GIGI Reviews- Page 5

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/9/15 at 8:54am

"or maybe Gigi will get the 3rd nomination over On The Town"

OK. 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/9/15 at 9:10am

 

That might make it more entertaining.

 

(But really?  It's going to all the trouble to argue with itself??)

 

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 4/9/15 at 9:16am

Garry Marshall and Pretty Woman creative team take note-romantic prostitute musicals in this day and age are creepy.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 4/9/15 at 9:57am

^Is that really the lesson that the opening night critical reception suggests?

The reviews I've read seem to be more critical of this production's feeble efforts to bowdlerize or at least sanitize the demimonde rather than the "creepiness" of the romantic story of a courtesan in training as it had been presented by Colette, Loos, MGM, Minnelli, Lerner and Loewe.

What's really creepy and misogynistic is the notion that love stories - or at least musical comedy ones - should only be reserved for certain moral kinds of women lest they offend contemporary sensibilities preposterously hovering somewhere between - or rather curiously conflating - politically advanced cookie-cutter umbrage and mid-Victorian bourgeois prudishness.

Updated On: 4/9/15 at 09:57 AM

[newintown]

Posted: 4/9/15 at 10:05am

Exactly; I think that if they had gone more edgy with the courtesan stuff (rather than practically cutting it), the reviews might have been more favorable.

As it is, it's a sanitized, suburban-prudish mediocrity, more like an episode of a show about contemporary 18 year-olds on the Disney Channel.

Updated On: 4/9/15 at 10:05 AM

[Owen22]

Posted: 4/9/15 at 10:39am

Oddly, all the females critics decidedly do NOT like Corey Cott and all the male critics (that I know of are gay) do.  I loved him...but now I'm wondering through what prism was I viewing him through...

[CukorLover]

Posted: 4/9/15 at 10:42am

At least Bergasse, given his less than stellar reviews, won't have to compete with himself for the Best Choreography TONY this year.

[kade.ivy]

Posted: 4/9/15 at 10:54am

Gigi is NOT listed on either of the TKTS satellite booths this morning. 

[Owen22]

Posted: 4/9/15 at 10:55am

"^Is that really the lesson that the opening night critical reception suggests?

The reviews I've read seem to be more critical of this production's feeble efforts to bowdlerize or at least sanitize the demimonde rather than the "creepiness" of the romantic story of a courtesan in training as it had been presented by Colette, Loos, MGM, Minnelli, Lerner and Loewe.

What's really creepy and misogynistic is the notion that love stories - or at least musical comedy ones - should only be reserved for certain moral kinds of women lest they offend contemporary sensibilities preposterously hovering somewhere between - or rather curiously conflating - politically advanced cookie-cutter umbrage and mid-Victorian bourgeois prudishness.


"This.

 

[Kad]

Posted: 4/9/15 at 10:56am

"Gigi is NOT listed on either of the TKTS satellite booths this morning. "

 Because it does not have a show today. 

[hushpuppy]

Posted: 4/9/15 at 11:08am

@ebontoyan

You left ON THE TOWN at intermission?

You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but I, for one, found that show thoroughly delightful. Maybe it's a generational thing, I'm old.

So old, in fact, that I saw the original stage production of GIGI, with Alfred Drake, Agnes Moorehead, and Maria Karnilova, when it tried out in San Francisco in 1973. I enjoyed it, but even as a teenager, I recognized that it wasn't a 'great' musical. I happened to catch the London production in 1985 and thought it was deadly. Although I usually don't pay attention to the reviews, this version of GIGI has received such scathing notices that I'll take a pass. 

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 4/9/15 at 11:16am

Hushpuppy, you're not the only one.  I'm also consistently shocked by how many on bww don't like the current revival of On the Town.  I thought it was great.  Some of the best dancing I've seen on Broadway in years.  A stupendous turn by Tony Yazbeck.  And Megan Fairchild is just plain wonderful.

I think many just don't embrace the unabashedly sophomoric silliness in the libretto, which for many of us is one of the show's charms.  I get that.  

