KISMET @ Encores- Page 2

[Bluewatergables]

Posted: 2/9/06 at 12:02pm

but yes it needs more volume. interesting comment youmade about the acoustics. you must be on staff at city center. Updated On: 2/11/06 at 12:02 PM

[Bluewatergables]

Posted: 2/9/06 at 12:10pm

however issame i must say. the director needed to take charge of this show. his blocking is week and far to reminicent of previous work he has done. he has all these levels to work with and seemingly has no idea how to use them. and frankly any director who lets that much white costuming be put on the stage should really rethink their career choices.

[MissNY]

Posted: 2/10/06 at 12:03am

For anyone who saw it tonight, what's the runtime?

[alli2]

Posted: 2/10/06 at 12:20am

I would say maybe 2 hours and 15 minutes, though I wasn't really keeping track.


It was GREAT though! Such a great cast and a great production. I really, really loved it.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 2/10/06 at 7:14am

Marin Mazzie is now officially a bonafide musical theatre goddess. She owned the audience from the moment she made her first entrance until her final bow, and delivered the best "Not Since Ninevah" I've ever heard. Brian Stokes Mitchell was equally fabulous.

Sadly, Danny Gurwin and especially Marcy Harriel were woefully miscast. Pitchy vocals all the way through.

[nycdncr]

Posted: 2/10/06 at 7:26am

t found it to be a tired and uninspired show. i saw the dress rehearsal. marin was certainly AMAZZING!!!!!! bsm was alright. loved his voice, but not his acting. everything else was just so so.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 2/10/06 at 7:36am

I have to agree with you about the show, nycdncr. It's never been one of my favorites.

[LaCageAuxFollesFan2]

Posted: 2/10/06 at 9:36am

Saw the show as well, really wanted to write a review for it, but it was so uninspiring that I think I better not be as negative as I could be in a review for this production.

Add me to the boad of Marin & Brian Stokes Mitchell love, I also though Danny Gurwin was solid as well.

Marcy Harriel missed more notes that one cares to comment on.

[Bluewatergables]

Posted: 2/10/06 at 10:13am

how was the orchestra volume wise

[twogaab2]

Posted: 2/10/06 at 11:42am

Of all the principles only Mazzie seems to have done her homework in reguard to understanding the style of the piece. The Calaph and and Marsina had neither the voices nor the sense of vocal line to make the music "sing". (Let's face it neither of these roles is going to stretch anyone's "acting" abilities). The Hadj had the voice but didn't have it worked into his voice on opening night (also did some odd "straight tone" singing in his upper register). Also he could use some of his "singing voice" in his acting-ie supporting his speech (the caracter of the piece demands this sort of aproach or it just dosn't work).

The new placement of the brass and winds made them sound muffled in the gallery.

Just my opinion, I may be wrong.

Updated On: 2/10/06 at 11:42 AM

[Bluewatergables]

Posted: 2/10/06 at 11:54am

Updated On: 2/10/06 at 11:54 AM

[children&art]

Posted: 2/10/06 at 3:46pm

any press photos available yet?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/10/06 at 4:04pm

For what it's worth, Matthew Murray wasn't at all happy with it:

"They're back! And there goes the Middle East.

Reuniting again, in what some obviously consider the greatest theatrical partnership since Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne (or at least Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick), are Marin Mazzie and Brian Stokes Mitchell. The duo, who costarred in Ragtime, Kiss Me, Kate, and Man of La Mancha, have now dropped into the Encores! production of Kismet, further proving (as if it were necessary) that dropping things on Baghdad results in destruction.

Granted, no lives are lost with this bombing. But no souls are saved, either."

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/ob/02_10_06.html

[jasobres]

Posted: 2/10/06 at 4:44pm

So I saw Kismet last night. It was a very interesting "lost" musical (to me that is, since I've hardly heard of it before in my life.) Once again, Stokes does not fail and I think that this was Marin Mazzie's sexiest role. Does anyone know where I can find Borodin's original themes that these songs are based upon and identify each one with each song?

[classy trashy]

Posted: 2/10/06 at 5:58pm

Did anyone notice Rachelle Rak's performance? How did she do?

[Dollypop]

Posted: 2/10/06 at 7:12pm

Marin Mazzie may have had a bit of advantage in this production. She played Lalume before. I don't remember whether it was in high school or in community theater, but she isn't a stranger to the role.

Updated On: 2/12/06 at 07:12 PM

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 2/11/06 at 4:58pm

What role does Randall Duk Kim play?

He is a fine dramatic classicist with a HUGE voice...

[Testing1232]

Posted: 2/11/06 at 6:09pm

Just got back....liked it... didnt love it. MM was great, and I can listen to BSM sing the phone book, but there were just too many parts that dragged for me, and a number of times, there just seemed like there were too many performers on the stage at once with limited room.

My wife called it "Kismet of La Mancha" because Stokes portrayal seemed so much like his Don Quixote !

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 2/11/06 at 8:15pm

Cast:

Hajj - Brian Stokes Mitchell
Lalume - Marin Mazzie
Marsinah - Marcy Harriell
The Caliph - Danny Gurwin
Omar Khayyam - Randall Duk Kim
The Wazir of Police - Danny Rutigliano
Chief Policeman - Michael X. Martin
Jawan - Tom Aldredge
Nedeb, Princess Zubbediya - Elizabeth Parkinson

[cruisintoo2]

Posted: 2/12/06 at 10:43am

through blizzard like conditions arrived at the theater for the saturday evening performance,..after checking with the box office, which i always do...managed to move from balcony to second row center...it was a wonderful show,...Marin Mazzie was at her best,..and Stokes,..what can i say,..he is truly amazing,..and always leaves me wanting more...
please return to broadway...soon

[alli2]

Posted: 2/12/06 at 11:08am

I now understand why people have been saying Marcy is 'miscast.' The role is an ingenue and people have classified her as a belter from her recent projects. But you have to remember that she was trained in opera and is originally a soprano. She was Maria on the national tour of WSS. I don't know why I'm posting this, but it seems like everyone was hating her, so, yeah......

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 2/12/06 at 11:59am

People are saying she is miscast because she sounds majorly uncomfortable when she sings the material. She was shrieky and off-pitch the night I went.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 2/12/06 at 12:19pm

We saw the show last night and loved it. It was my fella's first Encores! experience and he was blown away by it--literally, because there was a blizzard brewing outdoors!

Now this was Saturday night, and the cast had several performances under their belts and they were all good. I really enjoyed Stokes--his comedy was very on-target. However, Marin steals the show. She's attractive, sexy, funny and droll--and my can that woman sing!!!!

I loved the concept of having singers planted in the theater for certain numbers. It was like enjoying this beautiful score in surround sound.

I wasn't happy with Marcy Harriell. There were so many references to her character being "lovely" and Marcy really isn't. She has an overbite and a face that's too long for her body. She also has a lisp which people Jeremy Irons also have and deal with it better. Has anyone counted how many "S's" there are in "Baubles, Bangles and Beads"? To say nothing of "This Is My Beloved"?

True, there was very little chemistry between Marcy and Gurwin, but how much time do these characters spend alone onstage to develop it?

My biggest cavil? The processional aspects of "Night of My Nights" scream out for opulent costumes and props. Sadly with an Encores! budget that wasn't possible and the number suffered greatly as a result.