A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 3:08pm

Newsday is Mixed:

'...The adaptation, music and lyrics, on Broadway after a success in Sarasota, Fla., are all by Jill Santoriello, who proudly describes herself in the program as self-taught and who obviously studied "Les Misérables." The big production has been directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle, in his Broadway debut.

Does Broadway need such a show? How desperate is the underserved pop-operetta audience since the latest revival of "Les Miz?" The results, especially considering the relative inexperience of the creators, are surprisingly solid. The show is less bombastic than some examples of the musical-potboiler genre, less foolish than some others. If this sounds like a recommendation, you know whom you are...'

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/stage/ny-etlead5847229sep19a,0,4656712.story

Updated On: 9/18/08 at 03:08 PM

[winston89]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 3:15pm

Why would reviews come out now if the show doesn't open until tonight?

[blaxx]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 3:16pm

The reviewers go to the last few previews. By this point, they all have seen it.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 3:31pm

I would say that's entirely a negative review.

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 3:35pm

It was definitely a weird one: "It's surprisingly solid, but I don't want to talk about that: let me tell you everything that's wrong with it instead."

In the end, I just went with the title of the review: '"Two Cities" musical is not the best, nor the worst'

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 5:19pm

Negative from Hollywood Reporter:


"NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Apparently operating under the assumption that Broadway will be bereft without a French Revolution musical, "A Tale of Two Cities" has arrived to fill the void left by the recent closing of the "Les Miserables" revival. (And before the mail comes pouring in, yes, we are aware that "Les Miz" actually is about the student revolt).

Unfortunately, this debut effort from writer-composer Jill Santoriello, who apparently has been working on the show for decades, demonstrates that Broadway is not the place for on-the-job training.

Santoriello, working in the semi-operatic style popularized by Andrew Lloyd Webber and the team of Alain Boubil and Claude-Michel Schonberg, has crafted a mostly tedious musical adaptation of the Dickens classic that is distinguished only by the compelling and beautifully sung performance by James Barbour in the central role of Sydney Carton, the cynical alcoholic who ultimately turns heroic."

This part's for Winston:

"Director-choreographer Warren Carlyle, sometimes directly copying the staging for "Les Miz" -- the Act I closer, "Until Tomorrow," is a dead ringer for "One Day More..."

http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSN1847357320080918

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 5:20pm

1.5 stars from Matt Windman in amNY:

"The pre-Broadway buzz surrounding "A Tale of Two Cities" had nothing to do with Charles Dickens. Its lead actor, James Barbour, got caught up in a sticky, scandalous legal quagmire that we'd rather not describe yet again. But regardless of his controversial and criminal past, Barbour is the best asset of this otherwise awful musical.

The musical itself, which Jill Santioriello developed over the course of two decades, is no more than a dull, dusty rip-off of "Les Miz." Even the show's lead producers are acting alumni of "Les Miz."

To be frank, clicking your heels and wishing to emulate the success of "Les Miz" and "Oliver" is not acceptable. Ms. Santoriello's songwriting lacks even the empty sizzle of a Frank Wildhorn show like "Jekyll and Hyde. Maybe she needs to work on the show for another two or three decades!"

http://www.amny.com/entertainment/am-tale0919,0,6512198.story

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 5:35pm

Good God.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 5:37pm

Updated On: 9/18/08 at 05:37 PM

[musicalmaster703]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 5:42pm

will this be a glory days?

[Steve2]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 5:45pm

Wow, I wonder how many reviews will say something unoriginal like "it was the worst of musicals", etc. Updated On: 9/18/08 at 05:45 PM

[Kad]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 5:50pm

It will only be fitting for an unorginal musical, wouldn't it?

[philly03]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 5:55pm

"Ms. Santoriello's songwriting lacks even the empty sizzle of a Frank Wildhorn show like "Jekyll and Hyde."

