BROOKLYN - 1st reviews are in ... and they ain't good.

[CurtainUp2]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 10:15pm

TalkinBroadway.com -

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/world/

Excerpt:

When's the last time you saw junk on a Broadway stage? No, not Dracula The Musical, but real, honest-to-goodness trash that looks as if it could have come from one of the dumpsters next to a Broadway theater? If it's been a while, you now have your chance with Brooklyn, the new musical that just opened at the Plymouth.

Buried beneath the rubbish of the show's outward appearance is just more rubbish, albeit in the guise of a book and score (by Mark Schoenfeld and Barri McPherson) similarly incapable of rising above the esprit debris.

But no one can compensate for the vapidity of what they must speak and sing, and their superb singing voices - all predictably over-amplified by sound designers Jonathan Deans and Peter Hylenski - can only take them so far. And who can blame them for all looking at least slightly embarrassed at having to make countless ridiculous, refuse-inspired scene and costume changes, and walk around in outfits the Salvation Army would reject?

Broadway.com -

http://www.broadway.com/template_1.asp?CI=42993&CT=39

Excerpt:

Someday audiences who saw Brooklyn, The Musical will be able to boast of seeing Eden Espinosa and Ramona Keller in the show that launched their careers. Those who missed this sight will take comfort in the fact that they were spared the experience of seeing Brooklyn, The Musical.

This misbegotten hybrid of Brecht, story theater, Amelie and American Idol fails so dismally on so many levels that the prevailing impulse is to look away from the stage.

But gimmicks only get you so far. Who needs dramatic momentum or remotely interesting characters, the argument seems to go, when you've got a dress made out of police tape and Hefty bags? And who needs a coherent Broadway musical when you've got some nice-looking belters to dazzle the Rent and Wicked crowd?

TheaterMania.com -

http://www.theatermania.com/content/news.cfm/story/5251

Excerpt:

When Bette Midler was first scooting across stages in the '70s as the Divine Miss M, she coined the phrase "trash with flash" to describe her ebullient persona. Now, the gleeful bunch of people associated with the theater-rock musical Brooklyn have taken that phrase to heart.

Flash is often a substitute for substance, and that's the case with Brooklyn. The story that the Streetsinger spins -- and upon which director Jeff Calhoun festoons abundant imaginative notions -- is mawkish. Perhaps it's hawked as a fairy tale to excuse its broad departures from reality.

Brooklyn is the sort of synthetic confection that it's unwise to question. For instance, it wouldn't be smart to probe the poor girl's arrival in her namesake borough, where she sings a ditty titled "I Never Knew His Name." Ask why her mother forgot to tell Brooklyn her father's name, or whether mom ever even knew it, and the flimsy plot evaporates. As Fred Ebb has Billy Flynn declare in Chicago, "razzle-dazzle 'em and they'll never catch wise." Brooklyn struts its street-trash stuff with enough razzle-dazzle that audiences may never catch wise to its gooey center.

Newsday -

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/stage/ny-etledew4014219oct22,0,6538854.story?coll=ny-theater-headlines

Excerpt:

If good intentions guaranteed good theater, "Brooklyn: The Musical" would run forever. If bright, fresh talent and infectious pop-and-soul music could overcome a ludicrous story and cornball lyrics, the show that opened last night at the Plymouth Theatre might not make a mere 105 minutes feel like infinity times forever.

Unlike the fairy tale that these characters are selling, however, the reality of "Brooklyn" defies a happy ending. As a concert, its succession of high- voltage performances might be appealing. As Broadway's only original musical until next year, this won't do.

Updated On: 10/21/04 at 10:15 PM

[Tiny-Toon]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 10:16pm

Can't you just reply to all the other 100 BKLYN REVIEWS posts?

[Testing1232]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 10:19pm

Tiny,

Like I said before, I have nothing against you personally, but dont you think its kind of funny that you would tell someone this when you must have started around 400 "Brooklyn" threads?

[Matt_G]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 10:19pm

Oh, c'mon. 2 million posts were started about this show so what's the problem with a few more now that the reviews are bashing the hell out of it?

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 10:19pm

Oh my gosh. Those reviews are bad.

