Amazing Grace reviews- Page 4

[beilis32]

Posted: 7/17/15 at 12:01pm

"Shows generally are not that bad (or good). Some people and critics have an ax to grind. I do not pay attention to anyone. If a show or actor interests us, we see it if we can.
If the subject matter interests you, see it before it closes. If you can not make it you can't"

 What an incredibly nuanced thing to say. Thanks, and keep not paying attention to anyone!

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 7/17/15 at 12:09pm

Sorry for trying to be honest with you. Do what you want. When you live closer to the theater scene you get a better view on things

Enjoy yourself with whatever you do. Hopefully someone will give you the answer you want.

Updated On: 7/17/15 at 12:09 PM

[Mike3]

Posted: 7/17/15 at 1:40pm

It's back up on TDF for the next week.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 7/17/15 at 1:55pm

Looks like they are trying to make a run out of it. Big mistake but wish them luck.

Updated On: 7/17/15 at 01:55 PM

[Anshel2]

Posted: 7/17/15 at 1:57pm

Just got TDF tickets for 7/25 evening performance.  Got tickets for Taye in Hedwig for that day too.  

[skies]

Posted: 7/17/15 at 2:49pm

Just feel bad for them, it's like it's a trainwreck about to happen, what with the abysmal box office and the tepid reviews.

With all the blood, sweat and tears obviously put into it, a Broadway flop has to be one of the most heartbreaking of show biz fates.

Will "Amazing Grace" even get a cast album recording if it closes in week?

[Phillypinto]

Posted: 7/17/15 at 3:35pm

Im looking forward to this!!

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/17/15 at 3:36pm

Remember when you were so excited for LIVING ON LOVE and then it closed and everyone was so happy that you'd never be able to see it?

That was fun.

[SweetLips]

Posted: 7/17/15 at 3:43pm

With all these people on here who have friends of friends in this cast, I would like to read how they feel about the show,where it should have been changed[and why it wasn't] etc.

I know,or think I do,that it must be difficult to be objective when so close to a production,but from an audience en masse to continually be pointing out[on here] the same glaring problems with this show, why don't these things seem to be addressed and changed?

True,we respond differently to situations but seemingly blatent faults go unchanged.

Curious-is it ego that gets in the way of the creatives?

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 7/17/15 at 4:22pm

Having worked on productions that have ranged from wonderful to terrible I would say there is a certain blindness that sets in when you have been working on one project for any length of time. Just like a parent can't always see (or admit) the faults in their children that are so glaringly obvious to others. Love can make you do strange things.

And, as this very board proves, taste is subjective. What one person praises another person damns. 

And though it's easy for us to say "oh, making such and such a change would fix everything" it's still just theories. The creative team may have attempted to make some of these fixes and found that though they worked on paper and in theory they didn't fix the problems in practice.

[gypsy101]

Posted: 7/17/15 at 4:29pm

"Remember when you were so excited for LIVING ON LOVE and then it closed and everyone was so happy that you'd never be able to see it?

That was fun."

That was one of my favorite things.

[Phillypinto]

Posted: 7/17/15 at 4:29pm

okay well guess what, I'm definitely seeing Amazing Grace sooo. Have you seen it Jordan or  are you passing on this one lol

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/17/15 at 4:31pm

I see everything. 

[Phillypinto]

Posted: 7/17/15 at 4:33pm

ooo good!! did you see it yet, or are you waiting to get a free ticket???

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/17/15 at 4:54pm

None of your damn business, little boy. 

[musikman]

Posted: 7/17/15 at 4:57pm

I was there last night at opening.  Very appreciative crowd, for sure, but I take it that it was mostly for the cast who is uniformly strong.  I just wish they were given a far better show.  First off, credit must be given to the orchestrator Kenny Seymour for making a wholly generic score far better than it is.

For a show entitled Amazing Grace, you learn absolutely nothing about the song, its origins, or anything leading up to it.  The beautifully effective final tableau of Act 1 with the shipwreck is ruined by some campy chorus "ahh's" that sound like they came straight out of The Little Mermaid.  The tacked on ending is so utterly ridiculous, rushed, and forced that it's like watching a SparkNotes version of a musical.  The whole bit of narration at the end with "ohh by the way, he also wrote Amazing Grace 30 years after the proceedings you just witnessed" just feels so out of place.

