If/then Reviews- Page 10

[ljay889]

Posted: 3/31/14 at 8:08pm

look around the theater at any performance of "The Phantom of the Opera," and whom do you see occupying most of the seats?

Many foreign tourists.

[Simon Damon]

Posted: 4/1/14 at 8:28am

the really awful thing is this is based on nothing and the very show that we are supposed to protect we hate and I feel really sorry for Idina and LaChanze as they are both really good actors that deserve better

[bobs3]

Posted: 4/1/14 at 8:51am

This will probably run through the summer on the strength of Menzel's fan base (Wicked and Frozen fans) and then die a quiet death during the annual September slump.

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 4/1/14 at 9:49am

I was really hoping this show would be terrific because I loved "Next To Normal" and root extra hard for any original show that is not taken from a hit movie. I think I would still see the show because I would enjoy seeing Ms. Menzel in person for the first time.

[haterobics]

Posted: 4/1/14 at 10:34am

"the really awful thing is this is based on nothing and the very show that we are supposed to protect we hate and I feel really sorry for Idina and LaChanze as they are both really good actors that deserve better"

You're allowed to hold whatever opinion you want, but can you stop speaking for the group?

[James885]

Posted: 4/1/14 at 10:58am

this is based on nothing and the very show that we are supposed to protect

Why are we supposed to protect it? Because its original? Like others have said, 'original' is not synonymous with 'quality'. There have been plenty of completely original musicals that have awful. In My Life comes to mind. It doesn't matter if the show's original or not, if it has flaws the critics will call them on it - or at least they should.

Full disclosure: I haven't seen If/Then, but rather I'm just going on what I've read in this thread and in the previews thread and the consensus certainly seems to be that Idina Menzel is the only reason to come see this show.

Updated On: 4/1/14 at 10:58 AM

[haterobics]

Posted: 4/1/14 at 11:01am

"I was really hoping this show would be terrific because I loved "Next To Normal" and root extra hard for any original show that is not taken from a hit movie. I think I would still see the show because I would enjoy seeing Ms. Menzel in person for the first time."

Everyone isn't having a bad experience at this show. Your mileage may vary...

Updated On: 4/1/14 at 11:01 AM

[LYLS3637]

Posted: 4/1/14 at 11:07am

I'm baffled at people who haven't seen the show writing it off. Hasn't everyone experienced enjoying a show that "professional" critics have had mixed feelings about?

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 4/1/14 at 1:37pm

"Everyone isn't having a bad experience at this show. Your mileage may vary... "

I understand most reviews and opinions have been kind of mixed but I was hoping it would be a major hit.

[haterobics]

Posted: 4/1/14 at 1:45pm

"I understand most reviews and opinions have been kind of mixed but I was hoping it would be a major hit."

Those don't always line up. Wicked had mixed reviews and is a major hit. If/Then is also in the million-plus club as far as weekly ticket sales, so what kind of legs this show has yet is still TBD.

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 4/1/14 at 1:48pm

"Those don't always line up. Wicked had mixed reviews and is a major hit. If/Then is also in the million-plus club as far as weekly ticket sales, so what kind of legs this show has yet is still TBD."

Well, I will be rooting for it. I like Ms. Menzel and Mr. Rapp and as I previously stated I always hope original work is successful because then there is a chance more of them will make it to Broadway.

[rlb237]

Posted: 4/3/14 at 3:25pm

I saw it on opening night, the 30th. I'd say my review is mixed as well. I thought Idina was amazing (duh/obviously), and LaChanze is a delight too -- and I also really liked Anthony Rapp too -- but overall, it was kind of dull as a whole. At times I found myself more intrigued by the set design than anything in the actual story itself. It was funnier than I was expecting, but a lot of that was local/NYC specific references (e.g., how you can never understand the subway announcements), but nothing really wowed me about it, other than Idina's still-impressive pipes.

It's not something I'd see again, but I don't think it was horrible either. Just not overly engaging and not anything you'd need (or want) to see more than once. I'd give it a generous B- myself.

[DeNada]

Posted: 4/3/14 at 5:11pm

Saw the show last night. It's not terrible by any means. It's got a pretty decent score that I'll look forward to owning, where divorcing it from an actual performance might be of benefit - there are a few too many songs treading over the whole "what if???" theme (particularly in the second act) and I'm not actually a big fan of Here I Go or Always Starting Over which seem to be the big "fan favourites", but I very much enjoyed the opening and Lucas's song about Manhattan, for instance.

