Profile for TheEnchantedHunter

I'll stack the resumes and track records of Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart and John O'Hara against any of the "creatives" working today.

This adaptation is serviceable but can't hold a candle to the source novel.

Hawke is fine in a good, if somewhat disjunctive (accents, acting styles, etc) production of a tough play. The first half is largely exposition and can be a bit of a slog. But it all pays off in the second half, which is quite compelling. It's an early work in Chekhov's output but Ivanov contains all the themes we've come to expect in the classic plays. Late in the play, Hawke breaks the fourth wall and addresses the audience directly in a ten-minute monologue, and the communion between actor...

I'm watching The Band Wagon and there is more truth about mounting a show in any one of its scenes of comic farce than in the entire lame season of Smash....put together.

African-American performers working at Goodspeed have also been heckled on the streets of East Haddam. Obviously, the good ole' boys there are equal-opportunity jerks.

The Goodspeed orchestra is comprised of professional musicians, all of whom, assuredly, receive a paycheck. And their musicianship, given sufficient rehearsal, is of a perfectly respectable order.

"I'd love to see someone write a new book for Barnum. Maybe even incorporate the two cut songs that are bonus tracks on the OBC remaster." For what reason? Barnum accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do and does it very well. In fact, the show never gets its due as a concept musical for the very simple reason that it's entertaining and not serious, pretentious or dour. And if the creative team thought the two songs didn't belong in the show, then it should be good enough for you, too. You...

"Now, I wouldn't call that a fair comparison, but I do think there is an objective standard that would rank Bring All the Boys Back Home over Rain on the Roof." Only to the delusional and illiterate.

Cuts notwithstanding, it is not awful in the least. No other album or production comes close to capturing the decadent, haunting atmosphere of the original and the performances could hardly be bettered. The show would not have developed its legendary reputation if it hadn't been for this 'awful' original cast recording. Period.

Given the Duplex's limitations, it's the most entertaining and accomplished performance of a musical I have seen in many seasons. The sheer talent, exuberance and joy puts most larger-scale productions to shame.

"I have a high respect for McKinley, very very high" One would have to be very, very high to have respect for McKinley. Ugh.

There's also one other reason why Sondheim is right: every note, word, orchestration, character, plot element and theme of Porgy and Bess coalesce to form a total work of art, a gesamtkunstwerk, as defined by Wagner. But rather than standing on the shoulders of giants, less talented pygmies with not an idea in their pointed heads will, in their teeth-gnashing envy, make pathetic attempts to tear them down. No matter: the pee-wees will soon fade from memory and be consigned to the dustbin of o...

The blonde leading the bland.

"The only thing "unconscionable" in this thread is The Enchanted Cunter's melodramatic high dudgeon." Just the kind of low-rent comment one would expect from someone who hasn't even seen the show. You're a piece of work, Slappy! bk, the show takes place in the 80s. But its sexual politics is strictly Eisenhower-era fused with musical comedy naivete. The show's very subject matter reeks of sexism targeted for the tired businessman, circa 1960. As to 'sexiness,' if you think a show built around...

"You Can Always Count on Me became something of a cabaret standard and With Every Breath I Take was almost equally popular. And I've heard Funny at countless auditions." Which proves absolutely nothing. For the record, City Of Angels as a show is, like its score, not very good. "Sorry, don't agree at all, especially about the score, which has nothing to do with 1960s Playboy, and if you knew anything about 1960s Playboy or 1970s Playboy or 1980s Playboy, you would know that." The chauvinistic...

"After I saw The Life, I went up to him and said, "Are you always the hippest guy in the room?"" Only if your idea of hip was 1960's playboy. Which was the dated, embarrassing sensibility of The Life in a nutshell.

"I think it's one of Coleman's best.." Nonsense. Except for YOU'RE NOTHING WITHOUT ME, the score is eminently forgettable. Yes, Zippel's lyrics are accomplished but THE BEST IS YET TO COME is NOT a tribute to Zippel and for him to showcase his work at the expense of Coleman's better work is unconscionable.

The show desperately needs a director--Zippel doesn't cut the mustard. Having Lillias White make her entrance in a short skirt that does her no favors and a fright wig (which she thankfully removes later) really is appalling---what is the point except to make her look ridiculous? You feel the audience's expectation immediately deflate like a balloon (it's as grossly misjudged as Rob Ashford submitting poor Daniel Radcliffe to choreography that leaves him positively breathless and shown up by ...

It can't be Boston. There was a completely different Prologue than the one everyone knows now (the ghosts dancing to an instrumental of ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL). The out-of-town Boston production opened with a surreal, pre-recorded audio montage of fragments as waiters set up for the party and the guests entered. Re: COMPANY. It is my understanding that it was recorded on the National Tour in Washington, D.C.