The Official Raúl E. Esparza "Spread the Love" Thread, part two- Page 153

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/3/06 at 11:19pm

I'm not talking in the sense of "engrave it now" syndrome, because there's so much politics and crap involved that he may very well lose. The whole idea of "engrave that Tony now!" is to say that the performance is by all standards deserving of one. A good portion of his competition hasn't even stepped on their respective Broadway stages yet, and there are so many little biases that are going to come into play to be considered. The whole system is ridiculous, really, as "important" as it all is. If he loses this year, it's certainly not going to put an ugly stamp on his career, but it's a matter of wanting to see the kind of work he's doing in Company be given the recognition it deserves. The fact that he shouldn't sit down and write his speech tomorrow, to me, isn't a measure of his work; it's a measure of the political bullsh*t that's going to be involved, depending on his competition.

Brina, yes, they will.

[tagiunagi]

Posted: 11/4/06 at 4:33pm

Have the fans forgotten Raul this weekend? How sad.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/4/06 at 7:15pm

Psh, forget Raul? Noo. :)

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 11/4/06 at 7:20pm

For god's sake, there were nearly 20 posts in this thread just yesterday.

[Shiksa Goddess2]

Posted: 11/4/06 at 9:54pm

So, does anyone know if Raul is gonna have a solo in the Carols for the Cure song that 'Company' is singing?

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 11/4/06 at 10:27pm

He has a few lines at the beginning, and most of the rest of the song is ensemble.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 11/4/06 at 11:31pm

I bought my bus ticket for the trip today. Sooooo excited.

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 11/4/06 at 11:32pm

Oh god, skittles, I'm SO excited! When do you get there? Saturday?

[Perfectly Marvelous]

Posted: 11/6/06 at 1:14am

Does anyone how long Company is running to?

I think I have more of a chance seeing it on B'way seeing how I missed Panaro's performance out in Seattle.

Anyways, I've been listening to ttb all day and I haven't tired of it.

And I also think Raul makes for an attractive Emcee.

Then again I have a weird fascination with the Emcee. Lol.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/6/06 at 1:29am

Do you mean the closing date? It's an open-ended run.

Raul was an incredibly sexy, incredibly frightening Emcee. Perfect on all counts. I (obviously) have a huge fascination with the character, too.

[Perfectly Marvelous]

Posted: 11/6/06 at 1:40am

Yeah... when it was closing (which will hopefully not be for a while because it's one show that I really really really want to see).

But as long as it's an open ended run, that means I can rest peacefully knowing I still have time to catch Raul and company. That was not an intentional pun, I promise. ;D


Hooray for the Emcee. He's my favorite character in musical theatre. And I have no idea why.
(my favorite Emcee is Jon Peterson... I never saw Alan Cumming, Adam Pascal or Raul Esparza onstage so I can't say much about their performances, other than what I've seen on YouTube). I like Raul's "Willkommen", though.

[Mandi Moo]

Posted: 11/6/06 at 6:41am

Neil Patrick Harris is my favorite Emcee. *nods* Raul and Alan are up there too.
Updated On: 11/6/06 at 06:41 AM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/7/06 at 1:16pm

*refuge*

Got back in touch with my Cabaret loving tendencies last night. I miss it.

[Perfectly Marvelous]

Posted: 11/7/06 at 4:20pm

My friend and I have struck up a deal in which I will burn her a copy of ttb and she'll burn me a copy of the Rocky revival. I still need to get Taboo. (I'll have to pay a visit to Bullmoose Music, which is a great local music store by me).

Earlier today I made an Emcee icon. I'm going to try and remake it...but here it is:


And this too:

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/7/06 at 4:26pm

I can't see them.

[To The Stage!]

Posted: 11/7/06 at 4:51pm

Me either

[Perfectly Marvelous]

Posted: 11/7/06 at 5:30pm

That's really odd.

Well, what you can do is go to my dA site - http://www.alittlepriest.deviantart.com/ and they should be right on my mainpage.

Hope that works.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/7/06 at 5:37pm

Hehe, I see them now.

[To The Stage!]

Posted: 11/7/06 at 5:38pm

Me too. hee.. they're so cute!

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 12:50pm

For all potentially interested parties, I posted this on the main board as well about some of the recent changes to Company as it continues its preview process.

Tracking changes...
Posted On: 11/9/06 at 01:31 AM


After allowing some of my "oh my God, they're finally here!!" thrill and excitement surrounding Company's much-anticipated arrival to settle, I made a return visit; wanted to comment on a few of the changes, all of which I love. And even with that anticipation slowing fading, the show is still stunning, I think.

They're selling window cards now, for anyone interested. They look just like the ads have looked -- full cast, cubes stacked vertically, Raul on top, with the "five married couples..." blurb and list of credits. They're nice.

I rushed and sat in the front row this time. I think I do for the most part prefer seeing it from up above; the lighting effects are much more beautiful to look at when you can see the "shapes" or sorts projected on the stage and everything. What I found most striking about seeing it up close is how claustrophobic it feels. The edge of the diamond shape sticks right out into the audience; it's all just right there, and you're really right on top of everything, surrounded by it all, in a way, just like Bobby is. Up close enough, the "blocks" also do something really interesting -- if you look into or through them, you see all of the instruments, set pieces and sometimes the actors reflected two or three times. In doubling (and sometimes tripling) everything, it makes the whole claustrophobic element a lot more... menacing, really. I don't know if that's an intentional choice, but it definitely makes Bobby's plight a lot more personal -- he's surrounded by pressure from everywhere he might look. It's a completely different show to watch it that way than to watch it from afar, looking in and still having some distancing effect. I found it overall to be a bit more cathartic when I was physically distanced from the action -- not sure why that is.

