BWW TV: PROMISES, PROMISES Video Preview!

[Rob]

Click Here to Read BWW TV: PROMISES, PROMISES Video Preview!

[morosco]

On wow! Sean Hayes is fantastic!!

[rmusic11322]

I know absolutely nothing about this show, but after watching this preview, I wanna see it so bad!

[uncageg]

I think some people were saying his singing wasn't that great. I would pay full price just to see and hear him sing the title song. He sounds wonderful. From what they have shown, I would really like to see the show.

[Mother's Younger Brother]

Saw the show Saturday night, and I thought Sean Hayes was fantastic -- every audience member around me seemed to feel the same way. He's completely charming. I just kept thinking, "What a terrific Broadway debut."

[best12bars]

Very impressed with Sean Hayes!

Cheno has too many solos that stop the plot so she can "sing pretty."

And Turkey Lurkey Time sucks! It's SO over choreographed with flashy steps that the trio girls look beat-up by the third bar. And it has nowhere to build to after that. What a disappointment for a legendary number!

[bk]

Holy moley on rye - sorry, that is just bad. Dancing boys in what should be an ebullient solo for the leading man (She Likes Basketball), completely boring choreography for Turkey Lurkey Time, and clear proof that neither Say A Little Prayer or House Is Not A Home have any place in this show. I'll just keep my memories of the fabulous original production, which I saw at least twelve times. Note to directors: If you're going to do a show, try trusting the material and try not thinking you're better than it.

[wickedfan]

Started off well enough, and then it just kinda fell from there. I thought that "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" was perfectly sweet, simple and adorable. I've never seen either Hayes or Chenoweth so relaxed. What a relief! But "Turkey Lurkey Time" was SO over choreographed and sloppy, and I didn't care for the dancers in "She Likes Basketball." I'm still reserving full judgement for when I see it in about three weeks, but from the looks of it, this might be a frustrating evening. So much potential, and only occasionally realized.

[shanna364]

I went to the show Saturday night and really enjoyed it. Sean Hayes is a wonderful comic with an ok singing voice. Kristin Chenoweth is fabulous vocally. I found myself wishing she was on the stage more than she was.

My assessment: If you haven't seen the original, enjoy Sean Hayes, and are a fan of Kristin Chenoweth, you will come out thinking Sean is a masterful comedic actor and wishing Kristin had more of a part, but grateful for the opportunity to see her on stage.

If you've seen the original and are waiting to compare every little nuance and dance step to what you consider some masterpiece from another decade...I'm sure you will not enjoy yourself.

It's a fun show. I'm going back in June. Enjoy!

[uncageg]

I can't judge the whole show by these clips but from what I saw, I was more impressed with Hayes than Cheno although they did what I think is the original arrangement of "A House is Not a Home" which was nice. (It's been done so many times) I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong!

[bk]

"If you've seen the original and are waiting to compare every little nuance and dance step to what you consider some masterpiece from another decade...I'm sure you will not enjoy yourself."

No, I won't enjoy it because the creative team thinks they're better than the show - I don't need the interpolations, and I don't need choreography that has no shape and no build, and I certainly don't need dancers added to a star's solo turn.

[BwayTday]

They don't think they are better than the material, they are doing a new interpretation of it. It is kinda what directing is about. Whether it is better or worse, it's what their vision of the show is. I liked it. This was my first real exposure to the show and this made my want to see it. I love the title song. But the "Turkey Lurkey Time" choreography had a lot to live up to.

[Brick]

All right, that's it! I'm tired of everyone complaining about every performer's singing voice. I bought all the "He can't sing" comments here about Sean Hayes. Then, I saw the video preview. And yes, he can sing. Quite nicely. Best voice ever? No. Who cares?

I, for one, am now quite excited to see it. I wasn't until I saw that performance of "I'll Never Fall In Love Again". So relaxed and lovely.

[allofmylife]

Okay.

Getting better.

Certainly not the dog**** on toast that I heard when I listened to a recording of the first preview. That was simply and utterly attrocious and I would have walked out somewhere before intermission.

Interestingly enough, the biggest improvement is Sean Hayes. Obviously he's been heavily coached to bring out his best parts but bravo to whoever is working with him. He is now about the level one would expect of a replacement actor three years into the run. He's not the guy Burt would have chosen to introduce the songs but he's giving adecent and I'm sure heartfelt performance.

So I appologize to you, Sean, for dumping on you so harshly. It's obviously a credible performance.

On the other hand, the choreographer should be shot for the kludge he has put into the background and hung for the mess he's made of one of the truly classic dance numbers on the Broadway stage.

This was a terrible decision by the producers, who should have used Bennett's choreography for Turkey Lurky (which, remember, he had to beg the producers to let him do in the first place.)

When "On Your Toes" was done so revived successfully in the 1980s, the producers brilliantly decided to reproduce George Balanchine's "Slaughter On Tenth Avenue" and "The Princess Zenobia Ballet" and advertise the heck out of it. It proved to be a brilliant decision.

