Letter to Harvey Milk

[lightguy06222]

Posted: 3/3/18 at 9:16pm

Has anyone on here seen it yet?  I am very interested in other peoples thoughts.....

 

 

[Alfie6]

Posted: 3/3/18 at 11:13pm

I just saw this at Theater Row and it is one of the best new musicals I have seen in recent memory, bring a lot of tissues. It gets pretty rough especially towards the end which will crush you, there were many people around me crying pretty loudly. I thought the show was going to be a bio-musical about Harvey Milk and yes he is a character but it is really about the relationship between an old Jewish man and his young JCC writing teacher. The older Jewish man knew Harvey Milk personally and uses that friendship as a way to kickstart his writing. Cheryl Stern had the best numbers in the show and was an absolute delight. This one really hit a nerve personally. Run time is 90 minutes no intermission. 

[MadonnaMusical]

Posted: 3/4/18 at 8:47am

I saw this last night and it ruined me! I was not expecting it to be this good! Best musical i’ve Seen this season. It would win best musical for sure if it was on broadway. Can’t wait for the soundtrack!

[dramamama611]

Posted: 3/4/18 at 2:02pm

Seems to me that a cast recording is unlikely....but have you heard something?

It dies would wonderful, thanks for making me aware!

[Alfie6]

Posted: 3/4/18 at 2:14pm

I really hope there is one, would buy in a minute. If anyone wants a sampling here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WrZVZdpIro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dsa1cOBJTOw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4caoNALiD4

[lightguy06222]

Posted: 3/6/18 at 10:41am

I appreciate the people who enjoyed it.....

I very much did not.  I felt the writing was pedantic, and the story was muddled.  I felt like the writers were pandering to both gays and jews, and was rarely honest.

I enjoyed the relationship between the old man and the teacher, but the dead wife who magically appears in bed with her husband was completely unnecessary.  And they set the entire story up like a flashback, but never addressed it again.  then never brought us back to the "present".

And the "twist" at the end, I actually found offensive.

First of all, the costume designer got the "prisoner" costumes wrong, and that offended me.  the stripes are VERTICAL.  in every research photo I can find.  ALWAYS vertical stripes.  was it the designers artistic choice to change the stripes to horizontal, or did she just not do the research??

Also the entire premise that they were "caught" by guards is just unheard of.  In the camps HUNDREDS of men slept together squeezed into tiny bunks.  EVERYONE "cuddled" with their neighbor for warmth, for connection, etc.  they would not fit on the bunks otherwise. 

It was just wrong.  and boring.  the music was pretty but the mothers entire song about why its wrong to be a lesbian was pandering for laughs.  and didn't really support the story.

 

this play had NOTHING to do with Harvey milk.

 

avoid it.

 

[DebHobson]

Posted: 3/16/18 at 10:30am

I am very sorry to hear you found the concentration camp costumes offensive.  Extensive research was done on all aspects of the show's design.  Its just completely unfortunate that finding realistic concentration camp costumes is much more difficult that it should be, and it was not possible to spend the money to have 5 sets built to be authentic.  We did the best that we could with the money that we had, which sometimes means that liberties must be taken with the hope that the audience can forgive/understand the intent.

[jbm2]

Posted: 4/10/18 at 11:33am

Excited to see this....

[Patty3]

Posted: 4/10/18 at 12:19pm

lightguy06222 said: "
this play had NOTHING to do with Harvey milk.
 

avoid it."

I'm not sure we saw the same show?

I was enthralled though out the entire show. Julia Knitel deserves her Lortel Best Actress nomination. I was disappointed that there were not more nominations for the cast and the show itself. 

[jbm2]

Posted: 4/15/18 at 5:41pm

Absolutely loved this show. No wonder it’s keeps extending. Best musical this season.
This deserves a cast recording and a home on Broadway.... where more people could see it.

[wicked4l]

Posted: 4/16/18 at 11:16am

I saw Julia as Carol King and she is absolutely fabulous in this part too. Her voice fits the score SO well.

[Jane3]

Posted: 5/27/18 at 12:30am

Just wanted to post to say that there HAS been a cast recording and it’s now available digitally and otherwise!! Love this show! https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/A-LETTER-TO-HARVEY-MILK-Cast-Album-Now-Available-Digitally-20180525

Updated On: 5/27/18 at 12:30 AM

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 5/27/18 at 12:37am

I'm thinking about seeing this. Is it worth it?

[goldenboy]

Posted: 5/27/18 at 12:47am

This show was very well intentioned but written by a committee of five writers and it shows. It's disjointed and all over the place.  It was one part bad Borscht Belt, one part Bent, one part Harvey Milk, one part Lesbian Rights , one part I Do I Do.  It had everything but the kitchen sink  It was  so politcally correct and preachy that I wanted to scream. The part of the wife was so terribly stereotypically Jewish that I cringed every time she was on the stage.  The message is a good one; tell your story but the show needed more development and more cohesion.  It really wasn't very interesting until the last ten minutes when It felt like Bent was ripped off.  Disappointing. Oh -- and it has very little to do with Harvey Milk.  Did i mention it felt very long at 90 minutes?

No I would not recommend. 

[jbm2]

Posted: 5/27/18 at 12:49am

GeorgeandDot said: "I'm thinking about seeing this. Is it worth it?"

 

Yessssssssssss !!!!!!!

[goldenboy]

Posted: 5/27/18 at 12:54am

It worth seeing for NOT how to write a musical.

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 5/27/18 at 6:09pm

It's interesting. I saw the show in New York, and while the girl I went with wasn't a huge fan, I found it okay. When I saw the album came out, I gave it a listen, as I had also checked out the Mean Girls album and was pleasantly surprised by all the nuance I missed in that score. With A Letter to Harvey Milk, it's kind of the opposite effect. The music seems more bland than when I heard it in the show.

The orchestrations are well done (they had a John Tunick-esque sophistication), the cast was very strong, and I'm sure the writers had the best intentions, but the show just feels like a message delivered too late. The moral is about accepting LGBT people for who they are. That message was probably a lot stronger in 2011 when the show was being workshopped. But this is 2018, almost 3 years removed from Obergefell v. Hodge. While there is still a long ways to go, we are mostly past the point of "gay people deserve basic human respect". Shows like Hairspray or Ragtime can take civil rights issues from the past and make them feel fresh and relevant and important, but Letter to Harvey Milk doesn't seem to accomplish the same feat.

[jbm2]

Posted: 10/23/18 at 1:08am

LOVED this show. Does it live on anywhere? Being producuced outside of NYC?