Last night I went to the current production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum presented by Reprise! as part of their 2010 Season.
"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Inspired by the farces of the ancient Roman playwright Plautus (251–183 BC), specifically Pseudolus, Miles Gloriosus and Mostellaria, it tells the bawdy story of a slave named Pseudolus and his attempts to win his freedom by helping his young master woo the girl next door. The plot displays many classic elements of farce, including puns, the slamming of doors, cases of mistaken identity (frequently involving characters disguising themselves as one another), and satirical comments on social class. The title derives from the line that vaudeville comedians often used to begin a story: "A funny thing happened on the way to the theater".
The musical's original 1962 Broadway run won several Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Book. A Funny Thing has enjoyed several Broadway and West End revivals and was made into a successful film. It is a popular choice for school and community theatre."
(love that last "FYI" tidbit)
In my opinion, some of the cast is VERY talented. Stuart Ambrose as Miles Gloriosus and Ruth Williamson as Domina were my favorites. I just felt like the show wasn't quite "set-up" right. Like they weren't in on the joke even though they break the fourth wall multiple times. I'd love to blame Pseudolus (the narrator) but I don't think it's entirely his fault.
The first act is WAY TOO LONG or perhaps their pacing is just off. The second act flew by, but I don't think that's because it's half the length. (please, that's typical Sondheim!) It felt like, in the second act, they had settled in and got excited they were getting the laughs and they finally believed in their production. Which is TOTALLY understandable because a show like this NEEDS it's audience to respond. If it doesn't, it just feels like everything they're doing in just a hack-job, knock-off farce...and NOT in a good Noises Off kinda way....
Now, I've never seen the show before. I saw Jerome Robbins' Broadway, with Jason Alexander which features the number 'Comedy Tonight' (and LOVED it), but I have never seen a complete production OR the film version. I wanted to like it. I wanted to LOVE it. I wanted to find a new song to be obsessed with. (Which I did. It's called "Farewell" and apparently they cut it out of all productions and put it back in for this one. BASTARDS!) It's just...well...here's what I'm gonna say: After watching clips for the film AND the 1996 Broadway Revival with Nathan Lane (as I wrote this review), I think I can put it all on the director. It wasn't Reprise's fault because their last production of Carousel was AMAZING! Perfect, even. (and I had never seen THAT show before either.) Yeah, poor direction and not enough screaming for final rehearsal week is where I put the problem. This show had to be faster and funnier and the boring people should have been fired. There's no room for boring in a farce unless it's dialogue referring to the news coverage of Tiger Woods. Yep. It had to be faster and funnier.
It wasn't.
Ironically, many funny things DID happen on the way to see Forum, but not that many funny things happened once the show began.
I've seen a few CLO productions of Dreamgirls and liked them. I've never loved them but they worked. When I heard that this production of Dreamgirls was touring I thought I HAD to go see a "REAL" production of it.
I didn't LOVE it, but most of it worked.
Billed as "Slick, sleek and glitzy", I guess they WERE right. (Even though the rumblings I heard during intermission is that the L.E.D. PANELS instead of sets was kinda boring...and I think that's supposed to be the SLICK part...and, well, I agree. They WERE boring.) That was one of the things I thought was amatuerish about this production besides that fact that all of the female characters all looked like little girls running around on stage instead of show-stopping Broadway stars commanding it. (Wow, that sounded bitchy.)
There's only SO much you can do when your set for the entire show is really just bigger versions of the fences from the helicopter scene in Miss Saigon (AND THOSE PEOPLE COULDN'T EVEN GET TO THE OTHER SIDE!!!), so a lot of time people are just kind of walking around downstage and singing out to audience instead of each other. It was weird and VERY high school productiony. What else was weird was that they kept in scene change music, when there was no set to change and then they cut out all the "Showbiz...Its. Just. Showbiz" stuff. Like, umm, WHY? The people could have been singing that instead of standing downstage waiting for the scenery not to change.
Whatever. I think I got over it, once the sets REALLY serviced the production (like during the 'TV Specials' segment. TOTALLY freakin' brilliant) instead of the production servicing the multi-million dollar panels.
