I was at the final performance last night and it was truly a magical evening of theater. The sense of community (on stage and off) was palpable and beautiful. The performances across the board, from the leads - Jelani was perfect and incredibly moving - to the community ensemble members, were fantastic. The puppetry was delightful. Everything about this was moving and wonderful. If it transfers in some capacity it will never capture the same feeling of this Public Works production, but I stil
I decided to give this a shot on Saturday evening and I frankly don't have the words. Besides the obnoxious and rowdy audience (the ushers had to constantly tell everyone to be quiet and behave) this was without a doubt one of the worst musicals I've ever seen. It's utter nonsense, and not in a good way. Shrill, idiotic, and poorly conceived in every way. The vocals were okay. Lena Hall sounded good, as always.
Kate Monster3 said: "Ledaero said: "I've been a fan of Joe's work for a long time, but one of my major hesitations with this show since its inception 3 or 4 years ago was the idea of doing it as a blaxploitation piece. Has anyone who saw it at Barrington able to shed light on how they tackle the genre? Is it offensive in any way? Is it made aware that its an all-white production using the genre?I'm anticipating cultural backlash with this Off-Broadway run, but I
I'm hoping to go to the matinee tomorrow. I'll report back afterwards with my thoughts. I'm hoping this is more of a full on show (despite the Mindfreak Unplugged subtitle) than whatever it was that I saw Yanni do a few weeks ago at the same space.
I would by no stretch call myself a Yanni superfan, although I do enjoy his music and have listened to it throughout my life. His music is grand, orchestrated with numerous pieces, propulsive, exciting...
This wasn’t it. These songs were fine being played just on a piano, but it really did strip away the magic and majesty. And without the orchestration it all did kind of sound the same.
It is worth nothing that Hadestown was not eligible for this Best Musical award as they considered it when it was first Off Broadway a few years ago.
I still feel strongly that Hadestown will take the Tony.
BEETLEJUICE Previews Apr 3
2019, 10:29:25 AM
I saw Beetlejuice last night and for my money it’s one of the worst new musicals I’ve seen in years. I hated nearly every moment of it. The design work and puppetry is nice. There are a few charming performances. Otherwise, this is a shrill, pandering mess that trades in the unique charm of the film for obnoxious references, awful jokes, and forced emotion. The book, as it were, is a disaster. The songs are mediocre at best. That this composer has two big new musicals in one season is a crime.
Highlands Guy said: "BroadwayBear2 said: "It's also quiet, because many of the more vocal posters have had their accounts blocked/deleted including Sondheimite and BroadqayConcierge, and quite a few others. The whole thing got out of hand, I dont think removing these people we all loved and respected from our community was the answer. We need to be able to discuss things together"
I have been here before in a different incarnation. Speaki
I saw School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play today and couldn't help but think how effectively it could be re-staged to be in the round and how it would fit beautifully at a small house like CITS. I have no clue if they're even contemplating a transfer, but it passed through my mind as something that might work well.
The only person the critic's pick seal should really mean anything to is the critic who decided to apply it to their review, denoting that they quite liked the piece they are reviewing. Criticism and reviews are purely subjective - sure, we can hope that professional critics are more educated and are coming to the theater from a place of higher regard than average audiences, but at the end of the day they are just expressing their own individual opinion.
I've noticed the same issue as well over the past few days. Eventually if you let the page sit/load for long enough, the available seats do show up. That being said, it's been operating much slower as of late and it's rather frustrating. Hopefully they figure it out and fix the issue.
I agree. Some of my family was in from out of town and wanted to see Wicked, so we were lucky enough to schedule it right in line with Jessica's first performance. She was sensational. One of the best Elphabas in a long time. She left chills up and down my spine with her big three numbers, and her characterization was spot on.
I wish Hailey nothing but the best in her recovery. It sounds painful and I can't imagine the emotional toil either.
That being said, I saw Ms. Lott go on as Ti Moune a while back and thought she was absolutely wonderful. The show will be in good hands while Hailey recovers.
I saw this last night and it disappointed even my very low expectations. It's truly awful. LaChanze is quite good, and when it's just her belting out these classic songs the show is at its peak. Otherwise it is a dramatically inept mess that I found frequently hilarious for all of the wrong reasons. None of the drama lands because the storytelling and character development is so thin, so rushed, and so facile. The acting of the majority of the main cast is weak, but I mostly blam
I've never seen a single episode of the Spongebob TV show and I enjoyed the musical a great deal for its imagination, optimism, and joyfulness. So while this may have been your problem with it, it's not a blanket problem at all.
For what it's worth, it didn't seem that Jim was in any pain at all throughout the performance and the boot and cane didn't seem to inhibit his (very good) performance at all. At one point he has to make his way up a set up stairs, and he definitely took his time, but otherwise he seemed okay. In fact, he used the cane for emphasis on certain things sometimes and it seemed to fit the character fairly well. Leave it be for me to know what's actually going on, if he was in pain
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