'Mr. Saturday Night'

 Very much enjoyed a performance tonight of Mr. Saturday Night, the musical adaptation of the movie made more than two decades starring Billy Crystal. The musical on Broadway also stars Crystal. The other principal from the movie, playing his same role, was David Paymer, who played the lead character's brother. 

Although the musical has taken some of the sharp edges off Crystal's character, a once successful but now almost forgotten comedian named Buddy Young, Jr. Buddy is more interesting once those edges are weakened. In the movie, he becomes so nasty as he declines in respect that you begin to lose interest in him. Although the second act here remains problematic for that reason, it's better conceived than the movie.

Reviews of the musical were less than stellar. The Times generally endorsed it as worth seeing but pointed off some deficiencies, some of which include the ones I mentioned above. I now feel those deficiencies resulted from the problems with the character, not Crystal's performance. 

The musical does a great job at conveying what comedy was like in the Catskills--the "Borscht Belt" of the 1950's. The music will not be confused with scores by the Gershwins, Cole Porter, or Lerner & Loewe, but it was suited to the show and had what the friend with whom I attended the performance called its vaudeville sound.

This was a rare instance for me of appreciating Broadway amplification in it carrying the sound to seats far back in the top balcony. Usually the acoustics of old Broadway theaters diminish the attractiveness of the sound amplification creates in these houses. Crystal was superb, even given the vagaries of the role. Randy Graff played his wife, a new role, very impressively and Paymer, as in the movie, was a strong force for good. Shoshana Bean was excellent as Buddy's daughter.

The insiders through whom my friend secured the tickets downplayed the show and suggested we'd better off seeing Six. I may indeed want to see that show, but neither of us understood the basis for the insiders' dismissive view of this show. The older audience applauded like crazy and got into the show by applauding Crystal's staged shtick in his comedy act. It's only around for another week so I'd recommend it heartedly.

 

Big Trade

 Not everyone pays attention to baseball. It's not even clear that it ever was the national pastime, whatever that is. Oh sure, Ken Burns produced an umpteen-part series on it that was wonderful as well as fun. And it brings back lots of memories--going to the Polo Grounds with my junior high friends when we took several buses and two subways to get there.

I've enjoyed going to a few games a year for a long time though. I went to Fenway Park when I was in law school and when we lived in Boston a few years later. In 1967, I was in the bleachers for the last two games of the Impossible Dream--Bob Gibson showed in the Series that it was indeed impossible for the Sawx. It took them 35 more years to get that first Series win since 1918.

When I moved to D.C. way back when, I shared a short series at the Orioles. They had won lots of titles but these were the fading days of the glory era. Cal broke Lou Gehrig's record and Eddie Murray always was good for some decent hitting. When Angelos acquired the franchise, that was the sign that the good days were over. Very rarely, they got into the playoffs; lately, they've not even done that.

So when Washington, after 33 years, got its team back, I was delighted. I've had tickets ever since they moved into Nats Park and was lucky enough to have good seats and get them for the playoffs and the Series. Heck, I even gave the Series tix to my daughter and son-in-law. Crazy Series it was in 2019--neither team won a home game. But even though the Nats never got the full run of Series champion because Covid did a number on the 2020 season, for while, it was heaven.

The most heralded pitching prospect of the decade, Stephen Strasburg, showed his best stuff in the Series, and Max Scherzer, Patrick Corbin, Anthony Rendon, Trey Turner, and many others did their best and pulled off all kinds of heroics. The youngest was Juan Soto, and he played a major part, getting hits and homers when it counted.

By the 2019 Series, the Nats had already lost Harper. Rendon was likely to go since it was rumored that he always wanted to be in California. Then the Nats sold off everyone, or just about everyone but Soto last July at trading deadline time: Scherzer, Turner, Schwarber, you name them. And now they've done it again--Soto being the most incredible and Josh Bell, to whom I'd warmed once I saw him make key plays and hits.

They talk about prospects but it any two of the mob they got last year and this year really materialize, it'll be a lot. It's going to be pretty gloomy down there for a while, and on the day after the last housecleaning, I have the dubious honor of having a ticket this afternoon (4:05 start) against the Mets. The Nats managed to pull one rabbit out of the smashed hat yesterday--they beat the Mets when Jacob deGrom started his first game of the season. Of course since starters only go 5, 6, or at most 7 innings--both deGrom and the Nats starter went five, the game gets decided by the mid-game relievers and maybe the closers.

I still believe, however, that you don't build a team by letting truly great players slip through your fingers. The Nats could've kept Harper, Turner, and Soto. They still had 2 1/2 years of Soto but who knows if they could've kept him after that. The team was still likely to be rebuilding. But Turner was lost because they wouldn't be serious about dealing with him the year before his free agency ran out. The next season he blew off the tent top--became one of the best players of the year and they would have had to come up with plenty more to sign him. The year before they likely could have had him. 

One writer said they could have gone over the top to sign Soto--when you take account of the whole situation, what would another $60-70 mill  have been? 

So maybe rebuilding and great prospects is the way to go. I'm not sure I'm all that interested in being there though. All the negatives come into play when a team is rebuilding: the ridiculous ticket prices, the even more ridiculous concession prices, the blaring music and I'm not referring to the batters' walk-up music. The screening to get into the park. When a team is winning and is in contention, all that stuff can be lived with if not loved. But not any more.