FIRST DAUGHTER SUITE Previews- Page 2

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 10/18/15 at 11:56pm

I saw the show tonight and found it mixed. I'm a huge fan of LaChiusa and have seen a lot of his other work, but I am entirely unfamiliar with First Lady Suite. I really loved pieces of it; as others have said, the part that gelled the most was the last section with the Bush family. I was with the Amy Carter/Susan Ford section up until the last few minutes when it veered kind of ungracefully into the truly absurd, even for a dream. The Nixon section was a little overly long, and I wasn't really impressed with Barbara Walsh. I think the Reagan piece needs refining and the ending is a little jarring, but I really loved the work both Alison Fraser and Caissie Levy are doing in that scene. 

I'm curious to hear more from those who are familiar with First Lady Suite about what that show was like, especially tonally. Is it as varied as this? 

One of my favorite things about LaChiusa is that he always chooses unique material as fodder for musicals, and this certainly qualifies. Even if his work isn't always 100% successful, it's always interesting and never safe or standard.

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 10/21/15 at 10:31pm

It's a rave from Brantley - LaChiusa's first! New York Times Critic's Pick

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/22/theater/review-in-first-daughter-suite-unelected-but-still-under-a-microscope.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/21/15 at 10:49pm

"more from those who are familiar with First Lady Suite about what that show was like, especially tonally. Is it as varied as this? "

 

In a word, yes. Including an absurdist bit for Mamie Eisenhower in I believe Africa. 

[decotodd]

Posted: 10/25/15 at 1:28am

I saw this last night and really enjoyed it. Was surprised at how poignant and moving the Bush section was; lovely music and gave dimension to these women beyond their public personas. Found the Reagan section very amusing too. Amy Carter's dream is rather  out-there but loved the ballad Rosalyn sings to her daughter. 

highly recommended. 

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 10/25/15 at 1:30am

I hope a cast album is made!

[haterobics]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 12:03pm

http://playbill.com/news/article/first-daughter-suite-featuring-alison-fraser-and-caissie-levy-is-recording-original-cast-album-368823

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 4:51pm

Yay!

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 7:01pm

So excited for the recording!

[theatregeek6]

Posted: 10/29/15 at 10:37pm

Saw this tonight. The show now runs about 2:20 with intermission. Got moved to the first row (nice) where not 1 but 2 men in the audience fell asleep (like 10 minutes in). Distracting.

Never seen a LaChusia show before - loved the music, the performances were top notch. There was uneveness- agreed with all the the last scene was by far the best. I enjoyed them all, although the Regan/Davis scene seemed out of place since most of the piece is sung through.

About 10 percent of the audience left at intermission. The entire cast excels, although having Mary Testa on stage sets a really high bar.

I enjoyed it, but it definately appears to a specific audience.

[cglaid]

Posted: 11/2/15 at 3:25pm

Where is the best place to sit for this? Center section? I am looking to grab tickets and the performance is pretty lightly sold (so far) so I want to jump on them while I can.

[mailhandler777]

Posted: 11/2/15 at 3:51pm

^They have $20 rush tickets sold an hour before curtain that aren't hard to get since it isn't sold out.

 

I saw this last night. Loved the first 3 sections but found the Bush one weird and a bit boring. I'm not a fan of 3 side seating as the people across from me were sleeping for most of it in the front row. 

 

 

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 11/2/15 at 6:46pm

Is there a place online where I can legally listen to the score? I'm super interested that they're recording a cast album but I'll want to hear the music first.

Also, I'm so happy for Mary Testa and the raves she's getting. I hope she wins a Drama Desk or something for the role.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 11/2/15 at 6:47pm

Ado Annie D'Ysquith said: "Is there a place online where I can legally listen to the score?"

 

No. The cast recording has not been recorded.

 

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 11/3/15 at 10:20pm

Just a little update, I dug a bit deeper and found that the Public has released some YouTube snippets. At least that'll give me a taste of the sound.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/13/15 at 2:20am

I caught the production last Saturday (a matinee) and truly loved it.  I agree with nearly everyone that the Bush segment was the best--it would have worked fine on its own whereas I think the other sections needed the greater framework/context to really work and otherwise would have felt too slight.  Also part of the thrill for me, as a non New Yorker, was to see a new LaChiusa score (and he is one of my fave composers,) and also to see those amazing performers up close.  The audience was mostly very old--not too surprising for a matinee (and this was a captioned performance with captioning on a sigh to the side--luckily our seats were in front of that so it didn't bother me.)  However, unlike others here, I didn't see anyone sleeping and only noticed two empty seats after intermission (otherwise it appeared to be sold out except maybe the very far sides.)

OK, one question--seeing as I don't know ALL that much about American history or politics...  Is there any element of truth to the idea that Nancy Reagan would drug her daughter?  LOL

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/13/15 at 8:11am

 

No, that was just for shock value. There were thousands of ways in which Nancy Reagan manipulated people in her idea of service to her husband, but drugging her daughter was just a writer making a lazy choice.

