BRIDGES in its final week — Page 5

To win all four.

That's my wish.

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Updated On: 5/18/14 at 08:54 PM

I was there today as well. It was beautiful, it was brilliant. Kelli O'Hara and Steven Pasquale had incredible chemistry and were in great voice. There was so much love in that theatre. The standing ovations were deserved; both "One Second and a Million Miles" and "It All Fades Away" were showstopping. "Almost Real" also got a huge ovation that stopped the show. And I have to agree, Cass Morgan should be getting lots of praise for her turn as Marge. She is both hilarious and touching. It was a thrilling final performance. Everything about it made it clear that this show got the short end of the stick. It deserved more than what it got and it should be a frontrunner for everything it's nominated for.

I went with my siblings. They were seeing it for the first time. At intermission, my younger brother turned to me and said, "I love the music! No, not the music, like the orchestra. Is that orchestrations?" If that's not indication of how brilliant these orchestrations are...

I wish the best for this cast, crew, orchestra, designers, creators of this musical. They have created something truly special.

What an amazing afternoon... Even before the show started, when JRB went up to speak to the people in the orchestra pit, he ended up getting a standing ovation, so from that point on, you knew it wasn't going to be a sedate time.

Was surprised to chat up Keala Settle before the show, since Les Miz had a line going into their theater directly across the street, but she took today off as a personal day to support Bridges and her Hands on a Hardbody co-star Hunter. Ran into Gideon Glick there as well, who was seeing it again one last time, and during intermission, I got to chat with Bobby Moynihan from Saturday Night Live. He was seeing it for the first time, but the person he was with was really in love with it and it was time number three for them.

As people have said, the show was amazing with the cast returning as much energy as the crowd was giving them. Stopped the show a few times, and it was interesting at the end of act two, during the quiet parts, to hear so many people sniffling as they cried. People really took this show into their hearts.

As soon as the show ended, the standing ovation was instantaneous and JRB and Marsha were running up the aisle, and I shook his hand as he headed to join the curtain call.

They had every individual member of the cast take their own bow down the line, and then Kelli gave an incredibly gracious speech (in preparation for her doing the same on June .

It was nice to send the show off with such positive energy, and show everyone responsible for the show in every way how much their work is appreciated.

I saw a whole bunch of shows this past week while in NY, and Bridges was one of my top 3. Hedwig and Lady Day were at the top, closely followed by this beautiful piece of art. Whoever was responsible for selling/marketing this show has the skills equivalent to Mark Penn as a campaign manager, and should never, ever, come near something as beautiful as Bridges. I hope this wins in every category nominated - As I mentioned before, I have seen the four women nominated who are in open shows, and she is head and shoulders above them all. Now, if Lady Day was a musical rather than a play, that would be tough to pick.

Back home tomorrow. But 8 shows in 6 days. And the only one I did not love was Violet.

Beautiful speech. Kelli's performance in Bridges makes me even more excited for her likely upcoming KING AND I revival. Not a similar role, but now that she's taking on more matronly roles, Anna is going to be such a perfect fit for her.

Thank you so much for the detailed reports and for the video. The next best thing to being there. Thank you.

Yesterday's show was the most magical, unbelievable experience I've ever had in the theatre and I think I've seen over 1000 shows, and I've been to past closing shows. Nothing has ever been like this! The love the entire audience had was overwhelming. I cried from the opening notes of 'To Build A Home' (even though they were drowned out by thunderous applause) to well after the theatre emptied. I was sitting in the front row left section (were any of you the two girls I was near who freaked out over JRB with me?) and was across the aisle from Keala Settle, who was the most fun person to be near, pumping her fist in the air at the best times and starting deserved standing o's at times. The mid-show standing o's felt extremely appropriate, as did the pre-show one for JRB when he came in. JRB also came out at stage door and signed and took pictures with people, which was so awesome.
I'm still such a wreck from it all. It was perfection. If this doesn't win everything it's nominated for, it will be as much a travesty as its not being nominated for best musical. Not that such awards really matter when a show this beautiful will stand on its own in everyone's memory and in history and hopefully will get its due in the future.
One of the best parts was when the theatre was emptying, and the orchestra played what counts as the overture, I think, again, and JRB came out from the wings (after curtain call) and just sat on the edge of the stage, legs dangling into the pit, and watched as the orchestra played his music. It was magical. I took a video of it while I was standing against the pit so I will try to post that later. And then the best was when maybe 20 people were left downstairs and I was talking to Keala Settle as we both continued sobbing. I said "I didn't think it was really you bc you're supposed to be across the street!" and she said "There was no way I was missing this, I had to take a personal day!" Love her even more now! And there were so many other celebrities there. Bobby Moynihan was really nice (his girlfriend took him), and there were several NYC comedians and actors I recognized but couldn't name ha. Anyway, it was the best experience and I'm so so happy I got to go. But I just still can't believe this show didn't take over the season.

I missed the show, alas, but I have a question. Would it be difficult to produce regionally? If not, judging by the admiration it has gotten, it could very well have a strong life on other stages a la GREY GARDENS. In fact, the popularity of the source material seems to have regional theater written all over it.

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"Would it be difficult to produce regionally? If not, judging by the admiration it has gotten, it could very well have a strong life on other stages a la GREY GARDENS. In fact, the popularity of the source material seems to have regional theater written all over it."

There is still some talk of a tour, but not sure how much of that is real, but either in place of that or after it, I think this will become a pretty popular musical to stage regionally at some point, though. It is a pretty lush score, though, with a lot of strings, etc., so it might not translate as well with a vastly reduced pit.

I'd also be interested to see someone retool it as a piece for just the main two actors. The movie is almost entirely the two leads in their bubble. The husband is on the phone, but we only hear her side of the conversation, etc.. I imagine that will be explored at some point, too.

I second everyone else's love for this show, by far the best of the season for me.

Seems to me it's the ideal property for a long life in regional theater-- minimal set and costume requirements and near-total dependence on great performers to sell the work. And winning best score in 3 weeks won't hurt either.

Well, the run time would come down a lot if you cut al the songs not sung by them, scenes with others, etc. You could probably get it down to a 100-minute one act.

I just watched the movie last week, and it seemed like such a cleaner narrative with the two of them and almost no one else intruding. All of the conflict exists within the two of them anyway, so the core of the piece is intact.

Sad I missed the final performance, but grateful to everyone who shared their experience/videos/recording!! Heartbroken over this.

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Visceral_Fella, I noticed Kevin Kern as well! Fun touch! I know swing Jessica Vosk was in that number as well, but I'm not sure about the male swing. I was glad to see the entire company on stage at the curtain call, including the stand-bys and swings! Elena Shaddow received a nice applause at her bow, which I was happy to hear. I saw one of her performances in April and thought she was divine. I would travel great distances if she is Francesca on tour.