Now. Here. This. at the Vineyard

[MenzelManiac]

Posted: 6/21/11 at 9:02am

Did anyone catch this while it was in its lab run? I saw the first show and the last (non-benefit) performance. Such a beautiful little piece of theatri-concert fun. I asked Jeff Bowen about a recording after the show, and he said that there wouldn't be a recording until there was a score lol. There are a couple of gorgeous songs in there. Susan sings a song that I think is called "The Golden Palace" about her Dad. Tears. The four of them also sing a song called "Then Comes You" that was amazing. Did anyone else have a chance to see the show while it was running? I'd love to chat with other folks about it, either here or through PM if people aren't interested in sustaining a forum thread about a developmental lab production that ran for 2 weeks lol.

[Anakela]

Posted: 6/21/11 at 10:10am

There was a start of a reviews thread, but then there were comments about how since it's a workshop at the Vineyard you're not supposed to be reviewing it? Even if you paid to attend? So the reviews thread never really went anywhere.
Now. Here. This. Reviews?

[Pocketsquared Fanadu]

Posted: 6/21/11 at 3:19pm

Hey there--I was at exactly the same performances you saw, and I thought it was an absolutely great work in progress. The feelings that they manage to convey--so beautifully--are universal and the message is just so empowering. There was a real rawness to it from all of them. It was interesting to see Hunter's dad, who WAS actually there at Sunday's performance, and I sat right behind Jeff's mom (as I had a couple of times during the [tos] run); every now and again I would look down at her watching Jeff perform or listening to one of those gorgeous songs being performed by one of the others, and it was sheer magic to see how proud she was of him.

[Kad]

Posted: 6/21/11 at 4:04pm

I thought it entertaining but needing a lot of work. There were definitely sequences that worked very well, and overall I'd say the score is pretty good and more mature and complex than [tos]. I just thought that some of the sequences were awfully sentimental and trite and really wanted to pluck heart strings (a surprising amount of gay angst, too). I also think it needs to be molded more- I honestly didn't see the overarching theme in many of the sequences (it seemed to be more about the then. there. that. than the now. here.this.).

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 3/8/12 at 6:28am

Anyone there for the first preview last night?

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 3/8/12 at 7:42am

I will be there Sunday, I think!

[broadwayjim42]

Posted: 3/8/12 at 7:57am

Planning on being there March 31st...

[bjh2114]

Posted: 3/8/12 at 8:22am

I actually wasn't a fan of the lab production. There were certainly parts that I liked, but overall it needed a lot of work. I though too much of it was too similar to [title of show]. The whole segment about the monsters inside them was basically just Die, Vampire, Die. I do love all four of them though, and I am really curious to see the final full version.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/8/12 at 9:56am

"I will be there Sunday, I think!"

Jealous!

[newintown]

Posted: 3/8/12 at 10:14am

I'm with bjh on this one; in the workshop it felt that they just had nothing to say, except the same old clichés. I'm not sure that these guys are really writers (in that they just don't have ideas or skilled ways to express them), but they do play themselves awfully well.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 3/8/12 at 10:21am

I loved the lab, but I am a [tos] devotee. A lot of the audience that were sitting around me didn't get it. The show didn't seem to invite audience members who were unfamiliar with their work.

Afterwards there was a lot of grumbling. I was elated, but the people I spoke to weren't. At times the show feels like an inside joke.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/8/12 at 11:00am

It's not sold out?

Yeah let's definitely do that!

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 3/8/12 at 4:27pm

I'm not really a devotee of [tos], but I do find their phenomena and process fascinating. [tos] went through a lot of changes between its first preview and opening, and I enjoy the performers. The first version of NHT was a very experimental version so I expect major changes.

Please report back to us after you've seen it, Jordan. I'm looking forward to seeing it soon myself.

The below link is from All That Chat and is *SPOILERY*, so don't click if you don't want to know about changes.
ATC thoughts on NHT's first preview

[RippedMan]

Posted: 3/8/12 at 4:54pm

The cheapest seat is $80?! I guess I won't be seeing this.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 3/8/12 at 5:08pm

Just like most shows, they usually offer rush seats, in this case $20. It's a tiny venue, so there are no bad seats.
Rush policy for NHT

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 3/8/12 at 5:20pm

Mine was $64 from BroadwayBox.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 3/9/12 at 12:37am

Oh, okay. Sorry for being an idiot, ha.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 3/9/12 at 10:51pm

So I actually went and rushed the show today - if you want to see the show, rush it. There were a lot of empty seats.

Um, I'm sort of have mixed feelings about it. The first 30mins are boring and uninteresting. Susan's "rap" is kind of embarrassingly bad.

