Last night Pedro Almódovar joined the cast - including Patti LuPone and Laura Benanti - and director Bartlett Sher of the new Broadway musical WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN which of course is based on his 1988 comedy classic.

Pedro, I'd bank that cheque now... here's a sampling of the reviews:

New York Times: ...(the cast) here seem to be preoccupied with other matters, like where they'll be having dinner after the show. In that sense, I identified with them completely.

USA Today: ...(Lupone) like many on WOMEN ON THE VERGE's illustrious team, deserves better. So do audiences.

LA Times: Pepa.. is played here by Sherie Rene Scott, a charming musical theater musical star but one with about as much Mediterranean earthiness as Barbara Bush or Paris Hilton.

Time Out: There's a 20-foot-high recipe for gazpacho printed on the curtain... If only a giant recipe for making a decent musical had been available to the makers of this major Broadway letdown.

Oops.

 

Oh ker-fuck.  I know where I want to be on Monday January 12th. And it ain't here.

For one night only Natasha Richardson, Victor Garber, Christine Baranski, Laura Benanti and Vanessa Redgrave will appear in a fundraising concert version of Stephen Sondheim's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC. Vanessa sings Sondheim!

The ticket prices would bring on a new credit crunch - the cheapest at the back of the mezzanine being $150.

NIGHT MUSIC is being staged at the end of the year at the Menier Chocolate Factory and I have tickets for December. Only instead of Vanessa Redgrave they have Maureen Lipman.  To quote one of the songs "Every Day A Little Death".