Syesha Mercado as Deena Jones was good. Great, even. It's really a thankless role and I've never noticed that before. (But, I'm sure Beyoncè did, OKAY!?!?!) I thought she was really one of the only performers whose character actually grew and changed and expressed some REAL emotion. I never watched her on American Idol so I don't know WHAT she's like, performing wise, vocally or anything else, but I thought she did great and her character gets overshadowed a lot more than you think it would...
Moya Angela as Effie White, isn't bad, she just isn't great. She sounds JUST LIKE Lillias White when she sings but has nowhere NEAR the range...OR charisma. Her acting is High School Junior at best and once she hits the second act, she gets kind of gay boy doing black-girlish instead of a more centered powerful woman, EXCEPT for her second act number "I Am Changing". It KILLED twice as hard as "And Im Telling You". KILLED! IT WAS AMAZING!!! Why? Personally, I think it was because she could probably relate or there's NO pressure on that song, because for her And I'm Telling You I felt like she was focused on hoping people thought she could sing better than Jennifer Hudson while she was busy trying to do ALL the blocking Jennifer Holliday actually had modivation for.
Chaz Lamar Shepherd as Curtis wasn't AT ALL enjoyable. Every time he was onstage I kept thinking about who I would send a letter to so that they would give him the note of QUIT TRYING. He can NOT sing as well as the others in the cast, but MAN does he try. I wanted to scream: QUIT TAKING YOUR TIME AND STOP THOSE FUCKING VOCAL TWIRLS AND FOR CHRIST SAKE THIS SONG IS SYNCOPATED FOR A REASON: SING IT THE WAY IT WAS WRITTEN, YOU'RE FUCKING EVERYONE ONE ELSE UP! Ugh, totally annoying AND distracting even though he has "EVIL CONMAN CHARACTER" down to an art form.
Chester Gregory as James "Thunder" Early is the BEST thing in this show. THE BEST. HE STEALS THE SHOW. His curtain call applause at our performance out shown Effie's by a LONG shot. He's funny, charming, a BRILLIANT singer, AMAZING timing, dedicated to everywhere his character is going and has gone. You couldn't wait for him to come back on stage because EVERY THING he did was brilliant. He milked everything for what it's worth while NOT over doing it...how he does that, I have no idea, but he's a genius in this role and production.
GO SEE THIS JUST TO WITNESS HIM.
The pacing of this show is great (except when Curtis is singing), most of the costumes looked like they were borrowed from a bevy of retired drag queens (Only a couple looked like BROADWAY PRODUCTION costumes, and those were amazing.) The Orchestra is split up with the piano, drums and bass onstage and the rest down in the pit and when the "stage" band is playing it totally overpowers the singers and you can't understand a word they are singing OR saying.
WITH THAT SAID: I didn't walk out. I wasn't bored, I didn't hate it. I thought it was enjoyable and people who don't know anything about anything LOVED it. (all the gays I saw there thought it was 'fun'. Ugh. Kiss of death. Fun is the new 'Neat'.)
Would I go see it again? If it was free and we had house seats, YES. I would go to see if what I saw was their best performance or if they were just saving up for their 4 show weekend ahead of them...
It's not the worst piece of crap ever, it's enjoyable. Not because of Johnny Depp in clown drag as Elijah Wood, but SOLELY because of Helena Bonham Carter. She perfect. Nothing she does is this movie misses or fails in ANY way...
...Big head and all.
I have NO idea what this movie was REALLY about. The film's prologue isn't about anything and honestly all they had to do was start with her falling down the rabbithole and the movie could have begun. Instead they try to give it some subplot or story or something to try and make it a legit film when everyone is just there to see certain characters in 3-D. SO, JUST GET TO IT ALL READY!!!!
Back story: Tim Burton said the original Wonderland story was always about a girl wandering around from one weird character to another and he never felt a connection emotionally, so he wanted to make it feel more like a story than a series of events. He was also quoted as NOT seeing this as a sequel to previous films or a re-imagining.
WELL THAN, WHAT THE HELL IS IT?!?!?
