THE FIRST WIVES CLUB (2009-2009): Remembrance Thread- Page 2

[itsahopi]

Posted: 7/13/11 at 5:36am

I attended one of the final performances of this groundbreaking productions... and sometimes, late at night, I wake up in a cold sweat.

The best part was when Cynthia did a jack knife onto Park Avenue. The actress belted some song on a ledge about two feet off the ground, then leapt onto a crash pad. I think someone even yelled, "splat."

[Wildcard]

Posted: 7/13/11 at 1:02pm

I saw this production and sadly, I don't remember much about it. At all. I guess that's saying much.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 7/13/11 at 1:23pm

I'm read-AY FO CHAAAANGE.

Posted: 7/13/11 at 8:05pm

While I know plenty of songwriters no longer write as well as they get older, and I don't think Holland-Dozier-Holland's Motown stuff really showed that they'd do well to move to musical theatre, as much as I love a good deal of their music, but wow everything I've heard of the score is either blandly mediocre, or awful. Guess we're lucky that this was a "one time only" reunion for them, or so it was advertised.

Is there still any chance of this being reworked for Broadway? I know there have been plenty of mediocre or awful shows--particularly in regional "pre Broadway" productions, but *shakes head*

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 7/13/11 at 9:12pm

Wow. I can't really pass bitchy judgement on the performers in this. You really can't polish a turd.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 7/13/11 at 9:33pm

I just remember how excited I was when the cast was announced as Carolee Carmello, Adriane Lenox and Ana Gasteyer and then slowly the names started dropping out.

[ABB2357]

Posted: 7/13/11 at 9:52pm

Supposedly a new director was attached after the producers fired Zambello (they'd have been better off rewriting the score or Rupert Holmes's clunky book), but the lucky helmer's identity has never been revealed.
Updated On: 7/13/11 at 09:52 PM

[LegallyBroadway2]

Posted: 7/13/11 at 10:17pm

^^ quite the shower.

[darreyl102]

Posted: 7/13/11 at 10:30pm

I saw it at the Globe. I can’t remember much about it. It certainly wasn’t very memorable. I seem to remember being upset that the song ‘You don’t own me’ wasn’t used- at least I don’t think it was used- was it? For me that song and the movie go hand in hand.

Posted: 7/13/11 at 11:10pm

There's always that problem when a song becomes so identified with a movie--Shrekand Ghost both seemed to feel they had to include one song.

WHat an UGLY production! While I think Zambello has had more than her share of problems with musicals-, usually her productions are at least visually interesting (even if--see Little Mermaid--sometimes there are massive weird design probs). This is just ugly and cheap looking...

[erikinthecity2]

Posted: 7/14/11 at 2:44am

Say what you will about this production, but Sara Chase gave a FANTASTIC performance. If this show ever goes elsewhere, she is the one element that should be kept!

[ABB2357]

Posted: 7/17/11 at 4:53am

The look on this kid's face was my expression during the entire show.
Updated On: 7/17/11 at 04:53 AM

[dented146]

Posted: 7/17/11 at 9:07pm

It was pretty bad. Ironically, a short walk from the Old Globe is the San Diego Junior Theater. They were doing Les Mis. It was brilliant and was the best amateur production I've ever seen.

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 6/4/14 at 2:15pm

Oy vey!


FIRST WIVES CLUB Musical Heading to Broadway in Fall 2015?

[ABB2357]

Posted: 6/4/14 at 2:25pm

Gonna be outrageous! CONTAGIOUS!!!

I will seriously buy a plane ticket to Chicago if this is real.

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 6/4/14 at 2:31pm

Huge mistake by sticking with Rupert Holmes for the book. That is one of the many reasons why this musical blows. As for Simon Phillips directing, his version of 'Love Never Dies' was all right at best.

In all honesty I think this possible project has way more potential.


Taylor Swift to Collaborate with Harvey Weinstein on New Broadway Musical?

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 6/4/14 at 3:20pm

Hopefully they will recast most of the roles (Wouldn't mind if Babrbara Walsh stayed).

[ABB2357]

Posted: 6/4/14 at 3:27pm

Barbara Walsh was incredibly committed and sang the hell out of the most abysmal Act 1 finale I've ever seen.

If anyone's interested, I'm reposting what I wrote about the Old Globe production just after seeing it for the second time. It's a bit long, but hopefully it explains why I love THE FIRST WIVES CLUB and how this dreadful musical awakened me to the power of theatre:


First off, I'd like everyone to know that what I'm about to say comes sincerely from the heart. Some of you may take it with a grain of salt, and that's fine, but there is no level of irony or mocking superiority intended in this post.

Onward...

I ventured into the Old Globe to see THE FIRST WIVES CLUB one cool, sunny afternoon this past July. The show hadn't been reviewed yet, I hadn't seen the promo video online, and the only reason I went is because I happened to be in San Diego and was looking for something to do. I had seriously considered skipping the show, assuming that it probably wouldn't be very good. To think what I would have missed out on...

I saw the show, a Sunday matinee. It was wretched. Abysmal. Atrocious. Soul-crushing. An Armageddon-like creative catastrophe. A bottomless black hole of lazily offensive (or offensively lazy) tripe. Worthless. Bankrupt. I was personally shocked at the authors, director, and choreographer responsible for such a talentless mess (most of the actors, however, were very talented and worthy of the audience's sympathy). It was a low point in a lifetime of theatergoing and I wondered if our beloved, bewitching art form had choked out its last gasp of air, a fair assumption if this musical was indeed "Broadway bound" as advertised.

