Love's Labour's Lost Previews and Line Status Updates at the Delacorte

Will be there at the opening preview tonight!

Just got back from getting tickets. For anyone interested, I got there just before 9:00 and was maybe about 70th or so in line. There were quite a few people behind me, but I honestly didn't get a chance to see how many. They trickled in slowly at first and then I think the line started to grow quicker as it got to be later in the morning.

Excited to see the show!

Just got back from the show! It ran about 1 hour, 50 minutes (no intermission). The line monitors this morning were saying it was 90 minutes, so I imagine they hope to cut it down during previews. The woman next to me said that she just walked up to the box office sometime this afternoon, after those in line had already gotten their tickets and left, and was able to get tickets. However, they must have sold out sometime between this afternoon and 8:00. It looked like everyone in the standby line got in (after the first song, ushers were seating those in the standby line and there were still a couple of open seats).

I enjoyed the show, but, I must say, was a bit disappointed. As far as the cast and production goes, especially for a first preview, everyone did great. I have no complaints in this department (except, perhaps, wishing that Rachel Dratch and Rebecca Naomi Jones could have been used more, although it often felt like the writers were unsure what to do with their characters). The show itself, though, feels a little all over the place; I felt like the creators couldn’t decide which “world” they wanted the musical to be in. Unlike Shakespeare, who can seamlessly insert serious and dramatic moments within his comedies, this musical didn’t seem to find that balance particularly well. The pacing was a bit odd, as well, and I hope they are able to fix this during previews (scenes/songs occasionally felt too long – the point was gotten long before they moved on).

There were many moments where I felt things were thrown in just to be funny. I enjoy these in small quantities, but this was full of them. I hope that, as they see which ones are a hit with the audience and which don’t go over as well, they will pick and choose.

I enjoyed the music, but the lyrics were often so obvious and elementary, that it took away from the songs. I really enjoyed most of the songs, though. (With the exception of one song that followed the same structure as “It’s Been a Long Day” from How to Succeed – it was so alike, in fact, that it felt less like “sampling” and almost like copying.)

Overall, I did enjoy the show and can only imagine it will be trimmed (by the end, it felt longer than an hour and 50 minutes). With the creatives involved I had higher expectations, which I think set me up to be more critical. However, the cast is in excellent shape and it was definitely still an enjoyable night at the theatre. I look forward to hearing what others thought of the show and how the show evolves during its run!

I was there tonight and it was a bit of a baffling evening. Every choice made little sense to me. I abandoned trying to connect the story with Love's Labour's Lost, and just tried to think of it as a completely new work.

What worked in Bloody, Bloody fell flat here. There wasn't enough fodder to satirize and lampoon, and the story was never played straight so it was hard to get emotionally involved.

The Public just put on a lovely and charming production of Love's Labour's Lost with Renee Elise Goldsberry. How I wish it was that production I had seen in the park this evening instead of this misguided musical version.

When Daniel Breaker entered holding a bong (and the other fellows had paddles and Magnums, as if getting ready for a Fraternity X video) I knew this wasn't going to be a traditional telling of the story. I'm cool with that, but the modernizations didn't seem to hold much meaning or were off-putting.

The score was so forgettable and random. The lyrics felt clunky. The only song I really liked was a big solo for Rebecca Naomi Jones, who was costumed as if she worked at Wienerlicious. It didn't have a button though and thus deprived the audience of giving her the applause she deserved.

The actors tried their best to make the material work. Breaker, Colin Donnell and Patti Murin were in great voice, but their talents were never fully utilized.

The most tuneful musical moment was, like a scene out of Wonderland, the males sang Westlife's To Be With You to the ladies. And not just a snippet, but the whole damn song, choreography, key changes and all. It was definitely a One Knight knockoff.

So much seemed copied from other shows though. There was a Been A Long Day (He's thinking...Now She's Thinking) song and one of the supporting characters reminded me too much of Adolpho from Drowsy Chaperone.

Seeing shows in the park is usually a highlight of the summer, so they totally get a pass for this; it's been the first show since The Bacchae that I've disliked. Maybe it will get better, but the adaptation is so off-base right now I doubt it.

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Updated On: 7/24/13 at 12:15 AM

Wait...there is a Westlife song? WTF?

ETA: what was the set design like? Anything note-worthy??

Updated On: 7/24/13 at 12:18 AM

I'm saddened to hear that this isn't as amazing as I'd hoped. Maybe I'll wait for it to get tightened up a bit. If anything I'm more than excited to hear Rebecca's version of Love's a Gun.

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Yeah, I think putting in a well-known pop song into a new musical is a horrible idea. Of course it's going to be the song the audience leaves humming. I'm going to sit out for this tomorrow.

Well now I can't wait! I'll be there tomorrow sitting around. I hope it's not too hot!

Whizzer and Sauja, I agree with everything you both said.

As the night went on and I continued to talk to my girlfriend about the show, I realized just how amateur the writing felt.

One thing I particularly find frustrating is that so much time was spent on the Adolpho-like character in the beginning (and his focus on Jaquenetta), but in the end, so much of their action was off to the side while the central characters were center stage. It truly felt like they didn’t know where to go with these characters, which made it baffling that they spent so much time on them in the beginning.

The set and lighting, yes, were beautiful. At least my eyes were pleased.

GilmoreGirl, I agree with you about the frustration giving Adolpho so much material at the beginning and then having him disappear from the show. His big number, which went on FOREVER, was the first really rough moment in the show. Things jumped off the rails and it lost me as an audience member completely. I was never fully able to refocus and get back on track.

Sauja, I so agree with what you wrote about Love's a Gun.

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For the record, I got there around 10:30am and tickets were given out at noon. I had no problem getting a ticket. The line got much longer after I joined, so not sure how far it went back or where they stopped giving tickets.

Side note: The NY Times was there giving us free copies of "The Astronaut's Wife." Kind of cool.

Apparently the song was a US number one for a few weeks in '91--and is also included in Rock of Ages (which I've managed to avoid) which makes its inclusion here even weirder to me.

Well, not having seen it, is it fair to say its copying something that was already a pastiche? There's not exactly much that can be varied with that style.

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