I mean, it DEFINITELY wasn't re-imagined. I got that. Re-telling, perhaps, but I couldn't figure out what the end of the movie was about or why she has to fight a dragon or whatever it was...until I got home and saw the film billed as a "Fantasy/Action".
Really? It's an ACTION film? Ugh. What a joke...fuckin' Hollywood drives me crazy.
The Cast: Mia Wasikowska who plays Alice, really could have been played by ANYONE. How or why she got cast in this role is BEYOND me. Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter was a total disaster. Here's what Wikipedia said about his character:
Tim Burton explained that Depp "tried to find a grounding to the character, something that you feel, as opposed to just being mad. In a lot of versions it's a very one-note kind of character and you know his goal was to try and bring out a human side to the strangeness of the character. The orange hair is an allusion to the mercury poisoning suffered by many hatters who used mercury to cure felt."
According to Depp: "I think he was poisoned, very, very poisoned, and it was coming out through his hair, through his fingernails and eyes. Depp stated that the Mad Hatter is like 'A mood ring, his emotions are very close to the surface'. Depp and Burton decided that the Mad Hatter's clothes, skin, hair, personality and accent should change throughout the film to reflect his emotions. The Mad Hatter is "made up of different people and their extreme sides", with the Scottish Glaswegian accent (which Depp had modelled after Gregor Fisher's Rab C. Nesbitt character) reflecting a darker, more dangerous personality.
You're kidding, right?
ALL of THAT went into that? You guys are WAY too into yourselves. The look had NOTHING to do with anything, the same with the accent. I didn't think you were a talented actor, Johnny, I thought you were making a fool out of yourself worse that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. If he would have just played The Mad Hatter and not try to be so fucking narcissistic about some artsy career, you would have been able to give a good performance, instead we got a Carrot Top looking Jake Sparrow knock-off talking hack job of a character by an actor who has to hide behind costumes to shield poor performances.
Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, is seriously perfect. One of my favorite roles EVER. Funny, mean, awful, right, wrong, fabulous, spoiled. Everything. The film is hers and no matter of billing or editting can take it away from her.
Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, is boring and as distracting as her eyebrows. I think I may just hate her though, so I'm probably not being entirely fair. You can see by her portrayal of the character that she thinks it's very eccentric and dramatic. According to Hathaway,
"She comes from the same gene pool as the Red Queen. She really likes the dark side, but she's so scared of going too far into it that she's made everything appear very light and happy. But she's living in that place out of fear that she won't be able to control herself." Hathaway describes her interpretation of the White Queen as "a punk-rock, vegan pacifist", with inspiration drawn from Blondie, Greta Garbo, and the artwork of Dan Flavin.
Um, "A" get a grip. "B" It's uneven, distracting and unreal at best. (But I'm glad she thinks she's a real actress!)
Crispin Glover as the Knave of Hearts is entertaining and the stunt casting of Matt Lucas (Little Britain) as Tweedledee and Tweedledum works.
What do I REALLY think? I think it's in 3-D and there are TONS of things to look at when you get bored so you'll be kept busy the entire time. Did you see The Fifth Element? I have NO idea what that movie was about but I LOVED it. That's kinda like how I felt about this. It's pretty to look at, a performance or two is stunning and the movies not really about anything. The movie "goes somewhere" but when it's over you really don't know what happened, but you enjoyed it.
Let's put it this way, this review is as uneven as the film.
Quick review: You know it's not a good movie when Kim Basinger is the best thing in it.
Full review: The Informers is a film based on Bret Easton Ellis' 1994 collection of short stories of the same name. It's about youth, drugs, rock stardom, sex, tri-sexuality, useless domestic violence and apparently the 1980's.
SHUT UP! I KNOW!
Now BELIEVE ME, I know ALL of those things should make for riveting filmwork, but alas, the motion picture industry has steered you wrong again. We get it: Hollywood is awful, people with money do drugs and everyone wore Ray-Ban glasses in the 80's. NEXT!
