A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews- Page 3

[frogs_fan85]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 10:31pm

At least Barbour is getting decent notices...

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 10:33pm

I'm a little confused. It's almost as if Brantley's soul was sucked away by the show.

Although, in fairness, he is the only one who could draw a comparison between Marilyn Monroe and James Barbour.

Updated On: 9/18/08 at 10:33 PM

[whatever2]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 10:35pm

i think it's sweet you think brantley has a soul ...

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 10:38pm

i think it's sweet you think brantley has a soul ...

Not NOW, he doesn't.

At least he had one once, unlike Charles Isherwood.

Updated On: 9/18/08 at 10:38 PM

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 10:40pm

Everybody has a soul...except some people.


(Apologies to Joe Mankiewicz.)

[whatever2]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 10:42pm

so mebbe now we can look forward to brantley's reviews being as insightful and polished as that beast isherwood's?

a critic with a soul??? perhaps for the pennysaver -- but not for the paper of record.

just sayin' ...

[whatever2]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 10:43pm

i dont. :)

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 10:45pm

Reviews are worse than I thought.

[temms]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 10:45pm

I can see the billboard now: "A cause to rejoice!" - Ben Brantley, The New York Times

[winston89]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 10:50pm

I said from the beginning that I never thought this show would get a good write up. I was guessing mixed to negative and that looks like what it has been getting so far.

I still think that this show will play for a bit.

[Kad]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 11:01pm

It won't play for much longer. It's not exactly doing what anyone could call booming business now. It's a big show with a lot of expenses. All of these bad reviews will very likely kill it within a month or so.

[NGD2225]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 11:06pm

Do you think they can finish out the year? I'm going on a trip to see it on Nov. 12 & I would like to give the advisor information if she shouldn't hold her breath & look for another show.

[PB ENT.]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 11:09pm

"If you want grotesque, look (bizarrely enough) to the show’s star, James Barbour, who portrays the worthy but dissolute Sydney Carton, he of the “far, far better thing” spiel. Mr. Barbour, who played Mr. Rochester in the Broadway musical of “Jane Eyre,” is giving the kind of high-camp, hair-tossing performance New York hasn’t seen from a leading man since Robert Cuccioli lashed the air with his ponytail in “Jekyll & Hyde.”

With a voice that combines the boom of thunder with the
breathlessness of Marilyn Monroe and a leaning posture that appears to be in eternal search of a lamppost, Mr. Barbour invests every minute he’s onstage with heavy-lidded, overripe languor. Some might call his performance de trop (well, in Paris they might). But hey, at least he shows signs of life, something otherwise perversely lacking in this tale of historic turmoil" ~ Ben Brantley

What a royal wacking! I certaintly hope it lasts a bit for the sake of all of Jill's hard work. IMHO,I still think they should have replaced Barbour before it came to Broadway.

[BroadwayBoy2]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 11:13pm

This beats Little Mermaids review!

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 11:13pm

I don't think Marilyn Monroe returning from the grave herself could have salvaged this show.

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 11:15pm

This beats Little Mermaids review!

Nuh-uh.

Ben Brantley's review of The Little Mermaid: "Love the shoes. Loathe the show. OK, I exaggerate. I didn't like the shoes that much..."

[PB ENT.]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 11:16pm

"This beats Little Mermaids review! "

Is it too late to introduce wheelies to the cast? (at least for Natalie Toro).

[chrysler99]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 11:21pm

I assumed Brantley would hate this but I didn't expect him to relish trashing the show as much as he did. I'm surprised he bothered to give any props to Barbour, despite it being left-handed praise.

[philly03]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 11:23pm

WIth the amount of people on this board who never spend full price, and the general lack of interest in non-theatre goers seeing this show, plus of course bad reviews: ATOTC isn't going to last too long . DIdn't Eagleman or whomever post that it is rougly $500,000 a week to run, give or take a few thousands? I can't see how negative reviews will turn into more cash. I was hoping it'd be a suprise hit! Guess not .

[NGD2225]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 11:25pm

How long do you expect? I need to know.

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 11:26pm

And frankly, if TALES doesn't die now, it will soon, what with all the other "hot ticket" shows coming down the pike: with our economy, even shows that get great reviews are going to have a hard time of it.

[James885]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 11:31pm

Brantley's review was harsher than I thought it would be. I wonder how long the show will last?

[philly03]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 11:32pm

NGD2225, I don't know and I cannot say I'm that good of a predicter (sp?) of that kind of stuff. Some shows that get awful reviews, like J&H run for 4 years despite big running costs and some are like Carrie (to point out an extreme obvious) where they close in a matter of days. ATOTC is no Carrie at all though, I'm guessin it's going to be like Woman in White a few years back. Will try to run for a few months and then announce a very very sudden closing (WiW announced Judy Kuhn's temp casting, then a week later gave a 2-week closing notice). Torre/review for NY1 seems to keep using similar terms with the two shows from wht I vaguely remember of her WiW review.

[NGD2225]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 11:39pm

Thanks, I'll give her the heads up to watch out.

[puppet]

Posted: 9/18/08 at 11:42pm

Please remember that Les Miz did not get great reviews. In London the only thing that kept it running originally were the subscriptions at the theater.