Spoke with Tom Kitt and Nell Benjamin about "Dave," which has its world premiere next month at Arena Stages.
Lots of interesting facets with this one -- stellar creative staff, Thomas Meehan had it in the works when he passed away last year, premiering a musical about the presidency in Washington, D.C., etc.
We had an interesting chat about what all of those things meant, how you can successfully adapt a known franchise (which of course with "Mean Girls" and "SpongeBob," these guys all have very recent experiences with) and why a Kevin Kline comedy is a "beautiful fairy tale."
Plus how often does this sentence come along? "Casey Nicholaw from 'Mean Girls' said he had heard from Eric Idle on 'Spamalot' that ..."
I've heard a few songs from this project recently, and found them to be rather dull, both musically and lyrically - the kind of songs that could be written for any narrative. But they may be all changed out of town. I only vaguely remember the movie - yet another take (and far from the most entertaining) on the old Prisoner of Zenda gimmick; I do wonder how they'll make it sing.
Had a ticket for opening night before it got cancelled! I'm looking forward to this, if only because I liked Drew Gehling in Waitress and Mamie Parris in On the Twentieth Century. Also, Sherri Edelen makes my heart happy... she is a terrific local performer. I saw her in a local production of Gypsy and absolutely fell in love with her acting.
Have ticket for Sunday. Heard from a friend the invited dress was awesome. They had to postpone their first previews by 5 days due to a cast member having surgery. Hopefully they got the time they needed to put in the new cast member and work out the kinks.
Saw this tonight. I found it totally charming. The cast is pitch perfect. They do miraculous things on a tiny stage. The only quibble for me was the score was just kinda...there. Not bad, but not terribly memorable.
I'd definitely see it again at some point if discount tickets are available, if only to see if anything is changed.
Also, do we think Kitt has kind of peeked? I feel like since Next to Normal he hasn't really hit it out of the park yet, though he's been attached to so much.
There are screens on stage that are tracked in 2 circles, inner and outer. The cast moves them around to change scenes and there are projections on them to indicate where we are at the moment. There's also an elevator that brings scenery up from under the stage. And some clever staging where Drew Gehling has to change from being Dave to being Bill Mitchell - quickly. I'm interested to see the show, if it transfers, on a bigger stage than this one. It worked so well here.
Esther2 said: "Saw this tonight. I found it totally charming. The cast is pitch perfect. They do miraculous things on a tiny stage. The only quibble for me was the score was just kinda...there. Not bad, but not terribly memorable.
I'd definitely see it again at some point if discount tickets are available, if only to see if anything is changed.
An enjoyable evening overall."
If you are under 30 years old, Arena has a "pay your age" ticket price. Beyond that I haven't seen any ticket discounts in a while. TodayTix has them at $145!
Would love to give a full opinion of the show....but they were unable to finish the second act tonight due to an elevator malfunction onstage. They held for about 30 minutes with several of the cast coming onstage to talk with / entertain the audience. Finally Tina Landau came to apologize to the audience and said all would be offered tickets to a future performance.
The 2/3 of the show we saw we absolutely enjoyed. Drew Gehling was made to play this role. He is just terrific; as is the rest of the cast. There were a number of memorable musical moments; both funny and moving. I just can’t wait to see how the whole thing ends!