As soon as I got home, I sought solace on BWW. I saw the promo video. I scoured threads where some eviscerated the show and others delighted in its giddy incompetence. I felt relieved. Surely there were others in the world who knew my pain.

About a month later, I did something I never could have imagined... I saw the show again.

I'm sure you're asking yourselves, why would I further expose myself to something that had awakened such foul, seething rage the first time? Well, part of me had to see it again just to confirm that the first time was real. Had the show actually been that bad? Were the lyrics really that nonsensical? Was the staging that dopey? Were the one-liners that limp? I had to know. For my sanity, I had to prove to myself that THE FIRST WIVES CLUB wasn't some kind of fever dream, a shiny off-white hallucination brought forth by shifting panels of frosted glass.

Another side of me hoped I might be entertained. If the show was as bad as I remembered, there would be no surprises, no false hopes of quality. I would sit through it as before but with full knowledge of what I was getting myself into. Its juvenile tricks wouldn't ambush me like they did the first time. Maybe then I could, bizarrely, enjoy the show. Besides, who doesn't like to see a good train wreck every once in a while?

For some reason, I found myself excited to see THE FIRST WIVES CLUB again. Why? I couldn't put my finger on it. The show had awakened emotions in me, however negative, unlike any I had felt for any piece of theater in years. My strong feelings indicated that I had to see it again. I was obsessed. Finding my way back to the show became like a mission. I didn't know what would happen when the opening notes of "Wedding Belles" signaled the beginning of the first act, but I knew one thing. I was RED-DAY.

The show that afternoon was more or less the same as the one I'd seen a month earlier. A few bits of business in the staging were tightened, some performers were more sure of themselves (although not their material) this time out. Book/lyric changes were minimal to nonexistent. But something very significant HAD changed at that performance. Me.

Seeing that cast up there, busting their asses for a script that couldn't give them the time of day if it took place at a watch factory, was inspiring. I'm sure they knew at this point in the run what the show really was, they had to. Bad buzz was all over the chat boards. Reviews were out. Nothing could be done to fix the mess they'd gotten themselves into, but there they were. Committed and smiling and making a gas of it.

Mind you, the show was not funnier, more insightful, or more interesting this time around. A mountain had not been made from a molehill, the material was too far gone for that. But the energy onstage was palpable, and certain things that annoyed me the first time I now accepted with a head-shrugging recognition that felt refreshing. It became a comfort to me, a relief, quaint in the simplest and most affecting of interpretations. Tidal waves could flood the Earth, the stock market could crash, Satan could rise from the bowels of Hell and torture mankind for all eternity, but one thing would still be certain: THE FIRST WIVES CLUB is the lamest, dumbest, crappiest musical ever written.

Leaving the Old Globe that afternoon, I was euphoric. My faith in the power of theater had been restored. Just as positive experiences and good shows had been there for me in the past, this NEGATIVE experience, this BAD show had snuck up and charmed me with its dopey, hollow-eyed grin.

THE FIRST WIVES CLUB is like a retarded puppy that pisses all over your carpet but after it does, it jumps in your lap, licks your face, and in that absurd, imperfect moment, cheeks covered in thick saliva and jeans soggy with piss, you know the eternal meaning of joy.

Before this show I had never been exposed to that sort of peace with the world. Well, friends, that was me then. This is me now.

"To Cynthia!"

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 6/4/14 at 3:34pm

And if I must be honest, the woman's acting who played Cynthia and served as a standby/understudy for Karen Ziemba



is equivalent to the acting from these women:





Also, the singer in the photo below is more consistent at singing in concerts and awards shows than the lady in the first picture of this post. And this is coming from someone who has seen her live twice.







Updated On: 6/4/14 at 03:34 PM

[NickMorrison25]

Posted: 6/4/14 at 3:44pm

Victoria Matlock is a talented and delightful performer.

ABB2357, your deconstruction of that act one finale is the first thing I thought of when I saw this news and makes me laugh as much now as it did then.

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 6/4/14 at 6:23pm

If this musical sticks with Holmes writing the book, then it will end up having runs like these shows IF it makes it to NYC:





When I went to see new production of 'The Little Mermaid' in Dallas this year, they stuck with the original book writer, Doug Wright, and his changes only made the musical slightly better than it originally was. It's always better to get someone new.

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 6/4/14 at 6:33pm

Victoria Matlock was a phenomenal as elphaba when I saw her, which incidentally was her first performance ever in the role.

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 6/4/14 at 7:16pm

^ These are my final words on the subject of Matlock. This review basically sums up how I felt about her portrayal of the character.

"Oddly, DeCicco and Matlock go the other direction, taking overly dramatic approaches and emoting quietly, like they're in some intimate playhouse instead of the cavernous Music Hall. They internalize their characters' feelings so much, they often appear to be doing The Wizard of Ibsen.

Everyone in the cast chooses to sing slightly behind the beat of the music, which only slows things down more. Matlock deliberately talk-sings many lyrics in her solos, like a witchy-poo Rex Harrison."




The Wiz That Was Updated On: 6/4/14 at 07:16 PM

[Blockhead24]

Posted: 6/4/14 at 7:23pm

sorry nothing to see here :-/

Updated On: 6/4/14 at 07:23 PM

[ABB2357]

Posted: 6/4/14 at 8:41pm

I'll say this for Victoria Matlock - her suicide in the opening number was one of the most unintentionally hilarious moments.