All Fall Down @ NYMF...

[ZiggyCringe]

Posted: 10/10/09 at 12:16am

Not good.

Mary Testa is usually GOLDEN, but she bored me to tears tonight.

"All Fall Down" wants to be "Next to Normal," but it's not. It's about a kid who throws himself out of a window during his first year in college. It's a good concept. But it's a horribly executed musical. Selda Sahin's music and lyrics are smart and entertaining, but WAY too few and far between. The book scenes are interminable. And go nowhere.

Jenn Colella plays the mother, but also plays her son's girlfriend. It's totally creepy, and everyone outside at intermission commented about it. (The McKenzie Phillips jokes were flying.) It's really, really wrong. I suspect that the authors were trying to make a point, and I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, but it didn't work at all. It just made the audience feel uncomfortable.

And then there's the structure. It's ENDLESS book scene, followed by a quick musical number, followed by ENDLESS book scene, etc. These characters need to be singing, not chatting. The songs LANDED. The script did not.

I can't fault the cast of four, they were all terrific. BUT...

Again, structure. "All Fall Down" is basically plot-less. Plot-less can work for a musical (i.e., "Company"), but in this case, it didn't, because the book writer felt the need to blather on and on about crap that had nothing to do with the story, or the characters. The songs, strong as they were, didn't match up with the book. And if Testa can't land a laugh during a book scene, it needs to be completely re-thought.

If I were the authors, I would re-tool it into nearly an opera. Get rid of the multiple character conceit, cut every comic element, and go for the drama that is inherent in the idea. It's not a bad idea. But it needs lots more Sahin, and much less Turner.

Just my opinion.

[bk]

Posted: 10/10/09 at 12:27am

Here's what makes me cringe, Ziggy - the endlessly cliched use of the word "smart" and the equally cliched "landed." There must be other words in the English language. I'd love to know who the person was who first used "smart" like this and "landed," too. Because those words were never used in the way they're used now until the 1990s, or maybe the mid 80s. Certainly not before in any kind of general way. Maybe it was the BMI Workshop or Disney/ASCAP or Stephen Schwartz - but I stop reading as soon as I see either word used in this way.

BKCringe

[ZiggyCringe]

Posted: 10/10/09 at 1:11am

BK,

I totally agree with you about "smart." That's just lazy writing.

But "Landed?" I don't get it. "Landed a lyric?" It's the best possible way to express that thought. It may be a cliche, but in this case, it's the perfect cliche. It works.

I was just expressing my opinion about a show I saw tonight. You are fully within your rights to disagree, as is anybody else.

Opinions are simply what they are. I'm not either Steve (Sondheim or Schwartz), I'm just a guy with a story to tell. Listen to it, or don't. It means nothing, in the scheme of things.

[Holbee]

Posted: 10/10/09 at 12:48pm

oh BK...bitch, please.

[dlass727]

Posted: 10/10/09 at 8:37pm

I had a ticket to this show for today's performance but could not make it. It seems I didn't miss much. I was going to try to catch another performance but now maybe not.