Bella: An American Tall Tale

[bekk99]

Posted: 6/1/17 at 6:54am

Any word on this one at Playwrights Horizons? Worth seeing?

[CurtainsUpat8]

Posted: 6/1/17 at 7:26am

I thought it was brilliant. Not perfect. But brilliant. Highly entertaining.  The cast is really great. The production values are wonderful. It's a little crazy but I had a lot of fun. The score is wonderful. Ashley Kelley who played Bella is a star. Brandon Gill is so moving and competent. Yurel Echezarreta has a number in the first act which is flawless. After seeing Venus at the Signature, I think one place that Ms Childs goes off tract is that she doesn't really explain in any plausible way Bella's behind. She creates a crazy world. I laughed a lot. There are some scenes, one in particular at the circus, where I think a lot of people can call racist. It's not worse than what goes on in Book of Mormon. I thought it was one of the best new musicals I've seen in ages. I loved IOWA too. I think there are going to be people who are going to make a big fuss about it and not like it, and it will have it's fans.  The sets, costumes, and lighting are all first rate. I sat in the first row, which might have been a little too close, but I sure enjoyed watching this crazy world unfold in front of me.

[bekk99]

Posted: 6/1/17 at 2:28pm

Thanks Curtains!

Anyone else seen it?

[kaykordeath]

Posted: 6/1/17 at 3:37pm

Curtains covered most of pretty well. The show feels a bit long/drawn out at times. A couple reviews at Show-Score mentioned preferring the second act, I, personally, preferred the first. Overall, though, a very fun and whimsical show.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 6/1/17 at 5:23pm

I don't have my thoughts all together yet, but definitely worth seeing. I think they get away with a lot because of the irreverence though it does still feel like a show that needs work, whether or not that will actually happen during previews. Some songs could be stronger. To my taste, the book could be tightened up and some of the crass humor could be discarded. Also, I think the cast still feels a little tentative and I wish they would just tear into and go all out from the beginning. I think I like the material in the first act, it feels vaudeville where she's imagining these scenarios so each successive character gets a song and those are fun. Act 2 works because a lot of threads are coming together, it's more emotional, and they really go for it with the vocals. I give them credit for making two of the big emotional moments (with the grandmother and the love interest) work in spite of all the lightheartedness but I do think it could be a smoother transition. I appreciate all the social critique and efforts to say things through this pretty simple story. I don't really want to give too much away until other people have seen the show. But I did think some parts and characters were shortchanged. Also, while there's more to the story than Bella's imaginings, I think not getting a clear sense of what's real and what's not robs it of some emotional depth. In another show, when the fantasy gets swept aside, things might get very dark. Bella just flirts with that but never really goes there. 

It is a very fun time and there are some great moments I don't want to give away. And compared to tentative fare like Aubergine and The Light Years, this show definitely has more bite. 

Updated On: 6/1/17 at 05:23 PM

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 6/7/17 at 3:42pm

Does this production distribute a Playbill? I'm a collectorl, and would love to add one to my binder.

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 6/7/17 at 3:45pm

I left at intermission. I was so utterly bored by it and so confused by what the tone was supposed to be. None of the music grabbed me, the staging seem basic, and they weren't even utilizing the major set piece of the stage on the stage. When that one guy turned into a stripper for no reason I made up my mind I was leaving during intermission.

[little_sally]

Posted: 6/7/17 at 4:21pm

LimelightMike said: "Does this production distribute a Playbill? I'm a collectorl, and would love to add one to my binder.

Playwrights Horizons uses their own programs, not a Playbill.

 

[oncemorewithfeeling2]

Posted: 6/7/17 at 5:52pm

I enjoyed it.  I thought it was well done, with fabulous voices and costumes, but that some parts of the story need to be fleshed out further and are leaving the audience wanting more. It feels long and needs some tightening up.  That being said, Ashley Kelly is stupid good. Ridiculously talented. See it for her if anything because she's pretty magical.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/7/17 at 6:15pm

she doesn't really explain in any plausible way Bella's behind.

Wait...what?  Are you sure you weren't watching the Old Lady in Candide?

[bekk99]

Posted: 6/7/17 at 6:39pm

Saw it last night. Enjoyable, some good performances, but needs a lot of focus and trimming.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 6/7/17 at 6:41pm

nasty_khakis said: "I left at intermission. I was so utterly bored by it and so confused by what the tone was supposed to be. None of the music grabbed me, the staging seem basic, and they weren't even utilizing the major set piece of the stage on the stage. When that one guy turned into a stripper for no reason I made up my mind I was leaving during intermission.

