The official Bridges of Madison County tour thread- Page 3

[DAME]

Posted: 12/10/15 at 5:24pm

cglaid said: "I saw this last night and from almost the get-go, couldn't wait to leave at intermission. I thought Francesca had a terrible Italian accent, almost unlistenably so, and all the songs sounded exactly the same with very repetitive melodies. I left at intermission, and even in the third seat off the aisle, nearly got trampled by a woman who couldn't wait to leave in a worse way than me.

 

"

Well.. that is too bad for you and that woman.  I loved it and so did everyone I was with.  And I will be going once again.  I didn't see anyone leave when I was there and it was a great and very enthusiastic audience. 

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/10/15 at 6:57pm

bjh2114 said: ""So comparisons to Pasquale aren't very helpful, IMO."

 

^I don't think that anyone is saying/implying that Stephen would/should join the national tour.  The comparisons are, of course, valid though since Stephen originated the role, and Andrew is only the second person to play the part full time ever.  To prefer Stephen in the role isn't to say that NOBODY could play the part well.  I just am not impressed with Andrew in that clip, and I'm sure that SOMEBODY else out there in the world other than Stephen could play the part in a way that would impress me.

 

"

My post wasn't addressed to yours specifically, nor was I trying to censor anybody's posting. My point was merely that a long line of posts saying "Samonsky is no Pasquale" isn't very helpful to those of us who don't have the option of seeing Pasquale in the part.

 

You said it first and I believe you. But I'd be cheating myself if I went to the Ahmanson prepared to find Samonsky lacking by comparison to somebody I will almost certainly never see in the part.

 

Please note I said "not helpful"; I didn't say "should be deleted" or anything of the kind.

[wish i were here2]

Posted: 12/10/15 at 7:00pm

Center Theatre Group posted the Tour Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ8nzyS0r_Y

I watched it and realized it is IDENTICAL to the Broadway one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNK43IjgSds), but with the tour cast.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/10/15 at 7:09pm

Is the show really 2 hours and 45 minutes long? Isn't that longer than the photographer actually spends in town?

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/10/15 at 7:15pm

The length of the Broadway version felt like a standard two act musical, but it does have a VERY lengthy second act. 

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/10/15 at 7:19pm

Not that I mind long shows per se. If I'm enjoying a show, 3 hours is too short; if I'm not, 2 hours is too long.

 

I'm just surprised because the plot is so thin.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 12/10/15 at 9:46pm

^ If I remember the lyrics correctly, Robert spends four days in Francesca's arms.

 

 

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/10/15 at 11:13pm

Sarcasm, Someone, sarcasm. LOL.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/10/15 at 11:13pm

Well act two does follow the years AFTER the affair. So the musical does explore more than just the four day affair. 

[bwaydreamer]

Posted: 12/11/15 at 11:46am

Saw this last night and thought it was amazing!  IMO this cast is stronger than the broadway cast.  Kelli and Steven were great but I thought these two leads had better chemistry.  The family and side scenes were much stronger and the score is so beautiful.  Will definitely be going back.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 12/21/15 at 2:35pm

We were there at last night's 6:30 performance, and loved it all over again, nearly as much as we had loved the Broadway performance 2 years ago.

 

We were dazzled that this is the same Elizabeth Stanley who played the tall blond nincompoop Claire De Loone  in the Bway revival of ON THE TOWN last year, so complete is her transformation into the short stocky Italian housewife Francesca. Amazing voice, amazingly detailed performance. Our only complaint-- she laid on both the comedy and the accent a little thick for our tastes. My companions who hadn't memorized the lyrics as I have were hard pressed to understand 2 words of her opening song "To Build a Home". Andrew Samonsky also has a dazzling voice, every equal of Steven Pasquale's, and his callow first act Robert grew into an incredibly moving aged man by the time he got to "It All Fades Away". The vocals of these two carried the entire evening, even if I never quite believed they were madly in lust with eachother as I had believed with Kelly and Steven.

 

The rest of the cast was magnificent. The sound from the pit was even richer than I remembered from Bway. Every set design and lighting cue seemed identical to the lovely Bway designs. That seamless direction of ensemble movement and choreographed set change reminded me once again what geniuses Sher and Yeargan can be in the service of story (something they've woefully forgotten how to do in the current FIDDLER revival). Last night was, no surprise, one of our favorite nights of theater in all of 2015. Such a shame, then, that the Ahmanson was so poorly attended. Maybe a third for the seats in the orchestra were filled. When will LA wake up to great theater when it's handed to them on this silver platter?

 

 

[Jack Hughes]

Posted: 12/21/15 at 2:57pm

I was there last night, too.  It's a beautiful show.  It was a half-dead, half-restless audience.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 12/21/15 at 5:45pm

^ "Half-dead" might really be the word for them -- it seemed a woman fainted in the center of the orchestra just as Robert was getting ready to sing "It All Fades Away" in Act II. Several minutes were taken up with ushers helping the woman out of the hall. We hope she's ok, but we also sort of wished they had simply stopped the show for 2 minutes to allow the woman to be easily removed, and then resume the number, rather than disrupting such a key scene for everyone.

[Wildcard]

Posted: 12/21/15 at 6:25pm

When I saw it, the audience was very involved. There were a lot of younger people in the crowd that night and they reacted to every occurrence on stage with "oohs" and "aahs" and screams whenever the two lovers might get caught. It made for a very fun night.

