A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews — Page 4

#76

re: A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews

Posted: 9/18/08 at 11:51pm

It's going to depend on what kind of advance they have (and someone here may have that info) and if there are producers who have deep pockets and want to keep the thing going for a while. As one of the many MANY producers on this project is named Santoriello, it's possible there is an element of vanity production.

---

Brian had sex, with a really dumb girl, now he's taking his friend Stewie, to get some ice cream, in his car.

#77

re: A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews

Posted: 9/18/08 at 11:52pm

If Brantley had spent a little less time re-reviewing FORBIDDEN BROADWAY and more time bitching about ATOTC or as I call it A-Tocked, this would be one of his cattiest.
The stuff about Barbour is scathing, attacking his masculinity with a Marilyn comparison.
And the Toro comment about Carole King CD's is a classic.

Good Times.

#78

re: A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews

Posted: 9/18/08 at 11:57pm

puppet, also note that Les Miserables got a rave review from Frank Rich when it came here, not to mention was riding on a huge wave of buzz that created an incredible Broadway advance sale. This show has neither.

---

"Sing the words, Patti!!!!" Stephen Sondheim to Patti LuPone.

#79

re: A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews

Posted: 9/19/08 at 12:03am

I'm a fan of the show, and the reviews are pretty much what I was expecting. No one was predicting raves. I'm just interested in seeing how this plays out. It's so hard to predict these days. It could run for a month. It could run for six. It's hard to tell.

#80

re: A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews

Posted: 9/19/08 at 12:03am

Not to mention on top of what wickedfan said about Puppet's post, that this show does not need ANY MORE comparison to Les Mis after these reviews!

#81

re: A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews

Posted: 9/19/08 at 12:08am

I give it until Halloween.

---

"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy." -Charlie Manson

#82

re: A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews

Posted: 9/19/08 at 12:12am

I was guessing mixed to negative and that looks like what it has been getting so far.

It looks like it was TRASHED, mixed to negative sounds way too kind.

---

Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE

#83

re: A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews

Posted: 9/19/08 at 12:17am

I give it until the end of the year. I can see the producers holding out until after the holidays.

---

A little swash, a bit of buckle - you'll love it more than bread.

#84

re: A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews

Posted: 9/19/08 at 12:19am

I spoke with a cast member back in June, and he said he didn't expect it to last 2 months.

---

"Be on your guard! Jerks on the loose!"

http://www.roches.com/television/ss83kod.html

**********

"If any relationship involves a flow chart, get out of it...FAST!"

~ Best12Bars

#85

re: A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews

Posted: 9/19/08 at 12:24am

"Even the fearsome Madame Defarge, the revolutionary firebrand who (literally) knits the destiny of others, lacks distinctive menace. As played by a mop-haired Natalie Toro, she seems like a generally amiable arts-and-crafts type, temporarily in a bad mood because she lost her Carole King CDs."


That's my favorite review line in a long time. Ouch! From the NY Times.

---

"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."

---

blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

#86

re: A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews

Posted: 9/19/08 at 12:28am

I really don't want to have to tell ou advisor about another show closing. I had to tell last year about Les Miz.

#87

re: A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews

Posted: 9/19/08 at 12:40am

Don't worry. If they close they might revive it in three years just to provide further comparison to Les Miz.

#88

re: A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews

Posted: 9/19/08 at 1:06am

I never listen to the critics. The audience I was with enjoyed the show. My family and I enjoyed the show. One should go and form their own opinion. I have a friend who is a theater critic and I would never take her opinion on anything.

#89

re: A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews

Posted: 9/19/08 at 1:20am

Have they announced the tour with Hasselhoff yet?

LOVE, the Carol King CD line, too, Besty.

And I love how people come to these threads and say "I never listen to critics". What the heck are you doing in this thread, then? (or "THAN", as Mr. Roxy might write?)

---

PEACE.