I'm sorry you left at intermission. There are certainly worse things I've managed to sit through. I would say that the basic staging felt intentional to me. The simple choreography, the attractive but not necessarily expensive costumes... I think it was supposed to evoke community theater or children's theater in a way that was accessible enough to communicate the social justice and identity politics themes. Or maybe I'm being generous and reading too much into the 10+ up guidance. 

I did think the stage on stage was a weird choice. I think there's a better way to negotiate the unreality. I brought this up earlier but I think it hurts the show to not know what's real. Magical realism, characters with overactive imaginations, that stuff works when it's grounded enough so there are still stakes. Did Bella conjure up that fantasy with Bonny Johnny to protect herself from the truth as Nathaniel suggests at first? If not and the Itty Bitty Gal and all that is true then why have those other fantasies of the passengers on the train? I could get more into it, but anyway I feel like they mostly used the stage for the fantasy (memories of her immediate family back home, how the cowboy enters through the window, the fantasy of the other cowboy, checking back in on her family later, memories of Tupelo) but there are also plenty of times when they don't use the stage. There's a lack of consistency to express what the vision is there. 

I enjoyed the part that you call "When that one guy turned into a stripper for no reason". Aside from the obvious, I think there was some interesting work being done there. I interpreted it as something like Fan Tan Fannie in Flower Drum Song. In one sense the music and the persimmons and all that was exploiting the exoticism... which is also somewhat justified if Bella's just conjuring it up out of a few paragraphs in her travel guide. On the other hand, you're letting an Asian man, who in America is rarely considered the romantic lead or sexual ideal and you're letting him be the rock star... the Conrad Birdie, or whoever from Rock of Ages. I think, like with Bella, you are objectifying the body but you're doing it for an identity or a figure that generally isn't openly considered worthy of that attention. I do think it kind of comes out of nowhere like the other characters in Act 1. It would be stronger if we got a solid answer on what was happening. Like, Nathaniel establishes that Gussie May is there. But she gets off at another stop so it seems like Bella conjured up that whole backstory. But the lady with the baby might not be real at all? I appreciate what the writer was trying to do, addressing all these different marginalized groups but the connective tissue isn't really there. They took it out when I went back (but I think they're putting it back in) but the Buffalo Soldier song that Aloysius takes part in makes more sense because he's a character we know and he organically gives voice to his position. 

As I said, I do think the threads come together more in Act 2 once we get past Bella's fantasies. Also, you missed some great numbers. The circus and the two big emotional punches. 

[Owen22]

Posted: 6/7/17 at 9:28pm

nasty_khakis said: "I left at intermission. I was so utterly bored by it and so confused by what the tone was supposed to be. None of the music grabbed me, the staging seem basic, and they weren't even utilizing the major set piece of the stage on the stage. When that one guy turned into a stripper for no reason I made up my mind I was leaving during intermission.

This is how I felt after her last musical, something about a mythological island with fish people...?  I can't remember. But it was so horrible....

 

"

 

[newintown]

Posted: 6/8/17 at 7:57am

"This is how I felt after her last musical, something about a mythological island with fish people...?  I can't remember. But it was so horrible...."

Damn you for reminding me of The Miracle Brothers, a show so inept and foolish that one felt trapped in a bad Disneyland experience. In case you don't recall, it was a bout a pair of dolphin brothers who decide to become human, one white /one black, and proceeded to make even less sense thereafter. It featured the ear-splittingly dog-whistle high song stylings of Tyler Maynard (remember him?).

Childs is an exceptionally nice person, but I've always found her musical language to be limited to pleasant but generic lite pop sounds; and when choosing stories to musicalize, she seems to go for the obtuse, unfocused, and cloyingly whimsical.

[little_sally]

Posted: 6/16/17 at 10:01am

While the show is admirable, and Ashley D. Kelley is wonderful (loved her voice), it doesn't have much going for it. The whole thing is way, way, too long, and nothing about it justifies the 2:45 run time. There's no forward momentum in the first act; Bella sits in a chair and production numbers that don't move the "plot" along happen out of nowhere. It was really hard to stay awake. If my partner hadn't wanted to stay, I would've left at intermission.

The second act fares much better because there is more a plot, more of a journey for the character. But still, the show is too long, and there are a few numbers in the second act that while lovely, really could've been cut. And for a show that is almost 3 hours long, a lot of loose ends do not get tied up but the main conflict of the show is neatly solved with a stupid contrivance.

Some of the music is very good, as are the voices of the cast but at some point, Childs stopped writing songs that sounded era-appropriate. There were a few things in the second act that sounded very contemporary.

Updated On: 6/16/17 at 10:01 AM

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 6/16/17 at 12:18pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_GYRHGTO8Y

As is probably clear, I enjoyed the show but I think most of your criticisms are valid little_sally.