MR. SATURDAY NIGHT Previews- Page 2

[Dylan Pellagrino]

Posted: 3/30/22 at 9:57am

Got tickets for last nights performance via TDF! Seats were MEZ ROW C - Seat 20,22. Amazing seats!

I want to preface this with - I have never seen Mr. Saturday Night, the movie. I am also not familiar with Billy Crystals comedy style. That being said this was the worst Broadway production I have ever seen. There is nothing redeemable about this show at all. This should tell you the level of "genius comedy" we are subjected to: Biggest laugh of the night was an adult diaper joke. Second biggest laugh was a joke about a Chinese man's name being Buddy Young. All the Asian jokes need to be cut immediately - they are painful to hear. I was embarrassed to come back for the second act! Please we need to get Shoshana Bean out of there!! She is way too good for this production! None of the songs work and there is virtually ZERO plot. I would scrap all the songs and turn it into a play. Wouldn't make my worst enemy sit through this show. I have no idea who this is supposed to be for (I brought my 62 year old mom who also hated it). Will be shocked if it stays open longer than a month! RIP MR. SATURDAY NIGHT!!! 

Also not many technical issues for first preview - except David Paymer's mic kept echoing and screeching (hopefully this is fixed before opening night)! 

All the love to the crew of this production, I'm sure they are trying their best. 

Updated On: 3/30/22 at 09:57 AM

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 3/30/22 at 10:27am

Not disputing your assessment, Dylan Pellagrino (because I haven't seen the show), but the target audience for this is definitely people who know and like Crystal, his style of humor, and his persona as a movie star/Oscar host. (Watch When Harry Met Sally or some of his Oscar hosting song parodies if you want to see Crystal at his best.)

That doesn't mean it's a good show, of course! But shows build around comedic personas can be so hit or miss, because if you don't like that person's style, you probably won't like the show.

[52889j]

Posted: 3/30/22 at 10:30am

Dylan Pellagrino said: " Second biggest laugh was a joke about a Chinese man's name being Buddy Young. All the Asian jokes need to be cut immediately - they are painful to hear. "

*Korean. 

That conflation is, in fact, racist.

 

[Dylan Pellagrino]

Posted: 3/30/22 at 10:35am

LOL really? That is your issue? Not the actual joke?

OK Thank you for the correction! My apologies. 

Updated On: 3/30/22 at 10:35 AM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/30/22 at 10:42am

I don’t remember any jokes like that… Where were they?

[Dylan Pellagrino]

Posted: 3/30/22 at 10:53am

Jordan Catalano said: "I don’t remember any jokes like that… Where were they?"

First he made a joke about eating at a Szechuan buffet - ok that's fine.

Then he made a joke about how no one can understand him "what am I speaking chinese??" - ok this is getting weird. 

After that came the big Buddy Young joke - literally not funny at all.

Finally the last one I remember was a kamikaze joke in one of the songs. - ha ha ha so hilarious 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/30/22 at 10:57am

I remember the stuff about the Chinese food and we looked at each other and were all “oh that sounds good after the show”. 

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 3/30/22 at 11:45am

I obviously don’t know context, but those jokes doesn’t sound too offensive just reading them. And if they are, hopefully they will be flagged and handled in the preview process.

I’ve never seen many of these performers live, so the positive feedback from last night makes me excited to see this show.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/30/22 at 11:57am

I don't remember those specific "jokes" but I'm sure if you're looking for something to be offended about in an old Jewish comic from the 50's, you'll find at least one thing to clutch pearls over. 

[multimattvids]

Posted: 3/30/22 at 8:49pm

At intermission, the women’s bathroom flooded so now there’s an extended intermission to make sure everyone who was on the line can go next door to the bathroom in the hotel.

[quizking101]

Posted: 3/30/22 at 10:23pm

Just got out of the show.

I went in expecting a middle ground Billy Crystal vanity project and that’s exactly what I got. It was like spending almost 3 hours hanging out with your grandfather - wholesome, easily digestible, a little stale, and some unexpectedly dirty jokes for good measure. 

Crystal obviously plays the character well because it’s his creation and his comic timing is absolutely impeccable - his one-liners are gold. His singing voice was competent - he’s not Sinatra or anything, but he at least can carry a tune; same with David Paymer. Randy Graff was funny in the long suffering wife role and had a big “I Want” number in act 2 that had a “Roses’ Turn” gusto to it. Her other good number was a love duet with Crystal that was actually really sweet. Unfortunately, PROJECTION was a unilateral problem across the board for me and the sound design was a bit messy - they should borrow some bombast from Paradise Square.

Shoshana Bean, unfortunately, felt like wasted casting here. It’s not really a plum role and takes far too long to see any depth beyond “bitter troubled daughter of ex-comedian”.

The music felt like serviceable, easy listening elevator music with not much in the way of flair - no doubt to accommodate the limitations of the performers. I saw JRB puttering around the back during the show and taking notes. The sets also seemed to get a bit lost in the theatre and some of the intimacy it had was lost.

Overall, it was cute and worth the $60 I paid on TDF (my seat was Mezz D-18, but I had to change to Right Orch M 26 because my hips were too wide for the Mezz seat. I wouldn’t pay any more than this without feeling like I was cheated

[kurtal]

Posted: 3/30/22 at 10:53pm

quizking101 said: "Just got out of the show.

I went in expecting a middle ground Billy Crystal vanity project and that’s exactly what I got. It was like spending almost 3 hours hanging out with your grandfather - wholesome, easily digestible, a little stale, and some unexpectedly dirty jokes for good measure."

