Giant musical at the Public
Giant musical at the Public
bigbelterbaby
Broadway Star Joined: 7/5/10
#1Giant musical at the Public
Posted: 11/17/16 at 5:58am
thoughts on this show ?? I know it's available for licensing now through R&H ( https://www.rnh.com/show/335/Giant 
but I wish it has transferred to Broadway first. I like what I've heard of the score. It got 9 Drama Desk nominations - wow !
Hesione Hushabye thinks it tastes like ashes.
#2Giant musical at the Public
Posted: 11/17/16 at 6:00am
Been OBSESSED with the cast album for years now. Would love to see a production here in Pittsburgh. I need some LaChiusa in my life!!
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gallerygirl
Chorus Member Joined: 11/13/14
#3Giant musical at the Public
Posted: 11/17/16 at 8:02am
I truly adored it. There's a lot of story crammed into the running time but the score is ravishing.
smidge
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/16/06
#4Giant musical at the Public
Posted: 11/17/16 at 9:12am
Boy, it did pack a lot of story in but the cast and music were wonderful. Especially memorable was Katie Thompson.
The Other One
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/1/08
#5Giant musical at the Public
Posted: 11/17/16 at 9:33am
A Cliff notes version of a great story. Some fine moments, but it just didn't have enough of an impact.
Kate Baldwin was outstanding and I'm sure she shines on the album.
Updated On: 11/17/16 at 09:33 AM
#6Giant musical at the Public
Posted: 11/17/16 at 9:36am
I saw the show at the Public and honestly it didn't grab me. I can't figure out why not.
nasty_khakis
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/15/07
#7Giant musical at the Public
Posted: 11/17/16 at 9:41am
I agree it was a cliffsnotes version and one of the very few times I've seen a show where I thought it should be a two-parter. Not financially wise to do that, I know but I'd love to have seen that cast doing the original 6 hour (or whatever it was) version.
BakerWilliams
Leading Actor Joined: 2/1/16
#8Giant musical at the Public
Posted: 11/17/16 at 9:47am
It's a gorgeous show with stunning music, but it felt way too cramped at the Public. Should have been at the Vivian Beaumont through Lincoln Center.
#9Giant musical at the Public
Posted: 11/17/16 at 10:14am
I found the storytelling to be so poor that I left at intermission. Some of the songs were interesting, but I felt that few of them actually helped to tell the story. Giving a huge tour-de-force solo to the woman who wanted to marry Bick, and who then disappears from the show, is the kind of mistake I mean.
#10Giant musical at the Public
Posted: 11/17/16 at 11:01am
I truly enjoyed this show. I am someone who has never seen the movie or read the book so it was pretty new to me. I understand a lot was crammed into this musical but there was a sequence in Act 1, (was it the bluffing song?), that seemed to make its point over and over and then there was dialogue saying the same thing. Frankly I would have cut the song and stuck to the dialogue at that point. That said, I understood the story and thought it was some of LaChuisa's finest work. I would see it again, and wish I could have.
Updated On: 11/17/16 at 11:01 AM
#11Giant musical at the Public
Posted: 11/17/16 at 11:05am
I absolutely loved it at the Public and was really hoping it would transfer because it was honestly begging to be done on a larger scale.
#12Giant musical at the Public
Posted: 11/17/16 at 11:45am
I loved it so much I saw it twice in two days during a weekend trip. the cast recording is glorious as well!
#13Giant musical at the Public
Posted: 11/17/16 at 12:13pm
I adore the score so much. I would love to see it on broadway one day.
#14Giant musical at the Public
Posted: 11/17/16 at 12:16pm
Some really gorgeous music, but an absolute chore to sit through thanks to inept storytelling and direction. I agree with newintown that giving the best song in the show to a relatively insignificant character is rather baffling.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
Updated On: 11/17/16 at 12:16 PM
BakerWilliams
Leading Actor Joined: 2/1/16
#15Giant musical at the Public
Posted: 11/17/16 at 12:46pm
I think you mean "He Wanted a Girl", right? I think that's one of the best theatre songs ever written.
#16Giant musical at the Public
Posted: 11/17/16 at 12:54pm
Yes, "He Wanted a Girl." It's a terrific song, easily the best in the show. And it makes no sense that a relatively minor character in a narrative musical would get the show-stopping song while the leading lady's music is largely boring and monotonous.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#17Giant musical at the Public
Posted: 11/17/16 at 1:02pm
It's also a show-stopping song that occurs in the first twenty minutes or so.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
Jallenc32
Stand-by Joined: 8/26/14
#18Giant musical at the Public
Posted: 11/17/16 at 2:19pm
I really liked it at the Public, but I LOVED it at the Signature in VA when it was four hours long. I felt the cuts made to get the running time down hurt the show, and the three act structure worked much better to denote the three primary time periods of the story.
I remember reading they were planning on licensing both versions of the show, but I'm not sure if that came to fruition.
#19Giant musical at the Public
Posted: 11/17/16 at 3:26pm
The movie is on right now on TCM.
Would love to see the 4hr version be put on. Maybe one day.
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