A Walk on the Moon Musical Reviews

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 6/16/18 at 4:59pm

the excitement and potential of a world premiere musical.... in sf for ACTs a walk on the moon
a new musical based on the 1999 movie. all orginals songs and features katie brayben who won the olivier for beautiful in london, and jonah platt, bens brother and former bway fiyero in wicked.

will report in post show with first thoughts.
they had “opening night” wed june 13 and havent found any reviews posted other than by theatregoers to goldstar page.

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 6/17/18 at 12:53pm

A Walk on the Moon is a beautiful story about losing yourself, rediscovery, redemption and reconnection, with the backdrop of an annual family vacation in the catskills, the moon landing, the war, the 60s counter counter, and woodstock. The movie was brilliant, starring Diane Lane and Viggo Mortenson.

The musical I think did a good job overall adapting the story, and a number of the original songs were catchy (i caught myself unconsciously toe tapping several times), with often clever songwriting that had a contemporary and fresh feel by Paul Scott Goodman(bright lights, big city). A few songs did not work as well or seemed gratuitous (19 songs plus three reprises)

Katie Braybern (olivier award winner for Beautiful london)  as Pearl really drove the show with a wonderful performance and singing as Pearl, the housewife who is looking for more out of life. She is worth seeing the show for just for her performance.

The musical choose to emphasize neil armstrong and the moonwalk more prominently than the movie, both in song and an winsome imaginary relationship with the lead character, which may have been at the expense of time for richer character development.

I thought the show moved along at a good pace (2:20) and had some good jokes and more humor infused than the movie, and I think could do even more on the humor side as they develop the show. 

I was able to relate to much of the story personally, as I grew up in the sixties, went to family summer cabin vacations, loved the rebellious energy of 1969, and even watched a female family friend of my mothers go through something similar to the Pearl character.

Audience response was medium to strong (it was the sat matinee so a VERY MATURE and not very energetic audience was attending)

I do wish the characters of Marty (played by Jonah Platt who was out so i saw Jeffrey Brian Adams who was fine)  and Allison (the angst and rebellion filled teen daughter) showed more depth and nuance as they did in the film. I thought the Allison character was annoying and completely missed the nuances Anna Pacquin brought to the film,.

I thought the sets and lighting were really well done and colorful, including a rotating building, and did  a clever job creating the Woodstock scene. Sound was too loud at first but adjusted in the first few minutes, and good the rest of show. Costumes were fine for the era portrayed (the long hair wigs did not look real to me). there is nominal choreography.

I come out as mixed to positive on this one. I enjoyed it overall, but my friend who sees lots of musicals and is about 15 years younger didnt care much for it and couldnt connect with any of the characters. Im very interested to hear the score again and will goldstar my way to another performance for the score and also to catch Platts performance.

I certainly think it can be polished further like most premieres, and think it is already better than some of the awful shows on broadway now, or heading there soon.

To really connect and be a big success, it feels like they have to recreate the same dramatic arc and character unfolding, and re-connection and acceptance that was nailed so well in the movie by Diane Lane, Liev Schrieber as the husband, and anna pacquin as the daughter. If they acheive that, this could be a very successful show and a powerful play with some really good original music.

playing through july 1 at ACT SF of Geary in union square. (will likely extend-it was a full house)

very interested in hearing others on the boards impressions and feedback and also if you see any critic reviews, please post them!

[Kitsune]

Posted: 6/17/18 at 1:32pm

Thank you for reporting! I've been meaning to get rush tickets before this leaves town. 

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 6/17/18 at 8:28pm

SJ Mercury writer and critic Sam Hurwitt gave AWOTM a generally positive review today, with opinions of a strong score and story and musical transfer, and mainly dinged what he saw as a lack of chemistry between the wife and blouse-man.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/06/17/san-franciscos-act-takes-a-walk-on-the-moon-with-new-musical/

Updated On: 6/18/18 at 08:28 PM

[DramaTeach]

Posted: 6/17/18 at 9:44pm

I absolutely adore this movie.  It's such a nostalgic look at a very specific time period for a very specific group of people.  I'm hopeful that the musical makes its way to NY.

[bk]

Posted: 6/18/18 at 12:02am

broadwaysfguy said: "SJ Mercurywriter and critic Sam Hurwitt gave AWOTM a generally positive review today, with opinions ofastrong score and story and musical transfer,and mainly dinged what he saw as a lack of chemistry between the wife and blouse-man.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/06/12/new-musical-a-walk-on-the-moon-premieres-at-sfs-american-conservatory-theater/

"

I hope you're not saying THAT was the review - I saw a press release in your link.

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 6/18/18 at 1:05am

thanks BK

grabbed wrong link by accident and replaced with full review.....

