Uptown Girl

One movie and one show today:

Grace is Gone -- film: A different role for John Cusack of a bumbling father trying to pull himself together after his wife's death as a soldier in the Iraq war. He takes his daughters on a road trip, trying to muster the courage to break the news. The story itself is a little imbalanced, but touching, heartbreaking and sweet. The two daughters gave delightful performances, as well.

Glorious Ones -- musical, Off-Broadway: Ugh. I had hopes for this one, despite bad reports thus far. I've enjoyed much of Ahrens and Flaherty's work (the composers), but this one just fell flat. None of the songs were exactly memorable, the story hokey and unfunny. I didn't find many redeeming qualities of the show itself. The cast, on the other hand, were working their asses off to try and make it a good piece. Marc Kudisch (from the OBC of "Thoroughly Modern Millie" as Mr. Graydon) and Jeremy Webb both lent great voices to the piece. I was slightly disappointed in Natalie Venetia Belcon (seen as the original Gary Coleman in "Avenue Q"), but again I think it was the piece itself and not really liking her song much. The men seemed a bit stronger than the women, although Erin Davie surprised me as I wasn't all too crazy about her in "Grey Gardens". She's very strong vocally.

If you have comps and are really curious, go for it, but other than that, I'd save your money here. And if you value your time, there's no intermission, so it's tough to leave half-way through (although that didn't stop the people behind us who shuffled out, interrupting their entire row and knocking several of us in the head in leaving as quickly as possible). It's a small house and walkouts are rather obvious (and pretty rude to everyone, especially if not on the aisle). Thankfully, at least I saw it with someone else so we had plenty to talk about on the walk home.