It seems fitting to start off a new blog featuring a show that I saw (and loved) about this time last year. Though long since closed, the show has stuck with me through an outstanding OCR, a must-read blog, a series of very challenging crossword puzzles, and a Wikipedia scavenger hunt.

The show is titled, [title of show]. It began at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in 2004, and had two too-short runs at the Vineyard Theatre in 2006, closing most recently last October. Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell are two guys that have written a musical about two guys writing a musical about two guys writing a musical. Supporting them in this Pirandellian undertaking are Susan Blackwell and Heidi Blickenstaff. The clever concept provides plenty of circular references, self-referential humor and mind-bending layers of reality. Not to mention more theatre in-jokes than it is possible to chronicle here.

But beyond its cleverness, the show is ultimately about the many layers—practical, emotional, psychological and otherwise—of the creative process. Songs like Two Nobodies in New York, show these two struggling artists bouncing between the questions that artists often ponder out loud and those that they secretly are asking themselves inside:
“Are we writing for art?
And is art a springboard for fame?
And will fame get us a sitcom?
And will a sitcom get us on “Ellen?”
And will Ellen get folks to like us?
And if they like us,
Will they mic us, me and you?
Two Nobodies In New York!”

For me, the song that is the “thesis statement” for [title of show] is Die Vampire Die, an encyclopedia of human neurosis, chronicling all of the ways we sabotage ourselves by letting the “vampires” of self doubt destroy our creative instincts. Susan, who sings the song, points out that if some guy on the subway came up to us and uttered the self-destructive mantras that we are constantly repeating to ourselves, we would think he was insane.

The OCR is available is available from Ghostlight Records and is definitely worth a listen.

I would also suggest a visit to the [title of show] blog, for updates on [tos]-related happenings, Seinfeldian moments of New York City living, insights into the lives of working (or non-working) artists, or just random funny You Tube clips. There is always something interesting, inspiring or titillating there.

The blog also includes some cerebral entertainment for devoted [tos]sers. There a periodic Wikiclick contests to see who can get from a random Wikipedia entry to the [title of show] entry in the fewest clicks. And to accompany your Sunday morning coffee and sticky bun from Amy’s Breads are the [tos]words—crossword puzzles for the hardcore theatre geek. Incidently, the Theatre Resource links in the Man In Chair sidebar prove to be very helpful in this endeavor.

So that’s a brief introduction to [title of show]. The creative powers that be assure us that they are working on the licensing rights for the show, but in the meantime check out some of the [tos] periphery until [title of show] comes to a theatre near you.

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