BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical - Pre-Broadway Chicago Nov 23
2023, 08:53:03 AM
Caught it last night, and the good news is that there's definitely a viable show here, but they're going to have to do some work if they want it to be a pretty good/great show. Totally fixable - probably not by the end of the Chicago run, but definitely before it moves to Broadway (for I presume next season).
The good news, as others have mentioned, is that Jasmine Amy Rogers is a star. She understands what she needs to do as the character, executes pretty flawlessly, and whene
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A WONDERFUL WORLD Oct 13
2023, 01:16:28 AM
I caught the first show in Chicago tonight and oof. I’ll echo the previous comment that the cast is working incredibly hard and Iglehart is well cast as Armstrong. But even for a bio-musical, boy is the book shockingly thin. The conceit of having his wives tell the story is an interesting one - if only the show bothered to do any actual character development with them during their quarter of the story (his final wife gets some good moments, but when that’s the best you can say abo
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THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA musical headed to the UK and West End in 2024 Sep 13
2023, 10:42:59 AM
Fully aware that she might not want to work on it, but why Aline Brosh McKenna isn't doing the book (after handling the film - and then working for four years on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) continues to confound me. The film script was great. She's got experience with musical-aligned writing. Plus the Chicago book was just...oof.
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THE NOTEBOOK musical world premiere in Chicago this fall; Grief directing Sep 10
2022, 11:12:04 PM
Just saw it tonight and joining in on the positive reviews. I was never a fan of the film, so I was prepared to dislike the musical, but boy was I wrong. They’ve made the smart choice to anchor the story around the older Allie and Noah, which allows the story to have the depth and sadness the film only injected at the end interspersed throughout. Everyone around me was sobbing throughout - and even I she’s a tear.
I haven’t seen a show this Broadway ready in a pre-Bro
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THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA Musical (Chicago Pre-Broadway) - News & Discussion Thread Jul 21
2022, 04:31:46 PM
HenryTDobson said: "I'm surprised to hear that they kept a lot of the dialogue from the movie. Yes, some of it is iconic, but much less so than other movie-to-musicals (I'm thinking Mean Girls). I don't think anyone would be missing huge chunks of dialogue (save for several key points).
When will writers/producers learn? How many bad movie-to-musicals do we need before they realize not ALL movies need to be musicalized?"
I will say - some of th
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THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA Musical (Chicago Pre-Broadway) - News & Discussion Thread Jul 21
2022, 01:09:32 AM
Saw the show tonight and am pretty much going to echo what others have written thus far. This isn't First Wives Club bad, but it's definitely not good.
Book: As some have said, nearly all the key line from the film that you remember are here (why Aline Brosh McKenna doesn't get an acknowledgement in the program when so much of her script is being reused is a genuine question I have - and why not just have her do the book? It's not like she doesn't have experience wo
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THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA Musical (Chicago Pre-Broadway) - News & Discussion Thread Jul 14
2022, 04:35:09 PM
I'll be going on Wednesday, July 20th as well. I enjoyed the film a great deal, but I have a hard time seeing how this is going to translate well into a modern musical. But who knows - maybe it will surprise me?
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THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA Musical (Chicago Pre-Broadway) - News & Discussion Thread Jun 6
2022, 06:36:06 PM
Broadway in Chicago is having a “sneak peek” Zoom on the show right now and they played snippets of two songs. Very Aida ballad reminiscent. They also talked about how they have had to make the story more applicable to today (the fall of print media, bosses who are tyrants aren’t ok now, etc.) Lots of emphasis that this isn’t just going to be the film on stage.
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There is a decent show in there somewhere? Apr 29
2020, 04:13:30 PM
Another vote for Wonderland from me. An adult Alice going back to Wonderland and confronting her own insecurities/worries/fears in adulthood is a solid concept. And there were a number of solid songs. But boy, was the book a mess. The overall plot was convoluted. It's the one show I look back on and think, "Man, there's a decent show in there, and I have no idea how it became such a complete mess."
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Victory Gardens' FUN HOME will stream online for two weeks Apr 15
2020, 12:44:38 PM
BJR said: "Was this production similar to Gold's, or a new interpretation?"
