Profile for Auggie27

I'll revisit to one of my original posts (10/1) that posited that this material's DNA is fundamentally flawed as a musical foundation. I made a case that this biography doesn't have the root-for, compelling obstacles, or reversals that invite investment through (ir)resolution.. The documentary is an admittedly compelling glimpse at a curiosity. But it's not Grey Gardens, which presents a bona fide anti-hero's journey with genuine heartbreak. This origin story'

It's startling how little was changed from Boston, based on many reports. It sounds like the overall just positive enough reviews (to further justify if not fully secure a B'way transfer) were taken to heart as evidence that the show is sound. I re-read the NY Times review:

“The Queen of Versailles,” the surprising and frequently excellent new musical starring an utterly disarming Kristin Chenoweth and co-written by her “Wicked” composer-lyricist, S

To partially addresses Eric's point, I'll come back to my own, earlier in this thread, about the fixed DNA of the characters of Florence and Svetlana. Folks in the playwriting community know about The Bechdel Test, i.e., the creation of women characters. It was established for literary managers to eliminate from production consideration a certain kind of storytelling via a simple three-part rule: to evaluate female representation  a work must have at least two women, these w

"I hope they dig into the love story more because right now Molokov and Walter have better chemistry than the lovers and you never see any love between Freddie and Florence. By the time we meet them, they are already about to break up..."

Wait, what? Not a ringing endorsement for the fixed book. Strong has had 5+ years and two well-platformed Encores! styled readings to hone and discover unexplored nuance; it's hard to fathom a major changes during previews.

After 9 months of speculation about whether the Strong libretto would finally elevate this musical from cult-embraced concept that soars in concerts and plunges to earth once tethered to exposition-dumps and shouty break-up confrontations ... we're back to talking about how it's sung, and a reverence for original arrangements and unadorned vocals sells it. I've posited several questions that no one wants to address, serene that the beloved score has been well served by t

I infer from the discussion that the narrator device doesn’t solve the decades old problems with the storytelling; it simply serves it up like contemporaneous Monarch notes. Strong claims he was given carte blanche to start “from scratch.” I presumed he’d do serous rethinking of the characters and how they shape the plot. Yet it sounds like the exact same tale universally agreed to be hoary, confusing, and at times overwrought. Despite Strong’s insistence that he

An unpopular question, but as a 40 year fan of the score: has Strong done anything to give Florence more agency beyond her codependency to these two men? It's the 2025 problem with 1980s material: we have already seen edgy work like The Queen's Gambit, wherein a woman rules the game, so watching this woman take the backseat for 2.5 hours feels very, um, midcentury romcom-trapped. Yes, yes, it's the period. But none of Florence's lyrics pass the Bechdel test; she sings

The curtain call footage everywhere suggests something between Encores! and a West End-ish concert. It's sleek and gleaming with an elegant simplicity but with the musicians above the performance, 180 from the last B'way iteration. Whatever Strong's stamp, the book - and its stylized staging - are clearly aiming for clarification/amplification of ideas in the songs, not verisimilitude. Nelson's book and Nunn's direction were all about exploring the stor

Significant spoilers in the comments above, which really should be framed with alerts. This play's surprises all generate emotional suspense, and deserve to be discovered.. 

I saw this afternoon's matinee. Old school minimalist naturalism, beautifully orchestrated by Mantello - with a stark poetic prism, elegantly designed by Pask - with a star making performance by Micah Stock. We expect a vehicle for the singular Metcalf, who is vivid, wry, and heartbr

"More development" - even late stage - is often cited as a panacea for all troubled musicals. But how many shows are DOA from inception, because they musicalize a tale lacking a dramatic question in a compelling human being's narrative that no one cares to have answered? The root cause of "root for" in all storytelling, from the Greeks? 

If a concept is flawed thus - impossible to explore and amplify in theatrical te