Bye Bye Birdie

A recent newspaper article noted that the only successful shows this season are those that have big name stars.  Maybe that’s why the Roundabout Theatre Company revival of Bye Bye Birdie had a nearly full house.   It certainly isn’t because the production is very good; it feels like a junior high production, one with no relative in the cast.   John Stamos  of TV’s “ER” and”“Full House” is the attraction. However,  he often strays from the melody during the show. Despite that, he’s likeable as Albert Peterson, the songwriter/manager of teen idol singer Conrad Birdie.  Albert is manipulated by his secretary/girlfriend Rosie, here played by a miscast Gina Gershon,  and his controlling mother, portrayed by the always- marvelous Jayne Houdyshell.

Gershon has a passable voice but her part requires a skilled dancer and Gershon isn’t. Since she doesn’t have Stamos’  TV following or the necessary dancing skills,  her casting is a mystery.   Bill Irwin, the wonderful clown, seems out of place as the old-fashioned Mr. MacAphee . An accompblished comedian and actor, Irwin has a rubbery face but inexplicably gives Mr. MacAfee an affected dialect /accent???

Sadly, the superb actors in the musical are wasted, and the mediocre ones have the leads. At least Bye Bye Birdie,  unlike the recent revival of Grease, hasn’t cast actors who are obviously too old to be in high school.  Nolan Gerard Funk, making his Broadway debut, is a confidently swaggering Birdie while young Allie Trim plays a sweet Kim.

With the draw of TV personalities, this mediocre musical has extended its original run date into the spring.  But why buy a ticket for upwards of $126 to see the play when you can spend under $15 at the local school.  It might be better and you may even know someone in the cast.

The Boychick Affair

A Review by Elyse Trevers

From Woody Allen to Seinfeld,  the often elaborate, sometimes ostentatious Bar Mitzvah ceremony has been parodied.  It was only a matter of time before it was made into a show like Tony and Tina’s Wedding and Grandma Sylvia’s Funeral.  The Boychick Affair , the new interactive musical comedy, gives the audience an opportunity to participate in the affair.

The guests first assemble in a small sanctuary. After the “service,” they are ushered into the reception hall for the party.  When Harry Boychick gives his Bar Mitzvah speech, he lapses into street talk, thanking his peeps and his homies until his mother Cheryl, (show creator Amy Lord) lectures him.

All the dysfunctional relatives emerge during the festivities.  Grandpa Stan wails loudly every time he hears the name of his deceased wife.  Uncle Sheldon is an aging stoned hippy and he and his hypochondriac wife have two African-American children . Uncle Brendan is a womanizer, running after the sexy dancers throughout the affair.  Cheryl and her husband are divorced, and he has a young Christian wife.

Some may take offense at aspects of the show.  Rabbi Jules is a pregnant lesbian, yet her comments about social issues seem apt. (Her “Trash for Torah” project makes ecologically-friendly Torah covers.) The show includes some Yiddish and some traditional music which might feel unfamiliar to some spectators.  The Boychick Affair  is silly but the performers work hard.  They never break character and keep the audience involved.  When the dancers did some inappropriate moves, Rabbi Jules kept apologizing.

For the relatively modest cost of $72 a ticket (four times $18 (Chai,)  ticketholders get a show and a meal.  The Boychick Affair  works best if you get actively involved in the frivolity.  Pretend you were invited to the party, but be grateful this isn’t your family.

Mary Stuart

A Review by Elyse Trevers

 The late 16th century was a tempestuous time in history with the presence of two powerful female rulers, the British Queen Elizabeth and her cousin, the French Catholic Queen Mary Stuart. It was a time filled with political intrigue and religious zeal.  Friedrich Schindler’s play Mary Stuart opens with the French queen detained in a British prison, awaiting her sentence. 

When Janet McTeer (Mary Stuart) and  Harriet Walter ( as Elizabeth ) reprise their award- winning roles from the London version, the real winners are the Broadway audience. McTeer (The Doll’s House) is a large woman, yet pretty and feminine.  With a regal air, she affects the men around her with passion, even those sworn against her.  Walter, in reality only 10 years older than her costar, looks weary as the aging monarch.  Director Phyllida Lloyd emphasizes this, especially in later scenes when the queen is seen without her hairpiece. 

