Some of it is a wonderful score; and some of it still sounds good, despite the butchering done to it by hack arrangers. None of it surpasses the original recording (or even the film), however.
And that photo of Connick is simply macabre; he's wearing more make-up than Goldie Hawn.
"Connick not only read the script but did two workshops of it. He should have known what he was getting into."
No, he did 0 workshops - the first was Brian D'Arcy James, the second was Marc Kudisch. (In my opinion, both workshops were alternately idiotic and dull).
Honestly, the only one Harry should be mad at is his agent (hopefully now his 'former' agent) who somehow got him involved in. Connick didn't do either workshop, so was likely trusting Mayer (and forementioned agent) in taking on the project.
He already gives me an "uh oh" feeling, and that picture is not helping the matter.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
The show will obviously lose money every week between now and February 19, but I believe the reason for keeping it open is to allow the Tony voters time to see it.
...not that this show deserves any nominations!! Best set design that causes nausea?
It's truly awful, RippedMan. The score is good, but not worth sitting through the painful book, horrible performances, hideous sets, and amateur choreography/direction. Connick looks humiliated for the entire duration of the show. Jessie Mueller's lovely voice was the only thing I thoroughly enjoyed about this production. It's a disaster on nearly every single level imaginable. Quite possibly the worst thing I saw onstage in 2011.
I saw it around Christmas. It's pretty bad, but I had fun. I went on a Friday afternoon when my friend and I were looking for something light to do. We didn't hate it, which may have been because we spent half the time laughing at it, but we enjoyed ourselves. The score is lovely, as are Jessie Mueller and David Turner. If you can get a cheap ticket (which you likely can) and are in the mood for something fun(ny) to do, you might check it out.
I guess I'm the only person who didn't think it was that bad.
- Connick was stiff as a board as an actor + Connick's vocals were great - sets/lighting so atrocious you could end up with a seizure + Jessie Mueller's voice is fantastic and she could be great star + David Turner who was fun, charismatic, quirky and had a great voice + supporting cast was great (except I wasn't a fan of Stiles)
And to top this off as an apparent unpopular opinion of mine, I thought the book worked pretty well, especially considering everyone's griping about it.
Poor Harry Connick. He's in this huge flop, appears unhappy doing it, and Riedel keeps socking it to him. I feel sorry for him, a victim of bad judgment, the misguided reconception of the show, and, sorry to say, his own limitations as a performer, painfully exposed here.
But the truth is, he was stiff in The Pajama Game as well, but the show was sufficiently well done to help him get through it. Here he's just left to sink with the ship.