Are there really no posts about On A Clear Day?
Are there really no posts about On A Clear Day?
#1Are there really no posts about On A Clear Day?
Posted: 8/1/10 at 11:33am
I saw it the first night (Anika's only perf); is no one going to post thoughts? I know they asked people not to, but why should obey a producer's request?
Updated On: 8/1/10 at 11:33 AM
mar97
Understudy Joined: 5/19/03
#2Are there really no posts about On A Clear Day?
Posted: 8/1/10 at 11:58am
Why aren't you posting your thoughts?
I am seeing it tonight.
#2Are there really no posts about On A Clear Day?
Posted: 8/1/10 at 12:14pmThe producers asked people not to post about it on a message board?
And no one grew into anything new, we just became the worst of what we were."
#3Are there really no posts about On A Clear Day?
Posted: 8/1/10 at 12:20pm
When producers ask people not to post thoughts what they are really saying is please post your thoughts.
There was a thread on it a week ago or so.
....but the world goes 'round
mar97
Understudy Joined: 5/19/03
#4Are there really no posts about On A Clear Day?
Posted: 8/1/10 at 12:30pmWell it's a tricky issue for sure. If they do not want opinions out there then they should not be charging for tickets for asking everyone to come see it. If it's a work in progress then closed door workshops would have been the way to go. It's pretty silly of them to ask people not to give opinions of something they PAID to see.
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#5Are there really no posts about On A Clear Day?
Posted: 8/1/10 at 1:09pmThey can ASK for anything. Whether that request will be honored is strictly based on the class of the individual audience member.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
#6Are there really no posts about On A Clear Day?
Posted: 8/1/10 at 8:16pm
OK, here goes -
Full house (around 200 seats?), a lot of industry people there, and the rest looked like the usual 60-80 year old NY Stage & Film audience from the area.
Piano, bass, guitar, percussion band. Principals and small chorus, sitting in the reading line with stands.
Brian D'Arcy James in good voice as always. He's put on a good bit of weight. I don't find him particularly interesting as an actor, but love his voice.
David Turner is cute, elfin, sweet as "Davy" Gamble. He's an able singer, if an unexciting one. Anika Noni Rose sang beautifully, and seemed (to me) to be bored and wishing she were elsewhere. She was elsewhere for the rest of the weekend (official explanation: family emergency [and maybe it was]).
The show should have a new title, because it has only a casual resemblance to the show called On A Clear Day You Can See Forever. Everything interesting or enchanting or exciting about the story of Daisy Gamble/Melinda has been cut and replaced with dull, pedestrian nonsense about "bravery."
The entire ESP part of the story is excised. Melinda is now a sweet girl in 1943 whose only goal is to be a singer. Because she can sing, there's no doubt that she will achieve her goal to some degree. The only tactic she uses to achieve her goal: singing. Her story is utterly flat and dull.
Davy Gamble (not, Daisy, the character is now a 30 year old boy, but there is no good reason why, except it's different) has an almost perfect boyfriend, Warren, who was (in the original) not meant to be with Daisy (Davy). Clearly, in this version, everyone has to be sympathetic and good and deserving of what they claim to want. Davy clearly likes his hypnotist (James), but you never get the idea that Davy is in love with Mark. There is no danger or sexual complexity at all in this woman-in-a-man's-body scenario.
The score has been tossed in the air and mixed with cut songs, other Lerner/Lane songs, and songs from the movie, using the exact arrangements from the movie, showing that someone (the director? the music director?) prefers the film to the stage version. Some of the newer arrangements are ridiculously convoluted (why does Davy sing "Go To Sleep, Girl" to his roommate?)
The reading ran very long, but the audience did leap to its feet at the end. There was a good amount of loud whooping after some songs, but it seemed to come, suspiciously, from the production staff standing in the back of the house.
Final opinion - interesting to watch, but a weird tampering of a fun but flawed work, transforming it into something limp and pointless. It was nice to see so much excellent talent working so hard to try to levitate a dead body.
WestwardHoHo
Chorus Member Joined: 8/2/10
#7Are there really no posts about On A Clear Day?
Posted: 8/2/10 at 12:20am
Utterly painful.
A wrong-headed adaptation from start to finish.
#8Are there really no posts about On A Clear Day?
Posted: 8/2/10 at 12:37am
newintown, there's no "maybe" involved. Anika had a very serious family emergency. I was rather shocked to hear she ended up coming back to do the final performances. Given the situation, I highly commend her for doing so.
She's a real trouper.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
Updated On: 8/2/10 at 12:37 AM
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
#9Are there really no posts about On A Clear Day?
Posted: 8/2/10 at 1:54am
IMO it's superior to the original.
Mar97, it's part of the NYSAF atmosphere, you know you're buying tickets to a work that is still in progress, and it is polite to not divulge into detail about the work.
And yes, she had a serious family emergency, and her return to the production shows her commitment to the piece, so while she may have looked like she wanted to be elsewhere, obviously she cares about this show/workshop.
"Oh look at the time, three more intelligent plays just closed and THE ADDAMS FAMILY made another million dollars" -Jackie Hoffman, Broadway.com Audience Awards
#10Are there really no posts about On A Clear Day?
Posted: 8/2/10 at 1:00pmPolite, schmolite - if they take my $$, I get to express an opinion - positive, negative, or mixed.
mar97
Understudy Joined: 5/19/03
#11Are there really no posts about On A Clear Day?
Posted: 8/2/10 at 8:14pmI understand it is a work in progress...but....they really can't stop people from commenting on what they saw after collecting their money. I saw it Sunday night and I thought it was good. Great score. Excellent performances. I thought the story kinda worked but was confused at some points. Maybe with a full production and staging the story will be clarified a bit more and I am sure they will work on this further. I do look forward to the Vineyard Production and wish them all nothing but success. If you want to read more in depth reports go over to ATC.....
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