What The Constitution Means To Me Broadway Previews Mar 14
2019, 10:22:46 PM
I was there tonight for the first preview. I have to admit that this was the show I was looking forward to least this season. I mean, talk about an unappealing title! It’s not quite a one-woman show, but I was envisioning Heidi Schreck standing behind a podium, giving a lecture on constitutional law. That’s kind of what happens, but it was much more theatrical than I imagined, and given Schreck’s warmth and genuine funny bone, this turned out to be the pleasant surprise of the season for me.
Definition of 'a mess' Mar 12
2019, 12:22:05 PM
Matty, I stand by saying it’s worth reading the Titus Wikipedia synopsis (which takes all of five minutes). It’s not like someone can’t follow Gary going in cold, but there were lots of little jokes and references throughout Gary that are aided by familiarity with the character names and basic plot. I didn’t mean to imply that someone needs to pull out their annotated Shakespeare and have scholarly knowledge at their fingertips, but a couple paragraphs of synopsis can only enhance one’s enjoymen
Definition of 'a mess' Mar 11
2019, 11:40:40 PM
It can’t be stressed enough what Nielsen accomplished tonight. It was like they sent her into open heart surgery after only one week of medical school and she somehow fixed the heart!
Her expression of relief, exhaustion and gratitude at the curtain call reminded me of that line from Venus in Fur when Vanda says, “You don’t have to tell me about sadomasochism, I’m in the theater!”
Definition of 'a mess' Mar 11
2019, 11:20:33 PM
Well, I do think it pays homage to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead quite a bit. It’s not restrained and ordered like Arcadia or the like. The premise is already so absurd that anyone would write a sequel to Titus Andronicus because everyone is dead by the end of that play, and to use that as a springboard for wild comedy is both a hot mess and divinely inspired.
It doesn’t come together as nicely as a Stoppard play, but is not meant to.
Definition of 'a mess' Mar 11
2019, 11:01:38 PM
I agree; Nielsen will be considered lead along with Lane and White will be featured.
George C Wolfe stretched his creative muscle once again with this, and yes the set is fantastic. Santo Loquasto does positively inspired work here. Easily a career highlight, and the man has had quite the career!
Definition of 'a mess' Mar 11
2019, 10:45:44 PM
Judy, how chill are your parents? Ha. :)
George, I hope no one answers you for now because it would involve major spoilers. It is a very, very wild time though- you’re right about that!
Definition of 'a mess' Mar 11
2019, 10:23:56 PM
I don’t even know how to formulate into words what I just saw, but let me take Gary’s advice and start and bottom and work my way back to the top...
I was so moved by the curtain call when Nathan thanked Julie and Kristine and both of them broke down in tears; Kristine was full on sobbing and I quite frankly I don’t know how she memorized this in a week. Some of the dialogue is blank verse, but some of it is rhyming couplet iambic pentameter and there’s no faking that. Knowing she only
BE MORE CHILL (Broadway) Reviews Mar 11
2019, 03:58:08 PM
Ain’t Too Proud is not eligible for score. I think Jordan mistook your discussion of Best Score as one for Best Musical.
I agree with you that Iconis will surely get the fourth score slot over Beetlejuice.
BE MORE CHILL (Broadway) Reviews Mar 11
2019, 03:13:13 PM
Ok, I found out it’s 48 members this year, comprised of people such as Daphne Rubin-Vega, Priscilla Lopez, Ann Harada, Brenda Braxton, Scott Frankel, Jerry Dixon, Katori Hall, Michael John LaChiusa, Don Scarsino and Randy Skinner.
Yes, these handful of people are going to decide the nominations. This method really allows for biases (intentional or otherwise) and personal tastes to really mold the noms.
BE MORE CHILL (Broadway) Reviews Mar 11
2019, 03:02:46 PM
The nominating committee is very small. IIRC each person serves a three year term and about 1/3 of the committee rotates out each year. It is a tiny fraction of the voting body. The voters don’t all vote to decide the nominations.
