Got great seats, 6th row dead center, from Tx's (no line).I realy like this musical. The 1st act was fine. It falls apart in the 2nd however, Confused and no dramatic tension for the big finale. An older woman played Catherine today, she was silly and it didn't work at all. This is the most physical production I have every seen, but they appear to have replaced choreography with circus tricks. The audience seemed to really enjoy the show and was very responive-no phones, texting, eating. Annie Potts broke the 4th wall to make comment on it
I am assuming it is your first time seeing it so with the replacement of dances with circus is what they wanted with the show and they do dance with circus, yes it is mostly circus mostly in the fighting scene in glory but they do other dances in it. I am also assuming you didn't see an understudy for Catherine. That being said she is not just the women who played it today, she play's every performance. A lot of people find her funny and charming in the role including me. Diane the director let her play with the role since not a lot of circus is used in the finale, so she wanted her to still make the audience happy!
Rachel was robbed-she reinvented that nothing of a part.
It's a very existential show-some people don't get it.
"The sexual energy between the mother and son really concerns me!"-random woman behind me at Next to Normal
"I want to meet him after and bang him!"-random woman who exposed her breasts at Rock of Ages, referring to James Carpinello
yea I guess just thinking about it now Rachel's role was much bigger than Andrea's so yea she was extremely snubbed. Every review I read loved her! So it was weird.
saw this last week when I grabbed front row rush tickets for a matinee. I went in with relatively low expectations, not loving the show. This production blew me away. stunning design and concept, followed up with brilliant performances. I believe it was one of John Rubenstein's first performances, and he was perhaps the least engaging in the cast. But the rest were excellent, particularly rachel bay jones. And that rolla bolla act blew me away! Really tight band as well, and the finale left me with chills.
I think of Catherine as an Everywoman role. Vulnerability is fine but there should be an underlying strength. When the lines are delivered in a high pitched 'baby' voice you don't get that. But that isn't the only thing that tanked the 2nd act for me. The energy level seemed to drop. The dog bit was a cheap emotional trick.(Norman Rockwell is reported to have said-paraphrasing here- If a painting is going badly put a dog in it. If its still not working, put a band-aid on the dog) It's really not fair. Compairing this to the original is like comparing some guys speech to the Gettsyburg Address
Catherine is a very important role. She is LifeForce. Catherine, and what she represents, is what Pippin is giving up glory and perfect fulfillment for. Goofy doesn't measure up. That being said, the audience I was with loved it. The show should continue and be well. But its not for me