More theater than any normal person would be able to tolerate.
Since I last posted, I've seen two more Broadway shows (and driven back to Chicago, but more on that later). My friends and I have season tickets to a theater here in Chicago, and one of our plays is this Thursday. I'm not sure I can take it!
I totally just typed "Gays and Dolls." Hee, that would be a whole different kind of play.
Anyway, Saturday morning, my mom and I got up at the crack of dawn (8:30) to head to tkts, in the hopes of scoring tickets to Hair. Truth be told, I didn't even know Hair was back on Broadway right now, but my mom somehow got wind of it, and was really excited about it. However, the previous day, we had had a whole conversation with the rest of the family, who really wanted to see Guys and Dolls. Now, I hadn't even planned on seeing that show, since the reviews were so iffy, and I've seen it before, and I figured I could se Lauren Graham on youtube.
But... Hair was sold out at tkts, so my mom, me, my aunt, my cousin, her dad, and his girlfriend all went to see Lauren Graham in Guys and Dolls. It was pouring rain the whole day, and I made my mom walk around midtown and stand outside in the rain so we could see it. (I did end up skipping the stage door autograph line, though, because of the rain, and because, well, my family knows nothing of silly things like stage door autograph lines and I didn't feel like explaining it.)
So, the show itself. In a word: underwhelming. That's not all bad, though. I don't mean it was not entertaining, or necesssarily badly done. It just wasn't as moving, awe inspiring, or altogether fantastic as the likes of Rent, In the Heights, or Billy Elliot.
I've seen many productions of Guys and Dolls, including the 1992 revival, and one in my high school starring my friends... I know the show very well, so as sarita_m said in her review, it is hard not to imagine Faith Prince as Adelaide or Peter Gallagher as Sky.
That being said, the show holds its own, it moves along nicely, the songs hold up, and it's just good classic Broadway. To be honest, I thought I remembered the dance numbers being bigger than they were, but otherwise, it's a fine production. Nothing to write home about, but entertaining.
On Lauren Graham: Again, Sarita said it better, but simply put, I thought she could stand to tone it down a bit. The accent I get, but it doesn't seem to me to be necessary to give Adelaide a speaking voice that is not your own. Because of the fake voice she gave the character, she just seemed to be over-acting the whole play, and I even wondered whether she was eventually going to injure her voice if she kept talking like that. I think she really can sing, but she just needed to tone it down and calm her nerves. I'd like to see the show again in three months, once she's gotten more comfortable performing this very different role in front of an audience.
My mom and I learned an important lesson this weekend: Do not go see a highly anticipated Broadway musical on Easter Sunday.
I'd been looking forward to seeing WSS for months now, ever since Turner Classics ran it as part of their Oscar month, and I rediscovered how good the movie is. However, the entire experience was marred by bad theater karma and uncomfortable seats.
First of all, I suspect because of the holiday, three (3!) leads or featured roles were played by understudies. Tony and Anita were both understudies, as was one of the Jets. I was mostly disappointed because the girl with the pretty voice from In the Heights was supposed to play Anita, and I was really looking forward to seeing her again. Not that I don't begrudge the understudies a chance to shine, but three of them at once? In lead roles? When they haven't had a chance to rehearse with each other? Come on! Then, our seats were crappy. Just plain crappy - too far away from the stage or any speakers, too crowded, near the bathroom where you could hear the toilets flushing, and man was it hot in that theater. And lastly, I don't know if it was because of our crappy seats or what, but there were major sound issues in that theater. The actors' mics were not turned up very high, so we had trouble hearing them speak, and when they sang, the orchestra overpowered them.
The show itself was... more ordinary than I expected. I expected to be blown away, and I wasn't. I felt like I was watching the movie, but with less air conditioning and louder music. They almost didn't change it enough from the movie to make it worth the Broadway ticket. Plus, I'd seen the New York City Ballet's West Side Story Suite (a half hour medley of all the dance numbers in WSS, created by Robbins specifically for the NYCB, where he was a resident choreographer for most of his career) so many times, that it was hard to remember that I was not, in fact, at the ballet.
