Profile for sparklingtonic2

SeymourInBrooklyn said: "Just left tonight’s performance—this was my second Sunset Boulevard experience. It’s not that I was necessarily in love with it the first time, but I realize it’s closing soon and felt like it was such an event of the season that I wanted to experience it one last time.

Nicole was magnetic as always, though I will say she added a few more verbal and physical ad libs that felt anachronistic, and I personally found them distracting. The show opens with “1949” flashed on the screen—I just wish they’d commit more clearly in one direction: they’re either playing it in that era or they’re not. I think I said this in my first review, but I wish she trusted herself—or that Lloyd trusted her—enough to find humor without relying on “bits” like cheeky vocal fry.

That said, she had me back in the second act, and her performance in the final scene was even scarier than I remember. She got two standing ovations that I saw from the mezzanine: “With One Look” and “As If We Never Said Goodbye.”

Jordan Donica is just delicious—my jaw dropped at several of his vocals. Pierre Marais was excellent too, with a great voice and a very sympathetic portrayal. Grace Hodgett Young seems to be losing her voice? Her upper register was fine, but something is definitely going on.

I think it can be easy to roll one’s eyes at all the video/projection work, but the quality of the imagery is just stunning—and damn if that wall of red during the climax of the chase (post–“The Phone Call&rdquo didn’t make my heart race, despite knowing it was coming.

The audience? Could’ve been worse, but still not great. Definitely some gratuitous whoopers who started cheering while she was still singing in “With One Look,” though they improved by the end of Act I. More offensive were the two (!!) phone rings during the last scene."

omg, the last time I saw it, a guy’s phone rang during the last part of “No One Ever Leaves a Star,” when the theater is stone silent except for Norma’s unhinged ramblings. And he let it ring until it went to voicemail.

chrishuyen said: "I don't think there's a bad seat in the theater but when you're that close I think it's better to be centered unless you want the leg room that comes with row A (the theater is quite small so you'll still feel extremely close with row B)"

Thanks for your insights. We ended up moving things around in our schedule and found a performance where we could get almost front row center. Looking forward to it!

EDSOSLO858 said: "Grace Hodgett Young will depart on the 13th, and Sydney Jones will play Betty for the final week."

She was fantastic tonight. I was a little sad she didn’t get a more enthusiastic welcome when she first appeared onstage. (My attempt to start a round of applause pretty much failed.) But they seemed to appreciate her by the end.

Has anyone seen these two? I have one spot open in my schedule and am wondering if I should check it out. I love the movie (the musical), but I’ve never seen Little Shop on stage.

For those who have been recently, did you find this theater cold? I noticed that a post from a few months ago said it was cold in the mezzanine. (I'll be in the orchestra.) I'm just wondering if it's still an issue.

I always layer but want to make sure I bring a sweater that's warm enough. (I take this problem seriously since almost having to leave a performance of the Hadestown tour that was subzero. Thanks, CIBC Theatre Chicago....)

Does anyone know whether Sadie Sink has regular days she takes off or has announced any upcoming vacation time?

I was psyched to see that there a rare Tuesday matinee on July 1...  just hoping that she's planning to be in it.

Thanks!

For those who have been recently, how did you find the temperature? I saw some comments a few pages back saying it was on the warm side, or at least not freezing. Is that still the case? I'll be sitting in Orchestra near the front and am trying to plan ahead!

Just wondering if anyone has insights on the following. I'm shopping for Sunset Blvd tickets and focusing on Orchestra seats close to the stage (when I saw it in London, I was further back, so I want to be relatively close this time). Looking at the seat map, I noticed that Row B has some pricing oddities.... Specifically, most seats in that row cost $474, while four seats in the middle of the row (105-108) cost $379. Out of curiosity, I looked at several different dates and, while the prices vary depending on the casting and day of week, the discrepancy seems to always be there. (If you want to see it with your own eyes, there's an example here.) Row C has a similar pattern but in an alternating way (cheaper seats are 108-111), though the cheaper seats have already sold out on many dates, so it's harder to see (though as of right now you can see it here).

Does anyone have insights on why those particular seats would be priced lower? I'm guessing the goal is to encourage staggering, but it's peculiar because I would expect that, for this show, these seats will mostly sell out, regardless of price.

Anyway, I just wondered if anyone else has noticed this and had insights about it.

Hi there,

I'm just wondering if anyone has thoughts about the front row Orchestra Center seating for Gypsy. As a general rule, I like being close to the stage so I can see the actors' expressions. For context, I did this twice at the August Wilson Theatre for Funny Girl and was happy both times. However, in this case, I'm slightly hesitant, because for Phantom I sat perhaps three or four rows back and, while my memory isn't perfect, I *think* the stage seemed a bit high. (The August Wilson was perfect in this regard -- Lea Michele was right in front of me.) I know they replaced the stage floor during the Majestic renovation, but I didn't see anything to indicate that the stage height had changed. However, obviously Phantom has action taking place on higher levels, so that might be way I came away feeling that the stage was high. However, another thing that makes me hesitant: while looking at the available seats for Gypsy for our dates, I don't see other people buying orchestra Row A. I don't mind looking up a bit, but I do wonder how bad it is.

I saw a few positive comments in other forums https://www.reddit.com/r/Broadway/comments/1hpcun9/gypsy_seating_hows_the_front_row/, https://www.facebook.com/groups/broadwayremembered/posts/1795873231264619/), but I wondered if anyone here has experienced it this way.

I'd appreciate any insights! Thanks!!

sparklingtonic2 said: "…Thanks for the information. I've bought tickets to a Sunday matinee and will hope for the best. :)"

To follow up, I’ve just come from today’s matinee, where Miki Abraham was in for Alex. Although we were disappointed when we first saw the cast list, Miki was phenomenal!