I once got to chat with Donna McKechnie one year when she was on the committee. She took it very seriously. Plenty of voters don’t go to every show (even though they’re supposed to), but the nominating committee members 100% do.
They meet periodical
BE MORE CHILL (Broadway) Reviews Mar 11
2019, 02:45:47 PM
I definitely agree that the critics and voters usually line up, but I do feel like the nominating committee likes to march to their own drummer year to year. Remember the weird year that Leap of Faith was nominating for Best Muscial even though it got no other nominations (and was nominated over Lysistrata Jones- which got a rave in the Times- and Bonnie and Clyde- which got noms for score and actress).
I’m by no means saying Be More Chill is a lock for a nomination, but the nominatin
BE MORE CHILL (Broadway) Reviews Mar 11
2019, 01:17:39 PM
But the large voting population is very different from the small nominating committing. What do the voters or the reviewers have to do with the nominating committing, unless you’re saying the nominators will be so swayed by the reviews that they won’t form their own opinions?
BE MORE CHILL (Broadway) Reviews Mar 11
2019, 08:46:21 AM
This has been an incredibly weak year for both musicals and plays (a few exceptions notwithstanding).
I think Be More Chill still has a great shot at receiving a Best Musical nomination, regardless of what I personally think about the show, which is not much at all.
Tootsie and Hadestown seem the two likely locks, with The Prom a decent shot. Unless Beetlejuice was magically reworked since its DC run, Be More Chill is the obvious fourth slot.
BE MORE CHILL (Broadway) Previews Mar 10
2019, 05:27:25 PM
Musicals existed before Dear Evan Hansen, Hamilton and Rent. In 1972, Galt MacDermot and company wrote the ultimate Sci-Fi rock musical in Via Galactica (set in the year 2972 no less!). I’m sorry if Irene Cara wasn’t teenage angst-y enough for you, but this is very well covered ground. At least Via Galactica had trampolines.
The way you describe Hamilton makes it sound like a drudgery of a drama. There’s plenty of humor in the piece. Be More Chill certainly (attempts to) deal with seri
Mar 7
2019, 01:55:38 PM
Hmm, haven’t heard that Fun Home rumor.
I just looked up Gold’s Broadway track record and it is all over the place.
Seminar- perfunctory direction of a perfunctory play
Picnic- uninspired direction and production
Realistic Joneses- I despised this play, but that was the text
The Real Thing- bland and misguided
Fun Home- some of my favorite musical directing of the past decade
I hated his production of Glass Menagerie though, and Lear didn’t work for me at all either. Maybe I just don’t like Gold’s take on the classics, but dig his modern work.
With Annie Baker/Fun Home Gold’s direction only enhanced the pieces and never got in way of the text or the performances. With Lear and Menagerie it’s a
Jackson is commanding, but she gets lost in this mess of a production. Ruth Wilson has some nice moments as The Fool/Cordelia and John Douglas Thompson comes out unscathed, even if it’s the first time I’ve ever seen him not make an impression.
I know it’s early previews, but I did not care for Pedro Pascal (Edmund) or Sean Carvajal (Edgar) tonight at all, and Lear really falls
Beetlejuice predictions Mar 1
2019, 10:16:13 PM
I’m grateful for the $33 preview ticket they had, but I can’t imagine they would have needed to do that if they already had a healthy advance. From the performances I looked at online, there appear to be lots of empty seats. The reviews were not nice out of town...this will take very strong word of mouth to become a hit/run for any amount of time.
Mar 1
2019, 10:13:27 PM
Impossible2 said: "WhizzerMarvin said: "The best meal is always the cheapest one- you can hit the food and drink minimum exactly by ordering he beet salad and a side of spinach/Swiss chard type greens.
It’s not a perfect meal, but it’s $25."
So 25 bucks for a plate of purple grass?"
No, they are two separate dishes. The beet salad has several types of beets, other root vegetables, greens and goat cheese. Very good.
