War Horse
Apr 23
2011, 03:01:40 AM
Great points.
I was a fighter pilot and while I never experienced anything close to the unimaginable brutality of ground war in the great wars, the memories of my more harrowing experiences are not very linear.
I spoke to one or two guys who saw the first Persian Gulf war from the ground and there is really no way to dramatize it. Has any drama REALLY been written that can approximate the emotional devastation of, let's say, having one's child murdered? Of course, not, the th
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NY Times Arts Beat today - Are Musicals losing their voices?
Apr 23
2011, 02:47:57 AM
People can deny it but the theater is definitely moving or has moved in the direction of the "little voice". This is a trend that seemed to start with Ed McMann's "Star Search" (according to a voice teacher whose name escapes me). Audiences loves the high c that ricochets off the back wall of the upper mezzanine (with a big assist from amplification) and "American Idol" and its many variations abroad, I should say its audiences, reward "little voices" that can pull off the trick.
The te
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Robert Guillaume (Benson) as The Phantom?
Apr 23
2011, 02:24:33 AM
Just as a matter of curiosity, how many different actors have you seen play the Phantom--and where did you see them?
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WAR HORSE Reviews
Apr 23
2011, 02:17:43 AM
Well stated.
Anyone who hears about the show and believes the draw is a Tom-Stoppard-tight drama is going to be sorely disappointed. I've never heard a single rep from the National tout the writing above the puppetry.
Second, I can't imagine any one believing for a second the stage can come close capturing the horrors of war--it's even elusive on the screen.
If you want to get a much better sense of war, see stunning stagecraft, and experience taut drama, travel to St
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re: West Side Story Reviews
Mar 21
2009, 02:51:39 PM
In this economy mixed won't cut it. I suppose it could squeak out a run of a year or two but theater owners are not in the pro-bono business for theater nostalgia.
If one or two really solid musicals are in the pipeline WSS is headed for the shoals.
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re: Unpopular Opinions You Hold
Jan 4
2009, 08:37:23 PM
I wouldn't see "Rent", "Wicked", or "Billy Elliot" with your money.
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re: My review of West Side Story 12-30-08
Jan 2
2009, 04:11:24 PM
If someone who adores the show came away with disappointment itdoesn't matter whether the show launched in D.C. or the Imperial--it's bad news. There's nothing magical about taking a show out of town to work on it. That concept is a relic from a time when bad news travelled at the speed of a glacier. Thirty years ago, bad news died out of town. Today it orbits the world faster than the space shuttle.
It could be the author of this post is on to something. Laurents vision of his own work
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re: The Shows You Saw This Year:
Dec 28
2008, 02:12:51 PM
Amazing. "Black Watch" was mentioned only once.
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re: 'Kristina' concerts tentatively announced for Sept. 2009
Dec 28
2008, 02:08:12 PM
Alice Ripley was tentatively signed for the role of Ulrika which, no doubt, she will perform amazingly but she is not the type B & B are looking for to play Kristina. It's their M.O. to let nature take its course, believing eventually the perfect person will
show up at an audition and all they have to do is sit back and wait. That's how they backed into Meryl Streep for "Mamma Mia".
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re: A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews
Sep 21
2008, 06:43:14 PM
Timing is everything.
Backing is next.
There are just too many new musicals inbound to give ATOTC a fighting chance even if reviews were neutral.
Even Oprah's influence and deep pockets couldn't save "The Color Purple".
With "Shrek", "Billy Elliot", "Pal Joey", and "White Christmas" about to launch and people still camping out for a chance to see "Jersey Boys" and "South Pacific" I can't see this show drawing an audience.
To be sure, from time to time sh
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re: A Tale of Two Cities..Review (August 29)
Aug 31
2008, 12:48:28 PM
Maybe the tree was in someone else's mind.
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re: Which Highlights Cd to Upgrade?
Aug 31
2008, 01:08:57 AM
Roger, "Ragtime" is REALLY special. I think there might be one song in the show that I thought could have been cut but the extended versions of "The Night Goldman Spoke at Union Hall" and "Sarah Brown Eyes" are wonderful. The best part of the C.D. set (Broadway) for me is the dialogue that follows the second act song when Tateh (?) and "Mother" watch their kids playing on the beach:
Both
See them running down the beach.
Children run so fast
Toward the
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re: A Tale of Two Cities..Review (August 29)
Aug 31
2008, 12:59:09 AM
I generally don't pay much attention to reviews because it seems to me most people try to sound like Bradley or John Simon if they weren't keen on a show and Clive Barnes if they were.
Yours, however, was the kind that just really cut to the chase: I like this; I didn't especially like that but the bottom line, "Go see it."
Good job--and I certainly can't be accused of shilling for the show although I'd like
to see the people who poured their life into this piece have some
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re: Who would be interested in 'To Kill a Mockingbird' as a Broadway drama?
Aug 30
2008, 06:50:35 PM
"There are levels of pain and violence in that novel that the movie glosses over.'
You DO see the point, then, of having another chance to take on the book without
inviting cinematic comparisons to Gregory Peck's performance or Horton Foot's screnplay?
The film was released in the early 60's and just like "Guess Who is Coming to Dinner", the limitations placed on Hollywood to sanitize pictures did not permit certain issues to be dealt with and the language was censored. <
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re: Who would be interested in 'To Kill a Mockingbird' as a Broadway drama?
Aug 30
2008, 12:51:45 AM
There's so much to work with that really didn't make it into the film or the Sergal
adaptation or that could organically develop from the text.
The courtroom scene could be really ratcheted up. Atticus wasn't given much to work with but since you really don't get bonus points for sticking too close to the original text, what might have happened if Atticus' defense was strong enough to "turn" one of the jurists--Walter Cunningham, resulting in a hung jury.
That would surpris
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re: Lesser Known Shows That Need A Revival
Aug 29
2008, 07:56:52 PM
Ferenc Molnar's, "The Play's the Thing".
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re: Who would be interested in 'To Kill a Mockingbird' as a Broadway drama?
Aug 29
2008, 07:54:42 PM
The American play is the Sergel adaptation and the only one to play the U.S regionally.
There has never been a major Broadway production.
As to why, second to the Bible, To Kill a Mockingbird, in a survey taken by American
Librarians, is the nations' most beloved book.
At the same time, the AFI has declared the character of Atticus Finch as played by Gregory Peck, as american film's most-beloved hero.
I think limiting Broadway to new works is so
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Who would be interested in "To Kill a Mockingbird" as a Broadway drama?
Aug 29
2008, 01:34:31 AM
...starring Tom Hanks, Kyle Chandler, or Kevin Kline ?
Just gauging interest... .
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interesting
Aug 27
2008, 07:59:55 PM
"And, to all of you Les Mis-maniacs, not everyone has seen Les Mis (yes, hard to believe, I know), so comparisons to it are really beside the point."
This is the most salient point about the entire "Les Mis Knockoff" controversy.
There's a vast number of people who have never seen the show and inspired theater patrons now who weren't even born when the show landed on Broadway in 'the mid eighties.
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re: If you had a choice...
Aug 27
2008, 06:23:00 PM
I was surprised to hear a commercial on CBS radio for "Billy Elliot" this afternoon.
I wonder if the people behind it are satisfied with the advance given the show's tremenedous success abroad.
i remember POTO doing massive print advertising prior to the opening but nothing
on radio.
I don't believe I've heard radio advertising this earlyt of a show heralded as a
mega hit.
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