Accentuating what I can

The gorgeous Will Chase, on his myspace blog, is lamenting the eagerness some critics have in releasing their poison nowadays, spurned on by people like me who enjoy taking to the Internet to pick apart a show still in previews. While I could mention that every wannabe John Simon today could never pack a venomous bite like Dorothy Parker, I'll instead agree with him on the basis that critics did seem overly harsh with this show, which I saw tonight. And while I could also analyze why that might be, I see little point in picking apart a show that will be heading to that big flophouse in the sky tomorrow. So in honor of our antihero Rob, here's my Top 5 Things I Found To Like About "High Fidelity." In autobiographical order, or something like that.

1) The cast was mostly spectacular, particularly Chase, dynamite leading lady Jenn Colella and "Rent"/"Avenue Q" refugee Christian Anderson.

2) Amanda Green's lyrics hit more than they miss, even if the songs sometimes sound like rejects from "The Wedding Singer."

3) Mr. Chase starts the second act in his boxers.

4) It's hard to deny the enthusiasm from most of the audience. Despite everything, this show had its following, and I might even get the cast recording if it ever actually gets on the market (hello, "Lestat").

5) Ummm...the gingerbread latte I had before the show was delish.

So that's all I'll say about that -- except I couldn't help but admire the flop power displayed in the cast bios. "Lennon," "The Times They Are A-Changin'," "Ring of Fire," "Tarzan" (I'm assuming), "All Shook Up," "Urban Cowboy" and even "Bring Back Birdie." The show definitely beat all of those, as well as "Thou Shalt Not," "Hot Feet..." Wait! There's my No. 5 with a bullet.