Billy Bob Thornton is SHIT, Mickey Rourke is visually disgusting (what else is new?) but I guess that his character is as well, so I guess it's alright...I guess. Winona Ryder is a waste. Yawn. Austin Nichols is SO gay that it is apparent they had to have his entire dialogue voiced over by another 'straighter' voice actor. (Austin, call me. I love boys with lisps.) There were like six other no named/no clothed other people who were naked the entire time (look for a clear shot of Jon Foster's cock sock during the twelfth useless time he's naked) and I don't know who Brad Renfro is (I'm SO serious. I walked out of Ghost World and couldn't imagine going to The Jacket. FYI: Adrien Brody please stop making films...) but he was REALLY good in this film. (I will say this though, when I was Googling him to see who he was, all these SUPER cute and hot photos came up and he does NOT look like this, in this, his final film before his fatal overdose...cokebloat was in FULL effect, people.)
38 minutes into this movie, I still had NO idea what the fuck it was about or what the fuck I was watching. Finally an hour and nine minutes in, it is revealed what the title of the movie "means" and guess what? It has nothing to do with anything. WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED THAT?
Okay, what haven't I covered? Oh, Kim Basinger and the 1980's. Okay, Ms. Basinger was wonderful, beautiful, perfectly directed and was VERY enjoyable in a well-isn't-SHE-talented-every-time-she's-on-screen sorta way. Nice job, honey. Keep up the great work.
Now then, the last thing I am going to cover is this film and the 1980's. I don't when the 80's became a period piece, but I now know how anyone from the Renaissance Era would feel if they were alive to watch us destroy what worked perfectly then but we felt needed to be "corrected" to make sense to a modern viewing audience. Here are a list of things that drove me FUCKING CRAZY during this film about them trying to covey the 1980's.
-The hair. No one wore distressed Shirley Temple curls in the 80's. It was permed, it was teased, it was frosted (or it was all three) and there was a claw (if you're from the East Coast) or a wave (if you're from the west coast) where there should have been bangs AND any ponytail worn was on the top of the head and to the side with a scrunchie or banana clip keeping it in place. There were no ringlets. There were no center parts. There was no mono-colored hair.
-Every girl work pink or white frosted lipstick. There was no such thing as a nude lip.
-Jelly bracelets were only worn with OTHER Jelly bracelets. Not with bangles. Bangles were only worn with Bangles. They were not mixed. It was an era of Accessory Segregation and we loved it.
-A bolo tie on one character, pegged pants on another and a buttoned up polka dot shirt on yet another: IS NOT CORRECT COSTUMING!!! One character should have been wearing all three with stonewashed jeans.
-The only DeLorean in the 1980's was in Back To The Future.
-and last but not least: Black denim was part of the 1990's, assholes! HOW DARE YOU BLAME THAT ON THE 1980'S!
****Okay, as I start doing even MORE research on this film, because I started to get REALLY pissed off about it again after that Black Denim incident), it turns out an ENTIRE plot line was cut out of the film that is in the book and the film makers failed to cut out all the 'fringe information' scenes, so as I'm reading summaries of each short story from the book, the film makes A LOT MORE SENSE.
Not complete sense, but a lot more. (For example: "Oh, Peter wasn't a pedophile, it was for the vampires. It's all SO clear now.")
Well, last night was the Outfest advance screening of Mamma Mia! The Movie... and mamma mia was the movie awful.
For those of you who don't know (I didn't) Mamma Mia is about 20 year old Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) who is getting married and wants her father to give her away but guess what: SHE DOESN'T KNOW WHO HER FATHER IS! (Dun, dun, dun.) It could be any of three former lovers of her mother Donna, played by Meryl Streep and the only way to find out which one it is, is to invite all three to her wedding and see what happens.
In the beginning it looked like it had potential. (I mean the movie takes place on the beaches, cliffs and more cliffs of Greece, so if all else fails, cut to scenery, right? AND DON'T THEY LOOK LIKE THEY'RE HAVING FUN!?!?) Anyway, Amanda Seyfried wasn't that tragic. Sure she looks like an aryan Anne Hathaway, but I wasn't gonna hold that against her. (Casting didn't, so why should I?) You meet her bridesmaids and wish right away that they were having a smaller wedding, I mean who cares: WHERE'S MERYL STREEP?!?!?