The production looks beautiful, and there are some lovely performances (especially from the supporting characters), but I just kept thinking "What?!" and "Why?!" the entire evening.   I bet this will do well with big church groups, though, who will appreciate its "message."

 

 

[HogansHero]

Posted: 7/17/15 at 5:04pm

What AEA says is true. There are a few other considerations, beyond being too close and "taste." One is that in most successful collaborations, the parties are able to actually collaborate, whether it is a lyricist pushing a composer or bookwriter (or vice versa), a director (or choreographer or musical director or actor) functioning as an honest broker and "outside" set of eyes or a producer. Too often, in flops, there was a guilty party (or parties) who did their work and then shut down. Another is that everyone is just not good enough at what they are trying to do. (I can write a play, but I long ago realized I was no Tennessee Williams and never would be.) We underestimate the exceptional talent it takes to play successfully at the highest levels of accomplishment. Anyone who has watched the alchemical forces that magically coalesce to make a terrific show knows that the planets really do have to align in order to get to the finish line. And finally, good intentions are not always (or even often) good enough. Without beating this show up any more than it already has been, I think many of these factors can be seen in the causation of the production. 

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/17/15 at 5:18pm

For those who feel you learn absolutely nothing about the song, I can see why you say that. However, we are given a few hints throughout. I caught them when I saw it. I think the problem is that they were not more obvious. I was thinking that the orchestra could have underscored 2 of them with the melody as we know it or somehow blended in with the girl with the flute. Maybe even played the music to the part of the song he was reading from the book. It may have helped make it clearer as to where the song came from. I do remembef hearing the music once but can't remember when! JMO

[Phillypinto]

Posted: 7/17/15 at 5:23pm

I haven't seen the show yet, but I don't think the title Amazing Grace is just about the song...

[HogansHero]

Posted: 7/17/15 at 5:30pm

"I bet this will do well with big church groups"

All I can say is, if you are going to win that bet, they'd better hurry. Buses will need to be lined up all the way to the Lincoln Tunnel to make a dent in this show's misfortunes.

[musikman]

Posted: 7/17/15 at 6:16pm

Hogans - Thanks for the heads up.  I totally meant to add that if the show continues to run that it would do well with that demographic.  There were several people in the audience last night raising their hands in prayer while amazing grace was being sung.

Philly, yes I understand that I'm not gonna get a history lesson on the song.  However, the entire show before the song is actually sung is essentially irrelevant to the song and therefore it feels out of place and randomly tacked on just because the creators of the show all know we love the song.

It's the equivalent of seeing a show called "The Star-Spangled Banner" in which we see a whole plot/show about Francis Scott Key's time as a lawyer. The end of the show comes, the storylines have been wrapped up, and oh by the way, he also wrote the lyrics to the Star-Spangled Banner.  Let's all sing it!

 

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 7/17/15 at 7:36pm

musikman is exactly right. It's not like I expected to see anything as in depth as Georges Seurat creating his famous painting, but considering how many songs Newton wrote I assumed we would at least get to see some of the development of the hymn, even if in the most generic ways possible. The tagline is, "The song the world knows, the story it doesn't" after all.

I don't even think the creators make a strong enough case the events they show on stage directly inspired the words of Amazing Grace. It would be like watching a 2.5 hr play about Sondheim and his relationship with his mother only to have a character walk out at the end and say, "By the way, this man eventually became a composer and wrote The Ladies Who Lunch (implying that the troubled relationship with his mother inspired Joanne's song). Let's sing it for you now."

The song was written decades after the events depicted in the musical and an number of things in the intervening years could have provided the real motivation for the song. If this was a court of law I don't think the authors proved beyond a reasonable doubt that this was the story behind the song, which makes the tacked on feeling of the epilogue even more pronounced.

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/17/15 at 8:58pm

Same thing with hands raised in the air during the song whenI saw it. A friend of mine is seeing it with his mother and her church next week. The merch stand was quite busy the evening I saw it. Especially after the show.  Mostly middle aged women when I was observing.

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 7/17/15 at 9:04pm

Could this be the next Scandalous? Where you had a lot of will from upstairs to keep it open and money from gullible brain washed people, who put money in a collection dish.

[HSky]

Posted: 7/17/15 at 11:05pm

The Philadelphia Inquirer review:

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/arts/20150717__Amazing_Grace___a_journey_to_redemption.html