ANYTHING GOES Reviews- Page 3

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 4/7/11 at 11:10pm

And while we're talking about people who were thought to be locks for the Tony, let's talk about Patti LuPone as Reno Sweeney...

[NYadgal]

Posted: 4/7/11 at 11:13pm

Add me to those who had a heck of a good time.

Actually, more than a heck of a good time.

If I was writing a review, it would be a love letter to Sutton Foster.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/7/11 at 11:23pm

As far as I'm concerned, this Times quote is as good as a Tony:

"Ms. Foster’s Reno becomes an evangelist of musical-comedy joy."
--Brantley, NY Times

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/7/11 at 11:27pm

NY Post is mixed to postive:

"With her fizzy enthusiasm and Girl Scout pluck, Foster doesn't feel quite right for Reno, a jawbreaker candy filled with 100-proof liquor.

And yet . . .

Kathleen Marshall's revival for the Roundabout, which opened on Broadway last night, is like one of those old Hollywood movies with Bette Davis as a frumpy schoolteacher: You don't really buy it, but the star's still fun to watch.

Marshall struggles with the farcical tempo, and many bits of comic business fall flat. Several involve the ubiquitous, shamelessly mugging Grey -- he's like the uncle who somehow inserts himself in every wedding photo."

http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/theater/de_lightful_musical_revival_is_easy_5Mqq9RwbTzPWoo5lc9bJDI

[BwayTday]

Posted: 4/7/11 at 11:29pm

REALLY mixed reviews. But certainly enough positivity to fill up the marquee.

I loved Sutton and thinks she oozes star-quality in this role (of course I admit I am biased) and although I thought Patina was great, I am rooting for Sutton. Her performance was more seasoned, which makes sense since it is Patina's debut ( like I said, a great debut but...)

[bwayfan7000]

Posted: 4/7/11 at 11:30pm

Did you like the show, PJ?

[PitPro2004]

Posted: 4/7/11 at 11:30pm

Whereas I am very happy for Sutton, I have to admit I agree with some of the reviewers comments regarding her. I enjoy her brassy-ness in her performing, but I feel she's too young for Reno quite honestly and thought this since the day I heard she was doing the role. I keep thinking back to that moment in the Elaine Stritch at Liberty performance where Ms. Stritch talks about those young women who sing "I'm Still Here". Where've they been??

I think it's reasonable to ask that same question about Sutton's Reno. One reviewer felt she didn't have that "been there, done that, seen it all" nuance to her character.

Mind you I have yet to see her do this role, but based on the character itself and looking at the production stills, this almost looks like a cruise ship production starring a college grad in the lead role. I hope I'm proven wrong when I see it.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 4/7/11 at 11:33pm

Fflag, I would just like to point out that Foster is anything but Brantley's pet. If you read her NY Times reviews chronologically from Millie to Anything Goes, you will see that Foster had to win Brantley over. In Millie, he hated her (or heavily disliked, your pick). Little Women he was indifferent. Drowsy Chaperone he begrudgingly admitted that he enjoyed her. Young Frankenstein and Shrek were extremely positive and almost-rave, respectively, and now with Anything Goes, she's gotten the NY Times love letter she deserved 9 years ago with Millie.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 4/7/11 at 11:34pm

She's ten years older than Ethel Merman was, and only 2 years younger than Patti was.

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 4/7/11 at 11:35pm

Entertainment Weekly is a RAVE. They gave it an A.

"But thanks to the show's sturdy construction, its classic Porter songs (including 'I Get a Kick Out of You,' 'You're the Top,' 'Blow, Gabriel, Blow,' and the great title tune), and its essential, intangible, urbane joy even as it pokes gentle fun at society swells, Anything Goes has proved to be highly adaptable to any era. That's why, when Patti LuPone raised her own roof as Reno in the Tony-winning, all-stops-out Lincoln Center revival of 1987, the show could be read as the funhouse mirror of an anything-goes, Bonfire of the Vanities moment in time.

Speaking of self-confident and exemplary, let's get back to Sutton Foster. The Tony-winning star, with her big, endearing smile and her characteristic openness — and happiness — has typically been cast in softer, more innocent roles. Well, look out, fellas. Draped in a slinky spangled number, coiffed in a platinum pouf, lips scarlet red and eyes flashing (giving her demeanor a touch of the Christine Baranski), the girl throws off the good-time sparks of a woman who has been around the block and knows how to negotiate the town.

At the same time, with no LuPone-prone camp to her capers, Foster stars — yet generously blends — with the rest of the assured cast. As the lovelorn Billy Foster, Donnell suggests a somewhat more compact Jon Hamm as a much less agonized Don Draper. Laura Osnes brings a crystalline grace to the role of debutante Hope Harcourt, pressured by her status-conscious mother (hooray for Jessica Walter) to marry into class — and money. Mama's quarry, the audience knows, is Lord Oakleigh, a prime specimen of an upper-class twit, all foppish, repressed postures. What the audience doesn't know is that British theater regular Adam Godley will, by the time he busts loose with Foster in 'The Gypsy in Me,' steal his crucial bit of the show and utterly delight the cheering house with his brilliant comic timing."



