Bright Lights, Big City - review 6.16- Page 2

[bestnurse]

Posted: 6/18/06 at 10:42am

Hey,Jazzysuite82, it's just entertainment. Brecht may disagree. That's okay. Life is more complicated than theater reviews.

[snowie862]

Posted: 6/18/06 at 11:10am

I've been handing out flyers on Broad Street. Heh...

Not too sure about the sound though.

Broadway.com was here last night *I think*. But that wasn't the reason why the upper tier was empty.

[bestnurse]

Posted: 6/18/06 at 11:30am

snowie, keep handing out those flyers. I work in center city. I'll look for a flyer. The Prince should be ashamed that they have such an incredibly talented cast and such a great production (with the sound flaw and the lack of revealing exactly what "coma baby" and "Mary O'Brien" have to do with the story for those who don't know going into the show)and not advertising in a widely distributed newspaper. It's not fair to the cast that work so hard to play to what could be a full house if more people knew about it.

[Al Dente]

Posted: 6/18/06 at 12:47pm

Without revealing too much let's just say, The Prince is the reason Me and Mrs. Jones didn't go straight into a Broadway house like it was scheduled to do so. I'm also going to bet that it was Broadway.com in attendance snowie.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 6/18/06 at 4:13pm

Oh okay, thanks for the clarification on Coma Baby.

So that's Jeremey in the picture? He doesn't look like I remember him to look. No offense, but he doesn't look like how I would think Jamie would look. He doesn't look very clean/cut.

[FosterChild]

Posted: 6/18/06 at 4:28pm

Interesting. Is Jamie supposed to look cleancut? He's supposed to be a wannabe fiction writer from Pennslyvania. He's definitely supposed to be from middle class America. I think Jeremy looks just fine. Perhaps a fuller head of hair than some past Jamies, but... !!!

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 6/18/06 at 4:35pm

Well, maybe not "clean/cut" but at least well kept. He says in the song "I am not the kind of guy who should be in a place like this..." which leads me to believe he shouldn't look like some skeezy druggy, which is what Jeremey looks like in those pics. I'm not saying that's how he normally looks, but the pictures make him look like that.

[FosterChild]

Posted: 6/18/06 at 5:13pm

He looks like a skeezie druggie? That's pretty harsh.

[snowie862]

Posted: 6/18/06 at 6:26pm

Um.................

ok?

anyway....

The sound was a lot better today.

Hopefully Broadway.com will post the video online soon

[OasisBroadway]

Posted: 6/18/06 at 9:57pm

I don't think that the advertising is the problem. To those who are saying that the Prince does a terrible job of advertising all of their shows, what about Dreamgirls?

Although the sound quality in the theater was terrible, the performers in the show are truly outstanding. Jeremy is perfectly cast as Jamie. "So Many Little Things" is very haunting. He had me pulled in by this point and feeling very bad for him. I actually couldn't picture anyone else playing this role. Andy Karl works very well in the role of Tad. Marian Murphy has a killer voice and is a top-notch actor. I don't even need to mention how wonderulf Orfeh's voice is. This woman needs to be in some more shows with bigger roles asap. Jonathan Shade (Pippin) is spectacular as Michael. No, I am not just saying this because he will likely read this. He really stands out and has a truly wonderful and powerful voice. The three others I was with agree that he is definitely one of the standouts in the show. Julie Tolivar also shows great talent in the role of Vicki.

Having said that, I am not a big fan of this show at all. Yes, the potential is there (and its huge), but this show still needs some work. I think some of the music is great. There are about 5 or 6 songs on the cast recording that are very good, but I generally skip all others.

I also was scratching my head at some of the directorial choices made. "I Hate the French". . .yikes.

[snowie862]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 2:18am

Whatdid you not like about that?

[bestnurse]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 6:44am

Oasis, you are right, Dreamgirls was the exception to the advertising fiasco of the Prince. That's one show. I'm talking about Bright Lights Big City. No advertising, period. The cast deserves much better. Why put together such a great cast, have them work their butts off for 90 minutes and not bother to advertise? I don't get it.

[OasisBroadway]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 9:24am

I think the advertising for Dreamgirls and Bright Lights was pretty much the same. I think the difference is that Dreamgirls has the name recognition that BLBC does not. In that case, then yes I agree that they should have done a better job at advertising BLBC because people are not going to be as quickly drawn to it by the name. But the other thing is that Dreamgirls had good word of mouth.

snowie, the whole "I Hate the French" staging comes off as terribly cheesy. I see no reason why Jamie couldn't sing that song without having Depardieu there off to the side. Or having Depardieu without all the unnecessary French stereotypes.

