"Grease," the fourth revival of the season, is the worst show in the history of theater and represents an unparalleled assault on Western civilization and its values. - Michael Reidel
BroadwayWest: Try Benihana's (sit in the sushi bar), Rock Bottom (love their Salmon and chips), or, if you don't mind spending a bit more, Wild Ginger (a slight walk from the theatre; most delicious food I've ever had in Seattle; make sure to get a reservation).
"He found something that he wanted, had always wanted and always would want— not to be admired, as he had feared; not to be loved, as he had made himself believe; but to be necessary to people, to be indispensable."
-F. Scott Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise
"He found something that he wanted, had always wanted and always would want— not to be admired, as he had feared; not to be loved, as he had made himself believe; but to be necessary to people, to be indispensable."
-F. Scott Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise
Just a reminder to send your reviews of the show directly to the producers at shrekfeedback AT 5thavenue DOT org. See the right column at http://www.5thavenue.org/ for a link to this email address as well.
SO ... last night on a whim we decided to see Shrek! Got pretty good seats considering we bought our tickets at 5:30 pm. So here are my opinions:
I was quite impressed. The cast is phenomenal - and Christopher Sieber steals the show. Completely blew me away. His number Things are Looking Up in Duloc literally stopped the show. This is not to say they need to do some major adjusting.
Act 1 (other than the previous song) is so SLOW and the music really is not that catchy. Nothing that makes you go wow. The opening sequence (not sure what has been said so I don't want to spoil anything) is completely pointless and adds nothing to the show. Mind you - this is only the songs. The scenes are clever - and even though it's a bit heavy handed on the whole pop-culture reference stuff, I know it's Shrek! and that's a part of what it is. The dragon's number is bland, which seems like a waste for a very talented woman. Overall I gave it a B-.
Act 2, on the other hand, was everything I expected from the show. High energy, dancing, clever. Loved it! The funny thing was that my boyfriend's song list was different from mine, so we were trying to figure out who had the right one.
One of my biggest problems is that Shrek doesn't actually get a killer number. Fiona, Farquaad and Donkey do, but his song's are just not that fun.
The cast is truly awesome. Brian D'Arcy James truly inhabits Shrek. I so wish they write him a kick-@$$ song soon. Sutton Foster is so charming, perfect for the part. John Tartaglia was SO funny - and there are even a couple of Ave Q references that were cute. Chester Gregory was fine, but one can't help to compare him to Eddie Murphy since the lines are pretty much the same. Kecia Lewis-Evans is terribly under-used as the Dragon. Those are tough hooves to fill. (bad pun) The ensemble is truly all very talented, each shining as the fairy tale creatures.
We went out for drinks after, and were lucky enough to go to the place where the cast goes. On my way out I congratulated some of the cast members - all very gracious and fun, and even got to share a few words with Mr. Sieber. What a gentleman!
With a few fixes, this show should be a huge hit on Broadway.
Celebrate Life
Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted.
- Randy Pausch