It's A Lemon: In My Life Reviews - Brantley's Included!

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 6:26pm

From broadway.com:

"It's hard to describe Joe Brooks' In My Life, except to say that it is undoubtedly the most bizarre, misguided Broadway musical of the millennium. Part love story, part parody, part opera, the schizophrenic show is one of those you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it experiences....

....In addition to ballads, campy parodies, and faux opera, In My Life boasts one more style of music: the jingle. Brooks, who made a fortune writing catchy tunes for TV commercials in the 1970s, has an ordinary guy in heaven named Al (Michael J. Farina) sing a ditty called "Volkswagen." Later, Al and Winston team up on "Listen to Your Mouth," a song-and-dance ode to Dr. Pepper performed with top hats and canes.

....For the big finale, Moyer provides a final image: a giant lemon. Early in the story, we learn that J.T. says "lemon" whenever he's happy. Still, it's hard not to see the fruity backdrop as a metaphor for Brooks' extremely odd musical, which most definitely is a lemon."
Updated On: 10/20/05 at 06:26 PM

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 6:31pm

At first I thought the title of this thread was "It's a Lennon..."

[ChildofDestiny]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 6:31pm

Eh, who cares about the review - take a look at that video clip! How cool.

[RadioTV2]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 6:37pm

AP-

"It's more fun to talk about "In My Life," the bizarre new musical at Broadway's Music Box Theatre, than actually sit through it.

The show, written, directed and produced by advertising jingle guru Joseph Brooks, is strange, strange, strange."

""Life turns on a dime" goes one of the hoarier lyrics that crop up insistently in Brooks' score. Big-time Broadway musicals, unfortunately, have to turn on more than just weirdness. "

Ouch.
Commercial Appeal Link

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 6:38pm

What/which video clip?

Care to add the URL?

[BreakingTheCircle07]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 7:16pm

Wow. I read the reviews. I saw the clips. I have seen the pictures. All I can say is wow.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 7:20pm

I say the weirder the better!

[my2cents]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 8:10pm

The clip is on the same page as the review on broadway.com. Top right corner. Enjoy :)
Updated On: 10/20/05 at 08:10 PM

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 8:22pm

And you're watching the show and you see these corridors of light show up onstage for actors to walk in and you're thinking, whoa, am I back watching The Light in the Piazza, only on drugs...

and you realize Christopher Akerlind did the lighting...

and you have just entered...

THE TWILIGHT ZONE!

[Dollypop]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 8:29pm

Really, it's "The LEMON Zone"!!!!!!

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 8:30pm

Ladies and gentlemen, the mother load

http://theater2.nytimes.com/2005/10/21/theater/reviews/21life.html


Updated On: 10/20/05 at 08:30 PM

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 8:59pm

"I dreamed I went to a Broadway show that was supposed to be madly eccentric and surreal, featuring a giant lemon, transvestite angel and a hero with Tourette's syndrome. But then, in one of those head-spinning shifts of setting that occur only in nightmares, I found myself trapped inside a musical Hallmark card, a pastel blend of the twinkly teddy bear and sentimental sunrise varieties. And suddenly, as the breath was leaving my body, I realized I was drowning, drowning in a singing sea of syrup."

Mr. Brantley says it best.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 9:05pm

let us not forget Mr. Brantley's

"to trot out one sticky boy-band-style ballad after another"

and it is now the must see of the season

with branding! Updated On: 10/20/05 at 09:05 PM

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 9:08pm

Would you call these negative?

[MusicalComedyMan]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 9:09pm

WHERE'S MARGO???

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 9:11pm

I call that Brantley review FABULOUS!

Think how many Hallmark cards get sold!

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 9:11pm

There WERE a few good things about this show. It's a shame that none of them will be pointed out in any of these reviews.

[MusicalComedyMan]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 9:13pm

That little girl is lucky they aren't talking about her!!!

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 9:15pm

Jordan, it's a camp hit!

We just have to round up the campers...

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 9:19pm

Oh trust me, I KNOW it's a camp hit! :)

But it's not ALL bad like a lot of others.

[G]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 9:27pm

I can only agree with you, MusicalComedyMan! I wanted to do cruel things to that girl. I loathe "performances" like that.

At the same time, I'm surprised that David Turner isn't raved about. He saves that show single-handedly by not taking it serious at all. Every line he delivers is a treat.
Updated On: 10/20/05 at 09:27 PM

[PerforMeg]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 9:29pm

"It's a lemon." Ha ha. They really walked right into that one. It's almost too easy.

When is Ken Mandelbaum's "Not Since In My Life" coming out?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 9:32pm

When does the closing notice go up ?

[spintoboy]

Posted: 10/20/05 at 9:35pm

The NYTimes web site has a "video minute" version of Brantley's review:

http://www.nytimes.com/video/html/2005/10/20/theater/highbandwidth/realmedia/20051021_tm_LIFE_VIDEO.html

Posted: 10/20/05 at 9:36pm

"And suddenly, as the breath was leaving my body, I realized I was drowning, drowning in a singing sea of syrup."

Wow.