The official Bridges of Madison County tour thread — Page 3

cglaid said: "I saw this last night and from almost the get-go, couldn't wait to leave at intermission. I thought Francesca had a terrible Italian accent, almost unlistenably so, and all the songs sounded exactly the same with very repetitive melodies. I left at intermission, and even in the third seat off the aisle, nearly got trampled by a woman who couldn't wait to leave in a worse way than me.

"

Well.. that is too bad for you and that woman. I loved it and so did everyone I was with. And I will be going once again. I didn't see anyone leave when I was there and it was a great and very enthusiastic audience.

Center Theatre Group posted the Tour Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ8nzyS0r_Y

I watched it and realized it is IDENTICAL to the Broadway one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNK43IjgSds), but with the tour cast.

The length of the Broadway version felt like a standard two act musical, but it does have a VERY lengthy second act.

^ If I remember the lyrics correctly, Robert spends four days in Francesca's arms.

Well act two does follow the years AFTER the affair. So the musical does explore more than just the four day affair.

We were there at last night's 6:30 performance, and loved it all over again, nearly as much as we had loved the Broadway performance 2 years ago.

We were dazzled that this is the same Elizabeth Stanley who played the tall blond nincompoop Claire De Loone in the Bway revival of ON THE TOWN last year, so complete is her transformation into the short stocky Italian housewife Francesca. Amazing voice, amazingly detailed performance. Our only complaint-- she laid on both the comedy and the accent a little thick for our tastes. My companions who hadn't memorized the lyrics as I have were hard pressed to understand 2 words of her opening song "To Build a Home". Andrew Samonsky also has a dazzling voice, every equal of Steven Pasquale's, and his callow first act Robert grew into an incredibly moving aged man by the time he got to "It All Fades Away". The vocals of these two carried the entire evening, even if I never quite believed they were madly in lust with eachother as I had believed with Kelly and Steven.

The rest of the cast was magnificent. The sound from the pit was even richer than I remembered from Bway. Every set design and lighting cue seemed identical to the lovely Bway designs. That seamless direction of ensemble movement and choreographed set change reminded me once again what geniuses Sher and Yeargan can be in the service of story (something they've woefully forgotten how to do in the current FIDDLER revival). Last night was, no surprise, one of our favorite nights of theater in all of 2015. Such a shame, then, that the Ahmanson was so poorly attended. Maybe a third for the seats in the orchestra were filled. When will LA wake up to great theater when it's handed to them on this silver platter?

^ "Half-dead" might really be the word for them -- it seemed a woman fainted in the center of the orchestra just as Robert was getting ready to sing "It All Fades Away" in Act II. Several minutes were taken up with ushers helping the woman out of the hall. We hope she's ok, but we also sort of wished they had simply stopped the show for 2 minutes to allow the woman to be easily removed, and then resume the number, rather than disrupting such a key scene for everyone.

Saw this last night at the Ahmanson and really enjoyed it overall. I was not at all familiar with the score which is how I prefer seeing a show for the first time. I'll be going back a second time before they end their run January 17th. Great cast and beautiful score. Elisabeth Stanley and Andrew Samonsky both did a great job in their respective roles. My major complaint was Stanley's diction. Someone else mentioned they couldn't understand a word of her opening song To Build a Home, and that is 100% accurate. Really hard to understand. I found this to be the case with most of her songs. You REALLY had to be paying attention.

I also just felt there were sound issues in general, it just seemed really low for most of the show. And I was sitting pretty close in row J. Sadly, the audience seemed restless and I found them to be downright rude. Worst LA audience experience I have ever had, and I normally find LA crowds to be great. The theater couldn't have been more than half full. After the show I purchased the OBCR for $10. It was the only merchandise they had. When I asked why it was so cheap the lady told me the show and the CDs were not selling well at all during its LA run! Too bad really!

ljay889 said: "Well act two does follow the years AFTER the affair. So the musical does explore more than just the four day affair.

"

Despite my raving above, I think that creates quite a hurdle for the show and may be a clue as to why the show isn't succeeding commercially. The plot seems to end three times: each time with a great song, but the show as a whole is denied a grand, emotional climax of the sort that sends people running out to phone their friends about the "great show" they just saw. Theater prices being what they are, I think it's difficult for the merely "thoughtful and moving" to attain commercial success.

gleek, I live in Palm Springs and drove 3 hours each way in heavy, Los Angeles traffic to see it.

It was entirely worth it.

Saw this again last night, this time with a much more respectful audience. I am now officially in love with this beautiful show! Still had some trouble with Elisabeth Stanley's diction in some parts but overall an incredibly moving evening at the theater. Listening to the gorgeous OBCR right now and it captures the beauty of the show so well. If anyone has doubts about catching this when it hits your city, don't miss it! It was also really incredible to watch Jason Robert Brown conduct his score entirely from memory with no sheet music in front of him whatsoever!

There was a pretty good house last night - a Thursday - and the audience was very responsive. How could they not be? The show is magnificent and Stanley and Samonsky are sublime. And, btw, I thought they had plenty of sexual heat. The bonus was having JRB in the pit. He was fun to watch, he was so into it.

Updated On: 1/15/16 at 05:44 PM

Does anyone know if they are planning on bringing this tour with this cast to Chicago? I'm afraid by the time it gets to Chicago it would be non-equity and I would just die to see Andrew and Elizabeth in these roles. Also I'm in la right now with my school choir and I didn't realize bridges was going to be here when we were. We are going to see bullets and if I knew about bridges I could have pleaded my teacher to change the show. I'm so angry.