Steve's Sidebar Blog: If You Love TAKE ME OUT, You'll Also Enjoy...

 SHORESY, a slightly blue but very funny hockey comedy from the producer of the Canadian sitcom LETTERKENNY, about an inexperienced coach who must save the woeful Sudbury Blueberry Bulldogs from total oblivion. Watch for cameos from actual NHL stars and talking heads including Jay Onrait from TSN SportsCentre. (Hulu)

BROCKMIRE, starring Hank Azaria as a flamboyant pastiche of practically every play-by-play guy out there. Amanda Peet runs the minor league team whose antics he must chronicle when a scicious vanadal (in-joke for all you Capital Steps fans out there) costs him his job in the "show". Bob Costas, Joe Buck, Michael Kay, and other baseball voices round out the cast. (AMC, AMC+)

EASTBOUND AND DOWN, from the comedy genius of Will Ferrell and Adam McKay,follows former Seattle slugger Kenny Powers (Danny McBride) from riches to rags (How raggy does a spokesman for a BMW dealership  and a public school phys ed coach in the deep South sound to you?) in an HBOnly sports classic only the creators of Ron Burgundy and Ricky Bobby could pull off. Despite the heavy presence of under 10-ers, parental discretion is MANDATORY!

S

Power Play: TAKE ME OUT by Richard Greenberg, Helen Hayes Theatre, 240 West 44th Street,New York,NY 10036 Tickets at Box Office, http://www.broadway.com, and http://www.2st.org (Must close June11!)

 The first time I saw TAKE ME OUT, I didn't think it was a celebration of baseball anymore than I was Johnny Depp, (Thank goodness THAT seemingly interminable news story was finally terminated!) I thought it was more a celebration of the "love that daren't speak its name," as the story revolves around an African-American star of Jeterian proportions who finally comes out of the closet. When it came back, I decided to stay the entire show (especially since they put my phone in a cocoon!), and it IS a celebration of baseball at its best, even when it indicts America at its worst. The performance that really stands out the most is Jesse Tyler Ferguson (MODERN FAMILY) as an attorney who becomes a convert to all things baseball. Although I DID disagree with SOME of the things the characters said about God and baseball, (This blog will be circulated to my sports group and the clergy at Temple Emanu-El.) this revival was as good as the critics say (New York Times Critics Pick and Entertainment Weekly Grade A), if not better. Just as you should stick around till the very end of a Marvel movie for the little Easter egg and in-joke, you should stick around till the very end of this play for a line that pretty much sums it all up, and that's all I'm gonna say about that. Don't take the kids out to TAKE ME OUT, but do take that special someone, even if it IS yourself, but don't make an error, run to this hit before it's going, going, GONE!

Let's Go Rangers!

Steve