Elizabeth is jealous of her cousin’s attractiveness. Walter shows a vulnerability and a soft side, which makes her later decisions understandable. In Walter’s portrayal, we see a  lonely older woman who longs for love and tenderness yet is restrained by her position and her insecurities. Despite their equal billing, McTeer’s part is more compelling than Walter’s.  Mary is fiery, ambitious and a bit arrogant, despite the circumstances against her.  She is certain of her power and her femininity and flirtatious when need be.

Sparks fly when the two women finally meet.  Sadly, they only are only onstage together for one scene during the entire course of the play.  Yet the audience is always well aware of the presence of both. 

Accent on Youth

A Review by Elyse Trevers

The main character in the revival of Accent on Youth is an older man, 51 year old playwright Steven Gaye (David Hyde-Pierce.)  He finds inspiration for his play “Old Love”  when his 25 year old secretary Linda (Mary Catherine Garrison)  professes her love for him. Inspired by her words, he uses them and her in his play which becomes a huge success.  Gaye falls for Linda, but doubting that such love can work, makes way for a young actor, even scripting the scene for him ala Cyrano de Bergerac. 

What dates a show? Subject matter, Language, and Mores.  This latest production by the Manhattan Theatre Club is a 1934 play by Samson Raphaelson  (“The Jazz Singer”,” Little Shop Around the Corner” ) and it is guilty on all counts. It makes one wonder why this mediocre play was revived, even though it was included in the Ten Best Plays of 1934, it doesn’t work in 2009.

Hyde-Pierce has considerable charms and talents , yet his snappy delivery can’t rejuvenate this material.   The concept of the May-December romance is far too common today for it to be interesting.  Pierce gets a few laughs but most of the other characters are  one- dimensional stock characters and barely developed.  Garrison is shrill and somewhat mousy.  The best one in the show is Charles Kimbrough (Jim Dial from TV’s Murphy Brown.) as the stiff , older butler.  Emboldened by Gaye’s example, he woos and wins the 25 year old housemaid next door.  Kimbrough has comic flare and gets laughs with each entrance.

Many of the older MTC audience seemed charmed by the ‘old” playwright, so maybe they saw something I didn’t.  However, the show dragged on and its short two hours seemed tedious and tiresome . Which just goes to prove that everything old can’t be made new again.

Joe Turner’s Come and Gone

A Review by Elyse Trevers

Life is hard, so that’s why Bertha sprinkles salt on the floor  for luck. “Don’t hurt none but I can’t say it helps.”   So with a touch of the supernatural , the  uplifting revival of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone begins. Set in Pittsburgh in 1911, the play explores the journeys of the children and grandchildren of freed slaves making their way up north seeking their identity.

 Some find their way to the boarding house of Seth ( Ernie Hudson ) and Bertha  (Latanya Richardson Jackson   ) who give strong performances as the grounded loving couple.  In contrast is Harold Loomis ( Chad L Coleman ) an emotional man who comes with his daughter seeking the wife from whom he’s been separated. Coleman is formidable as the angry and sullen former church deacon. There’s a well-drawn array of characters who pass through the boarding house, but the glue that holds all the characters together is appropriately named Bynam played by Roger Robinson.  Robinson’s characterization is funny, whimsical, mystical while comforting. Like the old philosopher with a bit of the matchmaker and tribal wise man, his character binds people who should be together, and Robinson binds the play together.

  The action is gripping and rises to a climactic ending, especially as we learn the identity of the shiny man. There’s an historic context to the play, as well, and it helps to understand it before sitting through the performance. It also helps to know who Joe Turner represents.

  Yet as with all interesting good drama, there’s a modern relevance and a personal perspective.  Most of the characters seem to be moving, searching, coming and going and will continue.  Wilson makes us care about the people and hope that they find what they seek. 

Irina’s Vow

A Review by Elyse Trevers

Heroism deserves to be acknowledged and honored. Irina’s Vow is the true story of Irena Gut Opdyke, a young Polish Catholic woman who upon witnessing Nazi cruelty vowed to do something. “God put me at a crossroads and offered me a choice between a moral and an immoral life, between complicity and redemption, between death and life.”   She risked her own life to save 12 Jews by hiding them in the basement of  the house in which she was the housekeeper.  When the Nazi officer discovered their presence, she became his mistress to protect them.

