Marie Christine

[BroadwayBound062]

Posted: 5/21/08 at 5:07pm

So a friend of mine bought me the cast recording of Marie Christine as a present and was wondering what it is about and how well did it do on Broadway.

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 5/21/08 at 5:11pm

Marie Christine is a re-telling of Medea about a woman (Audra McDonald) who falls in love with a beautiful man (Anthony Crivello) with political aspirations. He eventually abandons her, and... well, hell hath no fury. To put it simply, he wants the children they had together, and she murders them to spite him.

The show flopped on Broadway. It ran 42 performances, mostly because of its impossible-to-penetrate-on-a-first-listen score, relentlessly dark subject matter, and dramatic inertness.

[matty159]

Posted: 5/21/08 at 5:28pm

WOW, BustopherPhantom, I don't think I could have summed up the show better! Now, when people ask me why I didn't like it AT ALL, I will give your trifecta of reasons.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 5/21/08 at 5:51pm

Actually, it played Lincoln Center, a not for profit theatre. Therefore it couldn't have flopped per se. It just wasn't a runaway hit. It ran for it's alloted performances. It was scheduled as a limited run. That's the way Lincoln Center does most of it's shows. AND you'll find that many people here were completely captivated by the score (which makes the phrase "impossible-to-penetrate-on-a-first-listen" inaccurate). I also don't think that relentless darkness is really a bad thing. I mean it's kind of difficult to find the comedic moments in Madea. Lastly, I think inertness is the wrong word to use for that show. I don't see how a show whose first act ends with the anti-hero killing her brother is motionless, but hey that's me.

I think the show definately had it's flaws and it's not everyone's cup of tea but it has it's merits. So I thought I'd add a different perspective to the one given.

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 5/21/08 at 5:55pm

I own the score, and certainly like it.

But, even to a Sondheim disciple like myself (after absorbing his "difficult" scores), after a first listen of MARIE CHRISTINE, my first thought was "My God, I have such a headache."

But after many more listens, I appreciate it a lot more. But I'm still not a huge fan: to me, the show (as well as the score) is, overall, very shrieky, very in-your-face, and headache-inducing after a while.

Updated On: 5/21/08 at 05:55 PM

[matty159]

Posted: 5/21/08 at 5:59pm

Just to defend myself a little bit...I am a big LaChiusa fan (and relentless darkness in a show is something I can definitely get down with). This show was just not my cup of tea and bored me to tears. I thought some of the staging was wonderful, but the only song that stuck with me is "We're Gonna Go To Chicago". I have the cast recording and have tried to give it numerous tries (I initially thought my dislike was that I saw it at Lincoln Center very tired after a trip that took 9 hours - and should have taken 5). I just can't get into it, no matter how much I love the cast and creative team.

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 5/21/08 at 6:31pm

Exactly, matty. I do not think that dissonance (or even discordance) in music is at all a bad thing, but someone needs to go up to LaChiusa and say "Just because you didn't go to an expected place doesn't mean it's a good change."

And "We're Gonna Go to Chicago" is a wonderful number.

Updated On: 5/21/08 at 06:31 PM

[buffyactsing]

Posted: 5/21/08 at 7:36pm

I enjoy the score quite a bit and found it's first listen more "hum-able" than Sunday in the Park... and Passion and various other Sondheim musical. It's dark, but I think much of it is hum-able. I mean, who couldn't get Back to Cincinnati stuck in their heads?

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 5/21/08 at 11:54pm

yeah I had the same feeling when I saw Caroline or Change. When I first heard it I got very excited. My ear had never heard something like this in a theatrical situation. It was sort of thrilling to me.

Honestly I never got the whole obsession with hummability. I think it's such a subjective thing. I've never walked out of a LaChiusa, Guettel or Sondheim show without humming SOMETHING from the show. I've said before, any tune is hummable but whatever...

[LadyRosecoe]

Posted: 5/22/08 at 12:05am

Marie Christine slowly but surely found it's way to being my favorite LaChiusa piece, which was something I never expected would happen. At first I did NOT like it at all, it took me quite a bit of listening to really get into it and about 30 times more to pick out little tidbits of music that stood out in the background. I usually latch onto music pretty quickly and go with the sound, but it was not happening so fast with this one.

I daresay that about 3/5 or so of the score is golden while the rest is either pretty decent or quite good at least.

[mallardo]

Posted: 5/22/08 at 2:17am

Lady Rosecoe you give me hope. I also love LaChiusa's stuff but Marie Christine did not make a good first impression and stayed at the bottom of my list. I'm going to try it again.

[me2]

Posted: 5/22/08 at 8:57pm

I can still vividly remember popping that CD in my car when I got it, and how enraptured I was by the music and the story. I love that album.

The following few months, I went to NYC and bought the window card because I was such a big fan. I had it hanging in my living room until a friend saw it and said, "Um, what is that?" I guess it might look a little strange hanging on your living room wall IF you don't know what it's all about. :)
Broadway Mouth: Let’s See, Who Could It Be? Who Could It Be? Could It Be . . . Barret Foa?

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 12:47am

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who got into it on the first listen. I was beginning to feel odd. It was actually seeing I Will Give on The Rosie O'Donnell Show that got me into the show.

