Victoria Clark - Lady in the Dark

[Cynthiastarlight]

Victoria Clark is performing in Lady in the Dark (Kurt Weill) for three nights at City Center - April 24-26. Tickets are going fast! $30.00 for some of the Mezzanine seats!!!

[Samanthacq]

Is there a access promo code for this? I have been waiting for the code but so far I don't think NYCC has sent the email.

[Cynthiastarlight]

I never had an access code.  I just went onto the website and bought a ticket.  It was from an email from Playbill.com advertising $30.00 tickets.

[NYadgal]

A third performance has been added.

I promise you - this will be a wonderful performance with a fabulous cast and gorgeous costumes!

You don’t want to miss it!

[OlBlueEyes]

I've never seen this show, but I can vouch for its quality based on my mother's opinion. "My Ship" was thought to be a certain standard back then. I saw Lynn Redgrave perform "The Saga of Jenny" on PBS probably back in the 70s in a short PBS series on American Lyricists hosted by Sylvia Fine Kaye, the widow of Danny Kaye. In the right hands it is a very clever and funny number, and this is doubtless true of Julie Andrews, who played Jenny in the film Star based on the life of Gertrude Lawrence.

Then why don't I see it? I very well might. 

I never know whether I should add this or not, but by now everyone must be pretty sure that Julie's "The Saga of Jenny" is up on YouTube. And it isn't necessarily the best version, apart from its spectacle. 

 

 

 

[MichelleCraig]

Julie Andrews played Gertrude Lawrence in “STAR!” The Jenny production number is fantastic! The film was directed by Robert Wise;:1969

[SmoothLover]

Does anyone know the running time?

[jbird5]

The movie version is 1 hr 40 min but apparently bears little resemblance to the musical.

[Someone in a Tree2]

We saw Maria Friedman star in an excellent LADY IN THE DARK at the National Theater back in the 90's (I believe). The book scenes were clunkily mired in analyst-speak from 1940, but it didn't matter when you got to hear that ravishing parade of songs performed so well. Very simple set (abstract ship's sails gliding this way and that) and frankly, Ms. Friedman was miscast as the glamour-girl, but we still really treasured that show.

[StageStruckLad]

I got an email from City Center saying it’s 2 hours and 25 minutes.

[AntV]

Thoughts?

[JBroadway]

Saw the show tonight - this was my first exposure to the show.

It’s a pretty strange piece, but interesting. I respect how it plays with structure to tell the story in a way that was unique to musical theatre then, and as far as I know, is still unique today. However, it wasn’t until the final flashback sequence (pretty late in the show) that I really felt invested. I didn’t expect Weill’s score to sound so traditional!

Clark is wonderful, obviously, (has she EVER given a bad performance?) and the rest of the principal cast is fairly strong too. The choir ended up being something of a letdown for me, mainly because there were a LOT of really sloppy cues, which led to garbled, unintelligible words, which led to me being confused and frustrated. Hopefully they tighten things up in the next few performances.

Overall, I’m glad to have had the chance to see it, but I can’t say I walked out of it floored and dying to go back.

[NYadgal]

NY Times:  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/26/arts/music/weill-lady-in-the-dark-mastervoices-review.html

[Dolly80]

I so wish I could see this .. Victoria Clark is just sublime in everything and I bet she sings this gloriously

[henrikegerman]

One of the most uneven productions I can remember.

There is much to admire here.  Winning performances from Liza's three suitors. Ron Raines and Ben Davis couldn't be better. Chris Invvar is a revelation. This trio aces the tone of the musical and style of the period. The leading men get it -  that the Freudian gravity goes down a lot better with elegant pacing and a wry wink.  

Montego Glover, Ashley Park and especially David Pittu are wonderful. They also lighten Hart's book scenes and make them sparkle and snap.

Clark sings ravishingly and looks glamorous in splendid costumes. When she's singing and Liza dreaming, Clark knocks it out of the couch and finds every ounce of wit. 

