Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in Concert - my review

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 5/14/05 at 10:41am

Saw "Blondes" last night. Well... other than the fact that the sound system was iffy (there were times when the men's chorus totally outdid the performers), it was a wonderful evening. Faith Prince was excellent. She totally owned the stage. And I was quite impressed with Lucy Lawless. The chemistry the two of them have on-stage is quite magical. You can totally tell they are having a blast. It took a little to get used to seeing them enter and exit and move like in a regular show yet hold the scripts. But I got over it pretty quick. (a lot of audience members were mumbling at intermission, wondering why they had to read their parts...) It's an interesting concept to have a concert with staging... a lot more than I expected.

The entire supporting cast was great. I wish there had been more for Pat Cashman to do, I feel he was underused. The scene stealer of the show has to be Jane Lanier. Her "Mamie is Mimi" was spectacular (especially for a concert), and I just realized she choreographed it herself. Wow, is all I can say.

"Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" started quite slow and a bit underwhelming... but she brought it home at the end.

The one song that I didn't see the point at all for was "Homesick". It seemed to bring the show to a halt. It went nowhere, and I didn't care for the song.

This is my first time seeing the Men's Chorus, and they are a fun bunch. They did a great job, clever "choreography".

Overall... it was a very enjoyable evening. Very glad we get to experience an event like this. I would hate to have you trek over here and not like it, demitri, but I personally would think it worth the ferry ride.

Afterwards my friends and I went for drinks to Palomino... and the entire cast (or most of them) showed up a bit later. I tried to be "non chalant", but as we were leaving we saw Ms. Prince leaving and I HAD to shake her hand and gush for a bit, and then we went over to Ms. Lanier as well.

Phew... I didn't think I'd write this much. I can't wait to hear what you all think...

[GypsyRoseLee]

Posted: 5/14/05 at 10:49am

Sounds great! I love that show! Where was this playing?

[Demitri2]

Posted: 5/14/05 at 11:19am

Ah, THANKS SO MUCH Daydreamer! Excellent review and much appreciated...:))) The only version I'd ever seen of the show on stage was "Lorelei" with Channing which was a rescrambling of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" which allowed an older Channing/Lorelei to step back into the role via flashbacks. Jule Styne wrote some new songs for this version (a great Act One finale for Channing called "Men") and omitted a few from the original. If you don't have "Lorelei", you may want to check it out. It's a lot more fun than the 1995 DRG revival recording of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" (and of course there's the '49 OBC CD). I notice though the remaining shows are pretty well sold. Hopefully I'll get some decent last minute cancellation tickets. Thanks again for your immediate response. Much Appreciated.

[Racetrack]

Posted: 5/14/05 at 1:21pm

Sounds like fun Day Dreamer. Can't wait. Have to go early today to pick the tickets up. Then afterwards I'll be really excited. Well I'm glad you had a nice time. Some audience members probably will say the same thing today, but that's okay.

Thanks for the review! Will come back and write one as well.

GypsyRoseLee the Gentlemen Prefer Blondes concert is being performed in Seattle.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 5/14/05 at 4:05pm

Glad you had fun...wanted to go, but a little broke right now. And that crappy Fifth Avenue space makes my colon itch.

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 5/14/05 at 9:34pm

Hm... an itchy colon would be difficult to scratch...

[Stagehand 15]

Posted: 5/15/05 at 12:41am

I too saw “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” on opening night. You might have seen me. I was the only person, in the theater, sitting with a person of the opposite sex.

Don’t get to down on Mike, the sound engineer at the 5th Avenue, this was the first time they had gotten totally through the show. He was making it up as he went along.

I agree that Faith owned the stage. We saw her in “Noises Off” on Broadway. Happy we finally got to hear her sing, live. Lucy was good, too, but I wish she had belted her songs out a little more.

I agree the audience did not understand what they were viewing. It seems many were expecting a complete musical with sets, costumes and all. This production was performed very much like the concert productions at the City Center in NY and those I’ve seen on PBS. I’m sure Faith and Lucy had very little time to put their parts together. David Armstrong, the artistic director, could have said a little more about this being a concert version during his speech at the beginning.

Like many of the other concert productions I’ve seen, the story line suffered from the form. The entire section of Faith buying the Tierra and then the French authorities trying to get it back got lost on me.

I also agree that Pat Cashman and John Curly were wasted in their roles. I’m sure they were put in the production so that they would talk about the show on their TV and radio show. This is a good way to boost attendance.

I hope the 5th Avenue does more of these concert shows. They give us a chance to see and hear shows that would not normally fill the house for a two or three week run. I’ve been working on David, for the past few years, to mount a production of “Floyd Collins”. A concert version of this show would be fantastic.

[Racetrack]

Posted: 5/15/05 at 2:05pm

Went to the matinee performance yesterday afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed it. I felt that Faith Prince and Lucy Lawless like everyone else has said owned the stage. I thought that everyone did a really good job with the amount of time they were given. At the intermission I don't recall anyone asking about why everyone was holding their scripts, so maybe the audience I was with understood the concept a little better.

A few of the other actors: Stephen Godwin, Sean G. Griffin, and Louis Hobson along with several others I had seen before and as always enjoyed what they did.

The limited sets and costumes was very interesting to watch. Overall I really enjoyed the show. I think my date enjoyed the show as well.

We waited for awhile after the show to see if we could catch anyone, but after awhile of waiting and having missed one of the actors because of the huge crowd we decided to leave. So it was a fun time and an enjoyable show.

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 5/15/05 at 2:09pm

I'm now glad we didn't wait at the stage door... we had better luck at Palomino!

[Racetrack]

Posted: 5/15/05 at 2:25pm

Yeah. We just decided to leave since we knew we'd have to wait a long time and my boyfriend had to go buy a birthday present for his sister anyway. By the time we left Louis had already gone the other way through the crowd and too late to catch him so it's okay. I was just glad to have gone to the show and seen Faith Prince and Lucy Lawless perform live. That was the best part so not getting to meet them was okay with me. I wasn't feeling well at that point of the day anyway so it was all for the best. It was still quite enjoyable.