Profile for Shawk

Leap of Faith. What weirdly soulless musical coming from Alan Menken and Glenn Slater.

I would highly suspect Galileo will revamp in another out of town tryout but is aiming for Broadway in 2025/2026.

Two local news stations haired interviews with Esparza this morning, which seems like weird timing... a month after the reviews came out and two weeks before the show closes. But sure.

Definitely agreed the coming out in modern clothes is cheesy and I'm not even sure why they did it. Maybe if they were scientists or something to tie in somehow, like his students from Act 1? It's really unclear what that's trying to do.

I saw the show in previews and I just saw it again yesterday and there have been no changes other than the occasional line delivery, at least which were detectible to me. I enjoy seeing shows in development and can't recall a single pre-Broadway engagement in the Bay Area not making some kind of changes (Wicked, Lestat, Lennon, Legally Blonde, Beautiful, Ain't Too Proud, etc.) through the out of town tryout. I honestly wonder if it's because how would they? The show is highly dependent on Gal...

I am hoping they revamp the lighting design to include actual lighting, other than that provided by torch.

I haven't read Carole King's biography, but from reading reviews it looks like she went into a lot of issues that are definitely not covered in the musical, but are out there now. I'm not sure if the musical team was more interested in a Jersey Boys style journey story line or why they are shying away. I mean, it's fine with me if they don't want to get into that, but there needs to be focus on the story they want to tell, rather than cute and fun moments. Edit: I've finally racked up 1000 po...

I think part of it might be a function of Mann and Weil apparently being quite accessible to the musical's team, and as an apparently functional couple, don't have the concerns that say, Sherry Goffin might have about her mother being portrayed.

Looks like it's official for Ramin Karimloo as Valjean: http://raminkarimloo.com/mystuff

I think it could work if they develop Barry and Cynthia more as foils to Gerry/Carole, but right now Barry/Cynthia are the more clever and entertaining roles, so they are going to have to be careful to not turn it into Beautiful: The Brill Building Collective.

To go on with presumably little prep and close the run must have been very intimidating. The cast seems very supportive in general... I wonder if they made some kind of announcement to the audience, though. I'm looking forward to NY reports, as I understand they are going to be streamlining act one and making some significant changes to act two. The show is already in decent shape but the right changes could really make it great. I guess they have two months to do it, so I have high hopes.

Anybody see Rebecca LaChance go on for Jessie Mueller for the last SF performance? Wonder what happened there and how much prep she had. Sorry I missed it.

I'm happy for them that it has sold out but sad for me. I was hoping to have another shot at rush. Oh well, guess I have to save for a trip to NY.

I had zero opinion on Jessie Mueller before seeing her in Beautiful, and while I don't think I've taken the pill, she is doing a good job of embodying Carole King without doing an impression.

Let's just say that I have been given to understand that Clayton wasn't the only one.

From his tweets, I got the impression that he was not asked. The tour preceding the Broadway engagement has made some... interesting choices in non-renewals throughout, so that wouldn't surprise me if it were the case.

In act one of Beautiful, Mueller is singing songs that were ultimately picked up by other groups, so that kind of eases the audience in to accepting her as Carole King; even though she doesn't sound like King, she has the physicality and impresses you as being King. By the time you get to the second act and she sings some of the signature songs, the audience has already invested in her so that she isn't an exact match sound-wise doesn't seem to matter, at least for the audience I was in, anyway.

Apparently Sherry Goffin Kondor is the Executive Producer, which may explain some things re: the writers avoiding some topics.

Variety seems not to realize that there are only two male Caucasian ensemble members, so it would be difficult to portray the Monkees. Also, I don't think it would be a good idea -- Act 2 needs help but not the Monkees. I have seen the show twice in SF, and I agree with most of the reviews. The book needs some tweaking and they could cut down/cut entirely some songs, but the audience really is responding to it. I think they have a shot if they make some smart adjustments in NY previews.

Gerry making comments to Cynthia in almost every scene they share is just too much, I agree. When I saw it the first time, it played more like Carole was so stunned she had gotten this cute guy and her self-esteem was so compromised that she wasn't going to say anything about it, and Cynthia seemed to take it like a joke, so I guess it kind of worked (although if Goffin really was controlling, it would have helped to put some of that in). However, now that they have Carole seem stronger durin...