Marie Christine

[east side story]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 12:51am

Most of us are on a McDonald high after seeing Lady Day, so I figured I would see if anyone around here saw her performance in Marie Christine? I know the show ran for a very short time in the winter of 1999. Was it a very limited engagement? Or a flop? I also remember reading a while back that McDonald did not do matinees, or perhaps it was only seven performances a week? Regardless, anyone have any memories of the production?

[sing_dance_love]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 1:18am

It was a limited engagement with Lincoln Center. Wasn't around to see it person, but from every video, recording, and review i can round up, she was incredible as always. With the very complex LaChuisa score, dark subject matter, and book that perhaps tried to address too many topics and themes, i'm not suprised it wasn't a big hit of any kind. But the cast album is a fascinating listen and shows an incredible amount of Audra's range. I would kill to hear her sing any of it live today.

[blaxx]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 1:25am

I saw it. I didn't know who McDonald or Testa were at the time and they both blew me away. In fact, her singing has never lived up to some of the opportunities she had with that score.

The show was a bit dense but very interesting. I also remember it played at Christmas time, which was a very strange choice for a show like this.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 1:27am

It was originally planned as a very short run as part of Lincoln Center Theatre's season, and actually got a one week extension. It also had a really long preview period, and if it weren't for the extension would have had more previews than regular performances.

I saw it during that one week extension and though Audra was incredible I found it a bit hard to connect to both her and the music. It wasn't until later when I got the cast recording that I found a deeper appreciation for the piece. I would love to see it on stage again, but highly doubt that it will ever show up on Broadway again. I'm kind of surprised it hasn't had a greater life amongst college programs, especially since the cast is so female heavy, which is a definite bonus for most colleges.

And yes, Audra was not performing matinees. Sherry Boone was the alternate for those performances.

[After Eight]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 6:38am

It was awful, painful, awful. One of the all- time worsts.

The score was awful, painful, awful. One of the all-time worsts.

Many audience members walked out. I wish I had joined them.

Updated On: 5/1/14 at 06:38 AM

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 7:42am

Don't hold back AfterEight tell.us how you really feel.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 7:50am

I'm really surprised. I've always thought LaChuisa was After Eight's favorite composer.

[tazber]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 7:55am

You know it's Sondheim growl.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 8:02am

It's one of my all-time favorite theatre scores. I so wish I'd seen it.

[trentsketch]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 9:10am

I chanced into seeing it. I loved the piece, especially the leads. I thought it was a beautiful and challenging show and had a huge appreciation for the amount of work that had to go into a show like that.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 9:29am

After Eight thought a show was awful….that sounds familiar.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 9:50am

It was a mess of a show, but very interesting. McDonald was wonderful as always. Vivian Reed also stood out for me as her mother.

The rest of the cast was uneven in the acting department, though the voices were wonderful.

I'll never forget Testa's face in the final climax of the show.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 10:06am

My friend and I were at the final performance and we both looked at each other once the lights came up at the end of Act One. We left immediately. Hated it!

[tazber]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 11:21am

I adore Testa, but now I can't stop picturing her face during climax.

Thanks a lot , doodle.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 11:21am

Anything that gets this visceral, wattle-wobbling reaction out of After Eight can't be all bad.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 12:05pm

Taz, I'd rather see that face than the one she had on at the end of MC!

[newintown]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 12:43pm

I remember an earlier workshop as well as the production; like most LaChiusa shows, he has a hard time keeping the story compelling. He seems to feel that takes care of itself, while he writes lots of odd, meandering, not always relevant songs.

And of course, everyone went in knowing it was based on Medea, so you're just sort of left to wait for her to kill the children, which she does with no sort of interesting new storytelling or approach.

LaChiusa's shows, to me, all lack structure and storytelling expertise; this one languished inertly.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 1:28pm

"And of course, everyone went in knowing it was based on Medea, so you're just sort of left to wait for her to kill the children, which she does with no sort of interesting new storytelling or approach."