Playwright Dan Gordon begins the story with Irina as an elderly lady addressing a group of school children.  Tovah Feldshuh plays the heroine with humor and dignity. However, the script is a difficult one since the initial didactic tone is used throughout the entire play, even when the play flashes back to Irina’s youth.

  The real events are disturbing especially when Irina tells of witnessing a Nazi kill a mother and her baby . One Jewish couple in the basement actually has a baby, so now there is a greater chance of their being discovered if the baby’s cries are heard. Yet Gordon makes all the events too simplistic, and much of the dialogue sounds like a series of quotations rather than natural speech.

 The tearjerker shamelessly manipulates the audience. The play holds nothing back to get an emotional reaction from the audience.  There’s the Chanukah menorah lit underground to celebrate the holidays and Hatikvah played in Israel at Yad Vashem. Meanwhile we never really get a true sense of the characters.

  Irina was a heroine and her bravery has been commemorated in Israel with a marker near that of Oskar Schindler. Her story should be told,  but she deserves better than Irina’s Vow.

Impressionism

A Review by Elyse Trevers

 'Every picture tells a story' and in the world premiere of Impressionism by Michael Jacobs, every piece of artwork in the chic art gallery has a back story and invokes memories for the main characters, Thomas Buckle (Jeremy Irons ) and Katharine Keenan (Joan Allen).   It's an interesting device but one that grows tiresome.

 Keenan owns the gallery yet is reluctant to part with any of the work.  One wonders how she makes a living.  Evidently, she and Buckle, a former photojournalist who works for her for free, have outside income. Each day they share rituals when he brings her fancy coffee and tells a story about it, and she goes to a special bakery to provide the pastry.

 The rugged looking Irons is stiff and cold while the svelte, elegant Allen is flaky and free-spirited.  Despite Katharine's neuroses and history of bad relationships, Buckle is drawn to her They banter and politely insult one another.  From their relationship, we expect that ultimately, they will wind up together. But because of their lack of on-stage chemistry there's little emotion. The two award-winning actors may draw audiences, but the play won't sustain interest.

The only sympathetic, vital characters have bit parts. Marsha Mason is underutilized as a weathy dowager, interested in a picture of a mother bathing her daughter.  Andre DeShields has a double role, first as an affable African farmer, missing teeth but making up for it in stories and genuine humanity and later as a folksy, elderly baker.  Deshields and Mason are breaths of fresh air in the sterile art gallery.

 The Playbill suggests that, with Impressionist painting, you must take a step back to see what's directly in front of you.  Unfortunately, the further away I got from the play, the less I cared.

Sleepwalk With Me

The 90 minutes the audience spends with comedian Mike Birbiglia at his one man show Sleepwalk With Me go by in a flash. The young comedian’s  style is gentle, mellow and conversational. 

Birbiglia’s delivery is as minimal as the staging at The Bleeker Street Theater. The lone piece of furniture, a stool, creates a vivid image when he discusses his sigmoidoscopy procedure.

And the book lying on the floor ,The Promise of Sleep, becomes funny when he reveals the author’s name is Dr. Dement.

 Birbiglia tells carefully-woven tales about his sleep disorder and his tumor but finds humor in the serious situations. However, most of his comedy centers around the stories he tells about his relationships (his dad, a taciturn neurologist who cautions advisedly “Don’t tell anyone”) and his experiences as a comedian on the college circuit. 

 The comedian has a low-keyed and dry delivery. He is a storyteller, not a joke teller. As he tells his tales, he walks about onstage.  He crafts stories and sets up  punch lines that reappear later.

He has a natural affability and makes comedy look easy. He pokes fun at himself and observes that while some comedians pick on the audience, he’s naturally self-effacing. “Even in my dreams I don’t win.”  

 Birbiglia talks about the risks that a comedian takes being onstage. “In a play, people don’t like the setting or the story; in comedy they don’t like you.” 

Well, he needn’t worry because obviously audiences really like him and  the show’s already been extended.  The comedian has a bright future and strong supporters. (Actor Nathan

Pal Joey

The revival of Pal Joey by the Roundabout Theatre Company could have launched a theatrical fairy tale.  When the star can’t go on, the understudy appears and a new star is born. When Christian Hoff , the winner of Best Supporting actor for Jersey Boys, got hurt during the rehearsal for his lead role in Pal Joey, in stepped understudy Matthew Risch, and the show did go on.

