As i said from the beginning i enjoy reading your posts because they are thoughtful, knowledgeable and courteous.
I respect your opinion on touring casts and will need to think about where my own biases may be kicking in.
Since Im only in new york once a year its certainly possible I may be weighting or biasing the OBC casts a bit as part of my excitement factor for being in New York, seeing a show for the first time, and being able to enjoy the broadway energy and experience which is still palpable compared to watching in SF.
I do have a great deal of respect for everyone on the stage and behind the scenes for national tours, and get the difference between who's on stage in NYC vs San Francisco is often about a lot more than just talent
Im going to cabaret tomorrow for the final show and excited to see whats the same or different from a few weeks ago
I looked around the internet for info about the Today Tix lottery seating at the Pantages and came up empty, so I decided to take a chance and check it out for myself. I entered the lottery about five times for Beautiful (the most recent show at the Pantages) and didn't win, but won on my second try for Cabaret. The email saying that I won instructed me to pay $25 per ticket via the app (the same price for Beautiful) and to pick up the tickets from the concierge outside the the theater.
We picked up the tickets from an easy-to-spot woman in a Today Tix red tee outside the Pantages about a half-hour before the show started. Our seats were in the LC Mezzanine section, in Row B. The face value of these seats was $36 + a $3 facility fee, and I am sure there would have been more fees tacked on had we bought through TM. Though I've gotten considerably better seats from lotteries, these seats were not bad.
Fair warning, though - I didn't realize how far away the mezz is from the stage at the Pantages, since I have only seen shows there from the orchestra. When we saw this production in NYC at Studio 54 (with Emma Stone), we were front row mezz, and we were probably twice as close to the stage as we were at the Pantages due to the sheer size of the place. I think it makes a difference in the enjoyment of this particular show, as I missed being able to see facial features.
Overall, we enjoyed the production, though I prefer the NYC edition over the touring one. Andrea Goss sounded fantastic, and Randy Harrison was almost surprisingly good as the Emcee, but the secondary characters were nearly all better on Broadway.
sm33 said: "Strangely, my post from yesterday afternoon did not show up in this post until LesWickedly posted a minute ago, but I saw it in LA & enjoyed it!
"
Oh did I miss that post! My bad! But great review! I have seats much closer so that's nice to hear.
Saw this last night at the Pantages, after having seen the Mendes production originally on Broadway with Cumming & Richardson (stunning), and then again a few years ago with Cumming & Williams (meh). Unfortunately, this touring production falls towards the lower end of the scale....
I actually quite liked Andrea Goss as Sally. She was far better than Michelle Williams. (At least her accent remained in place throughout). And most of the supporting cast was fine. Even Lee Aaron Rosen as Cliff (who has to be one of the blandest protagonists in the history of musical theater).
The problem -- for me -- was with Randy Harrison. Now, I never watched the U.S. version of QAF, so had no pre-conceived notion of him as an actor/person/persona. But he just came off as lightweight, superficial, and far too young & pretty. There was no edge to him at all. Sure, he snarled & leered & groped & prowled -- but he just came off like a little boy playing dress-up for Halloween. (There was, however, a huge ovation for him at the curtain, so make of that what you will...)
I don't know. Maybe I'm just over the Mendes CABARET. There are hints that Celebration Theatre will be doing their own version next year here in L.A. If it's half as good as their current THE BOY FROM OZ, it should be worth seeing. One of the best CABARETs I've seen was done recently by the Crown City Theatre Company in Studio City. With an excellent 11-person cast, the director found a new approach to the material which was different & imaginative -- until he blew it by having "Maybe This Time" sung by both Sally and Fraulein Schneider (which I could handle) and placing it at the end after "Cabaret" (which I couldn't). Still, up until then, it was perfectly marvelous. If interested, you can check out this short clip reel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svhIQjeDIW8
PepperedShepherd said: The problem -- for me -- was with Randy Harrison. Now, I never watched the U.S. version of QAF, so had no pre-conceived notion of him as an actor/person/persona. But he just came off as lightweight, superficial, and far too young & pretty. There was no edge to him at all. Sure, he snarled & leered & groped & prowled -- but he just came off like a little boy playing dress-up for Halloween. (There was, however, a huge ovation for him at the curtain, so make of that what you will...)
