BROADWAY OR BUST - PBS- Page 5
BROADWAY OR BUST - PBS
#100BROADWAY OR BUST - PBS
Posted: 9/24/12 at 3:29pmThanks for explaining obsessed. I didn't quite get that on the show. Like I said, I saw him in Light in the Piazza and he was amazing and such a nice kid. The kid that represented Florida that year was also in that show but was far from the lead. I didn't understand why he got to represent Florida if he wasn't the lead in the show. I wonder how many of the now seniors will audition for NYU since they received such great coaching.
HoldThatThought
Stand-by Joined: 7/15/12
#101BROADWAY OR BUST - PBS
Posted: 9/24/12 at 5:19pm
Thanks for the updates on the kids, supportive mom! Glad to hear Brittany can make it back if all goes well for her. I thought she was close to making the top 6. Evan was quite good and seemed to have settled down by the end of the week. I certainly wish them the best, and it will be interesting to see if any of them do make it to Broadway.
If they keep this show going, maybe in a few years they could do quick segments on past winners to see what they've been doing. I also hope they do a better job with the editing. They certainly don't need to make it overly dramatic, just clean up the editing to make it less confusing and feature more students from the group.
#102BROADWAY OR BUST - PBS
Posted: 9/24/12 at 6:11pmYeah- I wonder if they featured Brittany because of her back story. She would definitely need a full ride and not too many MT programs do that but I suppose it's possible. Also, there may have been tons of kids who were more talented but just didn't have the back story. That's the part of reality tv that I dislike.
wonkit
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/30/08
#103BROADWAY OR BUST - PBS
Posted: 9/25/12 at 10:15amI was intrigued that no one advised Brittany NOT to sing what Bernie Telsey called (paraphrasing here) "one of the most difficult Broadway songs ever written." She might have been more successful with something she could have handled with enough energy left to devote to her considerable acting skills. No advisor to help her out?
#104BROADWAY OR BUST - PBS
Posted: 9/25/12 at 12:22pmWho knows wonkit- maybe they did advise her but she didn't listen. She seemed to do okay with the song from The Color Purple though.
#105BROADWAY OR BUST - PBS
Posted: 9/25/12 at 12:52pmRegarding the performance itself: The medleys looked pretty good to me and they seemed funny, but I was disappointed with rest of the show, particularly the Newsies songs. They slowed down and dragged out Seize the Day so much that it seemed like a dirge. Plus, the choreography during the song wasn't striking or original at all. Mainly the kids knelt down and stood up again. And so much work seemed to go into it! Maybe the dancing that we didn't get to see was better?
#106BROADWAY OR BUST - PBS
Posted: 9/25/12 at 1:20pmThe choreographer had to work with a bunch of kids who have never taken a dance class (that was clearly obvious in those dance numbers and even the choreographer knew that). It always surprises me that kids go into musical theatre because they can sing well and act okay. They seem to forget that you have to be a triple threat! Even at my daughter's performing arts high school, there were only two girls who could really dance well.
#107BROADWAY OR BUST - PBS
Posted: 9/25/12 at 3:56pm
A lot of high schools offer Choir and Drama, but dance classes (other than drill team) would have to be private lessons and for years to get up to a level of triple-threat proficiency, which is far beyond the means of most students and schools. It's extremely rare to find a triple threat in a public high school (private school or a performing arts school perhaps, but are they included in this competition?), much less more than one, and for what? One musical a year for about three or four performances. Most schools enlist students from choir for the chorus and members of the drill team for dancers because that is precisely what their resources will allow.
They slowed down and dragged out Seize the Day so much that it seemed like a dirge. Plus, the choreography during the song wasn't striking or original at all. Mainly the kids knelt down and stood up again.
Expecting a lot of choreography or stellar dancing for a one-time performance taught to high-schoolers in a few days from schools that probably don't have dance programs seems extremely far-fetched. Maybe 10 out of the 60 kids were okay dancers, but that clearly wasn't a focus in the show or the competition. And unless they are auditioning for a specific show, it really doesn't need to be. Plenty of musicals have little/simplistic choreography, including many that are extremely popular around here: Rent, Spring Awakening, Grey Gardens, Next to Normal, Caroline or Change, Les Miserables, etc.
Seize the Day sounded like they were doing the intro portion before the song shifts into a quicker tempo. They weren't performing full versions of every song. It was medleys with lyric alterations highlighting the "current" Broadway musicals (at the time the performance took place). Not sure what you were expecting.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
Tom1071
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/1/04
#108BROADWAY OR BUST - PBS
Posted: 9/25/12 at 4:16pmBrittany was done a great disservice when she was not told that she shouldn't even touch "And I'm Telling You...".
#109BROADWAY OR BUST - PBS
Posted: 9/25/12 at 7:17pm
I just finished this and EVAN WAS ROBBED!
Also I think it's hilarious that they sang "Here Right Now" for the finale. The girl who started it off was super pitchy and it did not sound good.
"Pardon my prior Mcfee slip. I know how to spell her name. I just don't know how to type it." -Talulah
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#111BROADWAY OR BUST - PBS
Posted: 9/27/12 at 4:00pmI really didn't like Evan's Master of the House with the Dick-Van-Dyke Cockney dialect. But I thought Brittany's And I Am Telling You was really good when it counted in front of the judges. I thought for sure she was in the finals over that girl who blandly performed I Hate Men. But then, I only know the edited snippets we were allowed to see, which is impossible to judge objectively.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
skyhook
Swing Joined: 8/4/10
#112BROADWAY OR BUST - PBS
Posted: 9/28/12 at 8:06pm
Both chosen winners were the right choices! I see HUGE careers for both.
#113BROADWAY OR BUST - PBS
Posted: 11/5/12 at 11:12pm
How did I not know about this show?! (I must not be paying attention to the board.) I only saw it for the first time tonight. I gather I was watching a rerun on PBS. (Just checked, and it looked like what I saw was episode 2, Boot Camp.)
http://video.pbs.org/video/2277513036
Coach Bob knew it all along: you've got to get obsessed and stay obsessed. You have to keep passing the open windows. (John Irving, The Hotel New Hampshire)
Updated On: 11/5/12 at 11:12 PM
