101 Dalmatians on NBC Nightly News TONIGHT Oct. 27

[lovesclassics]

Posted: 10/27/09 at 5:22pm

Saw on twitter that The 101 Dalmatians Musical will be on a segment of NBC Nightly News tonight at 6:30! Backstage coverage, interviews, performance clips, etc. When's the last time a musical got that kind of coverage???

It'll probably be posted on the msnbc website later, too.
NBC Nightly News

[supersam1026]

Posted: 10/27/09 at 7:03pm

I definately remember Mel Brooks doing an interview on ABC or NBC (cant remember which) that aired on the night Young Frankenstein opened

[KirbyCat]

Posted: 10/27/09 at 8:57pm

Young Frankenstein actually had an hour long special that was really pretty cool...

[musicalbluemirror]

Posted: 10/27/09 at 9:07pm

the 2 video segments are both up now
theyre so cute!
ill def check it out at MSG

[lovesclassics]

Posted: 10/27/09 at 9:18pm

Here's the link to the video at msnbc. Those dogs are adorable! And very impressive...
Dalmatians on NBC Nightly News

[KirbyCat]

Posted: 10/27/09 at 9:24pm

VERY cute

[lovesclassics]

Posted: 10/27/09 at 9:29pm

Oh, just noticed. There's a second web only video up, too. So glad to see they are educating audiences about the breed. Here's that link:
Shelter Dogs

[NGeorgiaBwayFan]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 10:58am

Well, I saw 101 Dalmatians last night and it was really pretty good. Hope I don't give too many spoilers, but most people know the story.

First things first, the actual dalmatian dogs make up only a few brief minutes of the show: one dog in silhouette at the beginning, all 15 of them on stage at the end of act 1 and at the finale where all of them do their tricks. The kids around us were frustrated that they had to wait so long to see the dogs, you could hear them asking things like "Mommy where are the dogs. When are we gonna see the dogs?". If you're going to see the dogs, you may be disappointed. It's a long 2 hours to get to those few minutes, especially for a kid.

I think it's really great that all of these dogs are rescued dalmatians. When we arrived at the theatre last night, one of the trainers was out in the lobby being interviewed by channel 11 atlanta. She had one of the dalmatians, Jada, with her. Jada was very excited to have so many hands petting her and was giving kisses to all the kids or anyone who came in range.

One note about the dalmatians for anyone concerned... It was obvious that these dogs are well cared for and handled. One of the dogs failed to do his trick on stage so the handler (dressed in dalmatian spots) came out on the stage, petted him and called him backstage then let him go back and try again -- which he did to everyone's cheers. His tail never stopped wagging, he just seemed to forget his cue when he got out there. :) I noticed that the lawnmower pushing dog wasn't performing last night, so I guess for some reason they had taken him out for the night. The playbill also had a big warning that "Dalmatians are not for everyone." The warning explains all the health & behavioral problems of owning a dalmatian.

The music & lyrics by Dennis De Young and BT McNicholl was very enjoyable. The opening "A Man's Best Friend" was a really great number and "Be A Little Bit Braver" seemed to have everyone's feet tapping. The second act's "Spot On" with the troupe of gypsies was another fun number.

The costuming is really well done. No humans in dog suits or anything, but every human playing a dog dressed to represent the breed they are playing... for example, the scottish terriers had on kilts. Pongo & Missus and all the kids playing their pups in white with black spots. Placing the humans playing humans on those 15 inch stilts really drove home the perspective of the dogs and all the actors on the stilts are to be commended, I imagine it's pretty exhausting.

Rachel York was quite good in her role as Cruella De Vil. Ms. York's voice was really the standout in the entire cast. Her costumes were very elegant and lavish -- quite the villan! BTW, Emma Zaks plays Cruella's cat.

Other standouts were the actors who played Jasper (Michael Thomas Holmes) and Jinx (Robert Anthony Jones). True scene stealers with their criminal antics and goofiness. They really stopped the show with their second act number "Having the Crime of our Lives". James Ludwig and Catia Ojeda were very sweet as Pongo & Missus.

The kids involved in the show were full of energy and very professional in their performances, as were all members of the cast. It's a good cast overall.

My only criticisms of the show is that the first act really seemed to drag. I think a few of the ballads could be cut down a little. They seemed to really bog down the show in a few places.

The second act was very fast paced and entertaining. All the kids around us were sitting on the edges of their seats (except for the ones who were standing in front of their seats dancing -- the mezz was fairly open so this was no problem) and I was amazed that act 2 lasted an hour - it seemed to fly past.

I think with a few small cuts, and a little tightening up this show could be improved. I'm not really a fan of "kid" shows, but this was a fun evening that would be enjoyed by adults and kids alike.

Kudos to the parents of the Atlanta kids who were such well behaved theater-goers, too!

*sorry for the long post* :

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 1/6/10 at 6:06pm

I agree with every last thing you said. I saw the show when I was in Miami (just in time for the middle of Christmas), and it was largely entertaining.