A Tale of Two Cities 10/4 @ 8 review

[Marway44]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 9:54pm

Hi Gang,

I wanted to post a quick review of Saturday nights show. First off the sides of the Orchestra were not full but an usher told me sales are "not bad". And for those of you interested the "French President" was out, and I was in the 4th row center Orchestra which was fine but the stage is high. Not as high as in "Gypsy" but high.

The show itself is not the best show I've ever seen or the worst show (forgive the pun), but it's the only way to describe it. ***DO NOT READ ON IF YOU DON'T WANT THE SHOW SPOILED*** I found that they covered alot of material very fast but I was able to keep up. You really have to pay attention though. The music is ok. You don't leave their humming anything. The only song that lingered with me was "Out of site, out of mind".

The performances were very strong but the show neglected the emotional punch I expected. I was surprised by the ending though. Having not read the book I did not expect the switch and thought it was an incredible way to wrap things up. Sydney really showed his heroism and I loved watching his "transformation" from drunk to hero.

The casting was just terrific. James was incredible and a real talent but as I said nothing lingered with me at the end except for one song. I found no weak links. I heard negatives about Natalie but found none.

The minimal sets worked fine and effortlessly transformed into many things like a bar, a house, a guillotine, etc. Speaking of the guillotine, the special effects which were not many were great. The horses running looked fantastic. The blade coming down behind the entire scrim was eerie.

By the way the comedic moments were good. Some I found were stretching for a laugh and some were cheesy. But they were needed as the comedy relief. I don't recall the laugh in Act 2 that had the audience in stitches but I do recall sydney asking where all those stars came from. Cheesy but funny, especially since his character was supposed to be a drunk.

At the end as soon as the curtain came down, the whole place jumped to their feet screaming. It was an incredible curtain call to my surprise. It was nice to see the negative reviews did not effect the audience as I have seen with other shows.

Overall I have to give it 2 and a half stars out of four, but my Mon gives it 3 and half because she said "the story was WONDERFUL!!!" She pointed out that their was less fighting ala Les Mis and more of a love story which she likes.

I don't think the show will last long but she does. That's the great thing about people. We all have out opinions. And that's all that I gave, my honest opinion.

Now I do have one question, and this is the only thing that lost me. In fact I sitting their mad during intermission because I couldn't figure it out. So I hope someone can help me out. At the end of the first act when Ernest Defarge was about to be arrested for the Marqius' murder (and he is even shot in the arm), why is he not and free in the second act? His arm is in a sling and he is free. I was totally lost as way my Mother who understood the whole show as well. Thanks for the help in advance. We were really confused.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 10:03pm

I was totally lost the entire show.

[philly03]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 10:28pm

Glad to see you enjoyed it.

About the DeFargething...I believe Act II opened with the storming of the Bastille, so perhaps he was put in and then of course let free.

I haven't really read the source material too exact (re-reading "in detail" now! LOL), but the overall story is much better than that of Les Mis, like you said!

[sydney23]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 12:29am

At the end of the act the soldiers come to arrest Gaspard, the father of the child who was killed. Gaspard's the one who killed the Marquis. Defarge stands up for his friend and won't let the soldiers take Gaspard. Then some of the soldiers turn and join the peasants and one soldier up in the tower shoots Defarge to try to stop the uprising. Once the revolution starts (second act) all bets are off and the peasants are in control - so presumably Gaspard is no longer a "wanted" man - in fact he'd probably be viewed as a patriot and hero for killing the Marquis. Hope this helps!

[Marway44]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 7:03am

sydney23,

This helps a great deal, and it was my only guess. I appreciate the help as now I fully understand the whole thing. And thank you for correcting the character I had. It all makes perfect sense now!

***I did forget to mention in my original review that Nick Wyman is just terrefic! I saw him in Les Mis and Funny Farm (the film) and that's all I knew him from. It was great to see him in another roll which showcased his enormous talent!