Broadway Fun: 8 Potpourri Again

Well, here is the "Scott likes them" phase of our count down. To show my range, I find the first two men (Ben Whishaw and Benjamin Walker) to be, well, dreamy! An they couldn't be more differnt (for white guys). Ben is a gay, wispy, skinny Brit with a gaze that goes through you. Benjamin is an overwhelming tall, commanding, straight man over 6'3". Honey would melt in his mouth.

Top Row: This is Ben Whishaw. I have been lucky enough to see him every time he has been on stage in New York. I find him to be cute as a bug and as talented on stage as anyone I have seen. You might have seen him in the James Bond movies (he is the new Q) or in these TV shows totally worth the price of streaming. London Spy, A Very English Scandal and Paddington Bear (he voices Paddington). Or as he stole the show in Cloud Atlas (one of my favorite weird ass movies.)

• Ben from one of my favorite movies, Cloud Atlas (not on Broadway but I LOVED it, so I used a still from it, instead of a headshot)
• The Crucible: He plays John Proctor, the man who defends the girls against charges of Witchcraft only to be outed as an adulterer and then arrested himself for being a witch. Fantastic acting in a beautiful, but spare reimagining. 
• A supremely odd show at The Shed: Norma Jean of Troy. He narrates the story of Helen of Troy (although not the familiar one, a version with her in Egypt). As Ben narrates the story, he dresses as Marilyn Monroe. Throughout the show, Rene Fleming, an Opera Singer, sings haunting music. Weird. 
• Pride: This was an off-Broadway show I saw many years ago, before he was big (well a big stare, he's never going to be called "big"). In fact the main "name" at the time was Hugh Dancey (famous for Hannibal the TV show). This is the first time I saw Mr. Whishaw and I fell for his acting and his eyes.

Second Row: Benjamin Walker. A talk drink of water with a great voice and horrible taste in movie choices (he was Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (really)). So much better on Broadway.

• Just a publicity still that shows him cute. He is tall drink of water.
• In American Psycho he sang, killed and undressed. He was excellent in a stupid, but fun, show.
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: In this restaging he played Brick opposite Scarlett Johansson. It was the first time I saw this show for what it could be, not the okay Paul Newman version. Ben and Scarlett's chemistry was great.
• Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson: He was the star and stole the show. I saw it at the Public Theater (off-Broadway) and then its short Broadway run where I saw it twice.

Third Row: Annaleigh Ashford. you might know here from the current TV show B Positive. But she started life as a Broadway actor.

• Annaleigh in Concert
• Sunday in the Park with George revival. She and Jake Gyllenhaal were fantastic in this limited run. Because it was relatively a short run, and they first did it as a concert, the Producers took the show out of Tony Consideration - because of the short run and they thought it wasn't fair. It had stellar reviews (including mine).
• Kinky Boots: She won a Tony as the love interest of the main character. She sings a great song, "The History of Wrong Guys" (you can see a live version on You Tube - not great sound).
• Legally Blond: She was in the chorus the first time I saw it, and the star the second time. How can you not love a musical with the UCLA band featured?!