Saw CAROLINE, OR CHANGE last night

[broadway1564]

Posted: 6/17/04 at 5:01pm

Well, I finally made my way to the Eugene O'Neill to see what all the fuss is over. Will I like it? Will I hate it? Will Tonya Pinkins give it everything?

I loved it! Don't ask me why ... but it was just my kind of plot and my kind of energy. From the moment the curtain went up ... and I heard that beautiful hum from Tonya Pinkins, I knew I was in the best seat in town. I've mentioned before that my ability to like a show can totally depend on my mood. At the time I saw this show I was in an ok mood. It's just one of those things ... the show took over.

This artpiece (because, ultimately, that's what it is) is the product of so much research and creativity. To think that these two caucasion people were able to so openly connect with the south and find their way, blissfully, to Louisiana in this time period. I didn't think I would like Veanne Cox. I mean, she wasn't exactly the most steller singer. But this was different. Her quarky voice really added something to the character ... a vulnerability. She wasn't always in tune or even the strongest singer ... but she did her job well.

I happened to love Chandra Wilson as Dotty. Oh my was she hilarious. She had such stage presence. I do admit that I thought Anika Noni Rose was just amazing. She's going to be a star. I think you could even feel it in her that this character wasn't going to let her completely "break out" ... but she could, given the chance. But she really brought something polished to the show.

I felt everyone in the cast was just so perfectly cast. You know, this trio of ladies (Marva Hicks, Tracy Nicole Chapman, Ramona Keller) that play THE RADIO ... I think they are the best singing trio on Broadway (next to Little Shop & Hairspray). WOW! Their voices were sooooooo powerful.

Tonya Pinkins ... she was a bit sick last night. I could hear the strain in her voice. She cracked more than a few times. But I do have to say. Idina Menzel may give a vocally ripe performance, but Tonya Pinkins BY FAR gives the most thrilling and most heart wrenching display at that show. MY GOD! I couldn't believe that power and that anger. You could feel it all the way through the theatre. She has a very distinct way of making you feel the way she is feeling. This is one of those "Bernadette Peters Mama Rose Overlooked Performance" kind of things. I realize I will be shot by the "Greenies" or whatever they're called. But I can't lie. Tonya's acting is by far the most compelling in a musical on Broadway right now. I waited the whole evening for "Lot's Wife". When it got there ... I knew her voice had to be tired. It was. But, as opposed to many others, the fact that she was tired made it that much more of a hill to conquer. It made the song more POWERHOUSE. Damn! That was incredible.

I won't give away the ending ... but I just have to say that it was incredibly poignant. I never would have thought to end the show that way, but it was so perfect.

I didn't include this in my original post, but I do have to add my two cents on the sets and lighting. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved their sets ... they were VERY southern. The shadows cast by the slider trees were extremely effective. And the lighting was just amazing ... you know you are watching an incredible theatre experience when the story, sets, actors, lighting and music are completely in sync.

Omg ... I have to see this show again. I didn't want to leave the theatre. I wanted them to do it all again. It was just too perfect for words.

Score: A+ You must go see it ... just trust me! Updated On: 6/17/04 at 05:01 PM

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 6/17/04 at 5:09pm

Glad you had a good time...word of mouth needs to get around about this one. People seem to have written it off as a big downer (Thanks Ben, Michael, and John!) I think of all the new musicals out right now, CAROLINE is going to have the longest after-life. Let's hope it stays open longer, if not, a long life in the regionals, then.
If you liked offbeat musicals like ASSASSINS or SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, it's a must.

[Corine2]

Posted: 6/17/04 at 6:06pm

I saw it twice at The Public Theater and found it to be one of the greatest musicals I have ever seen. I loved it.
The music of Jeanine Tesori and the writing of Kushner moved me very deeply.

[mamamia sammy]

Posted: 6/17/04 at 6:14pm

That's nice, Corine.

[thirdrowcenter]

Posted: 6/17/04 at 7:26pm

broadway I just loved reading your review. I also loved the Dottie character. She had so much humor and she was so admirable and brave. Although I was awestruck by Idina Menzel's performance I secretly wouldn't have minded if Tonya won the Tony. The entire cast was incredible.

[nystateomind04]

Posted: 6/17/04 at 7:51pm

this makes me want to see it even more, thanks broadway1564

[wickedfan]

Posted: 6/17/04 at 9:23pm

I'm glad you loved it broadway1564. I did too. I did not think Tonya Pinkins' performance really hit "amazing" quality until the second act. Really, they didn't give her much to do until then. The first act she was just so angry. then the second act opener she was incredible. the whole story of her life. Her voice was also cracked and sometimes offbeat. I think that's just the way her voice is with this score. it does go pretty high. Anika was amazing as well, act 1 finale got to me so well. Well, you can see my reactio nto it was the same as yours.

[mallardo]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 7:59am

Broadway, your review was on the money. It's a brilliant show in every way. Since you covered the cast I'd like to say a word about Jeanine Tesori's hauntingly beautiful score which, to me, is the best on Broadway right now. It's so evocative, so nuanced, so right in every moment; this lady is a major American composer.

[mallardo]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 7:59am

Broadway, your review was on the money. It's a brilliant show in every way. Since you covered the cast I'd like to say a word about Jeanine Tesori's hauntingly beautiful score which, to me, is the best on Broadway right now. It's so evocative, so nuanced, so right in every moment; this lady is a major American composer.

[logan30]

Posted: 6/19/04 at 4:15pm

Having grown up in a small Southern town in the 1960s I really identified with this show. Not only were we one of the few Jewish families in town, we also had a black maid (not as angry as Caroline) and I spent much of my time with her. As a child she was my closest friend and only real confidant. I told her things I would have never told my parents. In the stacking order of things we were one of the more financially affluent families in the town and I was intrigued by the fact that in the black community, where most of the women worked as housekeepers, our maid was considered to be in top echelon of black society (whites and blacks did not comingle back then) because she worked for us. Women who worked for less affluent families were on a lower rung of the ladder. White women wore hats in the 60s and I recall the pleasure our maid (I won't use her name as she still alive) took when my mother would give her last season's designer hats from GUS MAYER (a prominent retailer in the South) to wear to church. She loved the show-off in those hats. I was bowled over by CAROLINE, OR CHANGE and I hope this show has a long run on Broadway and a great afterlife in regional and community theatre.

[Corine2]

Posted: 6/19/04 at 8:22pm

Caroline is a great show. I am glad you liked it.

Updated On: 6/19/04 at 08:22 PM

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 6/19/04 at 8:45pm

Logan was talking about his experience in the 60's, and that's what people were called. Maids. Not housekeepers, maids. Same as Caroline was a maid.

Housekeeper is a more recent linguistic development. If I'm not mistaken the shift from maid to housekeeper occurred roughly around the same time as housewives became homemakers.

[thirdrowcenter]

Posted: 6/19/04 at 8:47pm

Wasn't Caroline a maid? This politically correctness is so silly. Would a maid by any other name be a domestic engineer?

Logan, I loved hearing about your childhood in the South. Updated On: 6/19/04 at 08:47 PM