But it seems many here are even oblivious to the beauty of the score.  Which I don't get.

Updated On: 4/9/15 at 11:16 AM

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 4/9/15 at 11:17am

I have not seen Gigi, and don't plan to. But seriously, why do people keep hiring Eric Schaeffer? He directed Scandalous.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 4/9/15 at 11:19am

David Armstrong directed Scandalous.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 4/9/15 at 11:20am

^Eric Schaeffer did direct the most recent revival of Follies...

Updated On: 4/9/15 at 11:20 AM

[ebontoyan]

Posted: 4/9/15 at 11:21am

I think it's just me and my companion. The rest of the audience seem to be enjoying OTT while we were trying to keep awake at the 10-15 minute ballet sequence to end act 1.  When the usher said there was another 20 minute ballet sequence to open the second act that's when we decided enough!  I am not a ballet fan and I've read on other threads that the story is thin for OTT but the dance sequences were excellent.  It just wasn't for me.  I will be skipping Gigi as well.  Also glad and impressed to read about the original shows you have seen!

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 4/9/15 at 11:26am

I apologize, I misread his IBDB.
http://ibdb.com/person.php?id=485505

[kade.ivy]

Posted: 4/9/15 at 11:36am

""Gigi is NOT listed on either of the TKTS satellite booths this morning. "
 Because it does not have a show today. "

 Thanks, Kad. My apologies. 

[NYadgal]

Posted: 4/9/15 at 12:49pm

Agree with the earlier posters who remarked on the 'sanitization' of some of the aspects of this show.

I've not yet had a chance to see it, but am looking forward to doing so.

I find that I don't much care what a critic has to say these days.

[promisespromises2]

Posted: 4/9/15 at 1:23pm

I'm not one to actually listen to the critics, but I wasn't planning on seeing this show anyway.  I find the plot incredibly creepy (only saw the movie).  I was reading some Facebook comments in the Playbill/Broadwayworld comment section when posting these reviews though, and I saw that a lot of people kept writing "Disney-ified", etc.

Can someone clarify a little how they Disney-ed it up a bit?  Obviously Hudgens played down the sexiness/charm of Gigi (whether purposely or not), so was it just that Gigi was too innocent-like in this version?

And since everyone keeps bringing up OTT, I loved it, because I LOVE watching dance.  But it was one of the shows where I saw it once and I'm good.

[jkstheatrescene]

Posted: 4/9/15 at 1:49pm

What's really creepy and misogynistic is the notion that love stories - or at least musical comedy ones - should only be reserved for certain moral kinds of women lest they offend contemporary sensibilities preposterously hovering somewhere between - or rather curiously conflating - politically advanced cookie-cutter umbrage and mid-Victorian bourgeois prudishness.


"

 Bet you can't say THAT three times fast!

 

Your vocabulary is both pretentiously fun and wonderfully refreshing!

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 4/9/15 at 2:27pm

"I bet the press team is working their butts off tonight to find pull quotes."

They earned their checks this week. I was amazed at the glowing phrases... sometimes just a word or two, they managed to find for the radio ad I heard this morning after a cursory look at didhelikeit last night. If I'd known (as I do now) how bad things actually were, I'd have been even more impressed.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 4/9/15 at 2:32pm

"Your vocabulary is both pretentiously fun and wonderfully refreshing!"

Thanks.  In real life, I'm a lot less fancy.  Not quite so affected.

Updated On: 4/9/15 at 02:32 PM

[MichelleCraig]

Posted: 4/9/15 at 2:42pm

"These reviews are pretty much what I expected after seeing the show.  To me it's a "why?" production.  Why take a classic piece of literature about a girl being groomed to be a high-end prostitute then change it in case the subject matter might offend?  Why not just do something like "The Boy Friend" instead?"

I really agree. Wilmingtom wrote my post for me.

Updated On: 4/9/15 at 02:42 PM

[MegInManhattan]

Posted: 4/9/15 at 2:50pm

Yes, press team is doing a great job with what they've been given. I've already gotten an email and seen banner ads for the "Delightful! Gigi for a new generation"