They should have done the same here. You can't really top Bennett or Balanchine or Fosse, so why try? Sad, sad, sad. (Although probably not too late. That benefit tape of the cast of West Side Story - guys no less - doing Turkey Lurky shows that it's really in the Broadway dancer's zeitgeist. Hell, half of the cast of the modern show could probably do it from memory.)

Oh, and while we're at it, someone HAS to do something with Cheno's terrible hairdo, which utterly accentuates who dangerously thin and dissipated she has become.

She needs to be intervention-ally-cheeseburgered.

[Sauja]

Well, Brick, since you brought up things we're tired of... :)

But really, why are people so against reinterpretations of material? I confess: I don't think "A House Is Not a Home" or "I Say a Little Prayer" have ANY business being in this production, but that's because they don't make any sense. Not because hey weren't in the original. Isn't one of the exciting things about theater that it's a living art and that change is possible? To be sure, there are always going to be baffling choices made (anyone remember Shakespeare in the Park OPENING Hamlet with "To be or not to be?"). To treat plays and musicals as museum pieces is to deny what's so wonderful about this particular art form (in my opinion).

Creative teams make decisions to change things all the time. Sometimes for crass commercial reasons, sure, but more often for artistic reasons.

And for the record, I LOVE "She Likes Basketball" with the dancers. It works beautifully. But I also HATE the "Turkey Lurkey" choreography. I actually made those conclusions after actually seeing the performance. But hey...haters gonna hate.

[wickedfan]

People aren't against different interpretations. But directors today want to make THEIR production so incredibly different from any production before it and do everything in their power to prove how wonderful THEY are as directors by either shoving a new song in somewhere, or by introducing a "dark" concept to the show. Sometimes it works. Hal Prince did wonders with Show Boat by adding and switching songs and Nicholas Hytner created a vibrant production of Carousel by emphasizing the grit and passion in the piece. Many other times it doesn't. Trevor Nunn's A Little Night Music, Scott Elliot's Threepenny Opera, etc.

Directors need to, as bk said, trust the material they've been given. If you're going to make a text change, it needs to be for the sake of the show and not for the sake of doing something new. Hytner removed "Highest Judge of All" because it stopped the flow, Prince gave Parthy "Why Do I Love You" to add another dimension to her character, Bartlett Sher added "My Girl Back Home" to South Pacific and so on. Basically, all changes or concepts need to be justified by the material. Halfthe time, it feels like directors just say "I'm going to do a DARK production of (insert show) because I can!"

[best12bars]

Different is fine! Just be sure to make it BETTER than the original, or face comparison.

And if you're not up for the comparison, then don't make it different.

That's the game when it comes to revivals.

And it's not as if "Turkey Lurkey Time" is buried with a few old guys and gals who saw the original production. It's readily available on YouTube for everyone. We can ALL see just how brilliant Michael Bennett and Donna McKechnie are. We don't need a time machine or a bedtime story from "Grandpa" about the good ol' days.

It's all there, right now, for all of us to see and compare!

And this revival don't stack up. Not even close.

[Mildred Plotka]

But if you're going to do a reinterpretation of something iconic, it needs to equal or surpass the craft of the original.

[CATSNYrevival]

I'm fine with the "Turkey Lurkey Time" choreography. If they had used the original choreography then people would just be complaining, like they do with the West Side Story revival, that the steps are mostly the same, but it's missing the hand of the master. You can't win either way with these people.

[Elphaba3]

This is still thrilling to me no matter how many times I watch it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EktVzsYjMJk

[Mildred Plotka]

The steps aren't the same for the West Side Broadway. That re-creation has bigger problems than missing "the hand of the master".

[allofmylife]

The touring production and the London production of the original probably lacked "The Hand of the Master" but I'll bet they were a spot-on recreation. It can be done and since we have several clear recordings of the original, it can easily be done.

[sing_dance_love]

I have been beyond excited for this revival since it was announced and have been reading people's mixed feelings about it, but that clip really confirmed for me that this is the kind of production that going to appeal to me. Maybe not for everyone, but i had chills watching the whole thing.

Sean and Kristin sound and look great. Rob Ashford is my favorite choreographer and he continues to surprise me with his inventive, kinetic moves. Now I'm as in awe of Michael Bennett's legendary choreography as everyone else, but for me you just have to separate it in your mind and not get caught up in comparisons. From what i saw here I loved Turkey Lurkey, which i was not expecting after reading what everyone read. I didn't think it looked sloppy at all , it's just extremely fast with lots of different levels going on. But that really is my favorite kind of stuff. There was the one moment where they were kind of jumping at different times at the end, but to me that looks appropriate to a drunk christmas office party atmosphere.

Anyway, sorry to kind of rant, but this video really got me excited and i'm glad to say allayed my fears. I'm so excited to see this show.

[bwaylvsong]

Hayes sounds a HECKUVA lot better here than he did when I saw him about three weeks ago. Seriously, what a huge improvement! As allofmylife said, bravo to him and whomever has been working with him!

[ACL2006]

unless they were denied approval to use the original Bennett choreography for TLT, it should have been used. it's one of the best choreographed numbers EVER, and the orignal should have been used.