Profile for slow_the_rain

CSC presented The Emporium as a part of their reading series two years ago and it was not in good shape. It’s Wilder-lite, and the playwright who completed the work has inserted a self-aggrandized version of himself into the narrative.Most of the attendees were senior citizen types who were confused by the work, and opted in when they asked us to vote if we wanted an explanation of what was going on before they launched into Act II. It ended up being an irritating couple of hours with very li...

Kate Baldwin would be thrilling, as would Laura Michelle Kelly. Elizabeth Stanley, even. Caissie Levy lacks the nuance, both as a singer and an actor, to really pull this off.I’m cautiously optimistic about what Lear DeBessonet will do with a proper rehearsal process. I’ve only seen her Public Works productions, and Into the Woods at City Center. While they all had the promise of decent direction, they possessed a hodge podge, slapdash quality that I’m hoping was the result of truncated rehea...

Mr. Wormwood said: "Honest Question, is there any stories of Ben Platt being a jerk? Like I get some thing he's a nepo baby or not that talented but I don't feel like I've ever heard stories of him being a jerk. It seems like people who work with him like him so I don't really understand all the glee at tearing him down."I’ve never heard bad reports from anyone who has worked with him, but have heard several many unflattering stories from folks who dated him or otherwise crossed into his soci...

AtticusSings said: "I can imagine the interaction between Sondheim and Groff.SS: I don’t think it will work and here’s why…JG: I love you more than anyone in this world and your opinion is extremely important to me but let me try do it this way.(After seeing it and acknowledging it’s actually brilliant)SS: Oh well what do I know? I only wrote it."Again, I haven’t seen this iteration (have seen the filmed version from 2013), but what is the choice Groff is making in Growing Up to support the s...

jpbran said: "Crazy to see the polar opposite reactions to “everything.”"FWIW, I think I would have been more open to the "everything" in Our Time not being sung if Groff hadn't made a similar choice in Growing Up with the line "We can have it all."Sondheim's writing is specific, we all know this, so to have an actor choosing to speak lyrics that Sondheim set to specific pitches feels...off. Doubt we'd see any room left for these choices if the big man were still alive.

This is one of the better revival recordings in the last couple years, but I still very much prefer the 1994 recording.My only quibbles are minor: I miss having Frank/a male voice on a few of the high harmonies (Mendez has the moving part on the last "damn few" in Old Friends, and there are some lower options taken in the Our Time harmonies between Frank and Charley), and the tempos are a hair slow for my taste. I haven't seen the current iteration of this production, but Growing Up and Frank...

I caught this production this past Sunday and found very little to enjoy. It seemed the only discussion in the theatre during intermission and after the show was centered on Barbra Streisand, which speaks volumes about how thought provoking and stimulating the show feels in 2023. So many of the themes feel timeless, but they are wholly let down by a clunker of a book, and one-dimensional characters.Santino Fontana and Judy Kuhn do decent work, but the real standout of the cast is Joy Woods. S...

Sammy232 said: "AEA AGMA SM said: "Daniel Brody is credited with projection design. Whether he used AI tools to help create the images I can’t say, but that wouldn’t have necessarily saved the production any money."Exactly. The more I think about this, the more I think someone is trying to start a scandal where there just isn't one. There is still a hired projection designer who is using a tool instead of drawing it all by hand. It's not as if the projection designer has been replaced by a co...

I saw a post on TikTok speculating that the background projections for this production are AI generated. The poster includes a few photos.I’ve known a few projection designers with a lot of confidence in bad Photoshop, sure, but the imagery certainly seems to possess AI idiosyncrasies aplenty.

quizking101 said: "I want to go see Tituss but I’ve been seeing lots of tweets lately that Patrick Clanton has been going on for Zidler (at least 2x a week) so I’m hesitant"I can only find two tweets about Clanton going on (10/13 and 10/21 matinee) and it looks like Dylan Paul was on for the 10/21 evening.Going to give Tituss the benefit of the doubt on this one before the boards crucify him for his attendance record: The man is doing eight shows a week for the first time in 14 years. Three c...

