Maya Rudolf was miscast. She had the prettiest songs in the show, but couldn't sing them.
The kid playing Ralphie was mediocre and most of his songs were out of his vocal range (at the low end). He softened seemed visually focused on someone or something offstage...? (as were quite a few actors)
Adding the Hanukkah elements was really forced and stereotyped. And the sterotyping was inconsistently handled in the show.
Worst example of the weird handling of stereotyping: They removed the "Fa-rah-rah-rah-rah-rah"s sung by the Chinese waiters (present in the movie), added lines to make a deliberate joke of it, (The Old Man: This is not what I expected. Chinese waiter (angrily): What were you expecting?) but a minute or two later, placed the Schwartz family at the restaurant, representing the stereotype of how Jews celebrate Christmas (Mrs. Schwartz: We come every Christmas! We're going to the movies after!) And why did Ralphie's family have a menorah on their fireplace mantle? I wonder if the changes regarding the Chinese waiters was at the insistence of Ken Jeong?
The pre-recorded vocals were far too obvious, and the choreography was pretty bland throughout. Camerawork was HORRIBLE! Also WAAAAAAAAAY too many commercials, although some of them were more entertaining than the show.
This certainly was a racially diverse cast. I found that bothersome, as it also seemed forced.
Technical mistakes everywhere including the horrible camerawork mentioned above, reflections of green, rectangular objects (prompters, perhaps?) in Ralphie's glasses, that REALLY bad costume change/transition in "Major Award", views of the backstage area while a wall in the schoolroom was moved (in frame), mic cutouts, technical direction bleeding through a mic, yadda, yadda, yadda.
The whole show seemed like a bad tech rehearsal. Props falling (Chris D. covered twice for those. First when that thing fell off the kitchen/basement door, and then when the Bumpus hounds didn't pull the tablecloth off the kitchen table). He also covered well when Maya Rudolf flubbed her line. I think the poor guy had just had enough, though when his glasses fell out of his overcoat pocket. They just laid there on the living room floor.
^I personally liked the revision of the Chinese caroler joke. I thought the Schwartz family being at the restaurant was fine. I mean, there’s nothing inherently demeaning or insulting about going to a Chinese restaurant and the movies on Christmas, whereas making fun of a person’s accent because the phonemes are interchangeable in their native language is insulting.
MikeInTheDistrict said: "^I personally liked the revision of the Chinese caroler joke. I thought the Schwartz family being at the restaurant was fine. I mean, there’s nothing inherently demeaning or insulting about going to a Chinese restaurant and the movies on Christmas, whereas making fun of a person’s accent because the phonemes are interchangeable in their native language is insulting."
I completely agree with you, and I chuckled at the scene (I thought it was a clever, inside joke for those familiar with the movie), but then it was immediately followed by a stereotype of Jews. (The notion that Jews celebrate Christmas by going out for Chinese, and then to a movie is a common stereotype).
And that line in the new song for Mrs. Schwartz: "Jesus was a Jew!" ....it's kind of a button-pusher for some folks.
Why show sensitivity for only one example of stereotyping? That's why I wonder if Dr. Ken influenced that scene. Does anyone know if that change appeared in the Broadway version?
MikeInTheDistrict said: "^I personally liked the revision of the Chinese caroler joke. I thought the Schwartz family being at the restaurant was fine. I mean, there’s nothing inherently demeaning or insulting about going to a Chinese restaurant and the movies on Christmas, whereas making fun of a person’s accent because the phonemes are interchangeable in their native language is insulting."
A+
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
I can’t swear to it because it was several years ago but I don’t believe the stage production changed that scene to be politically correct. I like the revised scene tonight. IMO, it didn’t take anything away from the show. The scene overall was about the families enjoying the special day in a non traditional way.
The only review of a show that matters is your own.
Chris D gets an award for best covering of oops moments. He is quite the quick thinker. He also was a terrific performance. Which, unfortunately, highlighted the lesser performances from his "family".
I think the kid playing Ralphie was tired. I also think he was "thinking" too much. He was given a lot to do and I don't know how the last few rehearsals went, but seemed like he was struggling to remember blocking - which camera to look at - and lines - and so, Ralphie's character just didn't come all the way through.. The scene where he "beats up" Farkus was poorly staged and shot. It rang all too false.
Ana Gasteyer was a bright light - but, yes, the number was shoehorned in.
Maya Rudolph - a nice try.
Jane Krakowski - the other bright light. She was into her role.
Ken Jeong - he was a delight.
It seemed like they gave the kids ensemble a lot more to do - and they responded.
Matthew Broderick. Sigh. I don't know what's happened to him. But, to me, he couldn't convey the proper reflective tone. He only came alive at the very end for the very nicely sung part. But, for the rest of the show, he added little.
Camerawork - poor
Technical preparation - poor - which explains the poor camerawork. Not even close to Grease or The Sound of Music
Sets - really well done.
