The Karate Kid - PreBroadway in St. Louis Reactions

[gleek4114]

Posted: 5/20/22 at 11:12am

Anyone going when it starts performances this week? I’ll be there on the 29th. I am cautiously optimistic about it, at the very least it’s never a bad thing to see Kate Baldwin on stage. 

[BMcGregor]

Posted: 5/20/22 at 11:23am

I plan on catching it at some point during the run. 

[gleek4114]

Posted: 5/25/22 at 9:36am

Bumping for tonight’s first performance!

[DiscoCrows]

Posted: 5/25/22 at 11:15am

Some interesting production and rehearsal footage in this feature Stages St. Louis has on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbIM3_YYD8A

[YvanEhtNioj]

Posted: 5/25/22 at 1:32pm

DiscoCrows said: "Some interesting production and rehearsal footage in this feature Stages St. Louis has on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbIM3_YYD8A"

Okay this actually loops pretty dope. My main concern are the music and lyrics - I'm not familiar with anything by Drew Gasparini.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/26/22 at 2:55pm

He's written a lot of like stand alone songs a la  Scot Alan, so who knows if he can write a whole score, but he's written some lovely songs.

[fbueller]

Posted: 5/26/22 at 3:42pm

A ‘Karate Kid’ musical?  Seriously???

[gleek4114]

Posted: 5/26/22 at 3:54pm

fbueller said: "A ‘Karate Kid’ musical? Seriously???"

People said the same thing about SpongeBob and it got 12 Tony Nominations. Sometimes good work comes from unexpected source material.

[Cori2016]

Posted: 5/27/22 at 9:36am

Saw the 2nd preview last night. I went in with fairly low expectations, but it was an enjoyable night. By no means the greatest thing I have ever seen, but enjoyable. As a disclaimer, I have never seen the movie.

I thought the music and lyrics were just alright. There was some nice choreography. Kate Baldwin doesn't have that much to work with, but she is excellent as always with what she has. I'm not sure I buy John Cardoza as a 17 year old, but I'm willing to overlook it because he was otherwise well cast in the role. Overall, the cast was good. There were some cast members who currently have covid and were wearing face masks (which through no fault of their own, kept slipping down when they would sing)- so that of course took away from some of the performances. There were also some lines/ lyrics about guns that felt inappropriate given recent events, so I'm hopeful those will be edited. 

Updated On: 5/27/22 at 09:36 AM

[darquegk]

Posted: 5/27/22 at 9:59am

How was Mr. Miyagi, as a role and as a performance? It feels like Miyagi is the reason for this show to exist. 

[Cori2016]

Posted: 5/27/22 at 10:50am

I thought he gave a great performance. Again, I haven't seen the movie so I personally can't compare to that. My dad (who is a big fan of the movie) said Mr. Miyagi's role was very similar to the movie. He doesn't have much material in terms of music (he has one solo song, and that's about it in terms of singing), but the role still feels significant. 

[Cori2016]

Posted: 5/27/22 at 10:54am

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 5/27/22 at 11:50am

Cori2016 said: " Kate Baldwin doesn't have that much to work with, but she is excellent as always with what she has. I'm not sure I buy John Cardoza as a 17 year old, but I'm willing to overlook it because he was otherwise well cast in the role."

I still find it tough to see Kate Baldwin as the mother of a teenager. It probably helps when the actor reads as younger like in Superhero or even the actor in Karate Kid playing Freddie.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/27/22 at 2:32pm

Does she look too young?  Too old?  She's 47, not a bad age to have a teenaged kid.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 5/27/22 at 3:54pm

She looks young to me but my brain is probably a little broken with all the older actors playing much younger characters on stage and the 20-30 somethings playing teenagers on TV. It can almost be jarring to see appropriately aged actors in Kimberly Akimbo or Caroline, or Change.

