KatePrinceton, thank you *so* much for the insight about L.A. vs. NY.
Now it's certainly clear that what we're all listening to is not the L.A. version, but an early verion of the NY show. I would love to hear the actual L.A. version.
I wonder if part of the difference in perception of the show as it is now is an L.A./NY theater mentality. Not that I'm some huge expert on either, but it seems like theater in L.A. is not as big a deal as it is in N.Y. Which makes me wonder if there were more flaws accepted in the show because there wasn't as high an expectation. This isn't to say L.A. theater is bad or anything, but just that it doesn't seem to be as popular a notion as N.Y. and maybe by sheer numbers it shifts the expectations.
Matt NEVER kissed Ivy and he was also much more religious than he is in NY, which added many other levels to his interactions with the various characters. Very interesting. Not having seen this take on the character, I do enjoy the puppy dog nipping at Ivy's heels of Matt's character. Matt feels like a really consistent character throughout the show because of that (one of the three that are, IMO), but if he were more religious I could see how his part in Confession, say, would really have a lot of impact.
While I enjoy Natalie Joy Johnson, I absolutely adored Keili Lefkovitz. Her voice was extremely unique and interesting sounding and her acting was spot on. I love Natalie so I have a hard time imagining someone else in the role, but I've heard nothing but raves about Keili.
As far as the roles of Peter and Jason, both Michael Arden and John Hill are much better suited for the roles than John Torres and John Griffin. They were fine in the roles, but nothing exciting or memorable. I don't know who is singing on these songs, but vocally they're just not up to par. If it is John Torres and John Griffin, I can see what they were going for vocally with Jason, but not so much with Peter since Michael is light years away from whomever is singing on these demos. It's interesting that the central characters weren't exactly spark plugs though. Makes me wonder what people were attached to from the L.A. show?
"Plain Jane Fat Ass" was my favorite song from the show and I think cutting it was a huge mistake in NY. It really set up Nadia's feelings about Ivy and her brother and family and by cutting it, her character's motivation is severely short-changed. The more I listen to it, the more sense this song makes over Love, Dad. If they could somehow expand Jason's part in the song, this could be dropped back in flawlessly. Spring, while very funny, is another song that comes out of nowhere in the NY show (and I realize is used to transition the time) but would make so much more sense with Plain Jane Fat Ass having been in the show earlier.
Many of the problems the show had in LA seem to have been ignored and some of the changes in NY seem to add more structural problems instead of addressing issues that were already there. If you don't mind me asking, what structural problems do you think were ignored and/or exacerbated in the transfer?
"Too young to hold on and too old to just break free and run" - Jeff Buckley
Updated On: 8/29/04 at 05:57 PM