I just saw this tonight, and I couldn't agree more. I hated him right away, because, on top of being too young, he was so clearly playing a role, as opposed to inhabiting it. But I did kind of warm up to him eventually.
And the huge ovation is meaningless. This is America, where everyone gets a huge ovation.
Finally saw this this afternoon in Costa Messa , Harrison was superb , funny, touchy, scarily good. But Andrea Gross singing Cabaret was a thrilling spectacular moment of theatre.
If I didn't have a flight back to Australia later today, I would have got a ticket to see it again tonight
A brilliant production
Well I didn't want to get into it, but he's a Satanist.
Every full moon he sacrifices 4 puppies to the Dark Lord and smears their blood on his paino.
This should help you understand the score for Wicked a little bit more.
Tazber's: Reply to
Is Stephen Schwartz a Practicing Christian
In our millions, in our billions, we are most powerful when we stand together. TW4C unwaveringly joins the worldwide masses, for we know our liberation is inseparably bound.
Signed,
Theater Workers for a Ceasefire
https://theaterworkersforaceasefire.com/statement
Side note: PepperedShepherd, I would argue that Cliff is not bland but is often played very bland. I played the role in a regional production a few years ago and think there are so many layers to explore, especially if you read Isherwood's writings. I get why Sally and the Emcee are the "stars" of the show, but by being so they sort of push Cliff off to the side :)
Saw the tour in Ft. Lauderdale yesterday. The show is in great shape. I believe Harrison is leaving in 4 weeks. His singing is quite a nice surprise and different than Cummings. He seemed to be enjoying the role. Goss is a strong singer. The stunning ending really took the audience by surprise.
She had the best voice by far of any of the Cabaret stars on Broadway.
It always amuses me when people rate the singing voices of the actresses playing Sally. She's supposed to be a third-rate performer working in a seedy Berlin club. She's NOT supposed to have a great singing voice. This criteria is why non-singing actresses successfully appeared during the original run of the Sam Mendes/Rob Marshall Broadway revival in the late 1990s to 2001. They weren't required to have incredible singing voices as that isn't a requirement for playing Sally Bowles.
BrodyFosse123 said: "She had the best voice by far of any of the Cabaret stars on Broadway.
It always amuses me when people rate the singing voices of the actresses playing Sally. She's supposed to be a third-rate performer working in a seedy Berlin club. She's NOT supposed to have a great singing voice. This criteria is why non-singing actresses successfully appeared during the original run of the Sam Mendes/Rob Marshall Broadway revival in the late 1990s to 2001. They weren't required to have incredible singing voices as that isn't a requirement for playing Sally Bowles.
"Yes, I know this. But hasnt that changed since Liza did the movie? In any event, I know I may be minority and that is OK, but when I (or my date) is spending alot of money at Theatre I want to hear great pipes!!!!
While it might not be a necessity for the role, I would much rather hear someone belt the heck out of Maybe This Time and Cabaret than just whisper-sing/speak-sing their way through it. For example, I found Barrett Wilbert Weed to be an absolutely stellar Sally in the Signature Theatre production. Not a fan of the non-singing Sally's. However that is a matter of personal taste.
I wasn't planning on going but won lottery tickets for this past Sunday and I'm really glad I went. This was my first time seeing a professional production of it and I'm glad I didn't miss this production. Randy Harrison was fantastic - definitely stole the show, especially with his "I Don't Care Much." I wasn't sure about Andrea Goss at first but by "Maybe This Time" she had totally won me over and her "Cabaret" was flawless. I also caught her last show - I'm really curious to hear what everyone thinks of Leigh Ann Larkin.