All Shook Up Reviews

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 6:15pm

Broadway.com is Mixed:

" By the end of this assemblage of Elvis Presley tunes linked by a silly plot, all I could think was: Look what Mamma Mia! hath wrought. Like the hugely successful ABBA musical, All Shook Up weaves a lightweight, love-related story around a bunch of mostly upbeat songs. The good news is that the frothy show rips off Mamma Mia! more successfully than the woeful Beach Boys tuner Good Vibrations does. The bad news is that the Elvis numbers often feel wedged into the dopey plot."

"While All Shook Up is a mindless, harmless, fun musical that certainly deserves to run longer than Good Vibrations, it never offers a hint of the sex appeal that made Elvis an icon. That's probably because the show has been carefully designed to appeal to families with tweens and teens.

And since Times Square already feels like a theme park, the family-friendliness is hardly surprising. As far as Broadway tourist attractions go, All Shook Up isn't terrible, but it could have been a lot better."
http://www.broadway.com/gen/Buzz_Story.aspx?ci=508996

Posted: 3/24/05 at 6:21pm

Seems like maybe it will be a huge hit with families... People like shows they can see with there familes... like Beauty n The Beast n Wicked n such...

[Al Dente]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 6:22pm

I have a feeling many of the reviews will be as "lite" and middle of the road as that one. What can you say about ASU? Much in the vein of a complete piece of garbage like Mama Mia, it's like the McDonalds of theater, goes down easy and is immediately forgotten. It's also going to be the show people settle for when they can't get tickets to Spamalot or DRS. Musical theater is in really bad shape.

[Al Dente]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 6:25pm

As an aside, I don't find any of the cast members to have anything resembling sex appeal, so you might hear that a lot as well. And yes, I might be in the minority, but Jackson does absolutely nothing for me.

[Tiny-Toon]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 6:31pm

Just looked and - new All Shook Up site! :)
www.AllShookUp.com

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 6:33pm

Talkin Broadway is Negative:

"Some musicals really do go that extra mile to give relevance to their titles. However, in the case of All Shook Up, which just opened at the Palace, the title is less apropos to its subject matter of a Midwest town being introduced to rock music than to San Francisco following the 1906 earthquake.

If the destruction here isn't total, it's close enough for theatrical purposes. Never in the brief recent history of Broadway jukebox book musicals has this much established talent been involved in the creation of so little of consequence. The flagrant misuse of (to begin with) performers as gifted as Alix Korey, Sharon Wilkins, and Leah Hocking, and of set designer David Rockwell, is alone enough to make you want to weep at the present state of Broadway musicals.

More depressing still is what this show heralds for the future, especially with regard to shows eschewing original scores in favor of cramming pre-existing pop catalogs (in this case, that of Elvis Presley) into new librettos (in this case, by Joe DiPietro). It's easy enough to write off obvious hack jobs like Mamma Mia! and Good Vibrations, which have no believable pretense of creative intent behind them. But, in its way, All Shook Up is worse: It aspires to create art from garbage, but produces only exquisitely painted trash. And too many theatergoers today can't tell the difference. "

_________________________________________________________________

"Such insensate idiocy eventually becomes impossible to take without suffering at least partial brain damage; I found myself unable to stop smiling at the mounting contrivances of the second act, which was set - for reasons known only to DiPietro - almost entirely in an abandoned fairground. But such grins never translate into either laughter or pleasure; that would require real jokes and something - anything - happening onstage that can emotionally involve the viewer.

The only identifiable feeling All Shook Up evokes is pity for the cast. Korey, one of musical theatre's best belters, has little to sing and less to play as the thoroughly one-dimensional mayor. Hocking's voice is thrilling, and she's got great comic timing, but she's reduced to playing nothing more than a curvaceous plot point. Gambatese and Price, while appealing, lack the skill necessary to fake their way through their non-roles; Wilkins and Hadary fare only slightly better. Jackson sings and dances well, but seems determined to generate charisma solely from the gyration of his pelvis; he's not successful.

Of course, All Shook Up isn't about its performers, their characters, or whatever threadbare complications DiPietro has devised for them; it's about Elvis songs. If that's all you want, nothing of theatrical consequence will stand in the way of your enjoying them at the Palace for the foreseeable future. Otherwise, don't expect this flavorless musical martini to leave you either shaken or stirred. "
http://www.talkinbroadway.com/world/AllShookUp.html

Updated On: 3/24/05 at 06:33 PM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 6:37pm

Highbrows probably feel it is not worthy of Broadway

Copenhagen was deemed worthy & yet I found it boring. I like drama with the rest (loved Virginia Wolff) but enjoyed Mama Mia over Copenhagen.

Will see ASU & GV if we get great cut rate tickets offering liked we lucked out with Virginia Wolff. Seeing Modern Orthodox with another couple 4/3

Updated On: 3/24/05 at 06:37 PM

[Al Dente]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 6:38pm

Well that really drives the point home now, doesn't it? And it's unfortunately not the theatergoers fault. They just shove whatever's given to them, down their throats. It's the people who decided that this was a show worthy of Broadway and spending millions of dollars on. I can't believe it ever got past it's run in Conn. Makes you long for AIDA. And that speaks volumes.

Posted: 3/24/05 at 6:42pm

that new website looks remarkably like the hairspray website.

[Tiny-Toon]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 6:43pm

It does.. their set looks like Hairspray's too.

[MissNY]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 6:45pm

The whole show has a Hairspray feel, which I don't think is a bad thing. Yes the show was light and fluffy with an unoriginal plot, but it was a fun night out. The performances are great, the songs fit into the storyline and its funny. I think its going to do really well, just like Mamma Mia

[BeeBee]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 6:46pm

Nothing makes me long for Aida.

[Al Dente]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 6:47pm

Maybe you should see ASU.

