U2 Tour Dates - Now Official! — Page 150

Hey guys...Back from Lennon...Uuuuummmm...you didn't miss much.

I wanted to like it (even though in the back of my mind, I knew I probably wouldn't) and it really...it just wasn't very good. Big Apple, here I come! (No more second thoughts!)" width="14" height="14" src=https://cloudimages.broadwayworld.com/board/sad.gif>

The whole concept of having NINE John Lennon's really didn't work, in my humble opinion. While I understand what they were going for, having a community of actors embracing Lennon's idea that we can and should all live as ONE...it just didn't work. I think the main reason it didn't work was because one actor (Will Chase) was so obviously heads and shoulders above everyone else. Will (and I admit, I've got a bias, having seen and loved him previously in Miss Saigon and The Full Monty...about 5 times) was the only one to really succeed in his track. He was the only one to do a decent accent, and while they obviously didn't care about having everyone "look" like John Lennon (having Julia Murney and Chuck Cooper take turns, etc) it also didn't help that (at least from the rear-ish mezz) Will was the only one who kind of looked like a passable Lennon. He certainly doesn't look like a clone or anything, but he has features that suggest John. So, he looked and sounded like him, and everyone else was a 180 degree turn.

Marcy Harriell, who was supposed to be amazing, was out, and her understudy just did not hit it out of the park as I imagine Marcy did...I fail to get the "genius" of Julia Murney, and after seeing him in 3 different shows, I am pretty much done w/ Chad Kimball. He has the most shrill, piercing voice...more than the other one, two, three...eight people, when he was on, I really got pissed that Will wasn't singing/playing John. I generally rather like trying to keep an ensemble piece, but this really should have been Will's show. Sorry.

Also, something that bothered me. I'm not a fan of the Broadway musical, sans set/costumes/etc. Seriously, if you've got a cast of 9, no real set, and costumes that consist of jeans and t-shirts and an array of jackets, you CANNOT charge the same price for a ticket as Spamalot or any other show that's got a cast of 30+ w/ multiple sets and dozens of costume changes...ok, it's not that I think you need to have a big cast w/ lots of flashiness to make a successful show, both financially and artistically speaking (not a fan of Wicked, Millie, etc but LOVE the "little" shows, like Q, Bee, and Urinetown) BUT, I also think if the big shows can recoup in a timely manner w/ 3x the cast (including stars that have hefty salaries) and all those other expensive design elements, a show like Lennon would be much better off selling their tickets for $60, at TKTS for $30 and potentially sell 2x as many tix (making the same amount of money, or more, but putting more butts in the seats and, if you've got a good show, spreading the word much, much more)....ANYWAY, back to the set bit that irked me (I wasn't intending on that rant being a general thing, there was something very specific that struck me as a BIG miss on what could have been a great moment)...The set was empty, w/ the band in the back and a raked, circular stage in the middle...A raked, circular stage that looked remarkably similar to the Imagine memorial at Strawberry Fields, minus the whole Imagine bit (it was just empty/blank). So, I'm sitting there, thinking, "When are they going to project "Imagine" onto it??? Ugh, it's so obvious. I wish I hadn't thought of it, because when they do it, it would have been so much more powerful if it seemed spontaneous and I hadn't spotted it 15 minutes into the show...Oh well...I guess it'll be at the end when the do "Imagine."...Intermission...Huh? There's a piano there. How are they going to project it w/ the piano there? Well, I guess they'll just get rid of the piano at some point....uh, there's the intro to "Imagine"...the piano's STILL there! Oooh, here we go, a screen lowered w/ a video of John and Yoko, blocking the rest of the stage. That's a little heavy-handed, but at least that damn piano will be gone...There goes the screen. WHAT?!?!?! WHY IS THE PIANO STILL THERE?!?!? I can't believe they didn't project the imagine sign on the big, circular, Imagine memorial-like stage!!! Oh look, people are throwing flowers up ONTO the big, circular, Imagine-like stage! Wouldn't that have been a beautiful moment? A big replica of the Imagine memorial with flowers thrown up from the audience, resembling the actual memorial." Yeah...that irked me a smidge! Wouldn't that make sense though?!?!?! Wouldn't that have been a really nice, do-able moment?!?!? All they'd have to do is put a projection down on it...the whole show was done w/ projections on the back walls (Oh look, the Lennon family photo album) Anwyay, wouldn't that seem like a much more effective way to end the show than the cast just standing on the big, circular, Imagine memorial-like stage...in front of the piano...blocking the piano, because it was no longer needed for the show.

*sigh* It's such a shame. Lennon's music is so relevant and powerful, but having Lennon #5 put on her round "Lennon glasses" to cue that she is now Lennon, and no longer Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (yes, Mandy Gonzales...complete w/ hokey beard and everything) just was not the powerful theatrical moment they were hoping it would be...it just looked silly. And the book was terrible. "John Lennon was born..." [insert song]..."in such and such a year, John Lennon"...[insert song], etc, etc, etc.

Very sad...I got you Playbills though!

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Updated On: 9/24/05 at 11:47 PM