The Times they are A' Changin'

[leblack]

After seeing "The Times They Are A' Changin'"last night
my advice is "Don't think twice..". Dylan's music is what
it will always be..brilliant and the band played great.
Missing were a few essential elements -characters, plot, and
story. This is Cirque de So Lame in which the inane setting and
clodish vaudeville vignettes effectively diminish the impact of Dylan's music at every turn. This makes Movin'On look like
a Pulitzer contender.

[TomMonster]

I was also there last night and completely agree!!

[FrontRowCenter2]

So what you're really saying is "The Times They Are a CLOSING?"

[Wanna Be A Foster]

It wasn't worth going even just to hear Michael Arden's gorgeous voice?

[TomMonster]

It's worth seeing, and more importantly hearing. The seeing part will only teach you what NOT to do...

Unfortunately, I'm not sure if the show will run long enough to warrant a cast album. I hope they do, because the arrangements and vocals are great!

[touchmeinthemorning]

Dylan's music is beyond brilliant. He is easily the best pop lyricist of the last 100 years. And setting his music into a story is nearly impossible. I applaud Tharp for her effort. I don't think there is any other way to approach this except the symbolic visual you get in this show. It isn't everyone's cup of tea, but many will love it.

[TomMonster]

Not last night. Only a handful of people seemed to really be enjoying it! (Of course, I didn't poll the room...)

[broadwayguy2]

as far as lyrics and storytelling, i DO feel you have to approach it, as an audience member, differently. You can NOT take unrelated songs from the same songbook and string them together to create a story using NO dialogue where the lyrics are situation-specific. It is really an impossibility. In a standard 'book' jukebox type show, you have the benefit of spoken dialogue to build and create a situation where the lyrics will be more specific.
Here in "Times", the songs are much more of an 'underscore'/soundtrack, as youw ould see in afilm.

[zepka102]

i think it's been around long enough to get a recording...

[broadwayguy2]

audience seemed to very much enjoy themselves the night i went. but really, during the show, how can you HONESTLY guage 110 people. And curtains nowaways? You can tell either... half stand because they feel you should stand for anything and the other half try to run out before the crowd.. (at EVERY show!)

I WILL be purchasing this recordingw hen it is out... Arden and Brescia are just WOW. If only a recording could capture the abilities of that ensemble... Rod Todorowski, Neil Haskell... etc etc.. just.. wow

[magic8ball]

Multiple Post.

[magic8ball]

Multiple post.

[magic8ball]

Multiple Post.

[magic8ball]

"The Times They Are A-Suckin'-So-Hard-That-The-Show-Needs-To-Close-And-Stop-Taking-Up-Valuable-Space-In-The-Brooks-Atkinson-But-Bob-Dylan-Is-Marketable-So-The-Show-Probably-Won't-Close-For-About-A-Year (Which Is Somewhat Okay In The Sense That 20 Talented Performers Won't Be Jobless In The Near Future)" should have been the title of this disaster.

::cue CurtainPullDowner to arrive and praise the show to high heaven and tell me that it's not for everyone and that just because I didn't GET Tharp's trite, uninspired "vision" it doesn't mean that it was a bad show::

Seriously, though. It was AWFUL. I've gotta run, but I'll elaborate on this in a full review later.

[zepka102]

magic8ball, seems to me you dont like the show :-P

[broadwayguy2]

now THAT was a mouthful.

[magic8ball]

Eh. It was okay. :-P

[Over_the_Moon]

It's not a theatrical masterpiece, but I will continue to love this show and stand up for it!

*stands*

[Wanna Be A Foster]

audience seemed to very much enjoy themselves the night i went. but really, during the show, how can you HONESTLY guage 110 people. And curtains nowaways? You can tell either... half stand because they feel you should stand for anything and the other half try to run out before the crowd.. (at EVERY show!)

Can I have the English translation of that?

[neddyfrank2]

Two things I noticed from the Video Preview

A) The stage was A LOT bigger in San Diego

B) They changed Michael Arden's costume to more brighter colours

[MargoChanning]

The AP review is Negative:

"What is one to make of "The Times They Are A-Changin'," the murky musical misfire that combines the considerable talents of director-choreographer Twyla Tharp and pop superstar Bob Dylan.

It is hard to tell what Tharp, who conceived the show, had in mind, judging from the confusing, surreal production on stage at Broadway's Brooks Atkinson Theatre. The diffuse plot is as ragged as the tattered overalls worn by the production's creepy clown chorus, an able, gymnastic bunch of dancers awash in scary pale makeup that make them look like refugees from Cirque du Soleil.

There are clues to Tharp's intentions in the theater program where the setting is ominously described as "sometime between awake and asleep" and where the musical is called "a fable." Forget life being a cabaret. In "Times," it's a small, seedy circus, a garish, colored-light world wonderfully created by designer Santo Loquasto. Allegory, anyone?

The story, if you can call it that, concerns a father, a son and a woman who seems to come between them. Dad is a gruff, grinning sadist called Captain Ahrab; son Coyote, an unhappy Candide-like youngster; and Cleo, a circus performer of mysterious origin. None of them is particularly well defined — or interesting.

Visually, though, there are some arresting moments, particularly when Tharp's dancers are hurtling across the stage. Whether bouncing on trampolines, using hula hoops, jumping rope or tossing beach balls (shades of the unlamented "Good Vibrations"), they have an unflagging energy that almost makes up for the nebulous love triangle."



http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/26/arts/NA_A-E_DAN_US_Theater_Times_A_Changin.php

[Phantom2]

My review from yesterday:

https://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?lastpage=on&thread=914906&dt=20

[Al Dente]

I was just about to ask Margo if the reviews had begun.

[Phantom2]

I was ahead of the curve.

[TomMonster]

Me too Phantom. Just waiting for Ben's...