After that it gets a little better. The problem with the show is A) the museum setup and B) there is no through line. It's not really building to anything. The music all sounds the same and blends together. There are great moments like "Heath" and when Susan says she loves Twilight, but other than that, it's just okay. I LOVED [Title of Show] but this show is so "meta" and trying so hard to be meaningful that it's just dull. Every moment is trying to be a moment. It could use some more work for sure.

The set's awful. Neil Patel basically did the same thing in Wonderland. It's just boring and uninteresting. I don't know who said on here that the set was cool because its' just some flats and a projector. Boring.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 3/10/12 at 7:46am

Again, to be clear, I have not seen this version yet, but I will.

"The set's awful. Neil Patel basically did the same thing in Wonderland. It's just boring and uninteresting. I don't know who said on here that the set was cool because its' just some flats and a projector. Boring."

First, thanks for the report, RippedMan. I did see the lab a couple times. The Vineyard is a pretty limited venue, set-wise, so there's not a lot they can do about that. I did love the lab's opening, and their use of shadowlight, so I wonder how much has changed with that. Had you seen the lab? If so, how was it changed?

As to Susan's "rap", unless it's changed much, I'm sure I'd agree with you. I didn't like the whole "Golden Palace" bit, either.

But this?

"The music all sounds the same and blends together."

In the lab, I thought the music was leaps and bounds beyond [tos]. NHT had music that went from country and western to rock, rap, ballads. To me, the music came nowhere near sounding the same. I thought Bowen matured and progressed beautifully in his songwriting here. Hard for me to imagine it regressed, unless perhaps they were trying for a more homogenized feel, which is quite possible. Now you have me very intrigued.

"I LOVED [Title of Show] but this show is so "meta" and trying so hard to be meaningful that it's just dull. Every moment is trying to be a moment. It could use some more work for sure. "

Except for the "dull" part, I felt the same way about the lab. Trying WAY too hard, but as to your concern about needing more work, this is a group that does seem to constantly tweak and refine. If they follow the same path that they did they with [tos], they will use their preview period to its utmost. Thanks for posting your point of view.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 3/10/12 at 1:18pm

I think the show really clicked and worked when they dropped the whole "Just live in the now" bit and just were being themselves. For example, when Hunter, during the Heat song, was talking about his dad catching him masturbating and then said "And it's even better because I've never told my Dad this until tonight because he's here" and pointed to him in the audience. The audience ate that up. Or just like the little funny bits where Hunter was trying to prove to Jeff that he was listening and learning. I loved those moments. Even the stupid boat song was kinda cute and funny. I think the show would work better as a "life after [Title of Show]" thing. I'd be curious to know what they've been up to since and their sort of funny outtake on that.

And by the set being bad I just mean the design is boring. I've seen shows at the Vineyard before with good sets, and the Title of Show set was really cool and detailed. But this was just boring and bland. It could have been anything.

And the first like hour, the music all sounded the same. There was a ballad towards the end that Heidi sings that's really beautiful, and Hunter's like "twangy" song is okay. But to me all the melodies sounded the same. I guess that's what I meant. Not that the music sounds the same, but the melodies all sound the same. They aren't so much as songs as they are just spoken stories.

[mar6411]

Posted: 3/15/12 at 7:24pm

Any more feedback? I'm really interested to hear people's thoughts on this.

Thanks.

[Kad]

Posted: 3/15/12 at 7:41pm

Like I said before, one of my main issues with the lab production was that the theme didn't seem to cohere. Most of the vignettes were about the past, without ever expressing or demonstrating how the past shaped the present.

[michellek45]

Posted: 3/15/12 at 8:32pm

I enjoyed the show, but I definitely agree with the fact that it really needs some unifying theme- I found myself checking my watch toward the end because it just sort of seemed building to nothing. The Golden Palace was good, and most of Susan's story, because both Jeff and Heidi's seemed to fit into simplistic archetypes (shy gay boy who wants to be liked, girl with an over-worked father), and while Susan's had elements of that, there were parts that felt very personal. Jeff's Les Miz/board games/cabin story was the high point of his section. I think overall the show needs some more structure and more personalization.

[Kad]

Posted: 3/15/12 at 10:38pm

Have they kept the "Dazzle Camouflage" number in Jeff's section?

[RippedMan]

Posted: 3/15/12 at 11:23pm

Yeah, they have. But I felt that whole song started way weird. At first I was so confused by what was going on and where we were in time and place. And, as a gay man, I just found it so "eh." Like, I get it. We've all been there. I didn't it all that insightful.