 Despite the prestigious creative team, with musical direction by Paul Gemignani, choreography by Graciela Daniele and direction by Joe Mantello, the show is generally uninspiring. Some of the problem is with Risch who works hard but lacks polish. A better dancer than he is a singer, Risch doesn’t have the magnetism, sex appeal and the confidence of Joey.  While Joey is a cad with charm and nerve.  Risch is just a nice guy who gets himself into uncomfortable situations.

 Stockard Channing plays the wealthy older woman Vera Simpson, who falls in love with Joey.  Channing, a wonderful marvelous actress, is only a passable singer. Her rendition of  the show’s most beautiful song “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” deserves better.  Martha Plimpton is the standout of the show. With a deep husky melodic voice, she is delightful playing performer Gladys Bumps as a cross between Mae West and Elaine Stritch.

Playwright Richard Greenberg created a new book for the show.  His version has overtones of homosexuality and a convoluted chain of events leading to the conclusion.

Joey has grandiose dreams of success, and designer Scott Pask’s use of staircases epitomizes his rise and fall. When Joey envisions his future, his daydream includes a Ziegfeldlike staircase. This performance could have been the first step up for Risch; instead he makes a lackluster Broadway debut.  At the end of the show, Joey walks away but no one really cares.  

Enter Laughing; The Musical, presented by The York Theatre Company, is comedian Carl Reiner’s story of a young man who wishes to enter show business, despite his parents’ objections.  When he isn’t busy lusting after every attractive girl he sees, David Kolowitz (Josh Grisetti ) dreams of being an actor. Even though he’s a wretched actor, he gets a part in a play when the theaterowner’s oversexed daughter (humorously played by Janine LaManna) is attracted to him.

The show has music by Joseph Stein (Fiddler on the Roof) and a score by Stan Daniels (Taxi). With clever lyrics and an understanding of a young man’s libido, the songs are hysterical. The small production does a lot with staging and a relatively small cast, and it still manages to pull off “large” production numbers. When David’s ‘smarting’ under his acting teacher Marlowe’s criticism, he envisions his own funeral in a scene  reminiscent of Stein’s Fiddler on the Roof production numbers.

Skinny, angular, and extremely likeable, Grisetti is fine as David. George Irving is charismatic as the pretentious overbearing actor Marlowe. Undoubtedly, many in the audience came to see LA Law stars Jill Eikenberry and Michael Tucker, who play David’s parents. Tucker is well-suited to his role of Father but Eikenberry needs to be stronger  

Enjoyable as the show is, it is geared to a specific audience, Medicare-aged New Yorkers. Reiner and Stein both hail from the Bronx, so there are many New York references. The show is also quite dated and some of the songs refer to old-time movie stars and startlets. The older people in the audience laugh while the younger ones get the idea but not many of the references. 

I entered the theater with my assignment, but I left laughing. The show runs until October 12.

Seinfeld At MGM Grand At Foxwoods

“Seinfeld,” billed as a TV show about nothing, proved to be something  of a ground-breaking sitcom. Jerry Seinfeld has returned to his origins as a stand-up comedian, recently doing two sold-out shows at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods.

Seinfeld’s act was based on observations of everyday life.  He cleverly comments on ordinary occurrences, making the audience see their absurdity.  He made fun of our obsession with things.  First they holds a place of honor in the house until they finally are relegated to the garage  (“A word is similar to garbage.”)

When he talked about the relationships in his life, the audience laughed in recognition. The comic briefly discussed his marriage. (“Being married is like being on a game show and being in the lightning round.”)

Obviously his words struck a familiar chord, and at one point, the gal in front of me jabbed her husband in the ribs as if to say “see!”

The quick-witted Seinfeld was best when interacting with the audience. For an encore, he took questions.  When someone asked about George, Kramer and Elaine, Seinfeld broke the audience up by he saying, “Not here, but I am. By the way, you do know they are fictional characters?”

One of the nicest things about the evening was not having to drive home after the show.

Some people went to Shrine, the trendy nightclub and others visited the numerous gaming tables.

Only 2 hours away from NYC, MGM Grand at Foxwoods is our own Vegas. Show tickets are less expensive and the quality of restaurants and service is comparable.

Best of all, we don’t have to deal with the airlines.  Given the state of the world, we are more in need of entertainment and good fun than ever before. We found it at Foxwoods.

“Not that there’s anything wrong with it.”