By the grace of God, Christine Baranski hits the screen (in the WORST WIG EVER!!!) as Tanya along with her cohort Rosie played by British actress and comedienne Julie Walters. Baranksi is funny as usual and Walters is almost funnier.
BUT WHERE IS MERYL STREEP!??!?
Then like a theatrical goddess in overalls, Meryl Streep trots down the pier to pick the ladies up to take them back to the bed and breakfast that she is running...into the ground...and she needs Money, Money, Money just as we the audience need a good musical number.
THIS TRIO DOES NOT FAIL
We meet the former lovers/possible fathers Bill, Sam and Harry (Stellan Skarsgård, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth respectively) and pray they move the story back to the girls. ...and by girls I mean everyone but Sophie, because they are the only people of any interest. If Sophie speaks or sings one more time I'm gonna kill myself, just like she's slowly killing me.
Here's my issue with the film: Sophie invited the men to the wedding without her mother knowing so we have to witness her telling all three men the same tired story (or stories) over and over again... it was like watching Les Miserable. You know when everyone dies and then starts to come back: SHUT UP PEOPLE! MOVE THE STORY ALONG AND TELL ME SOMETHING NEW!!!! Ugh, it was awful. SO BORING. Laughable at parts it was so bad. Seriously, Pierce Brosnan's vocals were about as good as Johnny Depp's were in Sweeney Todd...if not gooder. (That wasn't a compliment Mr. Brosnan OR Mr. Depp.) AND THEY KEPT GIVING HIM MORE SOLOS TO SING!!!!
My other issue is Dominic Cooper who plays her fiance Sky, couldn't be gayer if he were me shitting glitter while twirling a baton and wearing a tiara. SHUT UP! I KNOW! Besides that Colin Firth was lovely, the "greek chorus" was VERY enjoyable and Meryl Streep had two show stopping numbers. (As if we'd expect anything less...)
Here's the end-all people: There were more songs in this LONG ASS MOVIE than there are in The King and I, A Little Night Music and Fiddler On the Roof rolled into one:
"I Have A Dream", "Honey, Honey", "Money, Money, Money", "Chiquitita", "Super Trouper", "Dancing Queen", "Our Last Summer", "Lay All Your Love On Me", "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)", "The Name Of The Game", "Voulez-Vous", "SOS", "Does Your Mother Know", "Slipping Through My Fingers", "The Winner Takes It All", "Under Attack", "Knowing Me, Knowing You", "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do", "Waterloo", "When All Is Said And Done", "Take A Chance On Me", "Mamma Mia (Reprise)", "I Have A Dream (Reprise)"....AND THEN A MEGA-MIX!!!!!
ARE THEY OUT OF THEIR FUCKING MINDS!?!?!? The only good numbers were "Money, Money, Money", "Dancing Queen" and "The Winner Takes It All"... the later, showing here:
The rest, is trash.
Apparently if you liked the stage show, you'll hate the movie and if you liked the movie, you'll hate the stage show. Well, I hate them both and I'm going to rent Brigadoon if that tells you anything.
Cast (l to r) Christopher Mintz-Plasse,Paul Rudd, Seann William Scott and Bobb'e J. Thompson
Super Quick Review for Jake: I didn't hate it.
Quicker Review for Jake: On one hand I could see how some people would wait till this came out on DVD to see it (It's no male Drop Dead Gorgeous after all!) but there were two parts in this movie that people were laughing at how hard I was laughing. "Parts" were that funny.
Complete Review for Jake: Seann William Scott plays Wheeler a slacker who is living the life of dressing up as a mascot for the energy drink company he's works at along with his best friend Danny. (Portrayed and co-written by Paul Rudd)
When Danny's girlfriend Beth, played finely by Elizabeth Banks, tells him that he has an attitude problem (which he TOTALLY does) she breaks up with him and frat guy comedy plot ensues. After they are both arrested for their energy drink-fueled bender, the court gives them a choice: go to jail and be raped or spend 150 hours with a mentoring program.