As for the actual changes to the show, I'm just going to go in performance order. Overall, everything is much clearer, especially symbolically speaking. There were probably a bunch of things I didn't catch, too, just as a disclaimer.

Raúl still comes on stage first, but instead of standing behind the column at the "top" of the diamond for the whole voicemail sequence, he spends it leaning on the piano, at that sort of "home base" that's been created for Bobby. It works better in two ways, I think: for one, you can actually see him, whereas before from some places, the column totally blocked him from view. Secondly, the whole idea of him just sitting by in his apartment is really bluntly stated by putting him there.

The book scene with Harry and Sarah's been toned down a little bit, and Kristin Huffman is playing it all more downstage. She's doing the whole "food orgasm" scene with a little bit more introversion and isn't quite so overstated about the comedy, but it still works. It works in the sense that now it feels like Sarah is a bit less aware of how funny and odd she is, but rather, this is just how she does things. This is her normal.

The pot smoking scene is essentially the same, with a few very minor blocking changes... as far as I could tell only on Raúl's part, when he sits on the floor. It's a little hammier, and a little bit more emotionally reactive. There's a heightened sense of his relationships with the two of them, in a way that answers the often-asked question of just why these people love Robert so much. It's subtle, but sweet.

The choreography in You Could Drive a Person Crazy is tightening, but I'm not sure if it changed. I don't think it did.

The blocking in the "pulse of the city" scene (Marta and Robert) is pretty different. In Cincinnati, almost the entire scene was played with Angel on the piano and her legs wrapped around Raúl. Last week, that part was still in, but they spent most of it talking without any physical contact. Now Angel sits on the piano and Raúl is a good few feet away from her. She jumps down to hug him for the end of the scene; they hold each other for a moment, broken by Marta's description of the two types of New Yorkers, and they almost kiss just before she shares her "theory." It, as do many of other changes, again highlights Bobby's isolation and hesitation to get too close.

Side by Side by Side was re-done almost entirely. It's GREAT. It's still very active, but not as chaotic and looks a lot less like an accident waiting to happen. It's much tighter overall and the kick line is much cleaner as well. They had cut the cymbals during rehearsals in NYC, and rather had Raúl play a kazoo solo, for lack of better terminology, after the other soloists had their turns. He's still doing that (hamming it up, for sure), but the blocking where the cymbals had been returns. Instead of playing them, he hops up on the block in the middle of the crowd and just claps his hands, after weaving in and out of everyone for a bit. He's trying so hard to fit in and be a part of the crowd, but he can't -- he doesn't have an instrument. He's not ready yet, but he's just trying so hard. It's heartbreaking.

There are a lot of differences in the whole Bobby/April sequence -- that sort of "dance" they do around the piano is more defined during Poor Baby, and much more flirtacious. The reprise of Poor Baby has a bit more action going on away from Bobby and April, within the commentary by the women. The scene itself has lost most of its implicit quality and grows racier and much more explicit -- it's not excessively graphic and still preserves all of the urgent immediacy that I really liked about it after the transfer. Instead of essentially just making out in two separate locations, they do that for a bit, and the sex is much, much more bluntly implied than it was before (again, still not overstated or tactless) with their interaction sitting down on the piano bench. Raúl keeps his eyes open and looking around for about half of it, which is incredibly telling for the character -- aware and detached, perhaps even almost frightened and alarmed. The scene ends with April "asleep" on Bobby's chest, and it's very clear that Barcelona is "the morning after." The entire thing is very, very sexy.

The "homosexual experience" scene is becoming tighter, too -- Raúl is hestitating more and really drawing out that moment before he says to Peter "oh, I get it, you're putting me on!" He's committing to the outcome of the scene much more, I think, and finally feels like he's really got command of where the audience goes with it.

The Ladies Who Lunch is growing on me, but no overt changes that I saw to speak of. I think it's just also becoming subtler.

Being Alive is still totally revelatory -- the only difference I noticed was that after Bobby steps into the second beam of light, it brightens toward the finale of the song. An excellent addition.

The entire cast was even better this time than last, by far; and they were incredible last time -- they're extremely impressive. Raúl's performance is growing and changing for the better. He is truly something else to see up so close -- his facial expressions are incredible, calculated and precise without losing their realism. He continues to be beautifully heartbreaking.

I'm definitely in love. It's fascinating to watch the show change. Every choice makes sense and seems thoughtful, which makes it all the more interesting to check back and watch the process happen. I'm so glad I'm having the opportunity to do so.

[tagiunagi]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 1:13pm

^ What time did you get to the BO for rush?

[tagiunagi]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 1:14pm

^ What time did you get to the BO for rush?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 4:36pm

My friend and I planned on a quarter of six, but he was running early and I was running late -- he got there around 5:30, I think. By the time I joined him a few minutes before six, I think there were like five people waiting and he was third in line. Not bad, but I'd factor in the fact that the weather was sh*tty.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 8:48pm

Fantab just found a hilarious Company ad on the NY Times main theater page. Go to it and refresh until the banner ad is for Company. The animation is so, so funny. Raul like, slides around. I'm laughing really hard.

[Mandi Moo]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 8:59pm

I keep getting damn Jay Johnson and Butley ads.