That's a great point, and it may explain why I initially found it hard to connect to the show, as I may have just been waiting for it to hit all the Medea plot points.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 5:49pm

I saw it and loved it. It was a tour de force performance for Audra in an intensely challenging role both musically and emotionally. I was riveted from start to finish and hearing that finale live was one of the most intense and explosive choral works I've heard in a Broadway musical. I still get chills when I listen to the CD. And I actually thought the nods to Greek theatre in the staging and the score were quite interesting. I also really admired the era and locale selected for the adaptation of the story. While the murder of the children involved the classic approach of tragic Greek narration, that device did not make up the majority of the show. I'm glad I wasn't there just to see Medea murder two kids as I could focus on the rest of the story and how it was told.

After Eight's condemnation of it pretty much confirms my suspicion that it is indeed a masterpiece.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 6:29pm

The sequence from track four (Beautiful) to track seventeen (I Will Give which should have been, at least music wise, the Act I closer) is some of the most gorgeous theatre music I know, period. I would rank it up there with some of Porgy and Bess--seriously. On CD, at least, I don't think Act II ever quite lives up to that.

I've seen video of the production and I understand why some found it confused and too dense--but on CD it's an amazing piece of work, IMHO.

"After Eight's condemnation of it pretty much confirms my suspicion that it is indeed a masterpiece. "

Indeed--aside from his genuine love for Tennessee Williams (which baffles me) I can not think of higher praise for a show than A8's hate for it.

Updated On: 5/1/14 at 06:29 PM

[temms]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 6:31pm

I can't believe that I would agree with a certain notoriously cantankerous poster above, but I really hated the show and is by far my least favorite Audra experience.

I was so excited, too. I had seen the Divine Miss McD in "Carousel" and "Ragtime" and "Master Class", and her "Way Back To Paradise" CD was new and making a small splash among the insiders. Plus, I had recently sat through "Saturday Night Fever", "Putting It Together", the second act of "Kat And The Kings" (which had one amazingly catchy song called "Lagunya" that I still remember vividly, but not much else to recommend it) and an absolutely execrable off-Broadway musical called "Stars In Your Eyes" that starred Barbara Walsh as a ballroom dance instructor. So I was ready for this new show by the composer of "Hello Again" to redeem musical theater for me.

I hated it. I couldnt get into it at all. And worst, Audra didn't even sound all that great. A lot of the role was written in her mid-range where it was too high to really belt but not high enough for her really meaty legit notes - I was so disappointed that a role tailor-made for her didn't seem to sit in the best part of her voice.

I had the opportunity to see the show again on a comp during a matinee with Sherry Boone in the role. I though I'd give it another chance, maybe having seen it I'd get more out of it the second time. I hated it again. However, Boone belted a lot of things that Audra didn't and I actually thought the score sounded better.

When the CD came out I thought I'd give it one more chance, and I hated it just as much as when I'd seen it. I haven't gone back. I'm all for dark, dissonant shows (I adore Berg's "Wozzeck", for instance) but this one just struck me as relentlessly joyless and unpleasant and musically harsh for no real payoff. And poor Mary Testa having to stand there gaping looking offstage at the dead kids. The strangest facial expression I've seen on a musical theatre actress until poor Debra Monk had her stroke in "Thou Shalt Not" and spent the second act catatonic in a wheelchair.

Misty watercolored memories...

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 6:36pm

Strange how opinions can defer so much--but temms, I appreciate that you took the time to explain *why* you dislike the piece, unlike some posters. I don't find the score remotely dissonant, personally--stuff like We're Gonna Go to Chicago is pretty much perfect, for me.

[After Eight]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 6:39pm

"I've seen video of the production and I understand why some found it confused and too dense--but on CD it's an amazing piece of work, IMHO. "

Marvelous.

Except in the theatre, one is not listening to a CD. One is watching and sitting through an excruciating morass. (Save for those with the good sense to walk out early .)

Oh, and Eric, why not just dispense with the H, already? There's nothing H about your, ahem, "opinions."

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 6:48pm

Which is why I made a point of saying I was talking about the CD.

What H?

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 6:51pm

????