Last trip to NY: my review of 12 shows

[Fran_mex]

Posted: 9/3/10 at 2:39pm

Well, this summer (july 16-25) I went to NY from Mexico City where I live. I took 9 days to see some new shows and some of my favorites that I've seen before.

Since most of the post here are from people who is really familiar with musical theatre or at least has the oportunity to see a broadway or touring show more than once a year, I think my perspective can be a bit different... In Mexico city we have usually one or two touring productions (in english) and two or three profesional productions of broadway shows every year.

Here's my opinion.

Sat Mat, July 17th. Billy Elliot.

My parents went to BE last may and told me that I must see it, so I bought my tickets in advance and I was 4th row aisle.

I cried all night from the third song to the end of the show and I loved it, but I will never see it again. I was so moved and touched that I want the experience to remain untouched in my memory.

Also, I feel that this show does not have as much fans as, let say, Wicked or Next to Normal, because this is not a "fan show". This is something that you can enjoy and feel, but only once. It's emotionally tiring, at least for me. If I see it again, I'm pretty sure I would not enjoy it at all.

For this first tima, ss much as I enjoyed the plot and everything, I felt the music was generic and not trascendent. Some songs for sure I can say are great, but the rest is just not really good or really serving to the plot. For me, that was the weak point.

Nevertheless, with a plot like the one in Billy Elliot -that touches your heart if you do have feelings- and amazing dance and performances, I can understand why almost everyone loves this show.

Sat Eve, July 17 th. Mary Poppins.
I went to Mary Poppins for the third time. Since I've been lucky enough to see Scarlett Strallen in NY (May '09) and Ashley Brown on tour in LA (Dec '09), so I wanted to see the "original" MP, Laura Michelle Kelly...

I must say that as much as I love the show, everytime I see it I feel that it is so perfectly engineered that I just can't feel that the actors have the opportunity to add something new to this show. The first time I saw it (NY) I was amazed by the craft of the show and the performances, the second time (on tour) it was really interesting to see the adaptation that they made with the set and costumes... but this third time I felt nothing new, even tough LMK and Nicolas Dromard (who I've seen as Fiyero in SanFrancisco) gave great performances, the show felt too heavy and I was a little disappointed.

Some people may think, why see a show more than once when you know everything about it? well, for me, it's the oportunity to see something new within the same story, music and set. The problem with MP is that I feel that the 3 performances I've seen (with different casts each...) are nothing different. [The same happens with the three Berts I've seen (Adam Fiorentino, Gavin Lee and Nicolas Dromard).

I love the music and the stage and everything that is supposed to be exactly the same every performance... the only thing I don't like is that the performers don't add anything to the caracthers [I know that there are limits: you cannot make Bert or MP to change his accent, etc].

Sun mat, July 18th
So, via TKTS I went to West Side Story.
I know that almost everybody in America knows the movie and the story, but as difficult as it sounds to believe, I didn't.
For me it was the 1950's and I went to see a show "inspired by Romeo+Juliet". That was all the info I had.

So, maybe that's why I was amazed. I was lucky enough to hear "Tonight", "America", etc... for the first time in my life, live on a broadway stage and I'm really happy for that (of course when I came back to Mexico I bought the movie).

I feel that this could have been the new Chicago on Broadway... a Revival that with unknown casts and a smaller theatre could last for years... I am not an expert in costs, nuts and all that stuff, and I know that this show is not the most succesfull right now, but I feel that the timeless love story and everything about this show should be always there for anyone to enjoy it. Sure, there have been 100s of productions of WSS, but I think that there must be also a lot of people who are not familiar to the plot/movie, and would enjoy as much as I did this show. About de performances, I must say I liked them all, specially Josefina Scaglione. I don't know it it'll close soon or if a transfer is an option, but my best wishes for this show.

Sun Eve, July 18th Next to Normal.
I went to this performance knowing that it was the last for AR, JD and BDJ... It was a bit difficult for me to enjoy everything since everyone was crazy making noise and clapping all the time. Of course I understand that for some people there it was the 10th time seeing the show and they wanted to show the cast they were going to be missed.

I can say a lot of adjectives I've heard about this show: fantastic, brave, heart-touching, new, amazing... I can recognize the genious of those behind the book, music and lyrics, and the spectacular performances by the cast, but I must say it was an experience too intense for me. I know, you don't go to the theater just to feel better o to smile all the time... But this show really made me sad. It was a great show, but it made me sad for days (maybe some will argue: "that's the reason why it's so great!")... And as much as the performances, the songs and everything will remain with me as being extraordinary, the show itself didn't left anything on me. I felt sad, angry, anxious and all kind of feelings that are not good (for me at least). So I must say that I did not loved this because of me and the way I felt experiencing it.

Mon Eve, July 19th.
TKTS, In the heights.
Well, being from latin america I have never loved latin music or rhytms or anything like that, so I was esceptical about this show. After experiencing it I must say I loved it.

First, there was Bianca Marroquin who I saw recently in Mexico as Maria in The sound of music, so I was absolutely happy to see her there.

The music just made me crazy, I loved it. The plot certainly has some weak points, but the music and lyrics are so great that I must say that I forgot about any weak points...

To my surprise, I enjoyed Corbin Bleu's perfomance -I didn't see the show before so I can't compare-.

