Tonight is the re-openeing of BOUNCE at the Kennedy Center. I am anxious to hear about the changes. Anyone planning on going? Hope it's better than the Goodman production.
I am seeing it November 1. A good friend of mine is a friend of Jane Powell. Jane told him opening night is 10/30. He said she seemed pretty positive about the changes.
I saw BOUNCE this afternoon. While it's not the best work of Sondheim, Prince or Weidman, I still thought it was pretty entertaining. I enjoyed it a lot more than several Tony winning best musicals I've seen. Sondheim has provided a number of catchy tunes and supplies most of the moments that really take off. Weidman's book isn't as exciting as it could be and he fails to set up some crucial moments well enough. Some of the songs would be more effective if the scenes that contain them set them up better. Only Sondheim gets the tone right. I think the biggest problem is that Howard McGillin is terribly miscast. The role cries out for a larger than life sexy cad. He must be terribly charming and terribly haunted. McGillin is a talented man but I think Wilson is just beyond him. I thought Kind was outstanding but never as effective as he could be because he was playing off the pallid McGillin. Kind was more effective in the scenes with the wonderful Powell or Creel. Michelle Pawk was certainly game but her character isn't fit into the story well enough. I think there is good musical here. There are a number of moving and surprising moments and you can feel the show almost take off several times. Another production, with someone else guiding Weidman on book issues and with a new Wilson, might make the whole thing fly. There are too many good things in it for DC to be the end of the road.