#90

re: A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews

Posted: 9/19/08 at 1:23am

Can I just say that I said "I Can't Recall" sounded like "I Could Write a Book" long before Matthew Murray ever did? I want the credit ;P

---

yr ronin,
joey

#91

re: A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews

Posted: 9/19/08 at 2:15am

Honestly, the show does deserve all the comparisons to Les Miserables because that is exactly the show it is unabashedly copying.
Brantley's review was priceless. I loved it. I loved that he didn't even bother to talk about the show during the first couple paragraphs and just talked about FORBIDDEN BROADWAY instead. One of his best reviews so far, hilarious, catty, and a joy to read.
I still can't believe a show with such mediocre, awful score is playing on Broadway. With the theatre shortage on Broadway at the time, it's sad to see THIS has a theatre. Ugh.

---

"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"

#92

re: A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews

Posted: 9/19/08 at 6:10am

So... anyone think it won't play tonight?

#93

re: A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews

Posted: 9/19/08 at 6:52am

Terry Teachout in a Wall Street Journal review titled, "A Revolutionary Bore:"

"...a protracted exercise in plodding mediocrity that's as sincere as a Sunday sermon and several times longer to boot..." and "...a pseudo-opera meant for people who don't like classical music..."

He, too, praises Barbour:

"If the rest of this show were as strong as his singing, it'd run for a decade."

But he admits, "Me, I hated "Les Miz."

#94

re: A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews

Posted: 9/19/08 at 9:55am

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.

Endless imitations? Longrunning epidemic? There has been Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon (if you ignore that it wasn't based on literature), and...what? Maybe Jekyll and Hyde, which didn't resemble Les Miserables at all. What is this critic referring to? Did he forget the previous poperatic spectacles of Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar that preceded Les Miserables? I would hardly consider a handful of shows over a 20-year period an "epidemic". I didn't even read the rest of the review because I completely lost faith in the critic's ability to be objective or intelligent.

---

"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian

#95

re: A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews

Posted: 9/19/08 at 10:02am

"As played by a mop-haired Natalie Toro, she seems like a generally amiable arts-and-crafts type, temporarily in a bad mood because she lost her Carole King CDs."

OMG! I have not laughed out loud reading a review before!

I have not seen it, nor do I intend to...but I am surprised Toro is getting such negative reviews, even if they are claiming she is hampered by her material. I expected she and Barbour to get Tony noms from the word of mouth, but not now.

---

"Carson has combined his passion for helping children with his love for one of Cincinnati's favorite past times - cornhole - to create a unique and exciting event perfect for a corporate outing, entertaining clients or family fun."

"In Oz, the verb is douchifizzation." PRS

Updated On: 9/19/08 at 10:02 AM

#96

re: A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews

Posted: 9/19/08 at 10:08am

I think James Barbour has a chance of being nominated, if the voters feel like throwing something to a (perhaps-)flop (Best Choreography nod for Anyone Can Whistle, Best Actress nod for Shogun: The Musical, etc.)

In the end, it depends on how competitive Best Leading Actor becomes over the year.

---

"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

#97

re: A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews

Posted: 9/19/08 at 10:09am

I love Carole King.

---

"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian

#98

re: A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews

Posted: 9/19/08 at 10:35am

Oh, my. That was a "Brantley Special" wasn't it?

---

"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” ~ Muhammad Ali

#99

re: A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews

Posted: 9/19/08 at 10:39am

All that really matters is ticket sales. When I saw the show (a Wednesday afternoon), it was basically sold-out, and the audience gave it a great standing ovation. If word-of-mouth is great - at least among tourists and group sales - it will be fine.

#100

re: A TALE OF TWO CITIES Reviews

Posted: 9/19/08 at 10:43am

There might be people in the theater, but the show isn't "selling out" at all. Last week the grosses show it was at 64.9% and the week before it was at 52.5%. These numbers are not anywhere near high enough to support the show.

---

Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco. Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!