Ralphie to the Rescue - Ok, I understand why they didn't want to show a 9 year old running around with a gun threatening people - but the number made very little sense without the gun. And, after all, the show is all about the gun. If Fox was going to have qualms about gun violence, then they should just not have done A Christmas Story.
It wasn't the worst of the "live" musicals. I never was able to watch all of Peter Pan. A Christmas Story had its moments - but it's hard to believe that one of the best live musicals still is Cinderella from the 1950s.
Tag said: "(The notion that Jews celebrate Christmas by going out for Chinese, and then to a movie is a common stereotype).
But it's true."
...and there was an adorable and humorous sweetness about the original scene from the movie that was not at all about making fun of their pronunciation.
Also, buttoning the scene with, "Isn't this a great country?" was cloying overkill and (for me) undid the cleverness of the change.
A single Chinese waiter sings "Deck the Halls" in the stage version and it was done on Broadway.
Interesting story about that. When A CHRISTMAS STORY first premiered at Kansas City Rep. it had a score by Scott Davenport Richards. There are clips of this on YouTube. Apparently, Richards did not like the Chinese waiter singing "Fa Ra Ra Ra Ra" and insisted that it be taken out. The creators refused. So, RIchards left the show and took his music with him.
Didn’t watch tonight, but it appears they missed out on appealing to two important audiences. It failed to meet the high expectations of the Broadway crowd and the non-Broadway crowd expected a recreation of the movie and were sorely disappointed (based on friends’ posts on Facebook).
Call_me_jorge said: "TheatreFan4 said: "I don't understand the insistence on doing these things live when they don't even film them with an air of theatricality. All you have is a cast running between sets with all of the missed cues and cuts too early. If you're going to film it like a movie, then just let it be a TV movie. For the love of god. Personally, I think The Wiz is the one that pulled off the live musical the best because it was literally a stage musical filmed."
i actually thought the wiz was the worst so far, lol. The proscenium design was a major flaw in my opinion and did not work for film/television"
It also proved unequivocally what a mediocre show the Wiz is. To use a cliche, the first hour of the TV show was as entertaining as watching paint dry; I gave up at the hour mark because I just couldn't believe how sluggish it was.
Remember that they were talking about a new Broadway production f the Wiz. That seemed to evaporate once the TV show proved that truster how mediocre the material was. In 1975, it did well because it had zip, a very good production design, and a great closing. It was also a rare (for those days) honest to goodness family show.
Chris D gets an award for best covering of oops moments. He is quite the quick thinker. He also was a terrific performance. Which, unfortunately, highlighted the lesser performances from his "family".
I think the kid playing Ralphie was tired. I also think he was "thinking" too much. He was given a lot to do and I don't know how the last few rehearsals went, but seemed like he was struggling to remember blocking - which camera to look at - and lines - and so, Ralphie's character just didn't come all the way through.. The scene where he "beats up" Farkus was poorly staged and shot. It rang all too false.
Ana Gasteyer was a bright light - but, yes, the number was shoehorned in.
Maya Rudolph - a nice try.
Jane Krakowski - the other bright light. She was into her role.
Ken Jeong - he was a delight.
It seemed like they gave the kids ensemble a lot more to do - and they responded.
Matthew Broderick. Sigh. I don't know what's happened to him. But, to me, he couldn't convey the proper reflective tone. He only came alive at the very end for the very nicely sung part. But, for the rest of the show, he added little.
Camerawork - poor
Technical preparation - poor - which explains the poor camerawork. Not even close to Grease or The Sound of Music
Sets - really well done.
Ralphie to the Rescue - Ok, I understand why they didn't want to show a 9 year old running around with a gun threatening people - but the number made very little sense without the gun. And, after all, the show is all about the gun. If Fox was going to have qualms about gun violence, then they should just not have done A Christmas Story.
It wasn't the worst of the "live" musicals. I never was able to watch all of Peter Pan. A Christmas Story had its moments - but it's hard to believe that one of the best live musicals still is Cinderella from the 1950s."
I don't think anyone was confused by the blocking - they have literally been rehearsing five to six days a week since October - I believe ten to twelve weeks of constant rehearsal.
“We did a number of table-read workshops with Chris and Maya probably about a month ago, and it just worked,” said Jeong, who added that their goal from the beginning was to honor the source material through a modern lens. “We wanted to do something that realistically felt like it took place in the 1940s, but also asked, what if this was a progressive town?” he said. “We talked about how my character was working two jobs — as tree salesman and in a restaurant — but he’s very assimilated. He has three sons, he’s very progressive and hardworking. He’s very American. So, it wasn’t about transplanting a 2017 Asian-American into the 1940s; it was about creating a new world in which this could all actually happen.”
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
I watched two scenes - the opening number (well, most of it), and the buying of the tree scene. I thought that the tree scene was painfully unfunny (and it looked as though everyone was lip syncing their lines), but I admit that I've been bored with Jeong's monotonous schtick since halfway through The Hangover. The scene played as if the writers thought "This scene is so great in the movie! Let's make it three times as long and add a bunch of jokes old enough to collect Social Security!"