[gleek4114]

Posted: 5/30/22 at 10:24pm

Saw the matinee yesterday and had a great time. It’s slightly hokey but very enjoyable. There wasn’t a weak link in the cast. Some songs are better than others but overall I liked the score okay, with the song that won’t leave my brain being “California Dream” which is the opening. I talked with Drew after, he’s super nice, he told us he’s already written a new opening number, so “California Dream” isn’t very long for this world. One of the things this show has going for it in spades is choreography and and the stage combat. A lot of the sequences involving Karate are very well realized. Over all it’s setting out to be a fun little show, it’s not revolutionary but it isn’t trying to be. I don’t think it would play well on broadway but I guess time will tell, nostalgia is a bankable commodity so this could prove me wrong and be a big it with tourists. The local St. Louis crowd ate it up.

 

John Cordoza does a great job leading the show, his vocals were great. 

[blaxx]

Posted: 5/31/22 at 1:01am

fbueller said: "A ‘Karate Kid’ musical? Seriously???"

There has been a musical adaptation of almost every popcorn movie hit from the 80s and 90s every season, but somehow a Karate Kid musical surprises you?  Ok.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 5/31/22 at 2:33am

Does this have ANY shot of success on Broadway? It seems like ROCKY is the absolute best case scenario for this (which means…big flop). The audience overlap between Broadway and this movie just doesn’t seem to exist.

[WldKingdomHM]

Posted: 5/31/22 at 6:35am

We need Teen Witch-The Musical

[willep]

Posted: 5/31/22 at 7:09am

gleek4114 said: "…nostalgia is a bankable commodity so this could prove me wrong and be a big it with tourists.”

 

Please, give me one example. Because from where I’m sitting all of the nostalgia move adaptations fail hard, particularly of late.

Updated On: 5/31/22 at 07:09 AM

[George in DC]

Posted: 5/31/22 at 10:13am

It's not complete nostalgia. Cobra Kai, the tv series which is a sequel to the original "Karate Kid" with most of the same actors, has been a pretty big hit on Netflix and their 5th season will be released later this year.

 

For those who have seen it, how is the adaptation? Is there a reason for it to be a stage musical or did they just recreate the movie and shoe horn  songs into it?

[Plannietink08]

Posted: 5/31/22 at 10:49am

willep said: "gleek4114 said: "…nostalgia is a bankable commodity so this could prove me wrong and be a big it with tourists.”



Please, give me one example. Because from where I’m sitting all of the nostalgia move adaptations fail hard, particularly of late."

Back to the Future just extended into 2023 in London. 

[Hamilfan2]

Posted: 5/31/22 at 2:14pm

Plannietink08 said: "willep said: "gleek4114 said: "…nostalgia is a bankable commodity so this could prove me wrong and be a big it with tourists.”



Please, give me one example. Because from where I’m sitting all of the nostalgia move adaptations fail hard, particularly of late."

Back to the Future just extended into 2023 in London."

Fwiw London audiences seem to respond more positively to these types of shows.  American Psycho, Ghost, Groundhog Day all did great in London and then couldn’t find an audience once they came to NYC.  Not saying Karate Kid will be the same, but I think it will be an uphill battle for them.

[flord10]

Posted: 5/31/22 at 3:35pm

That's definitely true. It makes me curious how Back to the Future will do if/when it transfers to New York. On one hand, BTTF is arguably a much bigger cultural property in America than in the UK. But also, these types of shows haven't been doing too hot as of late. Not sure how New York audiences will respond.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 5/31/22 at 3:44pm

Hamilfan2 said: "Fwiw London audiences seem to respond more positively to these types of shows. American Psycho, Ghost, Groundhog Day all did great in London and then couldn’t find an audience once they came to NYC."

The major caveat to your point above is that GROUNDHOG DAY and AMERICAN PSYCHO were both produced in limited engagements at subscription theatres in London. They had commercial transfers on Broadway. IIRC the reviews were somewhat better in London than NYC, but not raves.

BACK TO THE FUTURE is a huge title, but it's not one that immediately jumps out as "this should be a musical." Whereas if someone tells you they're making a musical of TOOTSIE or MEAN GIRLS or DEVIL WEARS PRADA or MATILDA, a lot of people would say "oh yeah I see that being a fun musical!"