Laura Benanti in Radio City Spring Spectacular!

[gstrus2]

Posted: 12/9/14 at 7:30pm

Playbill tweets:
@playbill: .@LauraBenanti will headline the #SpringSpectacular at @RadioCity! More info to come.

Glad to see her back in NYC! Updated On: 12/9/14 at 07:30 PM

[oncemorewithfeeling2]

Posted: 12/9/14 at 7:53pm

This is true, per Playbill. The show seems much structured then in the past years. It combines many of the aspects from the cancelled Heart and Lights. Most exciting, besides Laura, is that Mia Michaels is choreographing the show!


Benanti and the RCMH Spring spectacular Updated On: 12/9/14 at 07:53 PM

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 12/9/14 at 10:18pm

Missy B, Mia Michaels and RADIO CITY??? Somebody's tripping. Are the Rockettes involved?

[Tag]

Posted: 12/9/14 at 10:50pm

How the Broadwayworld article reads:

MSG Entertainment (MSGE) announced today that Tony Award-winning actress Laura Benanti and Emmy Award-winning choreographer Mia Michaels will be choreographing the opening number of the NewYork Spring Spectacular, presented by Chase, at Radio City Music Hall, to debut in March.

So Laura's a choreographer now too?

[lauraehefner]

Posted: 12/9/14 at 11:16pm

This is exciting! Tag, I saw that it said she was choreographing it and I was confused about it too. Does she have a significant amount of dance training? I never heard her mention it in any interviews or tweets.

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 12/9/14 at 11:58pm

^I think it was a typo

[TapDanceGal]

Posted: 12/10/14 at 8:04am

Mia Michaels is just choreographing the opening number. Warren Carlyle is choreographing the rest of the show.

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 12/10/14 at 12:52pm

This seems...odd to me. I think it's great they're doing a spring show, but I imagine it would be like their other shows and be more vaudeville/early musicals with a loose concept/plot used as an excuse for the production numbers. For example, let's say they have a set of Central Park and rain coats for the Rockettes so they'd just do "Singin' in the Rain" and have a loose thread of why they antagonist is there.

This is all well and good, but I can't imagine someone with Benanti's stature doing this. They must be throwing pots of money at her.

[little_sally]

Posted: 12/10/14 at 1:03pm

It seems odd to me too.

[SomethingPeculiar]

Posted: 12/10/14 at 1:06pm

Well, Weinstein and Paulus (and Carlyle and Michaels and ESosa and other theater pros) are involved, and those all aren't bad people to work for. If it goes well, it could be the start of a new NYC tradition.

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 12/10/14 at 1:11pm

Yeah, it's not like I think she has the power to call up a producer and say "My Fair Lady, book the Neil Simon in March!" and get great roles, but it seems like a waste to basically play a thankless role. I say this, obviously without having seen or read a thing so maybe they have a fun script.

I agree it was probably a "We'd love for you to do this. Oh, and we're talking about *other project* for you next season!"

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/10/14 at 1:33pm

Paulus.

Uh oh.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 12/10/14 at 2:12pm

I can't imagine this show will show off her acting chops. It's the Rockettes. I don't think she'll have any breakdowns or crying or any arch really. But she'll rock it.

[evic]

Posted: 12/10/14 at 2:34pm

How is Linda Haberman taking this? I thought her work for the x-mas show was out of this world and she brought the Rockettes back into the 21st century. Feel bad for her. She must have millions, but it probably still stings.

[wssinsider]

Posted: 3/10/15 at 11:57pm

I was there tonight for the invited dress. Oh boy!

Laura is super talented we all know that BUT the show is a mess and she is miscast in the role. Her "Broadway" number was sad. She's not funny or charming and her lines are awful. At least she's getting a pretty penny for doing the show.


The book is a horrific mess, Derek is an angel and he's trying to get his wings back from god. So god sends him to NYC.

Derek is SUPER talented. I can see him doing "On the town" or a real Broadway show. He can really sing and his dancing was superb.

Poor Laura, everyone was in shock she agreed to do the show. We were all speechless




Updated On: 3/10/15 at 11:57 PM

[CukorLover]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 12:20am

Hw stupendous was the Mia Michaels opening number?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 12:22am

"Derek is an angel and he's trying to get his wings back from god. So god sends him to NYC."

The guy Winston who used to post here?

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 12:22am

"She's not funny or charming and her lines are awful."