But, let's talk about the dancing for a minute. It really was nothing short of spectacular. The dancing did indeed, blow me away. Granted, there may have been one or two really famous, really (usually) great dance numbers in the first act that were, uh, kind of a mess due to lack of rehearsal. But I've seen it enough times to know what was supposed to be happening, so it was still spectacular. Jerome Robbins' choreography in West Side Story is really unique for a musical, because it feels like you're at the ballet. The violence and racism of the Jets and Sharks gets translated into pirouettes and grand jetes, and its almost like there's a whole West Side Story Ballet going on, separate from the play, but paralleling its plot. In a way, it's jarring to watch, because nobody does that on Broadway anymore, and seeing the dancers break into a ballet number was just plain weird. But man, could those guys dance.
Where the show really got my attention was midway through the second act, in the Somewhere Ballet. (The second show I've seen in a week to use the dream ballet! It's making a comeback!) I had forgotten all about that dream ballet, since it's not in the movie, but it's really moving and fantastic. It was unfortunate that it took the play until the last third to hold my attention, but that's where they got me.
Aside from the dancing, I really could take or leave the rest of it. I had a hard time hearing what they were saying, but I actually liked the addition of Spanish and some Spanglish into the dialogue. It makes sense that Puerto Rican immigrants (are you an immigrant if you're Puerto Rican? Hmmm) would speak in a Spanglish mix. However, I didn't particular see the point of translating some of the songs into Spanish. I get that they're supposed to be like soliloquys (if you really want to go back to the Shakespeare, here) or dialogue between the Spanish speaking characters, but I think we could suspend disbelief enough to hear them sing the original lyrics as we loved them (it's rare that I say this, but thank you Mr. Sondheim). I got really fed up with the Spanish when they changed "A Boy Like That." I mean, everybody knows that the best part of the movie is when Rita Moreno comes charging at Natalie Wood with, "A boy like dat... would kill your brother!" So when the song is in Spanish, that whole moment is lost.
And don't get me started on the woman sitting next to me, who sang along audibly to EVERY SONG.
On the way back to Chicago, I did an experiment to see how much of my Broadway soundtrack collection I could get through if I listened to nothing but cast albums for 15 hours. I barely got through half of them, which is scary. The playlist:
In the Heights (I cheated a little with this one - I started it last night, listened to about 8 songs, and then started it again this morning.)
Rent (twice)
Wicked (I skipped the songs I don't like)
Hairspray
Jersey Boys
Grease
Dirty Dancing
Chicago
Spring Awakening
Fiddler on the Roof
Wait. That can't be it, can it? Maybe I listened to Rent a few more time than I think I did!
I totally just typed "Gays and Dolls." Hee, that would be a whole different kind of play.
Anyway, Saturday morning, my mom and I got up at the crack of dawn (8:30) to head to tkts, in the hopes of scoring tickets to Hair. Truth be told, I didn't even know Hair was back on Broadway right now, but my mom somehow got wind of it, and was really excited about it. However, the previous day, we had had a whole conversation with the rest of the family, who really wanted to see Guys and Dolls. Now, I hadn't even planned on seeing that show, since the reviews were so iffy, and I've seen it before, and I figured I could se Lauren Graham on youtube.
But... Hair was sold out at tkts, so my mom, me, my aunt, my cousin, her dad, and his girlfriend all went to see Lauren Graham in Guys and Dolls. It was pouring rain the whole day, and I made my mom walk around midtown and stand outside in the rain so we could see it. (I did end up skipping the stage door autograph line, though, because of the rain, and because, well, my family knows nothing of silly things like stage door autograph lines and I didn't feel like explaining it.)
So, the show itself. In a word: underwhelming. That's not all bad, though. I don't mean it was not entertaining, or necesssarily badly done. It just wasn't as moving, awe inspiring, or altogether fantastic as the likes of Rent, In the Heights, or Billy Elliot.
I've seen many productions of Guys and Dolls, including the 1992 revival, and one in my high school starring my friends... I know the show very well, so as sarita_m said in her review, it is hard not to imagine Faith Prince as Adelaide or Peter Gallagher as Sky.
That being said, the show holds its own, it moves along nicely, the songs hold up, and it's just good classic Broadway. To be honest, I thought I remembered the dance numbers being bigger than they were, but otherwise, it's a fine production. Nothing to write home about, but entertaining.
On Lauren Graham: Again, Sarita said it better, but simply put, I thought she could stand to tone it down a bit. The accent I get, but it doesn't seem to me to be necessary to give Adelaide a speaking voice that is not your own. Because of the fake voice she gave the character, she just seemed to be over-acting the whole play, and I even wondered whether she was eventually going to injure her voice if she kept talking like that. I think she really can sing, but she just needed to tone it down and calm her nerves. I'd like to see the show again in three months, once she's gotten more comfortable performing this very different role in front of an audience.