See, it's kinda boring.
At the mentoring center they meet their 'little buddies': Augie played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Ronnie portrayed by Bobb'e J. Thompson. Both great actors. Bobb'e as Ronnie is HY-STER-ICAL and Christopher as Augie is perfectly pathetic and full of heart in every way.
However, their characters are more than Danny and Wheeler can deal with and after one day with the kids, jail isn't looking like such a bad alternative. The woman who runs the center, Gayle Sweeny (played funnyily and crazily by Jane Lynch...don't judge my made up words...) tells them it's these boys or being raped in jail.
At this point it's a better movie than it sounds like, it's just the same old shit and you know how it's gonna end. I mean, Seann William Scott DOES full body rear nudity-
(SHUT UP! I KNOW!)
-and Paul Rudd is simply adorable always fully clothed, but still I gotta say with this film you get laughs, heart, lessons and resolve. It's a fine movie. It's good enough. Would I see it again? No. Would I stop someone from seeing it? No. It was enjoyable.
Here, watch the trailer. It gives A LOT away, but it's fun and has cussing:
Anyway, I guess my point is: I don't think you're supposed to expect much from films like this, so I didn't and I didn't think it was a waste of my money or time...unlike Mamma Mia. Ugh. I still resent having that experience burned in my brain...
Last night I went to the first preview performance of the WORLD PREMIERE of 9 to 5 The Musical starring Allison Janney, Stephanie J. Block and Megan Hilty at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles and while it was a VERY exciting evening to be a part of (Dolly parton was in the house AND introduced the show) let's face it: it needs some work.
I KNOW IT'S THE FIRST PREVIEW AND THE FIRST TIME THEY RAN THE SHOW ALL COMPLETELY THROUGH (well, they almost did) but I think they shouldn't have tried to stay THAT close to the original script. My friend Sam said it best: They need an editing eye.
This show is long.
Like, I felt like I put in a full 8 hour day watching it.
Allison Janney was tired. I don't mean "that bitch's hair is tired" I mean EXHAUSTED. Her first song (and a few more) she TOTALLY "Henry Higgins-ed" it. (yep, that's a verb.)
Now I'm a HUGE fan of Ms. Janney's. I LOVED her in The West Wing, she was BRILLIANT in Drop Dead Gorgeous and honestly pretty much anything she's ever featured in, but here it seemed like her sense of timing was made for television and film and not for the stage. (Which is weird, I KNOW, because she was Tony Nominated for her performance in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge.) However, next to stage stars Stephanie J. Block (Boy From Oz, Wicked) and Megan Hilty (Wicked) she seemed to flounder.
Which sucks.
Musical Numbers:
The opening sequence of the title song 9 to 5, is fun. I don't know if it's smart, but it's fun.
Around Here tells the story of how it works at Consolidated while introducing Violet Newstead to Judy Bernly and a GENIUSLY PERFECT set.
Here For You is Franklin Hart's (Marc Kudisch) first song. While I get that he has to have a song to set up his character, they should cut a verse and get back to the girls. We get it, he's a pig. NEXT!
Out of Control is the song that takes the place of the copier scene with Judy. It starts out fantastic and then turns into some crappy hack number cut from Seussical.
Tattletales ... I think they changed the title to something about Gossip or it's now called Hey, Hey or something but here's the real gossip: Hey, Hey it's a bad song. It's all about how everybody gossips around the office and it then more or less introduces Judy to Doralee and features Ann Harada from the original cast of Avenue Q in a wasted role.
9 to 5 (Reprise) It's a reprise, it's amazing. What do you want from me?
The One I Love is a LOVELY song that brings background depth to our lead females characters. The 'Our Town' minimalisim sucks because you just came from the office, but it services a lovely song that a cabaret soloist is SURE to include in their repertore...
Backwoods Barbie is Doralee's first solo and is perfect. While people will be familiar with it from Dolly's latest album, it works really well in the show but for some reason lends itself to opening up the option that Doralee is as aware of herself as Dolly Parton is.
