Profile for Auggie27

I thought Ragtime the strongest lock of this season ... and then I saw Jellicle. I went in with that awful arms-across-the-chest skepticism but by the intermission was in tears. I said to someone, and I'm owning my snootiness here, "It shouldn't work. It'll knock you back in your seat." It's a rare staging alone that remints a work, and this is that creature Broadway adores: a genuine surprise.. I wouldn't discount its success on Tony night

I was trying to locate a triggered score that Lost Boys conjured, and came up with Water for Elephants (and not just because both have songs called "Wild", which in some ways are eerily similar.).  Both scores are eclectic, created by group effort, not a single composer and lyrist. I thought the Elephants score was under-appreciated, and I'll be curious to learn if Boys registers beyond the Palace when the whole piece is dropped.

The problem with the Versailles score wasn't its craft per se; it was the choice of moments to musicalize, and the way the songs failed to illuminate anything we might invest in. The show built to an obligatory scene - the protagonist finally making peace with her singular goal, to construct a kind of external monument to her hollow ambition. And when we arrived on that staircase, the number shared nothing new, offered no revelations. It simply unfolded as Chenoweth inched up and dow

People have attacked me for my critique of the role of Florence, but it's a one-note character, and that note is a singularly narrow one. She sings for 2.5 hours about her disappointment in love, with cases made against both narcissistic men. Forget whether a feminist prism works for you, actors of any gender need something to play, goals, missions, journeys to go on. Florence begins in a state of emotional paralysis, an angry victim of high maintenance Freddie, an

Since 90% of what I see is via TDF, I'm a Wednesday matinee die-hard. I have seen Both Jellicle Ball and The Lost Boys at recent Wednesday matinees, both packed, both cheered to the rafters. As others point out: both of those shows appeal to those having experience with their origin stories. I like to remind people that Lost Boys came out when boomers were in their early 30s. It was one of our movies, too; particularly those of us with a yen for ho

It's way too early to assess the long-term chances of Lost Boys, but 90% capacity includes all butts-in-seats, yes? I was at the Wednesday matinee on TDF, the performance that might prove harder to fill. What's the nut? Shouldn't it be making at least as much as something like the Radcliffe solo show? They did sell seats to the opening night. It was posted on Instagram and they made a big deal out of offering them. I do understand that the critics' performances a

Hardest to gauge: the coveted target audience for Lost Boys, beyond the fingers-crossed expectation that it's large and diverse. Another show with a brand title: I would've thought Gatsby had maybe 6-9 months; the reviews were abysmal and it had zero participation at the Tonys. Yet here it is, still playing. It is only intermittently on TDF. 

The Lost Boys is a curiosity in terms of definitive demographics: those who saw it in the cinema

I agree with Jordan here. And both the Times and Vulture, though filled with specific quibbles, express a kind of awe about the way the show got to them. We cannot underestimate the voiced gasps about the physical production, the world-building that makes style and content blur. Several reviews make a point of appreciating the show solely for its entertainment value to the consumer. These notices are all filled with pull-quotes. I think the consensus reads positive. 

(But do n

I agree that "Belong to Someone" is a haunting, soulful heartbreaker. It's performed in the single most stunning visual sequence, what I saw as Magritte-inspired. And it's the point when the narrative digs deeper, past the film, and excavates what's truest: the setting and story-defining melancholy. The Venn diagram explored - a swath of turf where tribes of the undead and the living both cope with a deep well of ineffable sadness - is the best thing in the sho

The discussion about the audience investment is critical here, and I experienced it as well, and at a Wednesday matinee. I speak with authority in drawing a distinction between Wednesday matinee crowds and others; it's the performance I attend now about 75-80% of the time. It's invariably older, and more female, often more reserved, and last week - both of those demographics obvious as well as the TDF crowd "show me" attitude on the way in - and they/we went wild, "Wild

"I just don’t think a song is necessary in that moment at all. I get wanting to give that character a song to beef the role up, but it’s just not that moment. The concept of characters breaking into song when spoken dialogue will no longer be sufficient is a bit of a cliche, but it’s generally a true one. What makes her break into song in that scene, exactly? She’s working her first day at a video store. There’s no real impetus for her to sing and it fee

The song stack in the program seems to be from early to mid-previews (I was there Wednesday afternoon). Is Lucy's new song something like "Plot Twist?" It still says "Be Kind, Rewind," and when Bean began, I thought it was the same song until the lyrics never arrived containing the title. The phrase "I need a plot twist" or something like that landed. It's very short, not a power ballad, and neither adds nor detracts, since it merely introduces the s

I think Wickedrocks is giving us the best overview that reflects current and eventual consensus, though I found Benet entirely successful. 

I'm disappointed those swings that the show takes aren't more consistent, and fall away in the second act for too long, admittedly a minority opinion.  

I'm an original attendee of the original Carrie, and I felt some of those feelings surface yesterday (it steals one of that pr

I saw the show yesterday, and would opine that the musical's biggest mistake is its (mostly 2nd act) adherence to the film's blend of "teenage comedy" and a darker, more psychologically compelling dive into the allegory of vampirism. 

It has one of those act 2 starters through the younger son's prism on vampires, and though it's arguably justified - it's in the movie - the intrusion of cliches that have been recycled and revised since early S

How is Garnett Williams? Would love to know how she navigates the second act "Memory." It's the only staging in the show that for me doesn't quite come up to the reinvention. Maybe because - no spoilers - the first act "Memory" genuinely wrecked me. I go way back to Cats - I saw the original-original in the West End in November 1981 (took my parents) - but this was the first time the first act "Memory" pulled unexpected but fully earned