Stage Review Anything Goes Updated On: 4/7/11 at 11:35 PM

[allofmylife]

Posted: 4/7/11 at 11:37pm

Seriously, you would have to be idiots not to turn a show with raves from the Times and the trades into a huge hit. An apprentice publicist could put this show on top for years.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/7/11 at 11:40pm

Huffington Post is mixed to negative:

"It's hard to go wrong with a sturdy musical theater vessel like the Cole Porter classic Anything Goes. But the Roundabout comes close with the mildly pleasant revival currently on Broadway, an indifferent affair saved almost entirely by those buoyant songs. Undemanding subscribers certainly won't feel cheated but this is not a show anyone involved was driven to mount.

...

Foster glides through the role of Reno with the charm and talent we expect. But Reno is a role you steamroll your way through and that never happens here. One problem is she's paired with partners that force Foster to dial it down."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/theater-seaworthy-anythin_b_846472.html

[PitPro2004]

Posted: 4/7/11 at 11:43pm

"She's ten years older than Ethel Merman was, and only 2 years younger than Patti was."

It must be the look then. She just looks so young.

I really dug Patti as Reno and looking at her in the AG photos from her revival, she seemed like the well travelled worldly woman and looked the part. Ethel was no beauty queen to me and looked well travelled at any age.

I look at Sutton and wonder when her commencement date is. No offense though! She just doesn't look seasoned by life to me.

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 12:10am

So, going back to this morning's kickoff discussion, the reviews are not at all a surprise. Anyone looking for complex characters, serious dramatic content and hysterical comedy routines are not going to rave over this production. But it is their loss.

You get your great performances of some of the greatest music ever written for the theater by a talented cast and ensemble led by a talented and likeable triple-threat star. If you are bored by the short intervals between the wonderful musical numbers, read the Who's Who in your Playbill.

It will have a long run because you just can't see this caliber of entertainment anymore. All those tap dancers. (Although I would be a little concerned that all the teen and pre-teen girls will just insist on seeing WICKED for the sixth time instead.)

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 12:24am

Expected Brantley's love letter for Foster as well as a rave for the production...and I couldn't agree more. Having seen Nunn's production for the National a few years back, this production somehow managed to surpass.

Not Foster's biggest fan, but happy that (another) Tony is in her sights. She strikes a perfect balance between actress and showperson.  Vocally, she's exquisite (though some tightening with "I Get A Kick Out Of You" wouldn't hurt).  But what tales her over the top is the combination of acting, dancing, and then singing (that's right, a tripple-threat).

Brava lady. Brava.

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 1:15am

I originally thought that Patina Miller would be the one to beat at the Tonys, but the critics have not seen "Sister Act" yet.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 1:27am

It is interesting that "Anything Goes" has come to be considered a vehicle for the person playing Reno when the original was a three-person star vehicle. The original stars, William Gaxton and Victor Moore were the superstars of Broadway in their time, the Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, so to speak. Gaxton was a star twenty years into his career as a leading man, usually playing the suave con man and Moore was a total, beloved clown.

Sadly, because they didn't record shows back then, their great work is largely forgotten (save for Moore's film work by himself) and they have faded into the fog of history. There was, however, a time when they were the top.

Updated On: 4/8/11 at 01:27 AM

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 1:44am

"Who needs a brass section when you’ve got Sutton Foster?"

What a fantastic opening line to the Times review

[theatreguy]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 2:50am

Not that this would need to happen for a while, but who could they get to replace Sutton Foster if that day comes? I can't think of anyone who is enough of a name to sell a few tickets AND can handle both the singing and dancing demands of this production.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 2:55am

I think she'll win. We'll see if Patina Miller is able to win the star-in-the-making Tony that Sutton Foster won for MILLIE almost ten years ago, but you can't deny that love letter from Brantley. If anything, the competition will be interesting.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 3:39am

One more oldie then I'm off to bed.

[Drunk Chita Rivera]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 7:04am

Personally I love Sutton, I think she has an amazing amount of talent but in this case I rooting for Patina al the way. I did not like Anything Goes, but I think I don't really like the show itself. I think this is a star performance from Patina that she may not be able to get again, she deserves to be recognized and surely makes the show what it is.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 9:14am

The one thing that Patina Miller really has going in her favor, is that so far this season, SISTER ACT is the only musical that is pretty much guaranteed to have a major National Tour.

The regional members of the Broadway League, who traditionally vote with at least one eye on the touring market, are likely going to want to award SISTER ACT something, and Best Actress is probably the most viable place to do so (BOOK OF MORMON is going to take a lot this year - national tour or not).

Even if Miller doesn't tour, the show can still be labeled as a "Tony Award Winning Musical" - and that group of voters likes that, and in a tight year that can help tip the scales (something similar happened the year LaChanze beat LuPone for THE COLOR PURPLE).

[Ryan4]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 10:07am

A big advantage for Sutton will be that voters are going to like Anything Goes a lot more than Sister Act. This is often what tips it in an actor's favor in close races.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 10:11am

Ryan, I don't think we necessarily have any reason to believe that. I enjoyed ANYTHING GOES a lot, but a lot of my theatrical colleagues (some Tony voters) have been very hard on it.