My mom and I learned an important lesson this weekend: Do not go see a highly anticipated Broadway musical on Easter Sunday.
I'd been looking forward to seeing WSS for months now, ever since Turner Classics ran it as part of their Oscar month, and I rediscovered how good the movie is. However, the entire experience was marred by bad theater karma and uncomfortable seats.
First of all, I suspect because of the holiday, three (3!) leads or featured roles were played by understudies. Tony and Anita were both understudies, as was one of the Jets. I was mostly disappointed because the girl with the pretty voice from In the Heights was supposed to play Anita, and I was really looking forward to seeing her again. Not that I don't begrudge the understudies a chance to shine, but three of them at once? In lead roles? When they haven't had a chance to rehearse with each other? Come on! Then, our seats were crappy. Just plain crappy - too far away from the stage or any speakers, too crowded, near the bathroom where you could hear the toilets flushing, and man was it hot in that theater. And lastly, I don't know if it was because of our crappy seats or what, but there were major sound issues in that theater. The actors' mics were not turned up very high, so we had trouble hearing them speak, and when they sang, the orchestra overpowered them.
The show itself was... more ordinary than I expected. I expected to be blown away, and I wasn't. I felt like I was watching the movie, but with less air conditioning and louder music. They almost didn't change it enough from the movie to make it worth the Broadway ticket. Plus, I'd seen the New York City Ballet's West Side Story Suite (a half hour medley of all the dance numbers in WSS, created by Robbins specifically for the NYCB, where he was a resident choreographer for most of his career) so many times, that it was hard to remember that I was not, in fact, at the ballet.
But, let's talk about the dancing for a minute. It really was nothing short of spectacular. The dancing did indeed, blow me away. Granted, there may have been one or two really famous, really (usually) great dance numbers in the first act that were, uh, kind of a mess due to lack of rehearsal. But I've seen it enough times to know what was supposed to be happening, so it was still spectacular. Jerome Robbins' choreography in West Side Story is really unique for a musical, because it feels like you're at the ballet. The violence and racism of the Jets and Sharks gets translated into pirouettes and grand jetes, and its almost like there's a whole West Side Story Ballet going on, separate from the play, but paralleling its plot. In a way, it's jarring to watch, because nobody does that on Broadway anymore, and seeing the dancers break into a ballet number was just plain weird. But man, could those guys dance.
Where the show really got my attention was midway through the second act, in the Somewhere Ballet. (The second show I've seen in a week to use the dream ballet! It's making a comeback!) I had forgotten all about that dream ballet, since it's not in the movie, but it's really moving and fantastic. It was unfortunate that it took the play until the last third to hold my attention, but that's where they got me.
Aside from the dancing, I really could take or leave the rest of it. I had a hard time hearing what they were saying, but I actually liked the addition of Spanish and some Spanglish into the dialogue. It makes sense that Puerto Rican immigrants (are you an immigrant if you're Puerto Rican? Hmmm) would speak in a Spanglish mix. However, I didn't particular see the point of translating some of the songs into Spanish. I get that they're supposed to be like soliloquys (if you really want to go back to the Shakespeare, here) or dialogue between the Spanish speaking characters, but I think we could suspend disbelief enough to hear them sing the original lyrics as we loved them (it's rare that I say this, but thank you Mr. Sondheim). I got really fed up with the Spanish when they changed "A Boy Like That." I mean, everybody knows that the best part of the movie is when Rita Moreno comes charging at Natalie Wood with, "A boy like dat... would kill your brother!" So when the song is in Spanish, that whole moment is lost.
And don't get me started on the woman sitting next to me, who sang along audibly to EVERY SONG.
On the way back to Chicago, I did an experiment to see how much of my Broadway soundtrack collection I could get through if I listened to nothing but cast albums for 15 hours. I barely got through half of them, which is scary. The playlist:
In the Heights (I cheated a little with this one - I started it last night, listened to about 8 songs, and then started it again this morning.)
Rent (twice)
Wicked (I skipped the songs I don't like)
Hairspray
Jersey Boys
Grease
Dirty Dancing
Chicago
Spring Awakening
Fiddler on the Roof
Wait. That can't be it, can it? Maybe I listened to Rent a few more time than I think I did!