LOL

Regardless, bad reviews won't always affect the show. Jekyll & HYDE lasted four years (despite flopping) with just about everything negative in reviews. J&H running that long in that incarnation is still a big mystery to some, but maybe ATOTC will have some of that Frank Wildhorn magic with Brandi .

[adamgreer]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 5:55pm

From the Hollywood Reporter:

Director-choreographer Warren Carlyle, sometimes directly copying the staging for "Les Miz" -- the Act I closer, "Until Tomorrow," is a dead ringer for "One Day More"

Bingo.

[philly03]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 5:57pm

And I, being a fan for the show since news about the Sarasota tryout, have always expected that they'd get trashed in the reviews. I think we all did? Maybe not, but it was pretty apparent that even on here many people claim to like it but listed problems.

Personally, these reviews must be better than 13's. Atleast I hope so!

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 6:13pm

We are supposed to see it in about 1 month but now I am wondering if it will even be there than.

[blaxx]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 6:14pm

Regardless, bad reviews won't always affect the show. Jekyll & HYDE lasted four years (despite flopping)

Uhh, not recouping after four years sounds pretty awful to me.

[SingingCats]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 6:17pm

I think Glory Days made people think that a show with bad reviews is going to close immediately. Just because Matt Windman didn't like ATOTC doesn't mean it won't be around in a month.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 6:23pm

No; GD confirmed the fact that shows with negative reviews and no advance sale will close in 1 nite.

[commasplice]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 6:25pm

AP is negative:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/custom/wire/sns-ap-theater-review-tale-of-two-cities,0,1131553.story

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 6:25pm

The Associated Press is Negative:

...Dickens' story is packed with plot, and Santoriello's condensation is necessarily sketchy. Which means the score has to provide the emotional wallop only hinted at in her book. Unfortunately, it doesn't. Despite the bombast, the melodies are wispy, almost anemic and the lyrics elemental and predictable. They will have you involuntarily completing the rhyme — and being right every time.

The paucity of strong songs puts an extra burden on the actors, but they ably meet the challenge. Chief among these performers is James Barbour, who portrays the dissolute Sidney Carton, the show's late-blooming hero. Barbour has one of those industrial-strength voices, perfectly suited for the kind of full-voiced pyrotechnics that are necessary for larger-than-life shows...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/09/18/entertainment/e144108D01.DTL

This is not good: Michael Kuchwara likes almost everything. He liked GLORY DAYS!

Updated On: 9/18/08 at 06:25 PM

[jagfkb]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 6:46pm

Though this doesn't look so great for what was supposed to be a front runner this season, I highly doubt it would close tomorrow.

[sanda]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 6:47pm

I don't give a damn what they said. They wanted to trash the show in the first place. I am going to see it anyway. Hope it will last till October though.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 6:58pm

Though this doesn't look so great for what was supposed to be a front runner this season.

WHAT!? A Tale of Two Cities was never expected to be a front runner in ANY season. No one was expecting the reviews to be kind. Even fans of the show realize that it has issues. I'm just glad that it finally made it after all these years and that it may finally get a Broadway cast recording before closing.

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 7:03pm

Variety is Negative:

'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Charles Dickens was referring to 1775 in that famous opening line, but it might also be applied to 1985. The arrival of "Les Miserables" that year helped revitalize the commercial theater sector, going on to become a global blockbuster. But it also started a longrunning epidemic of literature inflated into poperatic spectacle, spawning endless imitations that have rarely worked since. The latest of them, "A Tale of Two Cities," is by no means the least, but it's a lumbering artifact -- overwrought, under-nuanced and hopelessly old-fashioned...

...There's the tender reunion, the boisterous tavern number, the scoundrels' ditty, the impassioned declaration of love, the introspective expression of self-reprimand, the embarrassing Josh Groban-esque epiphany, the seething revenge vow, the child's lullaby and even the multistrand act-one closer that comes together into a revolutionary call to arms. Do you hear the people sing?'

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117938425.html?categoryid=33&cs=1

Updated On: 9/18/08 at 07:03 PM