A CATERED AFFAIR Reviews

#1

A CATERED AFFAIR Reviews

Posted: 4/17/08 at 2:58pm

Okay, this is getting ridiculous...

AM New York gives the show 2 out of 4 Stars:

It is an elegant production that shines with authentic emotions, but also a snooze fest that may leave you facing a 90-minute nap. It's so studied and contemplative that it turns dull and labored, chilling its sentimental plot below the freezing point. Couldn't its creative team have given us just a spoonful of sugar to help the gritty naturalism and stark minimalism go down?

http://www.amny.com/entertainment/stage/am-affair0418,0,4804994.story

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"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum

#2

re: A CATERED AFFAIR Reviews

Posted: 4/17/08 at 3:08pm

Talk about shootin' your load too early!

#3

re: A CATERED AFFAIR Reviews

Posted: 4/17/08 at 3:10pm

Ouch.

#4

re: A CATERED AFFAIR Reviews

Posted: 4/17/08 at 3:11pm

Ooops.

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BroadwayEd

#5

re: A CATERED AFFAIR Reviews

Posted: 4/17/08 at 3:15pm

Well at least they had something good to say about Leslie and Faith!

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"Oh look at the time, three more intelligent plays just closed and THE ADDAMS FAMILY made another million dollars" -Jackie Hoffman, Broadway.com Audience Awards

#6

re: A CATERED AFFAIR Reviews

Posted: 4/17/08 at 3:19pm

Well, AM NY gave Passing Strange a bad review, so I'm not gonna take this review that seriously.

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My blog- http://okayentertainment.blogspot.com/

#7

re: A CATERED AFFAIR Reviews

Posted: 4/17/08 at 3:22pm

perhaps am ny is right. We should go back and add a spoonful of sugar to death of a salesman and glass menagerie and passion and similar works.

The ridiculous thing being that a catered affair has many hilarious moments.

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johnraymondbarker.com

#8

re: A CATERED AFFAIR Reviews

Posted: 4/17/08 at 3:25pm

For instance?

Also, jrb, there's a reason Salesman is a play and not a musical!

Updated On: 4/17/08 at 03:25 PM

#9

re: A CATERED AFFAIR Reviews

Posted: 4/17/08 at 3:26pm

I love the set for this show. It's beautiful. I can't wait to hear the music from this show.

#10

re: A CATERED AFFAIR Reviews

Posted: 4/17/08 at 3:34pm

I don't segregate musicals and plays. That's the number one problem with many of the negative posts about the piece.

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johnraymondbarker.com

#11

re: A CATERED AFFAIR Reviews

Posted: 4/17/08 at 3:34pm

OK, that's just silly. A play and a musical are two very different beasts.

#12

re: A CATERED AFFAIR Reviews

Posted: 4/17/08 at 3:49pm

its not silly at all. Theatre is a spectrum. From spoken word to musicals to opera. Its all story telling utilizing sound and movement. Every play has music--even if just the language itself. There is nothing wrong with a play doing dramatically what we expect a musical to do or vice versa.

A Catered Affair is musical that does what we expect a play to do. And it is beautiful.

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johnraymondbarker.com

#13

re: A CATERED AFFAIR Reviews

Posted: 4/17/08 at 3:51pm

I'll go with the assumption that ACA is a musical play, but then it's a Special Event, and not a musical at all.

#14

re: A CATERED AFFAIR Reviews

Posted: 4/17/08 at 3:52pm

Newsday is Negative:

How bold to make a Broadway musical on such restrained material as "A Catered Affair."

How sad that the results are so glum. Despite the dedication of a fine cast, including Faith Prince, Tom Wopat and author Harvey Fierstein, this is a colorless little piece of '50s social realism about a Bronx family that isn't so much emotionally repressed as emotionally deficient...

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/stage/ny-ettop5652635apr18,0,3948435.story

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"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum

#15

re: A CATERED AFFAIR Reviews

Posted: 4/17/08 at 3:55pm

Oh God, the AM NY review was so awfully written it is hard to take it seriously at all. I have read better-written reviews on this board.

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"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"

Updated On: 4/17/08 at 03:55 PM

#16

re: A CATERED AFFAIR Reviews

Posted: 4/17/08 at 3:58pm

I am expecting negative reviews for the show, unfortunately!

I actually like the Score! I thought it was beautiful and the production photos look really good! I cant wait to see the show....

J*

#17

re: A CATERED AFFAIR Reviews

Posted: 4/17/08 at 3:58pm

I have read many well-written, thought out reviews on this site. I grant you, some of them are not models of literary excellence, but there's some gold among the dross.

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BroadwayEd

#18

re: A CATERED AFFAIR Reviews

Posted: 4/17/08 at 4:00pm

I have read many well-written, thought out reviews on this site.

That's what I meant. Hence why I expected a review from an actual publication to be well-written and thought out.
I'll wait for Variety or the Times to tell me whether I should like the show or not.

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"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"

#19

re: A CATERED AFFAIR Reviews

Posted: 4/17/08 at 4:01pm

it is not a special event. It is a musical. Think outside the box.

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johnraymondbarker.com

#20

re: A CATERED AFFAIR Reviews

Posted: 4/17/08 at 4:01pm

I do hope you're joking. Miss Winer, agree with her not, is a professional and writes professionally. I'd love to know just how that review is "awfully written." You may not like or agree with it, but its writing is professionally done.

#21

re: A CATERED AFFAIR Reviews

Posted: 4/17/08 at 4:02pm

Patti LuPone must be ecstatic right now.

#22

re: A CATERED AFFAIR Reviews

Posted: 4/17/08 at 4:05pm

Did you guys see some of the production photos from Newsday.com? on Related Link..(Photos)
beautiful photos..I love the projections!
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/stage/ny-ettop5652635apr18,0,3948435.story

I still think this show will be nominated for BEST NEW MUSICAL, unless GLORY DAYS gets really good review!

J*

Updated On: 4/17/08 at 04:05 PM

#23

re: A CATERED AFFAIR Reviews

Posted: 4/17/08 at 4:07pm

I didn't realize there was a link posted right above my original post. The review I was criticizing was the AM NY review.

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"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"

Updated On: 4/17/08 at 04:07 PM

#24

re: A CATERED AFFAIR Reviews

Posted: 4/17/08 at 4:10pm

ACA should have left out the music and Harvey and just adapted the play. Ah well. Let's hope the show can run through the Tonys.

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Do you know what happens when you let Veal Prince Orloff sit in an oven too long?

#25

re: A CATERED AFFAIR Reviews

Posted: 4/17/08 at 4:12pm

If this show (which looks more promising..) are getting not that great review (based on the 2 for now) .....I wonder what CRY-BABY will get next week?

I wont even look at the thread! lol!



J*