AIN'T TOO PROUD Previews- Page 3

[novel idea]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 7:34pm

I saw this a couple of weeks ago and wasn’t going to write about it but…

Boyyy... I haven’t seen something this bad in a really long time

I’ll try to be brief -

There is SO much off-key singing going on up there it’s unbelieavable. Even the FIRST number! The Temptations can’t sing on pitch!
To an audience member that isn’t a musician, Jeremy Popes voice may seem impressive, but overall his mix/falsetto is very quiet and ineffective - lacks passion, power, and stamina- and it’s often off- pitch. WHERE IS THE MUSIC DIRECTOR?

Ephraim Sykes seems to be the audience favorite, but again his singing sounds strained, forced, and unhealthy.

The character that plays the bass of the group, is often funny, but then his low-pitched voice becomes monotonous and his predictable, slow delivery of the punchlines drags down the already pointless and futile book scenes.

The “book scenes” are mostly just narrative and feel as if Derrick Baskin is SLOWLY reading excerpts from Wikipedia, that he has been practicing for years.

Sergio Trujillo has sadly over choreographed this mess, probably to cover up the lack of book, lack of set, lack of humor, and lack of joy. He basically is giving us Jersey Boys with a Motown flare on steroids - The Temptations never had such complex or exhausting choreography in real life.

I liked SUMMER better than this, and, well, we remember that thing.

I wanted to leave at intermission, but we couldn’t.

I GUESS the audience was having fun, but it was hard to tell.

AND the Diana Ross - she has absolutely no presence and a terrible singing voice. What’s going on?

I wish I had more positives but I don’t understand why some people are enjoying this - must be nostalgia.

It’s hard to believe they’ve had FOUR first-class out of town productions already and it’s still in such depressing shape- but after all, I guess Des has just lost touch with...everything.

[JayElle]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 8:19pm

Sorry Novel, I meant to ask Judy Denmark what FWIW means. And Judy Denmark, if a 30 something was behaving like that, I would've shut it down in 30 seconds.  The woman next to me was clearly post 60.  I've got five decades behind me so I understand the nostalgia, but we were also raised to have manners.

Is there a way to ask the theater to have a show for folks who want to dance in their seats versus folks who want to watch the show?  

And Novel, you obviously have more musical experience than I do.  I wouldn't have noticed the off-key range. I did see Jeremy Pope in Choir Boy 3 x and thought he and the cast were wonderful.

I really did want to have a nostalgia moment, but I also wanted to watch the cast all of whom have more much talent that I do.

[LuPita2]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 9:04pm

My God, these audiences sound SO HORRIBLE. When I saw it out of town, the audiences were far less obnoxious.  

[JayElle]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 9:47pm

Welcome to NYC LuPita2, the melting pot of all rude humans!

[uncageg]

Posted: 3/20/19 at 12:25am

Saw it tonight. A woman dead center 6th route was filming all of the big numbers in act one. I was seated in the back of the house and could clearly see it. It was quite distracting. And of course, nobody around her said anything. All of a sudden there was an usher running down the aisle and two on the side aisle down to her row. She was about 3 rows right in front of McAnuff. They got her.

Novel, you hit the nail on the head regarding the choreography. I grew up in the 60's and 70's. Their moves were way tighter. They also didn't riff as much.

Lots of talent up on that stage. There were some really good moments. I wish they had let Otis' wife sing all of IF YOU DON'T KNOW ME BY NOW. She sang the hell out of the beginning and got rousing applause. She would have brought the house down had she sung the whole thing.

A nice walk down memory lane and i bought one of the magnets.

Updated On: 3/20/19 at 12:25 AM