Sutton Foster and the cast of "Shrek the Musical" will be perforimg "Morning Person" on the Today Show tomorrow August 11. I'm looking foreward to this. Do you think they're trying to promote the musical before the sales go down in the fall?
Is anyone else disappointed in Sutton Foster's predictable performances? Her performance today was like anything I saw in Drowsy and Young Frankenstein.
Saw it...and it was awful. They performed a truncated version of "Morning Person" that gutted the middle part of the song. To make matters worse, they revised the song to bring in the smarmy and obnoxious Al Roker just so he could smirk his way through a chorus without indicating that he has any talent (what else is new). Worst of all, the clunky choreography successfully hid the fact that Foster is a talented dancer rather than a vapid chorus girl. Foster's mirthless performance didn't help matters but this train wreck dutifully portrayed the vapid mediocrity of Shrek in all its splendor.
Saw it...and it was awful. They performed a truncated version of "Morning Person" that gutted the middle part of the song. To make matters worse, they revised the song to bring in the smarmy and obnoxious Al Roker just so he could smirk his way through a chorus without indicating that he has any talent (what else is new). Worst of all, the clunky choreography successfully hid the fact that Foster is a talented dancer rather than a vapid chorus girl. Foster's mirthless performance didn't help matters but this train wreck dutifully portrayed the banal mediocrity of Shrek in all its splendor. Updated On: 8/11/09 at 08:29 PM
Performance confirmed my decision NOT to see this show. "I'm a morning person...morning person...morning person...lalalalala... and cue some dancing rats for a way too long tap number ending awkwardly - isn't this funny people of television land?!?!"
"Foster's mirthless performance didn't help matters but this train wreck dutifully portrayed the banal mediocrity of Shrek in all its splendor."
"Performance confirmed my decision NOT to see this show. "I'm a morning person...morning person...morning person...lalalalala... and cue some dancing rats for a way too long tap number ending awkwardly - isn't this funny people of television land?!?!"
"Shrek" is nowhere near a trainwreck. I'd go see it anyday over "The Little Mermaid." Francesca Zambello replaced a wonderful show, "Beauty & the Beast" with an amaturish take on a classic animated movie. Flounder wears nothing more than a yellow t-shirt and shorts and Carlotta and the maids look like chickens. Also, Ursula's downfall is very anticlimatic. She doesn't become giant like in the movie. At least "Shrek" has a Dragon and corrected it's flaws during it's pre-Broadway tryout.
^^^ What The Little Mermaid has to do with Shrek is that both represent an opportunity for googoo-eyed adolescents whose only exposure to the theater is through Disney and Pixar cartoons to make learned comments about the artistic significance of Shrek, TLM and Beauty and the Beast. OMG, like...I mean, it's like SOOOO totally incredibly awesome!!!! WOW! Updated On: 8/12/09 at 07:00 PM
So what if they are young and using Disney or Dreamworks to get into musicals? Everyone has to start somewhere, right? My little brother hated me for being obsessed with musicals and assumed that musicals were dumb and for girls. Then he saw The Lion King on a school trip and loved it. He keeps asking me to recommend shows to him, and he's recently been really into Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Boy from Oz, and Hairspray. His favorite musical, though? Guys and Dolls.
I know shows like Shrek or TLM aren't artistic or innovative or anything, but they're a lot of fun (for the record, I have not seen TLM). They ARE touristy shows, but kids and teenagers have to start liking theatre somehow. It might be easier for them to connect to a name they already know. They can branch out from there.
As for the performance, I think it works a lot better in the context of the show. Lack of scenery, lighting, and the small stage definitely took away from it. And I thought Sutton overdid it.