BANDSTAND will close September 17th — Page 5

"I wrote in the other chat that it'd be great to see an investigative journalist do a multipage feature story in the Sunday NYTimes mag on just what the hell went on with all the players to destroy the show. If nothing else, it would be a great textbook on not what to do in theater production, management. & cast selection."

I would love to see that too. Actual journalists, and not someone who paid someone to write those lies for the National Enquirer.....er.....NY Post.

Please do! It's such a wonderful show! As a lover of that era, swing dance, and a female veteran, it's so so so very special!

On an evening in May when I had tickets for this wonderful show, something extremely traumatic happened to me 3 hours before the show, and I was not able to attend. Telecharge said they could nothing, but a supervisor called the producers of Bandstand, and told them what happened to me. Not only did they tell them to refund my tickets immediately, they told me I could come to their show anytime with a guest, and they would make room for me. So, these people and this show deserve your money. They are a class act. Truly.

Updated On: 8/11/17 at 01:47 AM

Pity. I would have loved to have seen this show with a few classic standards thrown into the mix. I think it would have helped make it bond with the audience.

asoftplacetoland said: "It's not a competition"

That's the thing - for a lot of these people, it is.

Hmm not for nothing but Paul Taylor's Company B set to a bunch of swing songs by the Andrews sisters has been their calling card for years and is one of the few Paul Taylor pieces that guarantees butts in seats (the others being Esplanade and Promethean Fire).

I was there at the anniversary production at David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center, and it definitely went over big. I just remembered seeing some televised version that had left me flat, so I didn't have great expectations, but the audience energy was very strong and I liked this one.

On the way out and on the subway the audience was talking about two things: 1) How could they have put so much work into this production to only have it performed once, and 2) Will it be produced on Broadway next year.

On April 17th, the New York Post weighed in on this:

It played only one night, but the concert version of “Crazy For You” was such infectious fun, there’s talk of a Broadway revival next season.

Word is producer Joey Parnes, who won a Tony for “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder,” is trying to put together the revival. I hear he’d like to keep the cast from the concert intact. And why not? Leads Laura Osnes and Tony Yazbeck charmed the crowd, while a bunch of first-rate second bananas — including “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” star Rachel Bloom and Rachel Dratch — had everybody in stitches.

Wait, here's an update in the L.A. Times, June 17th

Now Stroman is returning to that musical, directing and choreographing a new production that will make its pre-Broadway debut at the Ahmanson Theatre in February, Center Theatre Group is expected to announce Wednesday.

Stroman said the revival came about organically, as if it were “meant to be.” In February, she directed and choreographed a one-night concert performance of “Crazy for You” at the David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, presented by Manhattan Concert Productions.

“It was such a success when we did it that night with the orchestra onstage,” Stroman says. “It was like a rock concert. You could tell people loved it and wanted to see it again. … Joey called the Ahmanson right away.”

The intention is to transfer the show to Broadway, but no dates or venues known.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-crazy-for-you-ahmanson-20170606-story.html

I don't see anything since, but I think it would be a success. Laura Osnes was fine, as we've come to expect, but I think that the one person possibly most indispensable to this production would be Tony Yazbeck. He eased through some difficult broad physical comedy without ever losing the attention and appreciation of the audience.

Updated On: 8/12/17 at 11:49 PM

I finally saw this tonight, and just like, how did this get to Broadway? I understand, respect, and appreciate the story and message they're going for, but it comes off as such soap opera-y melodrama, I spent the entire night rolling my eyes. The lighting was cool, and there's no denying Blankenbuehler can stage one hell of a show. But other than that, I just felt like I was at a bad community theater production of a show they wrote and put on. Glad some people enjoyed it, though.

That's funny, Vote Peron. What you're describing is what I expected to see. The veterans in the band would each describe the horror that they had lived through, creating great tension in the audience, relieved by a musical number. In fact the rookie Times critic said that if the show had been successful, we would have seen tears and grins in the audience instead of just shrugs.

I saw the show twice, and I saw the tears and grins, without the shrugs. Maybe only a third of the audience reacted with open emotion, and that fooled me into thinking that the whole audience felt that way. But the second time -- that enormous roar that met the end of "Welcome Back"? I thought that that was pretty unique. Maybe Laura Osnes should get some credit for putting the song over so well.

How did you feel that your audience was reacting in the 2nd act? Were most of them, like you, not buying into the show emotionally? Melodramatic? I don't really get that. These soldiers really experienced things in the war that sent them home crippled in mind if not body. We never found out, at least in depth, what each band member's story was. Only Donny's experience, the Solomon Islands, the bass player who liberated the concentration camp.

Like I said, I didn't see any overplaying of the experiences of the soldiers. I volunteered one night a week in an emergency homeless shelter in the well-to-do village of Port Jefferson in 1991-92 and I was, well, shocked at the number of alcoholic Vietnam Vets living on the streets Every couple of months I would have to take one with the DTs to the nearby hospital. The shelter would send one off to a month of detox, and the very day that he was through the program they were back with a flask in the back pocket.

Ay. You've got me writing way too much again.

Agreed, VotePeron. I think think the whole show is flawed. It's just not a great show. It's not a great story. It's weird. It's off-setting. The performances are fine, but, no, it is not a great show.

Madam VotePeron

This was clearly not West Side Story. I have no problem with anyone not liking the show. In fact, I'm questioning my own belief that the audiences with which I saw the show were 90 percent behind it. If this were the case, then some word-of-mouth audience should have appeared, but it never did.

I think that I went into the show with a positive bias. I like swing music and dance. (Took swing dance lessons. Learned four steps that I could repeat in the same order. Went to a dance party and got on the floor with a former Arthur Murray instructor. Getting out on the floor with her and whipping perfectly through those four steps was the highlight of my dance career. Sadly, inevitably, there had to be a fifth step and things broke down very quickly). And Kelli O'Hara will soon be a middle-aged mother of two so I'm looking for a new crush.

A little more seriously, I admired the creatives for doing a completely new show with a new score that didn't copy anything else and was obviously risky and addressed a real social issue. It had never occurred to me that if there were so many Vietnam Vets with PTSD then there should have been even more WW II vets, especially in the Pacific war against the fanatical Japanese on those muddy, disease-ridden islands. I admired the performers who made up the band. As a mediocre high school trumpet player I knew how difficult it was for them to play their own instruments on stage while remaining in character.

And finally I liked the cast that had worked so hard to promote the show. They performed anywhere asked. They even played 54 Below on Sunday, which I have to admit was a bit of a disappointment. Although neither of the principals was advertised to be in attendance, it was no surprise when Laura showed up to be with the cast, even though she was on vocal rest.

So much for Bandstand. Good night. O my God, it's morning already.