 

Similarly, the omission of Chelsea Clinton and the Bush daughters seemed like lazy choices in something called "First Daughter Suite." I think the Bush piece would have been infinitely better if Barbara and Laura had argued about the way Dubya and Laura were bringing up the girls, rather than the story about Barbara and her ghost child. And dramatizing the Chelsea/Hillary relationship would have deepened the piece tremendously.

 

That said, the performances were terrific.

 

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 11/13/15 at 8:28am

And on that note, I am utterly captivated by the short clip of Mary Testa singing in the show that's been uploaded online. I can't stop watching it.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/13/15 at 4:44pm

Thanks PJ! That's what I assumed, but since I really don't know too much about Nancy Reagen I did slightly wonder if it was based on some rumour or... something.

I think I liked it more than you and don't agree with your comments exactly (especially re the Bush part,) but I do agree about the fact that it's called First Daughter Suite is slightly misleading--it really felt more like (More!) First Ladies Suite, simply with more of the daughters being a part of each segment than in the first one.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/13/15 at 5:09pm

 

I think the best part of it was Alison Fraser, as a high-kicking, high-living Betty Ford, in Amy Carter's fantasy sequence.

 

 

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/13/15 at 5:27pm

She definitely stole that scene for me--even when she wasn't the focus, just watching her reactions....

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 11/19/15 at 12:55am

I finally managed to see this today and I was not disappointed. Perhaps it was because I went with no/low expectations but I appreciated the show for what it was while recognizing that it's lacking in the storytelling department. Still, very much worth it to see all those wonderful performers live and in such a small, intimate space. I did find some of the music shrill. In that Evita/The Last Five Years way there are times when the material is not forgiving and it's almost impossible to not sound harsh in that range. But I think it will make for a beautiful album. From the promo clips, I expected the score to be much less melodic so I was pleasantly surprised. I also thought it would be heavy and actually all the humor was very pleasant. I think the most dramatic moments came from Patty Reagan and Laura Bush. I did appreciate the moments of strength from Pat Nixon and Rosalynn Carter.

 

All of my issues were story issues. I know every show isn't going to be Hamilton but all the fantasy here felt unnecessary. Two different scenes with ghosts? The first seemed to be a bad device to give Pat Nixon someone to react to and speak to and I disliked all the music written for that character. The "thees" got to be too much, too. The second ghost had a prettier song and while I still found that whole thing simplistic, there was a better payoff there. The Bush section didn't work for me as much as it did for other posters but that was possibly due to audience distraction. I didn't find the Carter/Ford section offensive but at some point you disconnect because it's the most meaningless of the three. Why are we in her dream? What purpose does it serve? I loved the actresses playing Susan and Betty. I think they got the most out of those parts. The Reagan section contains some of the best music and as good as Caissie Levy was in the Nixon section she totally topped herself in the Reagan section.

 

There is more interesting territory to mine here and I hope Michael John LaChiusa returns to it. I would like to see him tackle the Clintons and Obamas and really say something. While entertaining, I don't think these pieces said anything that new or insightful or deep.

[LarryD2]

Posted: 11/19/15 at 8:03am

I've seen First Daughter Suite twice now -- not because I passionately loved it, but because after the first viewing I still wasn't particularly sure how I felt about the piece. Now that I've seen it twice, I'll say that I think Happy Pat has some of the best music MJL has ever written. Anchored by Barbara Walsh's superb performance, it is the most satisfying vignette of the evening. The Amy Carter piece is fun and funny, if inconsequential. Carly Tamer is charming as Amy and Alison Fraser is a hoot as Betty Ford. Patti by the Pool is a mess, and not helped by the fact that Caissie Levy isn't really a good enough actress to anchor what's essentially a thirty-minute monologue. At least Fraser looked stunning in her red one-piece swimsuit. Not to sound like After Eight, but the Barbara Bush piece is pretentious nonsense. Mary Testa, Rachel Bay Jones and Theresa McCarthy have to work very hard to wring any worth out of the piece. Testa sings forcefully and is a commanding presence, as usual, but unfortunately it's in the service of some pretty bad material here.

Updated On: 11/19/15 at 08:03 AM

[RippedMan]

Posted: 11/21/15 at 12:32am

I saw this tonight (I got a last minute rush ticket) and I loved it. I was super captivated. Granted, I don't know much about politics, especially about the president's wives or daughters, but on a dramatic level, I found it super interesting. 

I thought the first segment felt the most fully realized. It had some really pretty moments, and melodies that came back and back again. It felt like it's own little show. Then, the show went to the bizarre, but I was on board with it. They said it was a dream, and we went with it. Alison Frasure was KILLING IT. As was Jones when she ate the paper. 

In fact, I thought the actresses were all pretty amazing. My only downside was having McCarthy play the daughter in the Bush segment. I wish it had been a younger actress, but she was still great. 

And the sand is meant to be water, as they talk about water a lot and the end is all about the ocean. Is it literally the same set as Grounded? I thought the lighting was subtle but really pretty. 

And can we talk about that space? I haven't been in there before, but wow is it gorgeous. Do they ever take the lights all the way up to the ceiling line or use the catwalk around the theater? I love the space. 

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 1/28/16 at 2:24pm

For anyone interested, I called Sh-K-Boom yesterday. The cast recording will be released digitally next month, with the physical CD coming out sometime in March!