Unfortunately, in the awake/book scenes her Liza is self-indulgently neurotic rather than a woman using brains, humor and grit to find her way out of the depressing depths of "the 17th to 22nd floor."  

As a result, the long opening scene lays a big Jungian egg... although making Dr. Brooks a woman is, or rather could be, inspired, Amy Irving, who seems woefully underrehearsed as well as leaden does not help.. 

The denoument scenelets of an anguished childhood and adolescence are the libretto's creakiest. They too are played, embarrassingly, for on the nose realism.

The orchestra sounded great, somehow the huge (!) chorus did not.

...at about three hours "this is dull... the show's barely existing.." It's trying stuff but at times charming, frothy and smart; half splendid lavish fun and half rank amateur schlock.

[SmoothLover]

What a fabulous NY Times review.

[StageStruckLad]

I had my doubts about Vicki Clark being right for Lady in the Dark, but she was wonderful last night. Great singing and acting. The audience went wild for her Saga of Jenny. The huge choir must have brought the cast up to 150. And the orchestrations have been fully restored to Weill’s originals. How I would love a recording.

[NYadgal]

The orchestrations are sublime.   I’d love a recording, too!

Also, this: https://www.theaterpizzazz.com/lady-in-the-dark-mastervoices/

[EdEval]

Rise Stevens the opera star did a Lincoln Center revival many years ago.  She was fantastic.  I hope Victoria Clark has a lovely voice like Rise had.

[henrikegerman]

wanted to add:
There really is a lot to love about this show

At root it is not the relic many presume. It is not about a woman who rebels against her gender identity to survive as boss lady in a man’s world.

it’s about a woman who stops herself from “having it all” because the world did a number on her. As a result of that hurt, she, ahem, subconsciously believes herself undeserving of love.

In an age where so much of pop culture, and a lot of musical theatre, focuses on powerful men afraid of getting and giving love, why is it sexist to shine the same light on a woman?

Notably, Hart did not base Liza’s liberation on her giving up power but on her sharing it. some minor but effective revisaling might be in order re: this resolution.  I’d love to see Liza remain on top at the final curtain and Charlie accept that. Or perhaps Charlie should take the Town and Country job and the two should be open to love and a partnership of equals as bosses of their own mags.

But even Hart’s ending has Liza remaining a media mover and shaker, a captain of industry, just happier in her gestalt.

[SmoothLover]

I hear tell that there are a ton of seats for today at 2PM.

[NYadgal]

Actually, it was quite well sold.
Not full as both Thursday and Friday were, but extremely well sold for a matinee performance added after the program was first announced.

Delighted that so many BWW folk were able to attend.

[Collingswood]

Nice review...

https://nystagereview.com/2019/04/27/lady-in-the-dark-victoria-clark-shines-as-lady-in-the-spotlight/

 

 

[Jordan Catalano]

I thought it was just divine. If anything deserves a recording, it’s this one!

[jbird5]

Along with Lolita My Love my favorite musical of the season. Would love to see a transfer, possibly with Lolita in rep. Haha.

I hated David Pittu in GFTNC but loved him here. Interestingly, he doesn’t list Girl in his bio.

Ashley Park and Montego Glover were both perfect. Looks like Ashley is trying to break into TV. Come back Ashley.

It was amusing watching VC dealing with lying on a couch in a pencil skirt in front of an audience. I thought she looked amazing. Zac Posen among others helped out with the costumes. With Bob Mackle and the Cher Show could this become a trend? The clothes were spectacular.

This originally was intended as a play with a male lead. When that fell through and Moss Hart met Kurt Weill it became a musical and a vehicle for Gertrude Lawrence. I guess the strong woman was almost an accident but it feels so contemporary now.

Christopher Invar is a much better Hildy Johnson here than John Slattery was in the Front Page. I thought this would go formula and he and Liza would end up together. It did but not quite.

The little girl was Ted Sperling’s daughter. I hope she isn’t scarred like Liza by everybody telling her she’s ugly. She seems have been having too good a time to notice.