Posted: 6/24/16 at 9:20am
Wheeldon didn't "direct" this show. He had a team of people fly over to Paris to help him get the show together, who are uncredited. His choreo is stunning, but he has a ways to go before he will be trusted to direct again.
Posted: 6/24/16 at 9:53am
I wonder if An American in Paris waited for Fun Home to announce its closing before making its own announcement.
Posted: 6/24/16 at 12:37pm
FiddleMeThis said: "Wheeldon didn't "direct" this show. He had a team of people fly over to Paris to help him get the show together, who are uncredited. His choreo is stunning, but he has a ways to go before he will be trusted to direct again.
"
Oh well •shrug•. I hope Wheeldon puts a name down as director on another show and flies in all those same nameless people to direct a new musical! Looking forward to it.
Posted: 6/24/16 at 1:50pm
Choreography and direction are two different arts. There's a reason he won the Tony for choreo but not direction.
Posted: 6/24/16 at 1:58pm
I admit, I hadn't heard the gossip about "ghost directors" though I guess it's not surprising (do you have more details?) On the other hand his story ballets, like Alice in Wonderland, while dance pieces, come off very much like Broadway shows so I gave him the benefit. Still, one thing I liked so much about the staging was how fluid the choreography meshed with the overall staging--something that seems increasingly rare on Broadway.
Posted: 6/26/16 at 11:56pm
I mostly credit the set design for that aspect of the production.
Posted: 6/27/16 at 12:35pm
EricMontreal22 said: "I admit, I hadn't heard the gossip about "ghost directors" though I guess it's not surprising (do you have more details?) On the other hand his story ballets, like Alice in Wonderland, while dance pieces, come off very much like Broadway shows so I gave him the benefit. Still, one thing I liked so much about the staging was how fluid the choreography meshed with the overall staging--something that seems increasingly rare on Broadway.
"
Bart Sher was one of the ghost directors. Don't know the others
Posted: 6/27/16 at 12:52pm
Wonder if Bart gets a weekly royalty- prob one of the reasons contributing to the show not recouping yet
Posted: 6/27/16 at 2:28pm
Regarding ghost directors, I'll say this much: whoever devised the ravishing opening sequence to AAIP, the power outtage staging for "I Got Rhythm", or the transformation of the Galleries Lafayette girls into New Look fashions should be the one to do a new musical on Broadway every single year from now on! (And yes, that could well have been Bob Crowley the designer.) The guy who devised the horrible "Fidgety Feet" sequence, the "Stairway to Paradise" number that was woefully missing a stairway, or the dreary Act II title ballet that seemed to be a tribute to Mondrian and Abstract Expressionism (why???) should be banished from getting his hands on another Broadway show for the foreseeable future.
On balance I loved Act I of AAIP so much, I saw it 3 times at full prices. But then came the much weaker 2nd Act-- what happened? (I'm happy to blame Bartlett Sher.)
Posted: 6/27/16 at 2:42pm
I don't know what he did or didn't do. He's the only name listed in the Special Thanks section
Posted: 7/4/16 at 10:41am
Anyone else catch the new understudy for the role of Jerry?
Posted: 7/4/16 at 11:14am
Never got the love for this. Cannot hold a candle to the movie and have seen much better adaptations of MGM musicals done on stage.
Posted: 7/4/16 at 12:27pm
Thank you. I agree. Some stunning transitions and choreo but that alone does not a show make. Recording is unlistenable except for orchestral moments.
Posted: 7/4/16 at 12:36pm
FiddleMeThis said: "Anyone else catch the new understudy for the role of Jerry?"
Dimitri? Dustin?
Updated On: 7/4/16 at 12:36 PM
Posted: 7/4/16 at 12:52pm
Which did you see? Dimitri is taking over once Garen leaves. Have seen him and he's very athletic but the acting and singing are not so strong.
Updated On: 7/4/16 at 12:52 PM
Posted: 7/4/16 at 2:12pm
I've seen a few different Jerrys, I was just asking to clarify which one you were asking about.
Posted: 7/4/16 at 2:19pm
I've seen all the main ones, no understudies. Who have you seen? Heard the new understudy not terribly strong but they were stuck and needed someone and no one else in the cast was up to the task.