Billy Elliot

 The English blockbuster musical Billy Elliot has crossed the Atlantic just in time for the holidays. With music by Elton John and the book and lyrics by Lee Hall, Billy Elliot  tells of a young boy is being raised by his widower dad, a miner (Greg Jbara.) When Billy participates in Mrs. Wilkinson’s dance class, she recognizes his talents and secretly prepares him to audition for the Royal Ballet School.  Billy keeps his dancing secret from his father, knowing he won’t approve. The boy’s dancing is juxtaposed against the Miners’ Strike of 1984 when The British National Union went on strike to protest threatened closures. 

Three boys rotate the part of Billy, each taking three performances a week. Billy has six major dance numbers, requiring tap, ballet and athleticism.  For my performance,  Billy was played by Trent Kowalik, a 14 year old from Wantagh  who wowed the audience with his dancing skill.  David Bologna as Billy’s friend Michael, milks his role for laughs when he dresses up in girls’ clothing. The wonderfully talented Greg Jbara plays Billy’s dad struggling with his macho image yet overcoming it to help Billy achieve his dream. Haydn Gwynne recreates the role of Mrs. Wilkinson that she created in London, managing to be tough yet caring.

The show balances humor and tension.  It deals lightly with gender issues when Billy fears that he will be considered a “puff,” because he enjoys dancing.  The show finds humor in the character of the incorrigible Grandma, (Carol Shelley) who is outspoken and funny.

The drama comes from the tensions of the strike and the sadness that Billy feels for his dead mother. Billy constantly rereads the letter she left him, advising him to “always be yourself.”   Peter Darling’s well-choreographed numbers contrast young dancers with strikers fighting the police. Under the superb direction of Stephen Daldry, the show is exhilarating and more. Billy Elliot delivers the inspirational message for the holidays!

The Marriage Of Bette And Boo

The revival of Christopher Durang’s play, “The Marriage of Bette and Boo,” is filled with some depressing things. Yet the audience can’t stop laughing.

What’s funny about dead babies, a man with a terrible sgeech impediment, a girl with a terrible guilt complex and a couple of alcoholics? Although it’s often uncomfortable laughter, we laugh throughout the show.

Simply staged at the Laura Pels Theatre, the play is narrated by Skipper (Charles Socarides), the only living child from the marriage, who admits that his memories aren’t accurate. Sometimes he tells the story as he wishes it really had been.

The ensemble is excellent. As Bette’s mother, Victoria Clark manages to keep a stridently cheery disposition as she manages to ignore everything unpleasant, saying: “Don’t talk about it.” As Boo’s father, John Glover is viciously acerbic, criticizing everyone—including his pathetic wife, Soot (Julie Hagerty), referring to her as the “dumbest white woman alive.” Hagerty uses her natural ditziness to make Soot a pathetic character who delights when she starts to go deaf so she won’t have to listen to her husband.

At first, childlike Bette (Kate Jennings Grant) smile broadly, reveling in her dumbness. Eventually, she shows another side, displaying anger at Boo’s alcoholism and her inability to carry another living child to term. Then Grant alternates between being vapid and shrewish.

Heather Burns as Bette’s devout, but bewildered, sister Emily is particularly good. She is simple and one-dimensional, thinking that everything is her fault, so she carries around the guilt for everyone.

Durang’s characters are simple or vicious, stupid or disabled. These certainly don’t sound like characters who would create enjoyable theater. Yet we laugh, somewhat in disbelief and somewhat in relief. These are Skipper’s relatives and he’s stuck with them. We get to laugh and then leave them behind.

