Family Post

I should probably be with the rest of my clan tonight, but I'm not, so consider this a somewhat less effective virtual effort. My sister has another Broadway opening tonight. I am ashamed to admit I have lost track of how many this is. It may be three, because she has had many more appearances than openings. I got struck on the train from New Haven to NYC and missed act one of A Funny Thing Happened of the way to the Forum, I did get to the show and the party for Oklahoma!, and this time I am sitting home in my office for the opening of In My Life.

Playbill News: Joe Brooks' In My Life Opens 0n Broadway Oct. 20

I guess the Broadway credits make Jessica the successful thespian in the family. My mom is no slouch herself, and I get by - and even got some work on Broadway, but my work doesn't really have the polish of Jessica's resume. I have a former student on this show too, maybe that should count for something.

The pre-opening buzz hasn't been great. So here I am hoping that they all had it wrong and that this very unlikely piece of text actually turns out to be a very special theatre experience. Wouldn't that be great? I always think the pre-opening press isn't fair anyway, I mean, the show hasn't opened. So it would be nice for everyone, not just my sister if they were wrong.

Failing that, I guess I would accept something like...

BROADWAY - IN MY LIFE - The greatest single thing about this terrible exercise in American musical theatre is the EXCEPTIONAL performance of the woefully under-recognized Jessica Boevers. She is a beacon shining without peer in what is otherwise a dark, dismal, dismaying evening of theatre - and the second assistant lighting designer Kathleen Dobbins did very well too.

Would that be too much to ask?

So, Jessica, break a leg. I may not be there, but I am thinking of you and have my fingers and toes crossed for your production and your performance, and here's hoping that everyone will appreciate you the way that I do.