Sousatzka S'Awful

[coopsbiz]

Posted: 2/26/17 at 5:56pm

We caught a preview last night that although technically a "preview", the ads called it an opening which makes it fair game for critics. And boy will the critics have a field day. The audience kept looking at each other wondering what they were watching. Sadly, the show is awful. The cast is admirable but the book and music looks like they were inspired by a united nations focus group.  If it does by miracle make it to Broadway , the poster will be hanging on the walls of Joe Allen within days of opening. Bad title. Bad show.             

[all_that_jazz]

Posted: 2/26/17 at 10:09pm

Actually opening night is March 23rd. It opened in previews last night.

 

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 2/27/17 at 12:27am

Then I'll wait to comment. Maltby and Shire, right?

Updated On: 2/27/17 at 12:27 AM

[coopsbiz]

Posted: 2/27/17 at 9:13am

yes we know when the show says its opening - however, all of the marketing promoted the opening as being this past Saturday. The old preview trick for 7 weeks is to avoid negative reviews of which this show will receive a truck load. Sorry, but it was a painful overload  of bad clichés about diversity.          

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 2/27/17 at 9:37am

I didn't intend my remark to be a comment on you, coop. You're entitled to make your own decision when to discuss the show publicly; you and I are not bound by the same rules as the NY TIMES. If a show opens to the public, then it can't hold the public to a vow of silence. Myself, I won't be seeing the show any time soon anyway.

I work at a theater that just did a month of BABY. I think Maltby and Shire, if they are the songwriters, are better with the revue format. They have quite a knack for detailed characterization in a few minutes. Constructing a full-length plot doesn't seem to come as naturally.

Updated On: 2/27/17 at 09:37 AM

[coopsbiz]

Posted: 2/27/17 at 9:41am

Thanks for clarifying. I do agree - Maltby is pure juke box writer who sadly did the same damage to Fosse, a good idea without any book or backstory     

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 2/27/17 at 10:32am

Longer post at ATC for anyone curious:

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/allthatchat_new/d.php?id=2366450

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/27/17 at 11:38am

I actually loved Maltby and Shire's original score for Big.  I thought the Broadway production was quite good.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 2/27/17 at 11:43am

I haven't seen BIG. Maybe they do better with adaptations like SOUSATZKA.

And I didn't see FOSSE. But if all Maltby ever does in his career is AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' (and of course it isn't all he's done), he still deserves a place of respect. AM is simply the best revue I have ever seen; but I also love much of STARTING HERE, STARTING NOW and CLOSER THAN EVER.

[coopsbiz]

Posted: 2/27/17 at 12:16pm

absolutely agree on Aint Misbehavin - wonderful - I believe the problem on  Sousatzka is that Drabinsky dictates his own vision and ruins the show - did the same on Ragtime - the show was sensational in Toronto and he killed it by the time he got to NYC - and sadly disembowelled the great Frank Galati           

[RyanInVancouver]

Posted: 2/27/17 at 1:33pm

Hey Coop - 

Were you there Saturday night? I was too. I actually wrote the review on ATC linked above -- I was floored when the audience leapt to its feet... I just kept shaking my head over and over. What a mess of a show.

[coopsbiz]

Posted: 2/27/17 at 2:49pm

I was there .....the audience was papered to death, they would stand for a stiff breeze

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 2/27/17 at 2:52pm

Could you talk about the changes made to Ragtime from Toronto to Broadway? Or point me to somewhere where I could read about that? I didn't realize it was changed significantly. 

[HogansHero]

Posted: 2/27/17 at 3:26pm

I saw Ragtime in Toronto and then here. There were definitely changes (the top of Act 2 comes to mind as does a song about Stanford White perhaps and I think some stuff for Audra in Act 2-surely some folks know precisely), but in general it was very much the same show and the changes were at the margins and certainly not anything that "killed" anything materially. The major faults (two-dimensional book, repetitive anthems, etc) were in both versions. I liked the show despite its faults. The general sense in New York at the time was that the over-enthusiastic reception in Toronto was heavily influenced by cheer-leading for the hometown project. 

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 2/27/17 at 4:44pm

Well...apply cold water to burned area...Ryan's recap was an interesting read though.

[green waver]

Posted: 2/28/17 at 9:57am

Mister Matt said: "I actually loved Maltby and Shire's original score for Big.  I thought the Broadway production was quite good.

...And I loved Baby. Maltby was not the librettist, although I'm sure he had a ton of input. IMO very unfair to pigeonhole them as mere revue songwriters.

"

 

[sparepart973]

Posted: 2/28/17 at 2:09pm

oh, dear. all this time I misread the title thought it was swastika. until I just saw the trailer. oops. 

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 2/28/17 at 7:01pm

green waver said: "Mister Matt said: "I actually loved Maltby and Shire's original score for Big.  I thought the Broadway production was quite good.

...And I loved Baby. Maltby was not the librettist, although I'm sure he had a ton of input. IMO very unfair to pigeonhole them as mere revue songwriters.

"

 

 

"

Unfair? They've had major off-Broadway hits with two original revues and Maltby created a Broadway smash with AIN'T MISBEHAVIN'.

The runs of their book shows are measured in weeks. (Exception: Maltby did the lyrics for MISS SAIGON.)

Now I don't think commercial success is the only criterion and I'm glad you enjoyed BABY, but do the math.

[green waver]

Posted: 2/28/17 at 11:35pm

I don't know, Gaveston. Big and Baby were both Tony nominated scores. Big's subsequent national tour was successful. Baby is frequently staged, both regionally and collegiately. As for Nick and Nora-well, Loesser had Greenwillow, Bernstein had 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, etc. Creating a great musical is certainly an elusive proposition. I think Maltby and Shire are highly respected in the theater world.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 2/28/17 at 11:58pm

^^^^^ Maltby and Shire are highly respected by ME! Haven't I made that clear?

But I just spent four weeks with BABY and the problems with that material become clearer the more you watch it. Yes, the score is catchy, but it would work better in a revue about parenthood. Too often, characters are either given songs that don't fit the plot but are nice meditations on some aspect of conception OR characters stop singing almost entirely because they are childless and no longer participate musically in the theme of the show.

Put more bluntly, if you have three central couples and only one of them manages to bring a baby to term, then, mathematically speaking, you ought to call your show NO BABY! (Yes, I am being partially flippant, and, yes, I know they had collaborators on both BABY and BIG.)

That said, I've worn out and replaced CDs of CLOSER THAN EVER and STARTING HERE... (I have NYC and London versions of the latter.) I'm sure I'll continue to play BIG and BABY as well, while I wait for a "greatest hits of" revue.

[coopsbiz]

Posted: 3/1/17 at 7:58am

I tried Sousatzka  again last night knowing how Drabinsky likes to tinker, it is beyond teriible - more characters than Orphan Black ....it is a mess. Not one investor will make a dime    

[gleek4114]

Posted: 3/4/17 at 8:13pm

If anyone is planning on going, I'd love an extra playbill if you could ship to the states (more than happy to pay shipping). I love Victoria, Montego, and Judy!

[haterobics]

Posted: 4/13/17 at 9:47am

http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/garth-drabinsky-s-sousatzka-broadway-1.4067819

[newintown]

Posted: 4/13/17 at 10:22am

Clark looks like Tony Sheldon in drag in that photo. Poor thing - she's a full-figured gal by nature, who has been starving herself to fit an unrealistic female expectation.