Musicals (Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Others)

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
So, the tv version worked it’s way around this! It actually made the song part of the plot, which made me like it for the first time in years.

Well, how about that. A director who thought having the cast sing directly into the camera for five minutes wasn't a good idea! ;)
 

Princess Leia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Well, how about that. A director who thought having the cast sing directly into the camera for five minutes wasn't a good idea! ;)
They just saved it for the end when they brought the original cast out to do a reprise of the song.

Kudos to Fox for pulling this thing off in light of derailment. The singer who played Roger broke his foot during the (fortunately filmed in front of a live audience) dress rehearsal on Saturday, so all but the last 15 minutes were from that performance. Roger was just stuck on a table wearing a boot cast for the (actual live) portion of the show.

Which brings me to wondering whether or not these shows need to be live the night it airs. If you’re not going to have understudies (???), then you can’t be shocked if you have to move to plan B (as a former understudy myself who had to go on opening night, it’s a little personal lol).

The show was good though. I forgot about the nitpicking I have done over the years about the show and enjoyed it. The cast was great, though a little imbalanced (Valentina and whoever played Mimi both need a little more vocal work for their singing abilities). I also had to cast aside suspension of belief with the age range of those on stage- Jordan Fisher and Brandon Victor Dixon (who made me cry again, y’all) do not like they are similar ages to run around the same friend group. The show was heartwarming, and I was singing along with the cast.

Between this and JSC, I think the ‘rock operas in front of a live audience’ formula works. I am VERY curious to see how NBC pulls off Hair, and what Fox decides to do next.
 

The Mom

Moderator
Premium Member
My amazing clients Valerie Vigoda and Brendan Milburn, who have written so many songs for Disney parks that I have lost track (including a song for the upcoming Star Wars Cantina) have a great musical called ERNEST SHACKLETON LOVES ME and it is on right now on PBS, channel 13 in the NY area. There are a few rebroadcasts, and in other parts of the country, they may air on other dates. Catch this if you can. It's a wonderful story about the power of optimism. Something we can all benefit from these days.

http://www.playbill.com/article/off...on-loves-me-broadcast-on-thirteen-november-26







How did I miss this? I stayed in Shackleton's former house (turned into a hotel) in Edinburgh. But he didn't visit me in a dream.
 

BuddyThomas

Well-Known Member
I was lucky enough to be invited to Roundabout Theatre Company's wonderful revival of Sondheim's endlessly troubled, but pretty amazing musical, Merrily We Roll Along this past Tuesday night. Here I am looking perplexed at the after-party at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square.
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Here are clips from the show, which is about three lifelong friends, and moves backwards in time. It starts at the very end when they are all rich, old, bitter, and no longer even talk to each other, and ends at the beginning, when they were poor young kids with bright futures ahead of them.



And here, at a Sondheim tribute concert, is Bernadette Peters singing one of the most beautiful songs from the show, Not a Day Goes By.



Annnnnnyway, this show has had an extremely troubled past. When it opened on Broadway in 1981, it ran only 16 performances and ended the collaboration of Sondheim and Hal Prince. The critics hated it:



Since then, there have been multiple productions that have tried to get this show right by revising it, adding and cutting songs, etc. It's just a strange show about the passage of time, and the loss of youthful innocence and it has a gorgeous score...but usually, things just don't click for this one.

I think the current Roundabout production works very well. The Times hated it, but it got raves in a bunch of other publications. If anyone is in NYC before it closes on April 7, I highly recommend this.
 
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BuddyThomas

Well-Known Member
So, I am going to the opening night of KISS ME KATE on Broadway tomorrow. Never seen this before, and might not see it this time since they usually seat me behind the tallest person in Manhattan on opening nights. For example, this was my view from a recent show.
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My review of that show is that it was very brunette, and the flowers could have been more colorful.

Anyway, if I get another terrible seat tomorrow night, at least there are some clips online:





 

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
So, I am going to the opening night of KISS ME KATE on Broadway tomorrow. Never seen this before, and might not see it this time since they usually seat me behind the tallest person in Manhattan on opening nights. For example, this was my view from a recent show.
356786

OMG, that's convention center movable chairs.

Are you sure you didn't stumble into How to Succeed in Business, the powerpoint presentation?
 

artvandelay

Well-Known Member
So, I am going to the opening night of KISS ME KATE on Broadway tomorrow. Never seen this before, and might not see it this time since they usually seat me behind the tallest person in Manhattan on opening nights. For example, this was my view from a recent show.
View attachment 356786
My review of that show is that it was very brunette, and the flowers could have been more colorful.

Anyway, if I get another terrible seat tomorrow night, at least there are some clips online:






What theatre is that?
 

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