While the narrative is kept flowing nicely with all the movement all the time and I liked the set design a lot, there's a lot of choreography for choreography's sake - people twirling on the spot and leaning around a bit for no apparent reason. It's a style of choreography that's irritated me since I first remember encountering it in Andy Blankenbuehler's work on DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN in London - I'm not sure what else they would have had the ensemble do here, as they're so superfluous to the show overall, but it irritated me a bit to see.

Idina Menzel is fine - she's not one of my favourite actresses (I can't stand the handwringing she does!) but she's got a good set of pipes on her and she plays the part decently. I think it's unfortunate that Beth's storyline is fairly flat emotionally compared to Liz's - I don't feel like we get enough of a sense of the good things that Beth's career brings her as the show focuses so much on how detrimental it is to her friendships and overall happiness, and so Liz's life seems much more engaging and also moving (no, one short scene magically mending a potential divorce because "it'll make me sad" does not make Beth an emotionally sympathetic person!). If Anthony Rapp weren't playing Lucas quite so needy (although I guess that's partly how he's written) perhaps I would feel a bit differently about that storyline - I suspect that so much of it is based around Beth being placed in unhappy situations that it wouldn't improve with different actors in either the Lucas or Stephen roles (I think Jerry Dixon's fine, incidentally - it's just curiosity as to whether changing the actors would make a difference).

LaChanze is marvellous, incidentally.

As a Brit, some of the humour was a little America-centric but not unintelligably so.

Mixed reviews don't mean that a show is absolutely terrible. There's plenty to enjoy in IF/THEN. It's just not out-and-out brilliant. Idina's name should help it sell for a while, at least - and that's more than NEXT TO NORMAL had.

I did prefer the show when it was called SLIDING DOORS and starred Gwyneth Paltrow back in the 90s, but that's neither here nor there

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 4/7/14 at 7:27pm

In case this wasn't posted (hard to tell in such a long thread), Rex Reed's review in The Observer is one of the nastiest reviews I've ever read.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 4/7/14 at 8:09pm

That review is disgustingly nasty. Not even negative, just unnecessarily nasty.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 4/7/14 at 8:13pm

It reads like an After Eight review.

[BroadwayBrat]

Posted: 4/7/14 at 8:23pm

I saw the show Saturday and while I didn't love the show, it wasn't terrible.

The idea/concept of how one choice affects another and how one small choice can change your life is clever, the execution is a little sloppy and misguided. The cast was great and the set design is quite impressive. The score is good, not great. A mixed bag? Yes. The strong cast raises the score up high!

Overal, I enjoyed the show. I was hoping it would be better, but if have witnessed much worse on Broadway.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 4/8/14 at 10:10am

I had posted a link to the review. Not sure where it went...

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/8/14 at 10:29am

Wow, Rex Reed is horrible. It's one thing to dislike a show, but that was so unbelievably mean. He took so much joy at taking cheap shots at those involved.

[LYLS3637]

Posted: 4/8/14 at 10:45am

It's one thing to be mean. That's their prerogative, but to be so factually incorrect (and then have the nerve to be pretentious about it!), that's the frustrating part.

[fingerlakessinger]

Posted: 4/8/14 at 1:24pm

Is anyone really surprised by Reed? He needs to retire. His reviews are trash.

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/8/14 at 11:37pm

Loved every minute of it. Saw it tonght.

[FlowerChild67]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 4:06am

iluvtheatertrash- it's still not showing up. Maybe I'll have better luck: http://observer.com/2014/04/the-road-not-taken-2/

(Seriously, that was just unnecessarily nasty. If you don't like something, fine, and, as a critic, it's your job to tell us that. But there's a big difference between saying "I didn't like it, here's why..." and THAT.)

[carolinaguy]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 9:38am

Just the fact that he refers to the music as "atonal" reveals him as a hack. Atonality is a particular and deliberate compositional style which lacks a tonal center and traditional key structure. It's not a synonym for "music I think is bad".

[Phillytheatreguy10]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 10:28am

^^I agree, that review is malicious. It's fine not to like something, constructive criticism is one thing, but that review in no way is constructive. For example, saying something is ugly and not suggesting a way it could've been improved or function better is just lazy and doesn't offer anything to the creative team in their future endeavors in ways to not make that mistake again in future projects. How can one grow as a performer, designer, or director from Reed's bashing.