[WaltSummersPI]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 9:27am

Oasis, I think I was mostly OK with that staging because there isn't anything else in the show that is very funny... it's the only time that the audience gets to kind of relax and enjoy.

[OasisBroadway]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 9:30am

Right, but the song itself is funny. I think the staging crosses the line to being cheesy.

[blueroses]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 10:10am

It sounds like something I'd enjoy checking out. Orfeh is really underrated.

[WaltSummersPI]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 10:12am

You should definitely check it out, if you can!

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 1:08pm

Oasis I think you're mistaken about the advertising. There were newspaper ads, ads at bustops, and maybe even a radio ad or two, not sure for Dreamgirls. There was NOTHING for Bright Lights. The reason? Well firstly I think if Richard Parison had directed, there woulda been some advertising. I think that's a big reason why Dreamgirls got press. Also, The Prince is horrible when it comes to budget and alotting enough to go round. They shot their wad with Dreamgirls. There was no money left. Paychecks are bouncing. The same thing happened when they did Cy Coleman's The Great Ostrovsky. All these wonderful people came in, the show was ok, and there was no money left. It's typical for them. Dreamgirls WAS the exception to the rule as of late.


Also, I think "I hate the French" song needs better, more specific lyrics. I hate the french (repeat ad nausium) is not really interesting...and I think the French guy was supposed to be Napolean. At least that's who I thought it was.

[almostxfamous]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 1:13pm

"He's supposed to be a wannabe fiction writer from Pennslyvania."

I thought Jamie was from Kansas. Because in Happy Birthday, Darling, his mother sings, "a new job at the Kansas Star". I thought they originally said Bucks County(which is in PA), but according to a couple lyric sites, it's Box County.

And, yesterday there was a big article in the Entertainment section of the paper, which was a reprint of an article I had already read, and a short review.
Updated On: 6/19/06 at 01:13 PM

[OasisBroadway]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 1:52pm

jazzysuite, I suppose you are correct on the advertising. I spend a lot of time walking around the Prince so I guess it is always more obvious to me what is going on there at all times. But I thought I did see bus stop advertisements. I could be mistaken on that.

Napoleon? I don't know about that. I am pretty sure it is supposed to be Depardieu, the restaurant critic.

almostxfamous, don't rely too much on those lyric sites. They are often way off. I am pretty sure that he says Bucks County. Some of the lyric sites' lyrics for "I Hate the French" are laughable.

[Al Dente]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 4:50pm

Again, knowing a bit more than I'd feel comfortable sharing, "Jones" was the Prince Theaters' biggest hit to date, because Rawles and co. did the press themselves. It also wasn't too hard a sell, the sounds of Phila playing *in* Phila starring a huge r&b legend.

As an aside, I don't think Orfeh is "underrated", I think she's *underused*. She's very specific and unique and can't be stuck into every generic Broadway role. That being said, there have been obnoxiously flagrant missed opportunites with her playing some roles she would have been MORE than perfect in. Amneris, Audrey, Elphaba, just off the top of my head. As we've all said in the past, let's hope the same thing doesn't happen with Spamalot and that someone in charge gets it right this time.

[BreeDaniel]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 5:00pm

Are there any reviews yet, if so can someone post links?Did they even invite critics?

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 5:52pm

I was wondering the same.

Jazzy, you're right, as we all know I can be oversensitive. Solly about that. I've had a few days to sit on it though and I think I'm with OasisBroadway on this one. It has several good songs that I'll listen to (among them "I Hate The French") but the majority of the score really works for me only in context and even then, I find some of it boring. But the potential is great and I did enjoy the show a lot. It speaks to me. If they bring it to NY I'd go see it again. I wonder if it would work better in a more intimate off Broadway setting rather than a big commercial Broadway setting?

Bree, I just find discussing the show itself more interesting than discussing the actors. Unless I really hated them in the role I am mostly content to say they were fine rather than pick apart minute details of their performance and speculate about how good they would be as Elphaba.

I stand by my belief in its similiarity to RENT, and I repeat that similiar doesn't mean same. Again, the lyrics in both shows are written in a colloquial, modern style that is meant to sound like conversation. The music may be more reliant on and built around its hooks in Bright Lights, Big City, but it's definitely show music. I am not the only person who feels this way, several critics have made the same observation. It's merely an observation and of course one made based on face value. If you look closer the shows are completely different.

Updated On: 6/19/06 at 05:52 PM

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 6:12pm

The restaurant critic? Huh maybe. I dunno why they put him in Nepolean attire then. That sort of confuses things.

[BreeDaniel]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 6:16pm

What are you talking about Ronin? I have not picked apart any cast member, nor brought up Elphaba. Are you referring to Al's post discussing a comment by another poster? You might try reading rather than skimming.