[LadyRosecoe]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 1:22am

I think that Audra has the most accessible parts, while the chorus and second acts were pretty much closed off to me at first. The Wild Party was something I put in the first time and never had a doubt about, thus I was surprised at how I felt. But as was the case with Follies, I start off loving a composers' work, find one that I just do not like, and one day it suddenly hits me and becomes my favorite. Now that I'm aware of this formula, I just kind of expect that "that show" will soon be more than that!

[tazber]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 7:02am

Next to See What I Want To See, Marie Christine is my favorite LaChuisa score.

The music is stunning and of Audra is just perfect. It definitely rewards patience and repeated listens.

[once a month]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 8:15am

I felt totally 'trapped' while attending this show. I couldn't access it, and cared less and less as the first act progressed. I hate to admit it, but I left at intermission, and I've never been sorry. Watching a 'copy' floating around only confirmed what I initially thought. Serious musicals that can make me cry are my cup of tea, so to speak, and I left Lincoln Center unfufilled and sour.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 10:24am

To put it simply, he wants the children they had together, and she murders them to spite him.

You left out the part where she indirectly murders his new bride on their wedding day as well.

I took my father to see this show simply because he loves Audra, but I wasn't sure if he would enjoy it or not. We were both spellbound by the entire production. I loved pretty much everything about it. The Greek-inspired staging was beautifully executed and the performances were all first-rate. The score was an interesting fusion of styles that hovered somewhere between musical theatre and contemporary opera. I would love to see more opera companies pick this up. The story was tragic and compelling and the score only enhanced the turbulent and unsettling lives of all the characters, picking up on the flavors of their southern roots to the ragtime-inspired urban midwest. One thing I will never forget was the chilling finale. The final image of Marie ascending the raked platform towards the bright light as the female chorus blows the roof off the Lincoln Center was one of the most powerful scenes I've ever witnessed in a musical.

Why Audra was not given the Tony for Best Actress for Marie Christine is still a mystery to me. She was 90% of the show and her performance was perfection.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 1:43pm

tazber, the title is See What I WANNA See.

MARIE CHRISTINE is my favorite MJLC score, though I never saw it. The first time I popped the recording in, I fell in love and was spellbound.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 6/11/09 at 8:54pm

I am head over heels in love with this score!

Question: I understand that Darius de Haas and the other guy who played Marie's other brother had songs in the show that are not on the CD. Were they cut in previews or did they just go unrecorded?

[sing_dance_love]

Posted: 6/11/09 at 9:50pm

When I first got the cast recording, I was truly stunned by the score. And it has only gotten deeper for me every time I've listened to it since.

It is just so incredibly unique. I simply haven't heard anything like before or since. And the passion with which it's sung by all the cast members! Not to even get to Audra McDonald, whose vocals are phenomenal.

This show ranks in the top 5 in the history of Broadway that I wish I could have seen.

Now, I know it wasn't flawless. There are songs that I always skip on the album. And I know the many felt the book and staging had problems. I for one, remain deeply captivated by this show/score and wish I could have seen it. From what I've read and seen, and certainly what I can tell from the recording, Audra was legendary in it. I LOVE this show.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 6/12/09 at 9:41am

I felt then and feel now that Marie Christine is not a musical.

It is however an opera and ought to be in the repertory of opera companies worldwide.

[Pgenre]

Posted: 6/12/09 at 8:32pm

This is one of the best scores ever written... on the level of PORGY & BESS and FOLLIES and WEST SIDE STORY.

The show changed quite drastically during previews, and the cast recording, while exquisite, is missing some material.

The brothers' big song, the most "accessible" song in the score I would say, "All Eyes Look Upon You", is conspicuously missing from the recording yet fragments of it are reprised in "No Turning Back".

A rich OPERA, indeed.

I still wish "Old Dante", The Wedding and the more surrealistic aspects of the show had been kept as it was almost too abstract by the time it opened.

No way was this show ever going to appeal to a broad audience, but it is rich like few other scores and some of Jonathan Tunick's finest work, up there with NINE and FOLLIES.

Anthony Crivello came off much better on stage than on the recording and Mary Testa comes across much better on the recording than she did in the theatre where her performance became caricature by the tragic ending... which was conveyed solely by her REACTION to the reveal of the two bodies, which remain offstage ala Greek Theatre (although MC's brother was killed onstage (?)).

We must remember the whole play takes place in one moment when Marie Christine is asked to explain herself in court before being killed for her actions, her last words.

A Good Nightmare Comes So Rarely,
P genre
Updated On: 6/13/09 at 08:32 PM

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 6/12/09 at 10:27pm

Wow.

I am surprised that only one person has mentioned "The Wild Party" and that NO ONE mentioned that La Chuisa was nominated for Best Score for BOTH "Marie Christine" and "The Wild Party"! (And lost to Elton John and Tim Rice for "Aida".)

As for me, it's a score that hasn't begged for repeated listenings. Theatre historian Ethan Mordden thinks that it will someday be done by opera companies.

As for Audra not winning for Best Actress, Heather Headley had a lot strong word of mouth going for her. The two things that were discussed before "Aida" came in were how the expensive set NEVER worked the way it should and how terrific Heather was.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 6/12/09 at 10:55pm

Wasn't Mary Testa in Marie Christine. How was she? As a fan of Mary, is it worth buying the CD for her?

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 6/12/09 at 11:47pm

Yes, Mary Testa WAS in Marie Christine. She played the role of Magdalena and she's phenomenal on the CD.