I was there tonight, too, and this really hit it on the head for me.  It's a perfectly serviceable Billy Crystal comedy vehicle that is a woefully underdeveloped musical.  And Shoshana Bean is criminally underutilized.  

I chuckled a few times, and I'm not angry that the show exists...but it didn't do anything particularly special for me either.

If you're a big Crystal fan or nostalgic for the Borscht Belt, you'll have a great time.  And that's not a jab at all.  I'm just not the target audience for this (queer Gentile in my early 40s).

 

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 3/30/22 at 11:02pm

Gosh why don't they write a showstopper for Shoshana Bean? Oof. 

[kurtal]

Posted: 3/30/22 at 11:10pm

KJisgroovy said: "Gosh why don't they write a showstopper for Shoshana Bean? Oof."

My knee-jerk response is "because JRB hates women", but that seems unfair.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/30/22 at 11:15pm

My best friend saw it tonight and loved it as much as I did but she said “The goy’s are gonna hate it”.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 3/30/22 at 11:46pm

This may be the ultimate test of the dimensions of Broadway's traditionally most reliable demographic circa 2022. 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 3/30/22 at 11:53pm

kurtal said: "KJisgroovy said: "Gosh why don't they write a showstopper for Shoshana Bean? Oof."

My knee-jerk response is "because JRB hates women", but that seems unfair."

All the women's songs in Bridges are gorgeous. Maybe thematically they couldn't find a way to give her a song? They'd be smart to give her a big powerhouse song. Get the gays and the youths in. I mean, she packed them in at Waitress. Give her something to do. 

[HogansHero]

Posted: 3/31/22 at 12:06am

It is well to remember that after many years of trying and many opportunities, JRB has never managed to write the score of a successful musical. One has to wonder if "success" as we use that term has been a consideration in the building of this property. My guess is that the answer is no.

[DramaTeach]

Posted: 4/1/22 at 12:26am

Saw this tonight (although it’s now technically the next day), and I LOVED it. IMO, this is the catchiest music JRB has written, and the whole thing cracked me up. I agree that this will be an interesting one to watch because it has a very specific audience, and it’s a Jewish audience that’s aging. Not sure how many of those would come out in a pandemic to a city that’s dealing with lots of issues, and I don’t know that many others my age would appreciate references to *SPOILERS* the Catskills, Ratner’s or Buddy Hackett *END SPOILERS.* I found them hysterical and homage to a time gone by that I adore.
 

Billy Crystal is the show, but I loved the moments when all the players were in it together. I thought the actor who plays his brother (his name escapes me) seems like this may be too much for him. I wanted more from Ms. Bean and Ms. Graff, and by more, I mean that their mics seemed soft. I wanted moments of power and while they had them, I didn’t think they were loud and powerful enough. The trio was a lot of fun. 

The show was over at about 9:55, and Billy Crystal made a short speak about Mr. Nederlander on what would’ve been his 100th birthday. Billy mentioned that this was only their 3rd preview, so this is “as bad as it will ever be.” If this is the bad version, I highly recommend getting a ticket and checking it out for yourself!

[HogansHero]

Posted: 4/1/22 at 12:43am

I hate when this happens. I ate "light" tonight and now all I can think about is a Ratner's onion roll.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 4/1/22 at 12:49am

HogansHero said: "It is well to remember that after many years of trying and many opportunities, JRB has never managed to write the score of a successful musical. One has to wonder if "success" as we use that term has been a consideration in the building of this property. My guess is that the answer is no."

Perhaps Marc Shaiman dropping out of the project was a sign.

Haven't seen it, but the scale of the show is fascinating to me for a musical comedy. 8 onstage, 6 in the band. A decade ago, this would have been "opened up" to the scale of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels or Producers. But keeping down that running cost is probably the only way Jimmy Nickelcounter & Barry Weissler can make this work financially, considering Crystal's salary and schedule.

Updated On: 4/1/22 at 12:49 AM

[mamaleh]

Posted: 4/1/22 at 1:07am

I was at the show earlier this evening, too.  The first act was hilarious, owing of course to the great Billy Crystal.  I don't care  how old he is, as one of the show's songs puts it, he's "still got it."  But as pointed out before, probably not hilarious to everyone.  Me, I'm a sucker for old timey Borscht Belt humor.  It reminds me of my parents and grandparents and how we would sit and listen to Mickey Katz recordings together when I was a child.  (For your kiddies, Katz was Joel Grey's dad.)  I wanted to like the songs but found them meh at best.  Having re-experienced the sublime BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY last week in NJ, I was disappointed in most of Jason Robert Brown's melodies this evening and was not impressed by Amanda Green's lyrics.  Ms. Graff and Ms. Bean of course have the best voices of the cast, but even the best voice needs a great song to truly shine. The second act is more dramatic, and I found  myself missing the rapid-fire comedy of the first act.  Still, on the whole, a very watchable evening. Billy Crystal stage antics are the reason to see this show.

Added plus: to my delight, our winning lottery seats were center Orchestra, Row H.  Perfect view!  I'd been expecting an extreme side seat somewhere in the mezz.   I wonder if the predicted stormy weather freed up some prime locations. 

 

[MadsonMelo]

Posted: 4/1/22 at 1:31am

The first reviews made me think I could Change one of my shows for this one, but forgettable score, lead actor not a Singer and a niche humour made me realize it would be a mistake. Wondering of the Tonys will eat it Up because of Crystal.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 4/1/22 at 4:04pm

Tonight's performance is up at TKTS for 40% off.

Updated On: 4/1/22 at 04:04 PM

[BCfitasafiddle]

Posted: 4/1/22 at 5:11pm

I won the lottery for the matinee tomorrow. Has anyone else gotten tix thru the lotto? How were the seats?