Isn't she some pro-technology straw man and essentially the stick in the mud character?

[wssinsider]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 12:33am

The opening number is great. The dancing numbers are fantastic. The problem is the book and those awful songs. We all wanted to the see the Rockettes dance. And Yes Laura plays that character but sadly she's not funny at all and her jokes landed super flat. I hope they cut some songs before they start shows.

SPOILER**********

Don't read if you don't want a spoiler





Laura turns into a Rockette and does the kick line at the end and saves the day. It was so random and awkward.

She's trying really hard but she's just stuck in a bad messy show
Updated On: 3/11/15 at 12:33 AM

[HamBiggar]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 12:33am

Uh-oh. The Curse of Harvey Weinstein is upon her.

Look for this to crash and burn.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 12:50am

I gave you the words you needed to know.

"Paulus.

Uh oh."

But I guess I shoulda specified Mr. and Mrs. Paulus. Barnum AND Bailey.

[Jill122]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 1:14am

I was surprised/confused when I heard Laura was going to be in this too. I love her but this doesn't seem like something she would do. I know Derek performed on the West End prior to being on dancing with the stars so maybe we will see him do Broadway in the future. I know Gary Barlow and Elliot Kennedy wrote some songs for this but anyone know who wrote the book?

[dave1606]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 1:56pm

I saw this last night at the first (I think?) public show. I have a bunch of random thoughts so apologies if I am a bit disjointed.

Unfortunately, most of what WSSinder said holds true. What is really frustrating to me, is that they didn't trust their biggest asset, which is the Rockettes!

One of the biggest reactions of the night was the Rockettes dancing on what was basically a bare stage in top hat outfits. That number comes very late in a show that is overstuffed with a lot of nonsense and not nearly enough dancing.

Derek Hough is a HUGE asset to the show and is totally charming. He's a great dancer (not the strongest singer) but he make some rather awful material work well.

Laura, poor Laura. It isn't as bad as Wssinsider states. She does get to sing, and she sounds wonderful. We got I Could Have Danced All night, which was a highlight for me. Her character is unlikable, but Laura does wonders with a part that could have been downright hateful. Her humor and warm do shine through. Yes, I wish she was in a show with better material, but she does what she can to make it work.

The one number that everyone will be talking about is the Singing in the Rain number. Derek Hough, The Rockettes, and tap dancer all bring it here. It is very cool to see the rain on the stage, and the audience loves it.

Sadly, what follows this is a movie montage (of New York movies? Often inappropriate for family audiences) while you can see them cleaning up the stage. Couldn't they at least have brought the orchestra up and had them play a medley of New York-themed music or something?


Whats worse is that this is the first of several montages. It started to feel like Spider-Man 1.0 where Act 2 was almost entirely made up of projections.

There is a New York Fashion Week scene that is almost entirely useless except the Rockettes at the end have a clever use of LED lights and a sensor that the audience is made to wear. For the rest of the show it is mostly distracting and annoying, but for this one scene it is very cool.


What follows the Fashion Week scene is a sports segment that is equally as useless. We get videos from famous athletes that contribute nothing to the show.

That said, there is a fantastic scene on the roof of the Emprie State Building with some aerial work that was excellent. But then we get to what was one of the worst moments of the show, and an embarrassing technical snafu last night.

They travel to statue of liberty (in which a nearly life size statue is raised up on stage). The statue is apparently supposed to speak to them and be the voice of god communicating to Derek. The problem is that last night the voice was not synced up to the animatronics, so the statue's mouth started to move before the voice came down. It was both hysterical and terrifying at the same time.

There is a charming Easter Parade segment towards the end of the show that I loved (with some clever costumes).

Overall, There are about 4 or 5 scenes that are excellent if isolated from the bloated show itself. You probably could do the show just fine without the story at all, and cut both Laura and Derek characters, and just have 90 minutes of New York Themed-scenes. As of right now I'm not sure this will become an annual thing. I'm a big fan of the Christmas show and I have seen it almost every year, but this show doesn't work in its current form.

[madela2]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 2:36pm

Dave, did the show, as it is, come in at around the 90 minute run time? I'm planning on the 10pm Hedwig after this next weekend.

[dave1606]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 3:14pm

Hi Madela,

Yes it was 90 minutes. It started at 7:33pm, and we were out on the street on or around 9:00pm.