Profile for BustopherPhantom

I actually liked Idina.

Why bother? Just buy the recording and love that, because the show is a complete mess. (So Freddy is a jerk throughout the entire show, and then sings a sad song about how Daddy [and Mommy!] didn't love him, and we're supposed to care? Why do Svetlana and Florence sing "I Know Him So Well," and then completely contradict that song during "Endgame"? How are we supposed to pity Anatoly for making his entire life about chess ["It's the only thing I can stay true to..."]? Why does Florence sing a...

OH MY GOD! If there was every something to hide your money away for...

Am I the only one who couldn't get through THE STAND? Loved CARRIE, though. Looking forward to this.

Entertainment Weekly gives the show a C-: "As Dionysus' enemy, the rational, principled King Pentheus, Mackie rants and raves with great authority, but shows precious little vulnerability. Though he rails against Dionysus, his highness needs to be slightly intrigued by the handsome, curly-haired troublemaker. (Why else would Pentheus suddenly allow himself to be talked into wearing a blond wig and flouncy purple evening gown to join the Bacchants?) And though Groff works his denim-clad behind...

John Simon is Negative: "Jonathan Groff?s Dionysus is too often cutely precious, unfearsomely laughing a lot, more prettily boyish than sexily virile and as likely to be a teetotaler as the god of wine. Equally unconvincing is David Neumann?s choreography for the Chorus. Rather than orgiastic bacchantes, the 12 women mostly suggest synchronized gymnasts in Olympic routines. And, alas, they sing to music by Philip Glass. This scoring isn?t quite as bad as much of Glass?s usual work, but it is ...

Ben Brantley is a gentle Pan: "What is [the point of BACCHAE], according to Ms. Akalaitis? She doesn'€™t seem to know. The only consistent interpretive thread in this production has to do with the societal repression of women, indicated by the emphasis on choral passages about the heady freedom experienced by the Bacchantes and by having Mr. Mackie speak of the female characters with an exaggerated sneer. There is, in other words, very little to grab the audience emotionally. As Pentheus€Â...

Backstage is Mixed: "John Conlin's curved set of bleachers rising from a single point on the stage is attractively reminiscent of the shape of a Greek amphitheatre and provides useful playing levels. Kay Voyce's contemporary costumes reflect character and position, though her orange chorus outfits seem left over from Christo's Central Park installation. "The Bacchae" is worth the trip for serious theatergoers, but Akalaitis hasn't solved the problem of making it relevant." http://www.backstag...

The Associated Press is Very Positive: "...MacIntosh has a heavy job, appearing in a lengthy denouement, still bewitched and bragging about her superhuman hunting prowess. A horrified Cadmus must show Agave the ghastly nature of her hunting trophy, as MacIntosh heartbreakingly transforms back to her real self, now devastated. As a final blow, Dionysus mercilessly throws them into exile, coldly exclaiming, "Zeus decreed these things long ago." Even at just 90 minutes in length, the production ...

The Bergen Record is Negative: "The 2,500-year-old tragedy can support various interpretations. It can be seen as asserting the importance of deference to a higher authority, or simply charting man's puniness; of praising the value of letting go and embracing our passions, or warning of the danger of doing that. And then there's its suggestion of the struggle between masculine order and feminine emotion in each of us. The problem with the park's abbreviated, choppy 90-minute revival, directed...

Variety is Negative: "Curiously, the contemporary image in which the young god has been cast seems inconsistent with the rest of Akalaitis' production. John Conklin's austere set -- dominated by graduated metal bleachers that beckon the eye to climb the tragic heights -- is certainly striking for the severity of its clean sculptural lines. But it seems an unlikely choice of pulpit for this modernized deity. And while Glass' abstract music advances Euripides' poetic tropes, its otherworldlines...

""Passing Strange" is one of the best musicals I've seen..." http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090819/REVIEWS/908199983

Piven: You can either continue to be angry, and hold on to that, or you can go out [to THE GOODS and ENTOURAGE] and have a good time! I will have a good time, Mr. Piven. You are a very good comic actor, and you make me laugh in a THE GOODS trailer that doesn't even have any jokes in it. But, believe it or not, liking your work and not respecting you as a person are not mutually exclusive ideas.

I really hope they get Kazan. And McDonagh coming back to Broadway is good news, of course.

So here is what I have: I will point out the faults of others, in the most biting language I can find. I don't want to say any more, I don't want to cause more trouble. I will sometimes think of the best way to phrase a discontent I have with someone or something. In life, honesty is everything. I will throw in small, bitchy discontents about others at random moments ("...the producers of the Broadway run [of GYPSY] didn't like the new ending.") Except for the ones who work intimately with me...

My favorite line from WORD OF MOUTH: DEANNA: "If you're having a 'bad body image'-day, don't see this show. Because everyone on that stage is... so hot and sexy... I totally went lesbian after watching this show."

The Bergen Record is Mixed: "The show's music is recorded, augmented by two very busy percussionists – they have the most extensive drum kits I've ever seen — with a violinist and a saxophonist occasionally joining in. There are also two singers, an overly passionate female and a bland male. "Burn the Floor" is an experience that alternates between exhilarating and contrived. As a bonus, just thinking of what those dancers put themselves through should give you a great night's sleep." htt...

Charles Isherwood is Mixed-to-Negative: "While it has been spruced up for its arrival in New York with new sets and costumes, the production still looks more ripe for Bournemouth than for Broadway. The set consists of little more than a bandstand with steps, some flimsy-looking backdrops and a disco ball. (Maybe in Bournemouth the disco ball was smaller?) The costumes, clingy sequin-spattered and fringe-trimmed dresses for the women and tight black slacks (and the occasional shirt) for the me...

Variety is Very Negative: "Let's call it "So You Think You Can Step It Up and Dance Your Ass Off With the Stars of America's Best Dance Crew." While ballroom blitz "Burn the Floor" has been touring internationally for 10 years, its arrival on Broadway clearly aims to cash in on the resurgent popularity of dance on television reality shows. But if you're going to invade the turf of Bob Fosse, Jerome Robbins and Michael Bennett, you need to bring something beyond adrenaline and aggressive sizzl...

Backstage is Positive: "While Broadway theater lovers will undoubtedly find the Fosse-influenced scenes the most satisfying, real dancesport aficionados may go wilder over "The Latin Quarter." Though the dancers are nothing less than brilliant all evening, it is in these tricky Latin numbers that one really appreciates their world-class talents. I couldn't help but wish that the tiny seed of a love-triangle narrative planted during a luscious rumba (featuring the gorgeous Peta Murgatroyd) had...