Posted: 3/24/05 at 6:48pm

i dont know if i thought the sets looked the same so much, but did they have to use the same "buildings light up" idea for the website? it was probably the same company, id guess.

i enjoyed the show. i hope it gets some positive reviews.
Updated On: 3/24/05 at 06:48 PM

[Tiny-Toon]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 6:52pm

" it was probably the same company, id guess. "

It is, the same one that did the LITTLE SHOP and HAIRSPRAY ones

[Razz77]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 9:32pm

I really just can't wait to see Brantley's...

Posted: 3/24/05 at 9:41pm

have no more reviews been posted? feels like its taking a while, no?

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 9:46pm

Well, I just got back from the opening night performance and I hated it. I hated it so much I didn't go to the afterparty.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 9:47pm

I just checked the Times, Newsday and TheatreMania. No reviews posted as of yet.

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 9:50pm

I really hope All Shook Up gets some positive reviews. It is what it is. It is not meant to be a deep ground breaking musical. It is just a fun show with a lot of wit that is very entertaining. I saw the show twice in Chicago and was never dissapointed. Yes, it does have some flaws, but you still leave the theatre with a good feeling and a smile. And that is why it is worth the price of admission and garner some positive reviews.

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 10:08pm

I think the critics acknowledge that it's meant to be a good time, but frankly I think it's a waste of space. I didn't find it witty at all. And I was angry at how underused Alix Korey was.

[Staci1818]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 10:15pm

Newsday is up

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/stage/ny-etlede4188220mar25,0,4503754.story?coll=nyc-manheadlines-stage

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 10:17pm

Brantley is mostly negative:

" Cra-a-a-ck!

What you have just heard is the sound of a camel's back breaking. Yet another synthetic jukebox musical opened last night on Broadway, fresh off the assembly line. And theatergoers have responded by mobbing Times Square in spontaneous "Take Back the Stage" demonstrations. Just listen to the angry, empowering sound of their chanting: "Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Fizz-free pop has got to go!"

Well, a critic can dream, can't he? In truth, "All Shook Up," the Elvis Presley-inspired show that is pumping its plastic pelvis at the Palace Theater, is unlikely to evoke anything close to such extreme, last-straw responses from its audiences. Within its unimaginative but ever-expanding subgenre - the prefab musical that takes its score from Top 40 hits of the past - this production actually rates as slicker and more skillful than most.

Certainly, compared with its sickly cousin, "Good Vibrations" (that's the Beach Boys musical at the Eugene O'Neill Theater), "All Shook Up" looks like Jose Canseco at his steroid-plumped peak. Everyone in the show sings more or less on-key. The dance numbers, though short and fitful, are fully synchronized. And several of the performers have something approaching distinctive personalities.

But this relative slickness only highlights the emptiness of "All Shook Up," which uses songs made popular by Presley to fuel a fairy tale about a pleasure-challenged small town during the Eisenhower era. Were it staged in a pint-size theater with cardboard scenery and a campy young cast, "All Shook Up" might be a moderate hoot. (Or it might have been about 30 years ago, anyway.) But inflated to the proportions demanded by a glamour barn like the Palace, it becomes a mind-numbing holler."
Brantley

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 10:26pm

At the other end of the spectrum, Kuchwara (AP) is very positive:

"There may be life in the jukebox musical after all. The much-maligned genre that produced the highs of "Mamma Mia!" and the lows of "Good Vibrations" has strengthened the case for pop-song musical theater with a surprising "All Shook Up."

This genial, thoroughly ingratiating show, which opened Thursday at Broadway's Palace Theatre, features songs made famous by that icon of rock 'n' roll, Elvis Presley. And it also celebrates Presley himself, using his persona as the model for the musical's lead character, a guitar-strumming, motorcycle-driving, hip-swiveling roustabout named Chad.

What makes "All Shook Up" work so well is the show's cheerful, tongue-in-cheek sense of self. Book writer Joe DiPietro, one of the creators of the long-running off-Broadway revue "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change," has concocted a goofy, often funny and sweet-tempered story that is an affectionate send-up not only of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," but all those cheesy movies Presley made during his mediocre film career. Remember such cinematic clinkers as "Harum Scarum," "Clambake" and "Speedway"? They make "All Shook Up" seem like "Long Day's Journey Into Night."

""All Shook Up" thrives on that confusion, a mixed-up merry-go-round of fun anchored by all those Presley tunes. Lightweight, to be sure, but it floats very nicely indeed."
AP Review

Updated On: 3/24/05 at 10:26 PM

[Chlydomnestra]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 10:58pm

My thinking on all of this is that you shouldn't compare it to other musicals, in the sense that it is part of this new genre we call jukebox musicals. Of course it's going to be fluffy and cheesy and without real depth, but what do you expect from a musical with pre-made "happy" music for the score. I guess I'll expect depth, etc. from a jukebox musical when they use the music of Tori Amos, Bob Dylan, Sarah McLachlan, or someone of the like...which even those artists are subjective. I mean, every now and then, people want some fluff, even in the theatre. It doesn't all have to be Carousel with suicide and domestic violence, or Rent with AIDS, drugs, and poverty. In short, I think that ASU will be fun. It won't "rock" the Broadway community or change the world, but it'll be enjoyable and it will bring a lot of money and tourism to Broadway, because the baby boomers love this kind of stuff...hence the success of jukebox musicals. I have always thought there should be two reviews for all entertainment releases. The first which will critique the professional and creative elements of the show and the second that should evaluate the potential for mass appeal and consumer enjoyment. The average theatre-goer/movie-goer, etc is not looking at the same things that critics and theatre buffs are looking at. Compare ASU to other jukebox musicals and I imagine it looks pretty good, considering it uses 12th Night as story line.