Monday, April 13, 2026

Good Morning, World


I don't really write about music very much here at MNPP unless it's Radiohead-related or it has something to do with a member of Radiohead making a movie score -- I am exaggerating a little but honestly not a lot! So when I got a press release that Claybourne Elder, the Broadway actor and hirsute hunk formerly of Gilded Age fame, was putting out a record of his takes on the "Great American Songbook" (including some from my nemesis Steven Sondheim) I took note of the hot picture of Claybourne on the album's cover and I scooted myself right along. So very much not my thing! But the man has been unloading some all-timer gratuitous press photos of himself in the weeks since -- the stache! -- to the point where I really could no longer ignore. Where I no longer want to ignore! So you win, Mr. Elder. You have dominated me. (No but really... just saying.) Hit the jump for a bunch more...













2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I’m somewhat inclined to agree with you about Stephen Sondheim. While he was clearly an innovator in the musical theater, some of his work leaves me cold. We have a theater here in Minneapolis that’s devoted to his work (although they haven’t done any in the past two seasons). While I like much of his early work, after Sweeney Todd, it gets tougher to sit through, doesn’t it? I never need to see Into the Woods again and since I can’t stand Meryl Streep, ignoring that movie is easy. When MN Opera did Passion, I wanted to leave at intermission, but my partner at the time made me sit through the second act. I wanted to chew my elbow off! (He may have been paying me back for making him sit through Seussical, which I loved). So much of that later work is so tedious it makes me wonder how anyone ever thought it was tolerable for an audience!

Anonymous said...

Pish-tosh.