It was similar to the tour staging, if I recall correctly. But it was a great production - Middle Allison in particular was great.
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Scott Rudin lowers tickets to $50 for all his shows in March Mar 12
2020, 12:29:24 PM
Got tickets for next week for Lehman and Mockingbird (in what would normally be premium seats, crazy). Worse case it get canceled, but I figured might as well snag tickets just in case.
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Bug at Steppenwolf Feb 3
2020, 11:32:26 AM
Just popping in to add another rave review. I intentionally went into the play as blind as possible in terms of plot and was blown away. It's not my favorite Letts work, but all five actors were just sensational. Smallwood and Coon let you understand just how each character ends up in this particular situation.
I agree with CoercedBull - I was also sitting on the house left and the dresser blocked the bed on set at times (we must have been sitting right by each other on Friday!)
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Bug at Steppenwolf Jan 27
2020, 02:46:05 PM
I'm set to go this Friday - very excited for it. I'm a huge Carrie Coon fan (and, naturally, a Letts fan), so I'm thrilled to hear such positive feedback.
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Moulin Rouge launches National Tour in 2020 Sep 20
2019, 11:58:08 AM
Re: The Chicago run - the article that ran in the Chicago Tribune had a quote from a producer (Carmen Pavlovic)that indicated that the run could be a genuine sit-down/extended if interest is high. Sure, that could just be a line, but who knows.
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Six at the ART Aug 26
2019, 04:52:40 PM
Per her Instagram, Pauly will be back starting with the Edmonton run of the show.
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Lucas Hnath - DANA H Aug 13
2019, 04:24:40 PM
The Owen in The Goodman has a bit of black box feel (the seating can be moved depending on the production and it isn't a traditional theatre set-up). I've seen two shows there, and the balcony is high, but with pretty good sightlines. I recall there being two rows of seats in the balcony last I was there, and I think if you got the front row you would be fine. But, for $35, orchestra might be worth it.
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Six heading to Broadway Aug 5
2019, 04:49:32 PM
Chris Jones just put out a piece on the return Chicago engagement. As mentioned above, it's an initial 16-week engagement, separate cast from the Broadway show, but it has the goal of being a sit-down production after the initial engagement ends.
Considering the continuing buzz here about the show, and assuming it continues to build during the initial Broadway run/Tony season, this could be a solid hit again for Chicago (I've had non-theatre fan friends start asking me about it over the past week, wondering if they could get tickets - they were disappointed to hear they missed out). Plus, the house is small enough to pack in people continuously (assuming the overhead isn't too large). It's an interesting strategy, to be sure.
Here's the article (sorry, I don't know how to embed it): https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/chris-jones/ct-ott-six-musical-back-chicago-0809-20190805-dhebyx3jdzfyfdinmlitxe6kqi-story.html
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THE BODYGUARD to Broadway - What Happened? Jul 1
2019, 03:23:43 PM
I saw the tour when it came through Chicago and aside from Cox, it was atrocious. I described it to friends thus: "As a concert of Whitney Houston songs sung by Deborah Cox, it was a delightful evening. As a musical, it was a disaster."
You definitely got the good end of the deal just seeing Cox sing and not having to see the rest of the show along with it.
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Six reviews Jun 27
2019, 12:59:06 AM
Caught the show for a second time tonight (going one more time at the end of July). Went with some coworkers who didn’t know the show at all (aside from knowing their Tudor history), and everyone raved about it at the end. I think this definitely has the cross-generation appeal to get a variety of people in the door (the middle aged couple sitting behind me were just as engrossed as the teens close by, which was lovely to see).
As for the cast, they’ve gotten much tighter and the show i
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Catholic High School Musical Choices Jun 26
2019, 05:44:16 PM
The Doubt suggestion made me cackle out loud at work...
I went to Catholic high school and we did Fame (those directors were not asked back the following year, though), West Side Story, Joseph, and Footloose. They did Fiddler the year before I started, and Godspell the year after I graduated. They've also done Sound of Music, Little Mermaid, Bye Bye Birdie, and Oklahoma in recent years.
West Side Story and Joseph were the shows that got the greatest interest from the students (
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FORBIDDEN BROADWAY
