Profile for mmh1019

I was at the 1st preview tonight, merch was a sash and a sticker. Started maybe 8-10 minutes late, not sure whether it was because of technical issues or seating people. I was in the last row of the mezz and about 8 seats directly in front of me were empty so it wasn't a full house. Jenn Colella got a huge ovation when the curtain came up, it didn't seem like she expected it, sweet moment. Almost every major character got entrance applause which was A. confusing (I didn't see the show at The Public) and B. distracting because some of the actors didn't totally know how to handle it. 

I'd have to agree with the poster who said the show is juggling a LOT of characters and trying to cram them all in (and give them all a "moment" makes the show feel bloated and longer than it needs to be. I wanted to spend less time with Alice & Carrie and more time with Ida B. Wells and Mary Church Terrell (sidenote: I love Anastacia McCluskey so much). Emily Skinner is chewing the scenery as Ava Belmont & Phoebe Burn (her song at the end was a highlight for me, she's a force). So is Grace McLean as Woodrow Wilson. I hope the team takes the preview period to trim the show, it wants to be so many things and that unfocused tone takes away from what are some really powerful stories. Keep Marching ends the show on a high note, not all the songs work but that one is a winner for me.

They brought out all the swings/stage management/dressers/behind the scenes folks after the bows. They also called forward everyone making their Broadway debut (about half the cast, very cool). They clearly are passionate about the show and it was sobering to hear them on the 1st night of previews say "tell your friends, tell them to tell their friends," didn't give me a ton of faith for the selling power of the show but I'm glad I was there.

MemorableUserName said: "The Wrap is mostly negative

‘The Notebook’ Broadway Review: Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams Are Sorely Missed

This new musical featuring songs by Ingrid Michaelson is merely lukewarm when it needs to boil over with body heat

https://www.thewrap.com/the-notebook-broadway-review-ingrid-michaelson/

"On stage, Maryann Plunkett delivers an Allie who’s a very confused and troubled senior living out her last days in a nursing home, and her uncompromising performance is supported immeasurably by Dorian Harewood’s sympathetic Noah. When these two veteran actors are on stage together, “The Notebook” is the moving, unabashed, heartfelt tearjerker it’s needs to be.

The four actors playing Allie and Noah’s younger selves are another story. Book writer Bekah Brunstetter — or perhaps it was directors Michael Greif and Schele Williams? — has decided to use two couples to play the roles that McAdams and Gosling handled all alone. On stage, we get the younger Allie and Noah (Jordan Tyson and John Cardoza) and the middle Allie and Noah (Joy Woods and Ryan Vasquez), with Plunkett and Harewood being the older Allie and Noah.

If that’s not confusing enough, imagine how you’ll feel when the middle Noah first shows up to sing a song about renovating the dream house for the middle Allie. I had no idea who this guy was, and had to wonder if maybe the younger Noah had hired an enterprising realtor to do the house makeover for him.

Playing the two youngish Noahs, Cardoza and Vasquez share the same reserved style of lovemaking. Needless to say, unlike Gosling, neither of them is going to make People’s sexiest man alive cover. But at least they’re operating on the same chaste page.

Regarding the two youngish Allies, it’s difficult to believe Tyson and Woods were ever in the same rehearsal room together. Tyson exhibits a spunky tomboy spirit. Woods appears to be auditioning for the next “Bachelorette.” When the middle Allie and Noah reconnect after a decade apart, their love scene in the renovated house plays like a fantasy suite episode gone completely awry. Neither of them deserves the rose.""

Wow, that line about Ryan Vasquez and John Cardoza not being on People's sexiest man alive cover is...something. 

I don't disagree with most of the feedback I'm seeing. The music is eh and nor memorable, Harwood/Plunkett anchor the show (I thought they were marvelous), Joy Woods is a freaking star, and we didn't get any clarity about why Allie goes back to Noah. That whole scene felt like a throwaway moment. I know they wanted to make their own entity, separate from the movie, but part of why the movie works is because that scene, and her coming back to Noah, lands the plane. It's like the 2nd act of the musical was on 2x speed, that they had to get through SO many moments to get to the end that we missed all the parts that tied the full story together and made the love believable.

How was Ryan Vasquez? I saw him twice in The Wrong Man and in Waitress, his voice and presence were just incredible, it's really cool to see him get this chance to shine in the lead role. 

and now the system is "undergoing maintenance," that's what happens when you release tickets 2 weeks ago. this was the 1st broadway show I ever saw, keeping my fingers crossed I can get in to see this!