I am really excited (well, excited, and scared) about how this show will go over at Encores. When I was an Menken obsessed kid, I listened to the demo and live cast album--and a friend, who hated musicals, told me that it would make a great musical. (I never read the book).
And this oral history of the show is worth a read. I really hope it gets a recording.
My mom was at the dress rehearsal and said that it took a little while to get going, but once it did, she liked it a lot. She thought the cast was great, and Brynn O'Malley's number was her favorite. She also loved Jeanine Tesori's speech. I can't go into too many details because I wasn't actually there, but I'm seeing it on Friday and I'm looking forward to it.
I'm going tonight. I'm pretty excited! I've never heard the score, but I've always wanted to; I'm a huge fan of both Menken & Ashman and Kurt Vonnegut. Rosewater was actually my very first Vonnegut novel back when I was in high school and made me fall in love with his work.
I was there through the generosity of a friend involved and LOVED it. It's weird, bizarre, but brilliant.
The roles other than Skylar and Santino and Brynn are mostly doubled and tripled etc, and all pretty minor parts, except for Mr Jones as the "author" in an amazing monologue.
See this if you can. Wonderful numbers and cast, sounding great with the band.
I'm ridiculously excited for this production. Sadly I'm in Florida right now, so I won't be able to see it. Hopefully this will lead to a long awaited cast album for this show.
I am so devastated, no hyperbole, just utterly heartbroken that I have to miss this show. Working far away. This is one of my favorite scores. Howard Ashman is my hero.
I was at the dress and the piece itself held my interest. Fontana handled his role with amusing levity and he simply has one of the best Broadway voices of his generation. The vocals were quite lovely across the board. Skyler was pushing a tad but I suspect he will find his groove. Mayer directs well without a heavy hand. There is an upstage platform which is a little clunky hindering sightlines and it is compromised by hanging postcards. It may be an issue on the 2nd tier.
What was that? One of the weirder musicals I've seen, and not really in a good way. It should have been called God Bless You, Mr Fontana for somehow using your remarkable innate charm and charisma to somehow almost hold the piece together. How the hell did that bizarro jamboree end up being the best thing about this Encores series?!
At times I got a sort of How to Succeed vibe from the thing, but you know without the Loesser score or any fleshed out characters, save Santino's Rosewater. There were a couple ok songs and a few poignant moments, but I thought overall they got lost in the shuffle of the rest of the hodgepodge that was going on. There is a reason this show isn't performed often. It's an oddity, not an undiscovered gem.
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
You're breaking my heart Whizzer! I can't comment on the show, and maybe I'm blinded from listening to the demo repeatedly as a kid, but I think the entire score is pretty terrific at any rate.
Part of how a score must be assessed is how it works in context.
Thank God for the Volunteer Fire Brigade? What exactly is terrific about that song? Sure it's wacky, but it comes out of nowhere, sung by characters we haven't met before and won't be seen from again, except for Mr Rosewater. It's a surreal, what the hell is going on moment.
What about The Rhode Island Tango? Once again, characters we haven't seen before are given a big spot- we do at least see the Rhode Island relatives again- but they feel both intregal and extraneous to the plot.
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!