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 6/20/18 at 2:55pm

A walk on the Moon musical gets a great review from theatrius an online theatre review site

http://theatrius.com/2018/06/19/a-walk-on-the-moon-rocks-the-crowd-at-act-s-f/

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 6/20/18 at 2:58pm

and a mixed to negative review from a guest reviewer at the sf chronicle

(the little chronicle man is sitting and watching, which is the middle category for the chron vs jumping out of seat or asleep in seat) 

https://www.sfchronicle.com/performance/article/World-premiere-musical-Walk-on-the-Moon-in-13000392.php

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 6/20/18 at 3:00pm

a big thumbs down review by kqed reviewer

https://www.kqed.org/arts/13835306/a-crash-landing-for-acts-a-walk-on-the-moon

[UncleCharlie]

Posted: 6/20/18 at 3:43pm

broadwaysfguy said: "and a mixed to negative review from a guest reviewer at the sf chronicle

(the little chronicle man is sitting and watching, which is the middle category for the chron vs jumping out of seat or asleep in seat)

https://www.sfchronicle.com/performance/article/World-premiere-musical-Walk-on-the-Moon-in-13000392.php"

Actually, they use 4 categories. Between the top category man jumping out of his seat and the 3rd category, man sitting and watching is the second man in seat clapping. A fair number of their reviews seem to land in that second category so a 3rd category for this means not a total disaster but not good.

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 6/21/18 at 9:37am

thanks unclie charlie- i forgot about the man clapping in chair! 

Im still going to give it another chance-i want to hear the score again and see it with all the principals in!

[antonijan]

Posted: 6/25/18 at 7:15pm

I missed Act 1 as I was in the parade....will report back when I see the whole show.

[UncleCharlie]

Posted: 6/25/18 at 11:45pm

antonijan said: "I missed Act 1 as I was in the parade....will report back when I see the whole show.

As if there's any chance you won't say it's a huge hit and everyone ought to see it. LOL. It's OK to be a shill for all these shows if you want, but don't expect anyone to view you as an objective reviewer.

 

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 7/2/18 at 1:55am

Saw the final show of the premiere of A Walk on the Moon  this afternoon.

It seems to me as if the director listened to the feedback of the critics and made a number of positive changes-the teen daughter is not quite so over the top, there was a lot more passion and chemistry between the female lead and the blouseman, shorter better hair for the blouseman, and it also seemed to move faster and more seemlessly in the scene transitions. i feel like they cut a few songs. I would still like more framing of the wifes character that what show more cause for her to cheat on her husband.   

It was also the first time id seen jonah platt in the lead as marty, and his acting was incredible and he had very solid vocals.(he was out the day i came before.)

Giving a closer second listen to the score, i liked it and again found a number of songs that stood out and the entire score holds together really well.

I liked the show overall, and liked it more the second time around. I feel like it could run on broadway and potentially find an audience. i try to think of what could make it better, but nothing specific comes to mind.  This is a good story, with a solid score, and many characters that I think different audience members can identify with.   

Jonahs little brother Ben Platt was rooting Jonah on from the first row aisle along with their mom, and Ben attended the closing party downstairs after the show.

Spoke with the director for a bit after the show and they are  raising funding  now for the next step, which sounds like it will probably be implementing more improvements and a pre-broadway tryout in one of the major eastern cities. 

This is kind of a sleeper musical, that didn't get almost any attention or interest from the board or even local board contributors that see most of the out of town tryouts in the sf bay area, so its probably gonna have to generate more buzz and enthusiasm to get to broadway.

 

[JBroadway]

Posted: 7/2/18 at 2:10am

I was at the final performance this afternoon as well. 

Overall, the word that keeps coming to my mind is "fine." The music was fine, the staging was fine, the book was fine, the lyrics were mostly fine but occasionally crappy. It reminded me of Bridges of Madison County, but not as good. 

It held my attention, but I feel like I'll be forgetting about it soon, and I don't see it doing well on Broadway at all. Maybe it could playing one of the Off-Broadway non-profits, but not one of the really ambitious ones. Maybe Roundabout to put it at the Laura Pels, or MAYBE Second Stage at the Tony Kiser. But more likely I think this one will die out of town. 

[antonijan]

Posted: 7/2/18 at 12:21pm

I got 2nd row center orchestra on pride sunday thru today tix!

It would have been fun to see the Platt brothers on the same place but alas...I had to work and missed my chance of seeing the whole show.

Glad I was able to see Act 2 at least!

The mah jong scene looked fun.  I have always wanted to  learn mah jong!
 

Updated On: 7/2/18 at 12:21 PM

[bear88]

Posted: 7/3/18 at 1:50am

broadwaysfguy said: "This is kind of a sleeper musical, that didn't get almost any attention or interest from the board or even local board contributors that see most of the out of town tryouts in the sf bay area, so its probably gonna have to generate more buzz and enthusiasm to get to broadway."

I didn't see the show myself, but I wouldn't read too much into the reaction, or lack thereof. I don't know what attendance was like, but the musical just never sounded all that interesting to me, which undoubtedly says more about me than the show. The reviews were pretty tepid, though, and there were too many other shows - new musicals, plays, revivals - I wanted to see this spring and early summer. Maybe it will have more success on the East Coast.