A TALE OF TWO CITIES: Invited Dress- Page 2

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 8/19/08 at 11:56am

A lot of people around me were very confused...so it wasn't just me.

[Calvin]

Posted: 8/19/08 at 12:01pm

I'm seeing this Friday, but I have a question first.

On the concept album, there's some sort of song about people harvesting organs from dead bodies. What is that? Granted, it's been a while since I've read the book -- I won't say how many years, but let's just say it was my sophomore year of high school -- but I certainly don't remember that subplot. Is that still there?

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 8/19/08 at 12:05pm

What's the name of the song? If it's the one with the gravediggers, then yes, it's still in there.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/19/08 at 12:06pm

There is a song in a graveyard, one of the secondary characters is a grave robber.
It might be a different song but it is totally useless and would be one of the first things I would cut.
And the prologue is very confusing and could also be eliminated.

I read the book like a 100 years ago and didn't remember too much of it and was lost, plot wise, during much of Act 1.

[Calvin]

Posted: 8/19/08 at 12:17pm

I just skimmed a summary and remembered the "resurrection man" character -- I'd forgotten about him.

[philly03]

Posted: 8/19/08 at 12:28pm

"I wasn't aware that Christiane Noll was replaced by Brandi Burkhardt (who is just a soap opera actress... and we all know how great soap opera actors are)."

Christiane Noll was on the concept album/some readings of the show. Someone else did the world premiere & now Brandi Burkhardt is on Broadway. And I actually really like Brandi's voice, probably because of the Jekkie I am but oh well.

And can anyone confirm that it's not ENTIRELY sung through? How would say it is that way?

[massofmen]

Posted: 8/19/08 at 12:58pm

jenny powers was offered the role first, but turned it down to work on Dangerous Beauty in Chicago.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/19/08 at 1:06pm

It is NOT sung thru, there are dialogue scenes.

[philly03]

Posted: 8/19/08 at 1:46pm

I don't know if you guys got a Playbill/program anything last night, but the cast bios are up on the Talemusical.com...

I can't believe James Barbour actually put:
"Mr. Barbour is considered one of the most sought after performers on Broadway today. He is on the “A” list of actors asked to develop new works for the industries leading writers and composers such as Elton John, Bernie Taupin, Frank Wildhorn and Christopher Durang to name a few."

Brandi's:
"Recordings: Jekyll & Hyde: Resurrection, currently in production for a debut solo album and The Count Of Monte Cristo (Mercedes) to be released Winter '08."
Think this Frank concept album will actually come out!?

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 8/19/08 at 1:49pm

Wow, James Barbour, tone down that ego.

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 8/19/08 at 2:25pm

Mr. Barbour, you need to be careful. Because if you're not careful, the Voters will pull a Ned Beatty on you and take away your nomination.

And you wouldn't want that, right? One less thing to put in your bio.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 8/19/08 at 7:53pm

What is the show curtain? From the set design, I'd hope it'd be at least somewhat interesting.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/19/08 at 7:57pm

They use a regular red and gold fringe curtain that has nothing to do with the show,
After the prologue the Logo in letters is projected on a scrim.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 8/19/08 at 10:40pm

I had been hoping they would lose the title projected on the scrim. After I saw the show in Florida I wrote a lengthy email to the producers and that was one of the points I touched on. I felt it was overly theatrical and unneeded. "Resurrection Man" is something else I brought up. While I enjoyed the song and understood why they wanted to add some levity I felt the song could be easily dropped. One of the points I made regarding the number if they REALLY wanted to keep it was to expand the role of Cruncher's wife. She's not mentioned prior to the song and not mentioned again afterward. She's there for the number and then gone. Even just a throw away line for Cruncher mentioning that he has a wife would have sufficed. Has her role been changed at all or is it still now you see her now you don't?

Someone mentioned that the beheadings at the end were "gruesome". When I saw the show in Florida the guillotine was off stage and you only heard the sound of the blade dropping. I found that compelling rather than gruesome. Has that been changed?