The CivIn the 25th anniversary show of Forbidden Broadway: Rude Awakening creator Gerard Alessandrini not only parodies current Broadway shows, he mocks shows scheduled to open later this season. Which goes to show- it doesnÕt matter if a show is good or bad, itÕs just matters if it provides good material. Most of the shows and performers spoofed in this version of Forbidden Broadway are Tony award winners. The show repeatedly complains that the big shows do well ( Mary Poppins, ) campy shows sell lots of tickets ( (Hairspray, Xanadu) yet the more serious shows (Coast of Utopia and Grey Gardens) have short runs. Sometimes the shows are satirized, sometimes the performers. Most of the musical parodies are based on actually melodies from the shows themselves. Sometimes the joke is based upon the staging or theatrical convention. In a witty duet, the Phantom of the Opera with his amplified voice sings a duet with Ethel Merman who needed no technical assistance projecting. The cast does a take-off on Company, a show about a Òwatered- down company unaccompanied. Ó This yearÕs best musical, Spring Awakening is the butt of many jokes as the creator parodies its choreography and risque themes. ThereÕs plenty to laugh at. But the musicÕs cleverness wouldnÕt work without its talented cast. The brassy buxom, Valerie, Fagan plays Mary Poppins, Wendla, and Ethel Merman among many others. Janet Dickinson is hysterical as Lotte Lenya, Beth Leavel, and Christine Ebersole. Jared Bradshaw is the laidback David Hyde Pierce and Val Jean struggling to reach the high notes. James Donegan plays an ÔintenseÕ Raul Esparza and a elusive Phantom. With only four singers and a wonderful accompanist, Forbidden Broadway provides a lot with a little. Maybe you donÕt have to be big (like Disney) to be entertaining. Missing.

Xanadu

There's no accounting for taste. The 1980 movie "Xanadu" starring Olivia Newton-John, which was universally panned when it opened, became a cult classic. Now it's a clever, bouncy musical. With Kerry Butler in the Newton-John role, the 90-minute show lovingly mocks the movie while offering a musical catalog of Jeff Lynne (ELO ) and John Ferrer songs.

Sonny Malone (Cheyenne Jackson) is a sidewalk chalk artist in Venice California in 1980. Frustrated by his art, he plans to end it all but is stopped when the Muse Clio (Kerry Butler) appears on Earth to inspire him. Through David Gallo's wonderful scenic design, The Muses emerge from Sonny's drawing.

Clio dons legwarmers, roller skates and a Newton-John-like Australian accent to become Kira. She inspires Sonny to open Xanadu -- a roller disco, a place where all the arts will converge. Her jealous sisters, Calliope -- Muse of Epic (Jackie Hoffman) and Melpomene -- Muse of Drama (Mary Testa) place a curse on her, causing her to fall in love.

The talented pretty Butler is a natural comedian who sings and acts while on roller skates. Testa and Hoffman, looking like Cinderella's stepsisters, bring the house down with "Evil Woman." Hoffman's dry delivery and Testa's powerful voice combine to create hilarity. Jackson is excellent as the good-looking dumb guy.

All will enjoy the special effects, fast pace and general silliness of this musical even if they didn't live through the 80's. Playwright Doug Carter Beane lampoons theater when by the end Kira agrees to become a mortal even though theater will use "some movie or songwriters' catalog and call it a show."

Using a movie and a songwriters' catalog, Xanadu is the first show of the new season. What an auspicious beginning!

Legally Blonde

Is there anyone who has not seen the film Legally Blonde about a pretty blond sorority girl whose boyfriend breaks up with her to go to Harvard Law? When she follows him there, she teaches everyone valuable lessons. Now the movie has been made into a lively, entertaining musical.

Laura Bell Bundy, as Elle, is energetic, vivacious and hardworking. Although she doesn't have the charisma to carry a Broadway show, that doesn't matter to the thousands of young girls who will love this show. Besides, Bundy is ably supported by a talented cast, including two well-trained dogs, Chico, as Bruiser, and Chloe, as Rufus. Orfeh is terrific as Elle's confidante, Paulette, the good natured beautician who always falls for the wrong man. Christian Borle, with an engaging smile and pleasant voice, plays Emmett, the hard working law student who helps Elle.

The opening number with Elle's sorority sisters is reminiscent of Bye Bye Birdie and Hairspray and begins the show with fast pace which never slows down. In a cute device, three of Elle's delightful sorority sisters function as a Greek chorus, who show up at strange moments and are only seen by Elle.

The show marks the directorial debut of Jerry Mitchel, whose choreography credits include Hairspray and The Full Monty. Although Mitchel sometimes overdoes the dance numbers, they are still creative and entertaining. When Elle applies to Harvard, Mitchell inserts an overly long college marching band sequence. One of the most entertaining numbers, "Whipped into Shape," is the frenetic exercise video with great moves by Nikki Snelson.

Legally Blonde is like a sweet strawberry ice cream soda, bubbly with foam and froth. It's perfect for the kids, especially if they've already seen Wicked. Omigod -- it's a non-fattening way to get a sugar high!