Ohmigoodness, lookit the date!

TWENTY days since last I blogged? Bad Efrex! No Efrex-biscuit for you!

Weekends with The Lovely Wife(tm) have been all kinds of fun these last few weeks... for some reason, we've wound up spending three of the last four Shabbatot with friends who have little girls. I've long since noticed that I apparently have the words "jungle gym" tatooed on me in ink that only those under six can see, and when one of the shabbat meals was spent with not only our friends with their two little princesses, but the princesses' four friends, I found myself tired out reeeeallly quickly (smackdown to all of you who are thinking "just wait till it's your turn")

Coolest weekend, though, was Memorial Day weekend, where we spent Shabbat in Lakewood (For those not in the know, a heavily ultra-orthodox enclave), followed by Sunday and Monday sweating on the Atlantic City boardwalk. Going from wearing my black hat to strolling past casinos in less than 16 hours; not too shabby. For our first post-Omer show, we caught a well-done production of Cabaret at the Trump Plaza, although it mixed elements of the original production ("Telephone Song" & "Meeskite"), the Broadway revival (the MC's final costume change), and the movie ("Mein Herr," which come to think of it, was in the revival as well). Since my idea of gambling is playing those kiddie claw machines, we didn't come out too badly for the weekend.

Oh! The Tony Awards!

* Yay for Norbert Leo Butz, an actor whose talent is as unlimited as his name is unfortunate. I can remember seeing him understudying Adam Pascal in Rent back in the day and thinking: "This guy's gonna go places." Phenomenal in Rent (I think he wound up going on for just about every male role in the show, and I betcha he could've played Mimi in a pinch), he's consistently been excellent in everything he's done since, and it's just great to see him get recognized.

* I've said it before, and I'll say it again: sign Hugh Jackman up for all eternity as host. Even his so-so dance shtick (didn't Jason Graae do a similar medley on one of his albums?) didn't diminish his performance, and I let out a cackle at "Cassie, don't pop the head!" that must've echoed down Grove Street.

* I don't wanna hear any complaints about Christina Applegate. No, she's not Gwen Verdon, but she looks great, sings and dances just fine, and is able to laugh at herself. Brava!

* Of all the songs you pick to remember the luminaries who died last year, you pick the cynical "Razzle Dazzle?" Did anybody on the planning committee listen to those lyrics?

* Stop the nonsense of having non-theater people sing showtunes immediately. Aretha wasn't as hideous as Mary J. Blige or LL Cool J, but having her on stage added ZERO to the proceedings.

* I never ever thought that I'd applaud Al Sharpton, but his bit with the folks from "Spelling Bee" was just great.

* Maybe if Sara Ramirez started wearing clothing, she wouldn't have that nasty cough...

Oh, and thank you David Yazbeck for not picking your nose on camera this year!