Left the opening number before completion because the entire affair felt forced, fake, bovinely sluggish, and ham-handed (but returned for the tree scene to see if a second chance would yield rewards. It didn't.)
I can't imagine being bothered by a racially diverse cast. Disgusting.
"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
MikeInTheDistrict said: "^I personally liked the revision of the Chinese caroler joke. I thought the Schwartz family being at the restaurant was fine. I mean, there’s nothing inherently demeaning or insulting about going to a Chinese restaurant and the movies on Christmas, whereas making fun of a person’s accent because the phonemes are interchangeable in their native language is insulting."
I agree with this. I'm Jewish and the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. I'm not even remotely offended by the jokes about Jews going out for Chinese food and to movies on Christmas Eve. We often do and why shouldn't we (and nothing else is open). Though I think the joke is so overused, I'm not offended. Wasn't offended by SNL's "Christmas for the Jews" cartoon - I thought it was hilarious.
Making fun of an Asian person's accent or speech pattern, though, is far more offensive - like skin color, that is not within their control. It isn't a choice. I think therein lies the difference.
My take on the production overall, sadly, was meh. I was so hoping for better. I had never seen the Broadway production and had not listened to the score. While I realize they were so young when they wrote it and were also constrained by the subject matter (needed to be more family friendly music) I was hoping for better songs from P&P because I adore the DEH score. Maybe it's just me, but I could actually hear a different maturity level in the Hanukkah song that was written for Ana (melodically etc) - either way, they've come very far. Almost heard the beginnings of "So big, so small" in Maya's song about moments (haven't bothered to google the title).
Other than Maya’s awful singing, I really enjoyed this. I’m a huge fan of the movie (practically know every word) and they really nailed most of the key parts (‘I can’t put my arms down’, the look of the decorated family Christmas tree, ‘oh fudge’). I thought the Asian waiters singing was handled perfectly and I laughed out loud at the joke . The only part that really disappointed me was the ‘Ho Ho Ho’ from the Santa and the slide.
It was just a little too long. Chris D stole the show. How incredible it would be if they hired actors of that caliber for the majority of the roles.
Tag said: "(The notion that Jews celebrate Christmas by going out for Chinese, and then to a movie is a common stereotype).
But it's true."
It's true, and not the least bit offensive. Jews and Chinese food should be a part of Grease's "We Go Together" -- especially at Christmas time. However: it's not how Jewish people CELEBRATE Christmas - as we don't celebrate it all. It's called getting out of the house.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
Nycat63 said: "Making fun of an Asian person'saccent or speech pattern, though, is far moreoffensive - like skin color, that is not within their control. It isn't a choice. I think therein lies the difference."
Except that the humor of the original scene wasn't based solely on the accent/pronunciation. It was much more about the headwaiter (owner?) wanting to create an appealing atmosphere for his customers with train-wreck results. Those waiters in the movie were horrendous singers, with no sense of rhythm or pitch (pronunciation or no).
Couldn't the scene have kept it's original flavor by simply having the waiters sing, "fa-la-la-la la"? Did it have to become a political statement (with a dig at the original scene - although I still agree that it was a very smart joke)?
Should I also be angered that an African American actor was cast as an uncaring, alcoholic Santa? Or that the unseen Bumpus family is describes as "stupid hillbillies", "so low-down on the evolutionary chain that Charles Darwin would have described them as, 'your guess is as good as mine'". ... or is that just being hypersensitive? And if the Bumpus family were visible humans, how would you folks (who are so offended) have cast them in keeping with the theme of ethnic diversity?
In my opinion, this production tried too hard to be politically correct, and to please everyone. As a result, the show LOOKS like it was trying to be politically correct and to please everyone - except in the many places where it wasn't.
IdinaBellFoster said: "I can't imagine being bothered by a racially diverse cast. Disgusting."
Agreed. I think it's strange that people use "politically correct" as a critique, as if removing racially insensitive jokes and casting an array of people who actually represent what America looks like is politically motivated and not, simply, the right thing to do.
TBH, Chris Diamantopoulos walked away with the whole damn thing, followed by Ana Gasteyer. I loved Jane Krakowski, but I felt she shied away from ripping "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out" a new one, which I would've loved.
I didn't like Matthew Broderick for two reasons. One was his delivery of the lines and the fact he seemed either nervous or underprepared by stumbling quite a few times. The other, and this isn't his fault, is that the plot device of him walking through his childhood looked a bit creepy, especially when it placed him on the playground watching the two boys beat the crap out of each other while he was just looming over top of them.
I think the fatal flaw of them all, though, is the fact there is not ONE memorable song IMHO. It was cute to watch, however long, but if I can't walk away at least humming any of the songs, then the musical has failed with me.
Side note: The Greatest Showman's live commerical was PURE FIRE!!!!
Check out my eBay page for sales on Playbills!!
www.ebay.com/usr/missvirginiahamm
Unnecessary.... I'd never though I'd say this but it made realize how very good the original film is even though I'm not sure I could watch it again. The songs were terrible and trite. Can't blame the cast for this.