A Miscast Miscast
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| Miscast 2018 Cast - MCC Theatre |
After years of missing it, I decided to finally attend this year. That and the fact that Raul Esparza was in the lineup. After seeing him at the Kennedy Center in Chess, it was hard to resist another chance to see him perform. Seeing as I randomly discovered he'd be there one night scrolling through Facebook, and that tickets were still reasonably priced a month out, I decided to go for it. Also, it would require an evening in New York alone, which sounds sad when I say it like that, but I actually quite enjoy it. I can do nerdy things like wander the city looking for street art or walk 10 blocks to eat the perfect egg sandwich, and no one judges me.
The trip had all the trappings of a perfect night. And yet, that's not exactly what happened...
Arriving at the Wyndham New Yorker (great, reasonably priced, Midtown hotel if you need one!) all was still well. I had no other plans until my dinner reservation an hour later, so I decided to scroll through Twitter, where MCC had posted a photo of the lineup for the evening's show with no Raul Esparza in sight. I was bummed to say the least. While the other performers were great, he was the real draw for me. But I decided to stay positive (like the weirdo that I am) and assume it was just an oversight.
After a so-so dinner (fab hotel, not so fab restaurant), my grumpiness had not subsided, but I went back to my room to get ready for the late concert. Without sharing too much, in the hour it took me to get dressed, I endured a faulty shower that's only temperature seemed to be molten lava, I stuck my fingernail through not one, but two pairs of nylons and for some reason, even though I don't drink alcohol, my eyes looked like I'd been drinking all day. The gods were really piling it on, it would seem.
Anyway, arriving at the theatre I realized that I was not the only one that would be bummed if Raul Esparza was not in attendace. I heard at least 3 groups excitedly chatting about him. I saw a girl in a Law & Order: SVU sweatshirt gushing. And when I reached mezzanine, my seatmate was a woman who had driven up from Northern Virginia, who had also seen Chess and who was also there mainly to see him.
My weird positivity lasted until they announced the entire cast - without Raul among them. There was a slight ray of hope when Javier Munoz made a surprise appearance thinking maybe Raul Esparza was also a surprise guest star, but alas it was not to be. Sadly the rest of the evening wasn't much better. The performers were good, but for the most part sang individually. There were 2 group numbers, but nothing to the level of last year's Dreamgirls showstopper.
To top it off, from where I was seated because of the overhang, I couldn't see the screen that announced who was singing and what they were singing. Ordinarily not an issue, but I knew almost no-one in the cast, so I had no idea who was performing at any given moment. The three highlights of the evening for me was Casie Levi's rendition of "Shiksa Goddess" from The Last 5 Years, (amazing), Jeremy Jordan's rendition of "She Used to be Mine" from Waitress (beautiful!) and James Monroe Iglehart's rendition of "Satisfied" from Hamilton (so fabulous!)
Aside from that, I really wish I had saved my money for Broadway Backwards instead - at least that money goes to a charity I believe in. The cap to the evening was Sara Bareilles going up on a song from Ragtime, twice (which has been conveniently scrubbed from all videos of the evening). She's an amazing singer, but really? To top it all off, I somehow demagnetized my room key so I was forced to stand in the lobby for a good 10 minutes in line to get a new one at 11:00 at night.
It was not the evening I had planned. It wasn't terrible, and there is always something to be happy about in New York. But before I buy tickets again, I will most definitely assure that there is more than one performer I'm interested to see, just in case one randomly falls out of the lineup with no explanation 8 hours before the show starts...
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