A CATERED AFFAIR Reviews- Page 8

[jaystarr]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 1:27pm

YOUNG FRANKSTEIN would not get the BEST (NEW) MUSICAL nomination.

They will give it to A CATERED AFFAIR before YF. Were kinda sure about the three shows- PASSING STRANGE & XANADU (second best reviewed show) and of course IN THE HEIGHTS.....

GLORY DAYS might snug the 4th position...then it would be really the YEAR of small musicals...but were not sure yet...so for now... I am putting my bet on ACA.

As for La Jolla - I think its pretty over for try-outs there... So far... they produced the following shows: FARNSWORTH INVENTION, A CATERED AFFAIR & (brace yourself for next week) CRY-BABY...you fill the blanks...not saying anything!

The try-outs will be back in BOSTON!! Yay!!

J*
Updated On: 4/18/08 at 01:27 PM

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 1:28pm

thats very true, but im pretty sure Critters and Friday the 13th part 296 would not work on stage

[Are_you_kidding?]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 1:29pm

I know I came into this world when my dad came in a box and then 9 months later I came out of it. I see your point.

[WaltSummersPI]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 1:31pm

"brilliance" is subjective, but even the most "out of the box" musicals that I love (Sunday in the Park....) obey basic rules of musical theatre.

[jaystarr]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 1:32pm

I still have high hopes for A CATERED AFFAIR, but I knew as I posted in the beggining of this thread that it MIGHT get not really good reviews!

I think people are expecting something from the show...and it was not! (meaning- their expectation from what the show is...)

I will make my on decision next week!

J*

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 1:33pm

Oh please enlighten me to the "basic rules of musical theatre".

[WaltSummersPI]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 1:38pm

- larger than life characters
- dramatic arc

are the two basic ones.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 1:41pm

define "larger than life characters", because that's a very suspect requirement. Does that mean that plays can not have "larger than life characters"?

A Catered Affair clearly has a dramatic arc. ALL theatre should have some kind of dramatic arc--this is not exclusive to musicals, which is part of my not segregating musicals and plays.

[WaltSummersPI]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 1:45pm

Larger than life is self explanatory. You're just splitting hairs now because ACA got crappy reviews.

Brantley said it best when he said ACA is "so low key that if often seems to sink below stage level".

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 1:52pm

Oh, so now you are able to read my mind. I'm not having this discussion to defend A Catered Affair so much as the general argument about theatre that has come out of these discussions.

And saying it's self explanatory means you can not provide an explanation.

You and Brantley have one opinion of whether or not a musical can contain realistic/naturalistic characters. I have another. But, I would never say that A Catered Affair was like watching a documentary in its being so real, it's too much like real life to be engaging. Even A Doll's House and Miss Julie are heightened. The very nature that people start to sing or speak in verse or poetically is heightened.

[WaltSummersPI]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 1:57pm

I do have a definition, I just didn't think I needed to explain it to you.

Larger than life - someone with extraordinary goals, someone you wouldn't find on the street. Harold Hill, Madame Rose, Max Bialystock.

[jaystarr]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 2:00pm

btw- How's the boxoffice numbers for ACA? I was just wonderin.......

J*

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 2:04pm

So tell me if you think that rule applies to Falsettos?

[WaltSummersPI]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 2:06pm

I don't know Falsettos all that well, but I don't think it's a musical that will enter the "canon" of musicals that are most often thought of as "the best"

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 2:06pm

Box Office has been late 80s since previews began.
I loved the show for its freshness and its wonderful performances. Now i only hope it runs long enough for me to see it a second time.

Updated On: 4/18/08 at 02:06 PM

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 2:08pm

Ok--how about the characters in Rent?

[WaltSummersPI]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 2:10pm

RENT is a gestalt musical. Apples and oranges.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 2:14pm

Oh. So, there can be apples and oranges in the theatre--in the musical theatre even? Because you've made it seem like there is only one way to go about it.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 2:15pm

oh come on

so you could see a way Critters, Friday the 13th and transformers could go to the stage

Not everything can be adapted to the stage

[WaltSummersPI]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 2:15pm

what songanddanceman said.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 2:19pm

They couldn't be done as parody?

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 2:21pm

I mean--there is talk of Spiderman and Shrek being musicals. What if they succeed?

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 2:23pm

Spiderman has characters who can be identified with, character arks etc, find me any of them in Critters

oh god i give up

*im leaving to wright A Nightmare On Elm Street the musical*

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 2:25pm

The 'talk' of 'Shrek' as musical is over -its a reality!

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 2:26pm

I'm not saying I would want or know how to make Critters work on the stage (except as parody--and it probably would have a niche audience), but you can not say with certainty that someone in the world might actually come up with a brilliant way to execute any idea brilliantly. Some of our greatest musicals probably sounded absurd on paper.

My point is not to generalize or limit any possibility.