Tue Eve, July 20th
Wicked
This was my 5th time (3 times in san fran, 1 in NY) so I was familiar with everything. I love this show as you can see, and I will not argue it has the best plot, set, songs, score or anything. I just like it because I feel a connection, that's all.

Having said that, I went to this performance with the intention of watching from new perspectives, for exaple, I followed an ensamble member during 2 or 3 scenes, or looked at places where the main action wasn't taking place... I wanted to do this to feel as I was there inside the story, to enjoy the show in a different way... and I liked it.

What can I add about this show, either you love it or hate it I must say I want to see it once again, and I'm sure it will be around the Gershwin for long time.

I don't have a rational or logical explanation to the success of Wicked, or to the question why do you like it so much? (my parents ask about that a lot), I just say without guilt: I like it and I don't get tired of seeing this show.

Wed Eve, July 21st
South Pacific.
I had heard a lot of good things about this show and I was happy to confirm everything. A delightful show for me, and I feel so lucky to have seen it...

For a person like me (I saw my first musical in 2002, London) who doesn't know a lot about old musicals and the history of musical theatre, to see a revival as a new play -without knowing anything about the show- is just an amazing thing.

I felt transported during those hours to the SP and to WWII, and that is a magical feeling. I must say the orchestra was also a unique experience for me. This was a great great show and I really recomend to see the tour if you can.

Thurs eve, July 22nd
Jersey Boys.
Mehhh. I was really disappointed with this one. Maybe my little familiarity with the songs, maybe the plot, maybe something within the show... Maybe it's just me, but this was the only show I felt that I spent too much buying 130USD tickets...

Sure, there are some great impersonations and performances, but for me it was like a Behind the scenes from E! and I didn't feel much...

I could have seen other show like ALNM or LaCage...

Friday, July 23rd.
The Addams Family.
Catastrophe. I liked two things: "Pulled" by wednesday and the clever use of the curtain. Even the set was not amazing for me... Sure, the set works, but there are really just some stairs that spin and change positions around the stage... not the most amazing thing I've seen.

The plot is absent, I was really impressed how could there be 20 people on stage spending 2 and a half hours dancing, singing and acting about nothing! I mean, how do they do it???

The songs are totally forgetable and the jokes are... hmmm...

But since everyone in the theater payed full price, everyone was trying so hard to have a fun time... Like over reacting to jokes and tricks, like trying to say "I must be impressed, I payed 130 USD 3 months ago for this...". That made me feel like I wasted my money.

For me, I got one thing of this show: now I can say I've seen Bebe and Nathan live. That's all, like a star for my list of "to-do's" things.

Sat Eve, July 24.
The Lion King.
The advange of going to the theatre alone this time was that I found (3 days before) a seat in the 3rd row ORCH center wich was great. The problem is that, having seen the show before (las vegas, Ny and on tour un Mexico City) I was completely bored. I noticed that they cut "the morning report" and some parts of "can you feel the love tonight"... thank you for that.

This show, for me, has a great problem... It's absolutely wonderful the first time you see it (if you don't know anything about it), but after that I can only look at it as I look to a expired bottle of milk in my kitchen. This show had it's time, I was great, wonderful, but this show -artistically talking- can not pass the test of time. This was a jewel for the first, lets say, 10 years, but now it's just a commercial attraction with nothing to offer if you've seen a disney show before (this from a disney fan who loved this show the last 3 times I saw it).

Sun Mat, July 25.
Promises, Promises.
All the rumors were true. Didn't like the show. And the reason is not the actors, the stage, the ilumination, no. It's just that this show is not a good show. Why did they made this show the first time? Why another time?
The plot is terrible, I think this shows proves that sitcom is difficult to translate to stage [I don't know if sitcom is the right term and I would love to be corrected, but I think you can get my point]... As much as I wanted to love Kristin and Sean, I couldn't, because they caracthers didn't allowed me to do so.
And Katie Finneran... yes, she was great but I think that in the middle of such a mediocre plot it was easier for her to shine. I know this show is selling well but for me Katie was the only one who won from this.

So, what I regret? Not seeing La Cage and/or ALNM... about other options I wasn't interested or I've seen them before.

Finally, sorry if I misspelled words or used the wrong grammar, I usually don't write in english. Also, sorry if I misspelled a name of an actor, it was not intentional [I've seen the "KristEn" issues]

Anyway, I enjoyed my trip a lot and also my overall experience :)
Other shows that I've seen and liked:

P.s. My post is so long! Ooops (this is my first)

[Katarina2]

Posted: 9/3/10 at 3:26pm

It sounds like you had a great time in New York! Twelve shows in nine days - how fun! I'm jealous... Thanks for the wonderful reviews - I really enjoyed reading them.

Take care,
Katarina :)

[lightguy06222]

Posted: 9/4/10 at 10:01am

Thanks for your feedback! Next time you make a trip to NY, I highly suggest seeing more shows that you have not had the opportunity to see (such as LA CAGE, and ALNM) instead of seeing Wicked a 5th time. IMHO. That way there are no regrets!

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 9/4/10 at 10:41am

Sounds like you had fun, though your N2N review is strange lol

[Dollypop]

Posted: 9/4/10 at 11:14am

Over-all, the original poster seems to have enjoyed his/her visit to NYC. Why then, will it be his/her "Last trip to NY"?

[Steve2]

Posted: 9/4/10 at 11:28am

"Last" as in "most recent"