A Tale of Two Cities..Review (August 29)

[philly03]

Posted: 8/30/08 at 9:49pm

So I went into last night with big expectations of my own, with some knowledge from reviews on here, and knowing most of the concept album. Anyway, I wasn't really disappointed, because I happen to have found it so well put together, although at sometimes it went too fast (the trial for instance I thought had much more influence on the story from what I remember) and sometimes too slow. Overall, I actually felt that I got really into it and just at the moment I got reallyout of it.

There are some things that should be changed of course, and to my knowledge, the song "Ressurection Man," was cut...or was last night anyway. My favourite song going into it was If Dreams Came True...but was only slightly disappointed (Sorry Jill, I thought James did a much better job than Alex on this one!) that it was some sort of mini duet with Aaron Lazar hinting at a different melody. No need to mention Natalie Toro's freaky good performance (especially when she has little singing to do in the second act!) throughout her time on stage. As said, Aaron Lazar really did the best he could possibly do (and more than excels) with what he was given. I may be on the outside (or it could be the Jekkie/Frank Wildorn fan within me!) but I loved Brandi Burkhardt. She's been my favourite Emma for a while, and I thorougly enjoyed her solos, especially the one with Greg Edelmann (You'll Never Be Alone), clearly not a solo but for the most part it's on her. The only songs I found myself not liking were the majority of the ensemble songs, particularly the bar scenes. I tried to not do too many spoilers, so I'll continue with that especially since the ending of both acts (not the act one song!)(and the part before the actual finale) which were very suprising to someone who did not/hasn't read the book in years. Actually one of my favourite parts was I'm assuming a directing choice...after the Prolouge the scrim was still down and then the overture went off and for some reason it's stuck in my head that scene?!

I suprisingly liked the lighting,...not the greatest complement for a musical but it was interesting picked. The sets were OK...very loud at certain times, and bizarre as they tried to make the people fit in for as an example, if someone was upstairs, theyd have the scene movers wipe tables downstairs, etc. The costumes, no need to say as well, were very vibrant and truley fancy where they need be.

And I said by both of my judgements as before...I would still recommend it to anyone (although THEY might not like it!), and it still reminds me of The Scarlet Pimpernel alot. Some of the lyrics of the songs, seemed to be derived from Pimpy's songs, such as "Out of Sight, Out of Mind," which is NOT a common phrase, is seen in the song "She Was There," (that could very well be coincidental!!) and the prayer that Little Lucie sings is uncannily similar to "Lullaby" from SP1:
"If I die, before I wake, may I look upon the angels; standing by come to take me home." As compared to Tale's "...If I should die, before I wake, I pray to Lord my soul to take." I don't know, maybe they thought they could use it because Pimpy cut the scene? Who knows. Besides the scenic design (not the giant circular -- revolution! ), the random moving tables on tracks, the chandeliers even looked slightly similar. I was almost shocked that a lot of the jokes (either Jill made them up or the actors -- I couldn't tell!) came from mocking the set. Well not a lot, but certainly a few. Let's just say a watch smashed last night, and the audience was pretty respondive to knowing it wasn't supopsed to break .

Regardless, I had a great time and really enjoyed and it would recommend it to anyone! I also stagedoored (sorry no pictures) and the cast are not only wonderful people, but seemed really interested in making ATOTC a success as well. And Brandi Burkhardt couldn't have been nicer to me and she confirmed that the Count of Monte Cristo's concept album is actually up for release this time :). Whooo!

Updated On: 8/30/08 at 09:49 PM

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/30/08 at 9:53pm

and the prayer that Little Lucie sings is uncannily similar to "Lullaby" from SP1:

The prayer that Little Lucie sings is a snippet of a very common prayer called Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep. It's an English prayer. Full text is linked below.
Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep

[philly03]

Posted: 8/31/08 at 12:18am

Thankyou adamgreer! I thought that was completley out of the blue for Nan, but clearly her + Jill have similar thinking minds :).

[Eagleman]

Posted: 8/31/08 at 12:59am

I generally don't pay much attention to reviews because it seems to me most people try to sound like Bradley or John Simon if they weren't keen on a show and Clive Barnes if they were.

Yours, however, was the kind that just really cut to the chase: I like this; I didn't especially like that but the bottom line, "Go see it."

Good job--and I certainly can't be accused of shilling for the show although I'd like
to see the people who poured their life into this piece have some success on their first
time playing the big room.

[Winston3]

Posted: 8/31/08 at 1:29am

I was there last night as well. People did laugh at the watch falling. There is a a part of the set that is a top of a tree. There are two of them and one of them wasn't in place and was swinging back and forth. That caused a lot of laughter from the audience.

[TooDarnHot]

Posted: 8/31/08 at 1:31am

What is that...?

Your fifth time seeing it, Winsty poo?

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 8/31/08 at 8:18am

Winston was banned?

[BrianIdol]

Posted: 8/31/08 at 10:11am

Can someone explain why the tree has leaves during Christmas?

[Dollypop]

Posted: 8/31/08 at 10:37am

As someone who has 25 full grown trees on his property, I can state that not every tree sheds its leaves before Christmas. There are some that are evergreen and others that lose there leaves but they haven't fallen and need a good windstorm to knock them down.