[Alessio2]

Posted: 1/8/16 at 5:04pm

Saw this last night at the Ahmanson and really enjoyed it overall. I was not at all familiar with the score which is how I prefer seeing a show for the first time. I'll be going back a second time before they end their run January 17th. Great cast and beautiful score. Elisabeth Stanley and Andrew Samonsky both did a great job in their respective roles. My major complaint was Stanley's diction. Someone else mentioned they couldn't understand a word of her opening song To Build a Home, and that is 100% accurate. Really hard to understand. I found this to be the case with most of her songs. You REALLY had to be paying attention. 

I also just felt there were sound issues in general, it just seemed really low for most of the show. And I was sitting pretty close in row J. Sadly, the audience seemed restless and I found them to be downright rude. Worst LA audience experience I have ever had, and I normally find LA crowds to be great. The theater couldn't have been more than half full. After the show I purchased the OBCR for $10. It was the only merchandise they had. When I asked why it was so cheap the lady told me the show and the CDs were not selling well at all during its LA run! Too bad really!

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 1/9/16 at 12:11am

I saw the Ahmanson production a couple of days after Christmas and was so moved, I haven't been able to post about it. I know it's heresy on this board, but i thought Stanley sang Francesca better than O'Hara; the former's more obvious head voice made the character seem more "Italian" somehow. In fact and with the possible exception of Samonsky, I found the entire production to be better sung than the OBCR (which I adore). And if Samonsky wasn't better than Pasquale, he was still terrific--and gorgeous to look at.

 

I suppose it is true, as others have said, that the sexual chemistry between the leads may have been lacking. But somehow their relationship seemed less about sex and more about inner courage.

 

What a shame if it still isn't selling! I've lived in Southern California for 30 years and BRIDGES is one of the best productions I've seen at the Ahmanson. I do admit I wondered how it played upstairs and from the back of the orchestra. I was in the fourth row and it seemed a very intimate production.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 1/9/16 at 12:18am

ljay889 said: "Well act two does follow the years AFTER the affair. So the musical does explore more than just the four day affair. 

 

"

Despite my raving above, I think that creates quite a hurdle for the show and may be a clue as to why the show isn't succeeding commercially. The plot seems to end three times: each time with a great song, but the show as a whole is denied a grand, emotional climax of the sort that sends people running out to phone their friends about the "great show" they just saw. Theater prices being what they are, I think it's difficult for the merely "thoughtful and moving" to attain commercial success.

[gleek4114]

Posted: 1/11/16 at 12:30am

So is this expected to continue through the year? I listened to an interview with Elizabeth Stanley, and she said it would be a 9 month tour, so is it just doing a few cities towards the beginning of the 2016-2017 touring season? I really want to see it! Dayton (2 hours from me) is the closest it's coming to me, but my city's new season will be announced by then, hopefully it will continue and make a stop closer to me. 

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 1/11/16 at 12:45am

gleek, I live in Palm Springs and drove 3 hours each way in heavy, Los Angeles traffic to see it.

 

It was entirely worth it.

[gleek4114]

Posted: 1/12/16 at 1:49am

I don't doubt that! I'm not debating on weather or not to see it (I know I want to), just when I should see it. I'll probably wait to make my decision in late February just incase the tour happens to make a stop closer to me at a later date (I know Dayton isn't that far, so who knows, I might go anyway). 

[Alessio2]

Posted: 1/15/16 at 4:58pm

Saw this again last night, this time with a much more respectful audience. I am now officially in love with this beautiful show! Still had some trouble with Elisabeth Stanley's diction in some parts but overall an incredibly moving evening at the theater. Listening to the gorgeous OBCR right now and it captures the beauty of the show so well. If anyone has doubts about catching this when it hits your city, don't miss it! It was also really incredible to watch Jason Robert Brown conduct his score entirely from memory with no sheet music in front of him whatsoever! 

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/15/16 at 5:08pm

Cute! https://www.instagram.com/p/BAkSXsFMhHI/

[mallardo]

Posted: 1/15/16 at 5:44pm

There was a pretty good house last night - a Thursday - and the audience was very responsive.  How could they not be?  The show is magnificent and Stanley and Samonsky are sublime.  And, btw, I thought they had plenty of sexual heat.  The bonus was having JRB in the pit.  He was fun to watch, he was so into it. 

 

 

Updated On: 1/15/16 at 05:44 PM

[BroadwayFan12]

Posted: 1/15/16 at 5:46pm

Alessio2 said: "My major complaint was Stanley's diction. Someone else mentioned they couldn't understand a word of her opening song To Build a Home, and that is 100% accurate. Really hard to understand. I found this to be the case with most of her songs. You REALLY had to be paying attention."

 

I haven't seen the tour so my opinion probably isn't worth much, but from the clips that have been released, her diction sounds much better than Kelli's, whom I adore. Maybe it's different in person?

 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 1/17/16 at 1:12pm

Does anyone know if they are planning on bringing this tour with this cast to Chicago? I'm afraid by the time it gets to Chicago it would be non-equity and I would just die to see Andrew and Elizabeth in these roles. Also I'm in la right now with my school choir and I didn't realize bridges was going to be here when we were. We are going to see bullets and if I knew about bridges I could have pleaded my teacher to change the show. I'm so angry.