Today is the Kentucky Derby! My picks as of this morning are Journalism and Publisher.

I saw Patti LuPone in concert last night. Fabulous. My favorite moment was her interpretation of a Kate McGarrigle song, "Saratoga Summer Song."

I spent Tuesday through Thursday in Los Angeles for work so, of course, I am going on a day trip there tomorrow.    . My co-worker, Steve, and I are going partly because of the aircraft we will fly back home.  (because anyone who works for an airline is a little bit of an airplane geek). Steve wants to do something touristy so we are going to visit the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  Green Day just got a star yesterday so we will be on the lookout for that.  I've never been to that part of LA so it will be fun discovering everything that is there.  

The Denver Center's production of Little Shop of Horrors is F A N T A S T I C.
This is a show that I never really "got" before from listening to the various cast recordings. But seeing everything put together, I can see why it's one of your favorites, @scenicdesign71 . Great cast, amazing Seymour and Audrey, fabulous set (maybe too fabulous—it kind of loses that "scrappy little musical" quality when there is obviously a big budget involved) and at least four different Audrey IIs, ranging from  handheld to gargantuan.

I believe there is very limited ticket availability for the rest of the run.


https://www.denvercenter.org/tickets-events/little-shop-of-horrors/
(Scroll to the bottom to see pictures; I can't link to the photos directly.)

The New Yorker:   Jeremy Jordan Mines Floyd Collins For Its Sonic Gems
                                          Adam Guettel and Tina Landau's 1996 musical about a trapped caver resurfaces on Broadway.

I'm not seeing the supposed tonal or structural mushiness, or the storytelling laxity, that many critics seem compelled to mention even in reviews that could be considered — somewhat surprisingly, given such not-minor reservations — favorable overall.  (And I'm bewildered by Shaw's admission that she "genuinely could not tell you how many people die" over the course of FC's story).  Everybody loves Jordan, and most love Guettel's score.  Comparatively fewer seem to appreciate Landau's work here, either as writer or director, which makes me sad.

Ed.: ...but Jesse Green included her today in his wishlist of Tony nominations, even with the additional competition of allowing Off B'way into his fantasy lineup.  So that's nice.  She might or might not get an actual nomination tomorrow; I wouldn't be too surprised either way, but there are a lot of potential Best Director contenders this year.  Musical Revival seems more likely nomination-wise — and if FC were to actually win, I believe Guettel and Landau would receive awards along with the producers; but I'm afraid Sunset Blvd's much splashier alpha-"minimalism" will ultimately take the prize).

Thanks for re-posting that, @KathyB!  I just re-read it for the first time since your original post (which I also managed to track down just now on this daily thread from 2018) by typing "Mental Floss" into this Forum's Search box — I wouldn't have remembered the original site on my own).  I appreciate your re-posting the link on this thread, where it'll be easier to find — it's such a great article!

Looking forward to May 28!

I might as well repost this Mental Floss article, which has been updated for 2025. (I know I posted it once, ages ago, but I can't find the post to link back to it.)

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/544782/1925-cave-rescue-that-captivated-the-united-states-floyd-collins

NYT:   How a Kentucky Man Trapped in a Cave Became a Broadway Musical
               Floyd Collins was pinned under a rock while exploring a cave in 1925.  That history, recounted in song, is now on Broadway.

(Free link).  This piece advances no revelatory new perspectives on the true events or on the musical, but it does include a few comments from one of the co-authors of Trapped! (out in a new centenary edition last month), who is apparently enough of a fan to have "seen at least twenty productions of Floyd Collins since 1996".

Here We Are has begun previews at the Lyttelton (after cancelling the first two for reasons unknown).

The NT website features rehearsal photos and video.

Capsule review from the "Goings On About Town" section of this week's New Yorker:

Quote from: Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 18 April 2025In his historic career, Stephen Sondheim stripped the American musical of its schmaltz, tapping into the curdled emotions underneath.  In Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends, a posthumous revue imported from the West End, the producer Cameron Mackintosh and the director Matthew Bourne smear it back on, giving Sondheim's complicated œuvre the sheen of supper-club entertainment.  Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga lead the cast, decked out in spangles and tuxes, as they cycle through the hits —"Send in the Clowns," "Broadway Baby," "The Ladies Who Lunch"— and deploy the occasional kickline.  The evening lacks Sondheim's ironic bite, but, if you love his musicals, you could do worse than hearing Peters, his preëminent muse, sing "Losing My Mind." Featuring Beth Leavel, for shameless scene-stealing.   —Michael Schulman (Samuel J. Friedman; through June 15.)

This captures my relatively low enthusiasm for seeing this show, notwithstanding the considerable draws of its glittering cast and apparently lavish production.  I'd watch it for the price of a pair of movie tickets (either cinecast or streaming at home) happily enough; but when it comes to B'way prices, I'd rather spend the money on Floyd Collins or any of several other shows.