[BrianIdol]

Posted: 8/31/08 at 10:57am

The tree in the set is definately not an evergreen...at any rate it was just confusting and didn't look christmas-y at all.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/31/08 at 11:11am

No more confusing than the fact that he's executed in the morning, during the day, yet when he gets ready to go up the stairs, it is suddenly nighttime, and the stars have come out.

[BrianIdol]

Posted: 8/31/08 at 11:13am

The stars are in his mind, like when he fell in love. That's definately made clear.

[Eagleman]

Posted: 8/31/08 at 12:48pm

Maybe the tree was in someone else's mind.

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 8/31/08 at 1:45pm

Updated On: 4/3/10 at 01:45 PM

[philly03]

Posted: 8/31/08 at 2:05pm

LOL How could I forget about the tree. I also want to add that the silhouttes in the back were suprisingly really interesting to look at. And the tree was swaying back and forth and you're right everyone was talking about that one for a while.

How they changed the stairs from wooden to all black with the stars somehow baffled me too. Probably some real common stagetrick but it really blended in!

[BrianIdol]

Posted: 8/31/08 at 5:25pm

eaglemen - you just made me laugh:)

[stupidbeans]

Posted: 8/31/08 at 6:11pm

nice review, glad you enjoyed it

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 8/31/08 at 10:26pm

Oh, does Natalie Toro really not have much to sing? That's too bad, I was mesmerized by her "Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind." Incidentally, I can't hear that without thinking of "She Was There," either!

So far, I've heard that "Tale of Two Cities" is similar to Les Mis, and now I'm hearing it's similar to Scarlet Pimpernel. Given that those are my two favourite musicals, I say rock 'n' roll! And I've always wanted to hear James Barbour sing something similar to Mis or Pimpy (love that voice... his "Sirens" is my most-played song on my iPod), so now I'm even more excited about this than I was before. This is a lovely review, Philly. On a slightly related subject, our avatars match nicely, haha...

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 8/31/08 at 10:58pm

It's a real shame that the musical version, even if only a minute-long snippet, of A TALE OF TWO CITIES in the film "A Simple Wish" with Martin Short, is leagues better than this. However, that's not to say that this show has NOTHING going for it - because it certainly has a great deal of potential.

James Barbour's performance is outstanding and tremendously beautiful. He should receive (and if he doesn't it's a crime!) some very high praise for this turn. Perhaps even a Tony nod - and win! I've been a very longtime fan of Mr. Barbour and was blessed to have a wonderful conversation with him at the stage door. A true gentleman - and so handsome! Run to see this performance. It is brilliantly layered and is not to be missed.

The music is, for the most part,dull. However there are some beautiful moments. The sets are louder than the orchestra but it is an interesting concept. The staging is boring. The lighting, however, is quite beautiful.

It's a shame that Barbour's sacrifice in the final moments of the musical are destroyed by the cliche of the stars and the off-stage chorus. A truly DREADFUL choice that I really hope they fix. Tying it to him finally noticing the stars when he falls in love with Lucie really is a sweet attempt, but misses the mark. Then it was night. He wasn't imagining stars, he was just simply appreciating the world around him for the first time in his life. We should see him walk the stairs at the end. We should see his courage and strength and celebrate it, no matter how grim a choice it may be.

From the mezzanine, Toro's performance was quite special. However, I did feel that she seemed to be feeling the effect of that song on her body. At the stage door she said it was indeed a difficult one to sing every night. I can only imagine! The range she must reach is quite something. However, I'm sure she'll continue to pull it off, as she's already tackled Evita Peron - that must've been something to see!

Lazar is fine, though a little boring. But I think that it's the material he's given that's to blame. I love Brandi's voice very, very much. Again, the role is a tad wishy-washy but she does some fine work with it.

It is so nice to see Edelman back on the stage. The shaking in the beginning is a bit over-dramatic and really should be toned down. It is terribly distracting - though I have a suspicion it was not his choice but instead the director's and he is trying to make it work. Hearing him sing again, though, on a Broadway stage is always a real treat.

It's a solid show. But it needs a lot of work. It needs to be edited, mostly. The creative team needs to bring in an outsider - Graciella Daniele is my recommendation - to really attack it and bring it to its final, frozen state. Just someone new to the project who can come in with an unbiased eye.


And on a sour note:

I was at this same performance. At intermission, I was on the phone in the lobby with a friend, and was accosted by this fellow who is involved in the show (hence his ATOTC shirt). He eavesdropped on my conversation then kept talking over me and the person I was on the phone with, trying to put me in my place. I really wish I knew who he was because he was incredibly rude and pushy. It turned me off a great deal, and I really hope that he doesn't play a major part of this show's future. It was quite a shame that I felt I was in a high school theater program, that my opinion (which I would've backed up had he let me) meant nothing to this immature and rude individual.

Just my two cents...

[philly03]

Posted: 8/31/08 at 11:02pm

The crowd was really bizarre. I feel like these kinds of crowds follow me (broke it with Legally BLonde LOL)...they seem like they wanted one of those giant set pieces to break or something they way they cracked up over the trees and the watch breaking!