a close with a book about the last show (and my favorite), which I saw for the third time, Mary Poppins. The book's called "Mary Poppins: Anything Can Happen if You Let It." In actuality, it's three books in one. The main book has the same title as the whole collection and explains how Mary came from the books to the film and to the stage. There's also a design portfolio of sketches of sets and costumes that are/were used in the West End and Broadway productions of the show. The last book has pictures of the original Broadway cast for most of the show's parts. As for the show itself, if you expected to see the movie on stage, you're in for a big surprise. It's based off of the P.L. Travers books as well, so it's not all familiar territory for Disney fans. Personally, I knew all about it before I saw it in person for the first time and it's my favorite version of Mary Poppins to this day.

Outside Reading - Spamalot (to close in 2009)

(Sources: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/122497.html and http://www.broadway.com/Broadway-s-Spamalot-to-Close-One-Week-Earlier/broadway_news/5016130)

The second of the Broadway O.R. collection is here, with an article on Monty Python's Spamalot. Spamalot is a show spoofing the medieval times, for those who haven't seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail. However, the jokes are more out there than in the movie (or at least in what I've seen of it). In addition, the humor keeps getting updated. For example, at the show I was at, they did a joke: "When's a plumber not a plumber? When his name is Joe" (It's a political joke). The bad news is that it's closing on January 11th, 2009. When it does close, it will have performed 1,582 performances along with 35 previews.

Outside Reading - Avenue Q Review

(this "review of a review" is based off a review from http://gonyc.about.com/cs/broadwayshows/gr/avenueq.htm)

As you may know, I was in New York in October. Starting with this blog, I'll post something related to each of the three shows I saw, starting with Avenue Q. Avenue Q, at first glance, seems like just Sesame Street for adults. However, it's much more than that. It's a story about a man named Princeton, who is moving to Avenue Q and wants to discover his purpose. He meets Kate Monster and the rest is history. At least, I won't reveal it for those who want to see the show. The characters are almost all puppets, a la Sesame Street, but there are some humans too. Keep in mind though, this show is aimed for adults and is not appropriate for children. The message of the show is that nothing's forever ("Your hair... is only for now, George Bush... is only for now" - "For Now" (song from show)) and you don't need a purpose to succeed in life.