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Death takes a holiday
Death takes a holiday
Kkh252
Swing Joined: 4/28/15
#1Death takes a holiday
Posted: 1/21/17 at 6:03am
did anyone see this off Broadway? I'm going to the west end production today and want to know some reactions
#2Death takes a holiday
Posted: 1/21/17 at 9:36am
Pretty music. Pretty singing. Pretty sets. I was bored as hell.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
JoeyEvans1206
Understudy Joined: 2/19/15
#3Death takes a holiday
Posted: 1/21/17 at 12:37pm
I would definitely skip it. The plot certainly had the potential to make a lovely musical, but as stated before it is relatively dull, uninspired adaptation. I will be in London with a friend (with whom I saw the off-Broadway production) this winter and we were both poking fun at how, of all shows, this one is getting a revival when we are in town. Needless to say, we won't be seeing it again. There was good reason why it died at the Roundabout.
#4Death takes a holiday
Posted: 1/21/17 at 12:40pm
Worst show EVER---a waste of time
"People have their opinions and that doesn't mean that their opinions are wrong or right. I just take it with a grain of salt because opinions are like as*holes, everyone has one".
-Felicia Finley-
mamaleh
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/11/04
#5Death takes a holiday
Posted: 1/21/17 at 2:17pm
I remember greatly enjoying a gorgeous voice I had previously been unfamiliar with: that of Julian Ovendon. But the material was at best mediocre.
BIG BALONEY
Leading Actor Joined: 6/21/03
#6Death takes a holiday
Posted: 1/21/17 at 3:04pm
Caught it twice at the Roundabout. I liked it and the cast shined.
#7Death takes a holiday
Posted: 1/21/17 at 5:36pm
Very boring, particularly as time went on. Death Takes a Holiday = Good Writing Takes a Holiday.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
#8Death takes a holiday
Posted: 1/21/17 at 7:37pm
I saw this off-Broadway. Some of the music is absolutely gorgeous ("More and More" and "I Thought That I Could Live" I feel are incredibly strong romantic songs), and the performances from the cast were fine overall.
For me, the biggest issue with the material was its inconsistent tone. The first act awkwardly alternated between pastiche musical comedy and dark meditation on life and death, which made the first act wildly uneven. The second act selected the dark meditation route and therefore felt much more cohesive.
A nice show overall, but not something you should go out of your way to see.
Dollypop
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#9Death takes a holiday
Posted: 1/22/17 at 11:26pm
Enjoyed the show for what it was worth. Ovendon and Von Essen were excellent
"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)
#10Death takes a holiday
Posted: 1/25/17 at 7:50pm
I just saw this last week and it was painful. Beautiful to look at but the story is no bueno. To be fair I found Meet Joe Black a mediocre film but I was hoping this interpretation would be better. Towards the end when the More and More refrain was sung I was hoping that death would return from holiday and take me.
Harriet Craig
Stand-by Joined: 7/15/15
#11Death takes a holiday
Posted: 1/25/17 at 7:59pm
These comments are making me glad I decided not to use one of the slots on my London theater trip in March to see Death Takes a Holiday. I was tempted, because I have listened to the music and found it appealing, but I had some doubts about the book, so I decided against it, and it sounds like I made the right decision.
if I lived in London and didn't have to ration my theater time there so carefully, I might still see the show, just to hear that score performed live, but as it is ... no.
tomwsjr
Featured Actor Joined: 5/9/05
#12Death takes a holiday
Posted: 1/25/17 at 8:30pm
There are so many shows in the west end that are so much better then Desth Takes a Holiday. Don't waist your time on this one.