And not that many children die in the show unless they threw in a bunch more deaths. And one of those deaths is a major plot point. I'd imagine more children died during the actual French Revolution.

Updated On: 8/19/08 at 10:40 PM

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/19/08 at 11:03pm

Major SPOILER ALERT!
There is one beheading on stage, at the Dress is was obvious how the actress did the effect and though the head missed the basket way below and something fell off as the head hit the stage (the nose?), it might work if they rehearse it more.
Other than the boy who gets mauled and bloodied by the Imperial Carriage there is only the brave walk the small girl takes up the guillotine stairs. She did it very well, lifting her skirt.
And yes, that is a part of the Revolution and it adds to the drama missing in most of the show.

[Eagleman]

Posted: 8/19/08 at 11:10pm

"Warren Carlyle has a big job on his hands and if he can cut a half hour of the first act that should help."

A half hour? How can one do that without the action of the show coming to a screeching halt?

It's been a long time since I've seen the movie or read the novel but unlike Hugo, Dickens rarely went off on tangents in his novels.

Someone put there finger on the big problem: I've listened to the tracks on their website--almost all of which are the complete songs--and they are very, very generic and forgettable.

The only thing that really seemed wonderfully executed was Sidney Carton's last words but I can't remember anything about the song.

I do remember until tomorrow but not for the right reasons.

Updated On: 8/19/08 at 11:10 PM

[Eris0303]

Posted: 8/19/08 at 11:12pm

"There is one beheading on stage, at the Dress is was obvious how the actress did the effect and though the head missed the basket way below and something fell off as the head hit the stage (the nose?), it might work if they rehearse it more."

Hmm...I see. I felt not seeing it at all had such an emotional impact. Not having seen the newest beheading I can't comment too much on it.

Yes, two children die. Though in Florida it was a little boy who was led up the stairs by his mother at the end.

The show in Florida was really well done with only a few minor flaws. From what it sounds from the postings here they fixed the things that were right and left things that needed to be changed.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 8/19/08 at 11:16pm

"WAT, thats how you can tell it will not be that good of a show. If you need to have read the source material to understand the show after at least 1 viewing, you can tell it needs major work. A show should be able to be understood when you watch it. You shouldn't have to know background material just to understand it. "


Tell this to the Pirate Queen fans.

[Eagleman]

Posted: 8/19/08 at 11:22pm

"I feel like th show could have been just as strong if it was a straight play. "

You should be a producer. "The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickelby" was riveting as drama. I shudder to think of Smike doing a deathbed love song to Kate.

What can you say? Jill Santoriello may have had a great concept but as a Broadway newbie, she had no business trying to score a hat trick on this massive and incredibly complex adaptation by singlehandedly doing the music, lyrics, and book.

I cannot conceive of backers listening to a reading and signing off on the woman
trying to pull off an orson Welles.

Even Sondheim who is the best creating a score and lyrics leans heavily on James Lapine.

Whoa!


Updated On: 8/19/08 at 11:22 PM

[philly03]

Posted: 8/20/08 at 12:11am

"Someone put there finger on the big problem: I've listened to the tracks on their website--almost all of which are the complete songs--and they are very, very generic and forgettable."

Some people really like that kind of music...Jekyll & HYDE was similar (as some compare the score to it, and no doubt it does have it's touches of it!). When your 4 big numbers are "This is The Moment," "Someone Like You," "A New Life," & "In His Eyes," you pretty much know the rest is generic! (Throw in "I Need to Know" if it phases you!). However, Jekyll, despite not so great reviews and that generic score ran just shy of 4 years & was a big crowd pleaser (for the most part!).

And agreed about Santoriello. My guess this is the only musical she's been working full-force on (not pulling a Wildhorn?!), but if this flops majorly, this will be a one time thing that on both sides on the Atlantic that a woman creating/producing her first major musical destroy 2 of the world's most known novels...Gone With the Wind & A Tale of Two Cities! But I'm banking Tale won't do that miserably!