I'm curious if they'll keep their 7 performance week, or add an 8th performance to boost grosses. Demand for Groban was driving steep ticket prices, yes, but it also felt to me like the audience was subsidizing their (his?) choice to do a shorter week.I know nothing of how everyone else's contracts would have to be renegotiated, but it would seem like they'd need to take every opportunity to maximize their grosses unless they have someone truly megawatt lined up.

JSquared2 said: "ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "JSquared2 said: "Word is that The Queen is a former star of a recent-ish hit night time TV soap opera who ALSO has quite a bit of Broadway cred."Bellamy Young?"A bigger name."Baranski?

It’s a commonly held belief that even if Julie Andrews wanted to return to the stage and sing in a musical, she legally couldn’t. She settled a malpractice suit that likely cited loss of income from singing. I don’t know the terms of the settlement, but if she were to reverse course and profit from “singing” in a stage show like Night Music, it would open the door for legal troubles.

PianoMann said: "EDSOSLO858 said: "I couldn’t tell when I saw this live and again when listening to the album… what’s that noise at the end of the organ prelude (the one that replaced the factory whistle)?"It sounds to me like the roar of the furnace fire below the pie shop, which I know isn't present in the Prelude but that's what it struck me as immediately."I agree it’s an oven sound. It sounds like someone just opened the door on an old fashioned oven, or a bit like that whoosh that happe...

gibsons2 said: "TheatreFan4 said: "gibsons2 said: "I'll let you figure it out on your own, hon"It's clearly the Transphobia lol."You are insufferable and frankly really boring with your "everything is a phobia" paranoia. Lighten up." The only insufferable thing here is the thinly veiled transphobia. No one is drawing conclusions that aren't based on the vague and condescending things you've posted on this thread. Bigots love to act like no one can crack the code on all their dog whistling, an...

JSquared2 said: "RexInLights said: "Do you all realize how rude and jaded you sound? The cast is made up of talented theater performers and not stunt casting big names and you seem to be more interested in how many tickets it may sell as opposed to if it’s going to be good or not. Just another day around these toxic wastelands."Exactly! There would be just as much (if not more) bitching and moaning on these boards if they had cast movie/TV names. People would be OUTRAGED that they replaced so...

Dom P said: "Just askin! Anyone see a limited engagement of Timothee Chalamet in this. I know he's playing Dylan in a film whenever Hollywood execs stop trying to starve out The writers guild and SAG Aftra members,and had two films coming out hopefully later this year. But he looks and sounds great in the Wonka trailer."Ah yes, the perfect fit for Spamalot: famed comedian Timothée Chalamet. Will he have to audition, or, like Wonka, will the team just watch his high school rap videos to make s...

BroadwayNYC2 said: "I mean, I agree with the power of Swift, but every film she has been in has flopped miserably. Tacking a producer title on ain’t going to be the cash grab you think it will when her fans wouldn’t even spend $11 to see AMSTERDAM with an already stacked cast."Amsterdam was DOA with or without Taylor Swift's involvement. David O. Russell's reputation took critical hits in the #MeToo era, and he would've needed to turn in an unimpeachably stellar film for people to look past h...

Not being facetious here: Can someone explain the Sammi Cannold appeal to me? Having seen her Evita at City Center, plus clips of just about everything else she's had her hand in in the past 5 years, I've yet to see anything that makes a case for her ascension to the top echelon of the theatrical directing world at such a young age. As her mother is a producer, the #1 thing I can see working in her favor is nepotism.The dramaturgy and respect for the material seems to always be there, but the...

Saw this on Tuesday and was pleasantly surprised. I think my partner summed it up best: This is the best production we can hope to see of an otherwise bad musical.Curtain was 7:00 and we left the theatre at 10:00 on the dot. The show does not feel long at all, though it does lack a certain spark/liveliness in moments of little action (the chess scene in Act II in particular). What Sorkin was able to do with the book works. The dialogue is fresh, and the sardonic reframing of I Wonder What the...