Posted: 7/4/16 at 7:20pm
I've seen Dimitri. Not outstanding, but not terrible either. The newest cover, Dustin, has not gone on yet.
Posted: 7/4/16 at 9:05pm
All these who came after Bobby are so attractive and such great movers- but can't they find someone who can sing and act a bit too? I still wish that Tony Yazbeck would take over, he's practically the only Broadway actor who could do it. Don't have much confidence in Dimitri or Dustin. The cast is saying Dustin can't sing it either and only got the cover because someone left and there was literally no one else.
Posted: 7/5/16 at 7:22am
Nathan Madden was the other Jerry cover. He couldn't sing it either, but he was otherwise fantastic. He left, and his replacement only covers Henri.
Posted: 7/22/16 at 1:17am
I saw the show and Nathan tonight. I think it the design/direction/choreo are beautiful. I think the show fails as an actual musical. The songs are awful. I know they're Gershwin, but no one on that stage can actually sing and therefore the songs are just a pain to sit through or listen to. They are all brilliant dancers, but that doesn't make you care about the characters or care what happens. Even the characters that aren't the dancers are not great singers/actors. And the fact that they devised an entire "showstopper" number for a character who is suppose to be a terrible cabaret singer.... doesn't make any sense. You couldn't hear any vocals, and the whole thing just felt...eh.
But the design is gorgeous. I loved the use of projections and how the props and sets were moved on and off with such a choreographed flourish.
Leanne Cope was pretty great. She has a magnetism about her, but I just wanted her character to have MORE to do, as far as acting/singing. She's a gorgeous dancer, and I think what was asked of her, she nailed. But her character never rises above a whisper.
I think there are great parts of the show, but I think it fails as a musical. Maybe they could have done it more as a ballet with scenes? I don't know. It's tough to ask a bunch of ballet dancers to also nail some scene work and singing, so I get that. But why not devise it to where the two leads don't have to actually sing. Just have them in a cafe where other people sing, etc.
Max Von Essen was out tonight. And so was Kyle Brown.
Posted: 7/22/16 at 3:15am
Stairway to Paradise even though a fantasy, doesn't really make sense but Max sings and dances it very well--that might have changed your perception of the number Ripped at least a bit (Robert Fairchild is no brilliant singer but was more than fine when I saw him, it sounds like his replacement is a far lesser singer).
Someone in a Tree--having seen a half dozen of Wheeldon's ballets, I would give him full credit for the staging of the opening at any rate though obviously he is helped by the design tremendously. Unfortunately so is the Act II ballet (I do love the pas de feud section) I suspect where he wasn't helped by the design lol. I can't say about ghost directors one way or the other for the other sections you say.
Posted: 7/22/16 at 11:20am
The design for the ballet didn't bother me at all. It's a stark contrast to the rest of the show, and Gerry's designs were suppose to be kind of out there, even though he hadn't done anything abstract in the past?
And "Stairway" was fine, but the other character keeps talking about how bad of a singer and performer Henri is, so seems odd to give him a whole, big production number. And if he was suppose to transform into this big star throughout the number that was lost. His vocals were lost in most of the song. In fact, I was really disappointed in the singing all around.
The opening was quit beautiful, and probably with the original cast quite stunning. I don't feel like Nathan connected the dots of the character, but he's gorgeous and charming and totally fits the dancing aspects. Just kind of curious why they gave the leads moments of just sitting and singing when that's not what either does well.
Posted: 7/22/16 at 11:43am
Does it help contextualize Stairway at all when you consider that the performance of Stairway is all in Henri's head? As he is performing, he is dreaming of performing at Radio City. So in the musical's reality (that is to say to everyone on stage) Henri is just going all out by himself on the small stage of a cabaret. But for Henri (which is what the audience is seeing), it is him performing at Radio City surrounded by other dancers, singing his heart out as he realizes his dream.
Posted: 7/22/16 at 4:14pm
The design and fluid staging saves this show from completely falling apart. It makes Crazy for You look like a piece of absolute brilliance. The replacements are worse singers than the originals, which makes this musical a really hard slog. They should have pulled a La Boheme and really done it as a full ballet- on Broadway. THAT would have been risky and could have been a real thrill.
I still believe this won't make it through the fall. Hope all these folks got an audition for Little Dancer.