Dance O’ Death, Cowgirl’s Revenge and Potion Notion are all the dream sequences of killing Hart and the finale of the three is probably the best part. Not because it's over, but just because seeing everyone in their 'castle" outfits is pretty great. Judy's dream is TOTALLY different, which is a strange choice. Doralee's dream looks like Madonna's Don't Tell Me video and Violet's dream was just another example of how Ms. Janney isn't really up to selling a number no matter how fun it is.
Somewhere around here we're introduced to a B Plotline and a love interest for Violet. Why? I don't know, but Andy Karl as Joe is giving Dan Futterman a run for his money.
Heart to Hart is PROBABLY the best number of Act One, which is weird because Roz (Kathy Fitzgerald) sings it. (and since when does Roz deserve a song...let alone a C Plotline? Bizarre choice, but totally enjoyable)
I Killed the Boss! is the WORST solution to editting the steal-the-body-car-crash-pulled-over-by-the-cop-short-in-the-trunk-another-stiff-in-the-john scenes I've ever seen. It was like watching the Morphine Tango from the stage version of Kiss of the Spider Woman throw up on Some Fun Now from the film version of Little Shop of Horrors.
It was during this scene change that the set broke down, so Dolly Parton got up from her seat and brilliantly took matters into her own hands answering questions, describing her experience writing music for the show while working with the creators and THEN she got everyone in the audience to sing 9 to 5. When finding out they needed a little more time asked the orchestra to play I WIll Always Love You and asked the audience to sing along with her during the chorus:
From The Mezzanine
From the Floor.
Shine Like the Sun is the Act One Finale and was more or less worth the wait.
Now then, if you're still with me, which I wouldn't be because I sorta wanted to go home at this point, Act Two started:
Entr’acte, Self explanitory.
Around Here (Reprise) I'm pretty sure they cut this or it was just REALLY non-memorable.
One of the Boys This is TOTALLY Roxie from Chicago and I don't think Allison Janney was up for it. Which was sad, because there's a Think of Me from Phantom costume change in the middle of it and a chorus line of boys ala The American Dream from Miss Saigon and it just really seemed like she didn't care... I mean seriously: she tap-synced. WTF!?!?
5 to 9, sung by Roz. Yawn, cut it.
Mundania is Hart's OTHER number and let's just say it: YAWNIER. He's literally hanging above center stage like Peter Pan's flying machine broke midway through I'm Flying.
Willin’/Well-Oiled Machine is SUPER CUTE.
Get Out And Stay Out is as close to Defying Gravity from Wicked that Astonishing was from Little Women. Great number, good set, useless scene.
Let Love Grow Oy. Talk about a useless scene. This is the "love song" between Violet and Joe and it is sung on a planter. REALLY? A BROADWAY LOVE SONG ON A PLANTER IN AN ATRIUM OF AN OFFICE BUILDING? Yeah, it's just that awful.
Mundania (Reprise). Please make Hart stop singing. Not that Marc Kudisch is bad, not at all. It's just like Pierce Brosnan in the film version of Mamma Mia. ENOUGH ALREADY! Who cares? Move on!
Finale: 9 to 5. A BRILLIANT, FUNNY, ENERGECTIC end to the show.
Frankly they made bizarre changes that didn't need to be changed (Why would they change the nail file for Hart to escape to something else TOTALLY not within reason?) The final 1/3 of the second act could SO have been a montage and saved us all a lot of trouble. The love interest for Violet is so weird, because this show is such a GIRL POWER message, but then out of nowhere they need a guy to help them make it all happen. SHUT UP! I KNOW! What's THAT about? I couldn't tell if Doralee was the lead of the musical or if Megan Hilty was just THAT good.
Would I see it again? Here: No. On Broadway: Perhaps if I heard they made changes.
I am SO glad I got to go. I feel honored to have been there for the first night of something that can be TOTALLY amazing if they cut a bunch of stuff or fold as soon as the critics slaughter it in New York.
I used to write another blog and my favorite part of that blog was writing reviews of films, television, theater (et al.) for one of the readers: Jake. The title is for him and that joy. This blog is for you and your pleasure.