The show isn't going to last! Wicked got better reviews than this!

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 10:19pm

Know what I find funny? The Brooklyn "fans" (shills) LOVED have 50 Brooklyn thread all through previews and before rehearsald even started. Now that the reviews are out and bad, they don't want any new threads created.

[Testing1232]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 10:20pm

Probably because "Wicked" is much better !!!

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 10:21pm

Yeah, I think all those Wicked bashers will have a better appreciation for Wicked now that Brooklyn is being crucified. Updated On: 10/21/04 at 10:21 PM

[Testing1232]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 10:24pm

I dont think its about appreciating "Wicked" more because of poor "Brooklyn" reviews... its just a better show.
Simple as that.

[Corine2]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 10:25pm

GARBAGE.

[CurtainUp2]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 10:42pm

"Can't you just reply to all the other 100 BKLYN REVIEWS posts?" - Tiny-Toon

You've got to be pullin' my putz!

[Plum]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 10:48pm

I don't get it. There's so much talent in the performance and composition ranks- where are all the good book writers? They must exist somewhere. Once again, we have a show where the material is utterly unworthy of the people performing it. Except there's no Hugh Jackman to save the day this time around. Maybe the ranks of fans who think that power pop is the coolest genre of music will save it instead.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 10:51pm

Is it just me, or is the Theatremania review laughably inept? Consider:

"She's got the same range and control that rocketed Mariah Carey onto the charts -- and even more charisma."

"Even more charisma"? Mariah Carey has as much charisma as a can of spam.

"she sends notes into the air for seeming minutes without losing the sense of the lyrics."

Don't really understand what this means. (Or is it faint praise? "Since the lyrics have no sense, so there's nothing to lose....")

"she also gets the toughest zinger, "You loved me and you loathed me and you made me rich and that's the American way."

I don't see how that's a zinger in any way. Not exactly a gasp-inducing revelation.

As the only positive Brooklyn review thus far, it isn't convincing me with its shoddy writing.

[andyf]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 11:01pm

Tiny, let it go.

The shills have to be able to appreciate the irony of the situation.

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 11:03pm

We will have to wait and see how it does. Critic's reviews do not mean a thing...it is just their opinion. I think if you get the chance, atleast give any show a try.

[Phantom2]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 11:04pm

T-T- Don't tell me you weren't invited to Opening Night??

[MadeofGold]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 11:09pm

As much as I liked the performers of Brooklyn, I agree whole heartedly with these reviews. I have never in my life opened up a Playbill and counted the number of songs left in a show like I did with Brooklyn.

[Plum]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 11:10pm

I didn't even think the Theatermania review was that positive. Mixed-to-positive, maybe. But we know quite well that reviews don't make the show.

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 11:15pm

Ouch.

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 11:16pm

Stop jumping to conclusions. Reviews don't mean much anymore. THE CIVL WAR got bad reviews and look what happened! lol

[blueroses]

Posted: 10/22/04 at 9:47am

Whoa...Linda Winer makes a good point and I can't believe I didn't pick up on it during the show. Who knew we were still sending guys to Vietnam in 1984? lol

"The program also insists that the time is the present. But the girl named Brooklyn whose American father abandoned her pregnant French mother in Paris to fight in Vietnam is only 20. Do the math. Or don't bother."

[NStar21]

Posted: 10/22/04 at 9:50am

blueroses, haha, when I read that I couldn't believe I didn't pick up on that either. I guess they figured people wouldn't notice because they'd still be trying to figure out why the hell they paid money for the show.

[TheGaIsSilent]

Posted: 10/22/04 at 9:55am

blueroses,

Yeah, I was confused about that, as well. What's the big deal with saying the show is set in the early-90s, instead of the present?

[NStar21]

Posted: 10/22/04 at 9:59am

I think the problem with that is why is the audience then watching a street show that took place in the past and not now, ya know? I think they want to keep the audience in the element, as if they're walking down the street and happened to run into this performance. The only issue now with that is Winer has brought that comment out to the public so anyone reading that review and still seeing the show can't help but then find that problematic.

[Plum]

Posted: 10/22/04 at 10:01am

It's just to point out that when it comes to everything but the casting and design, the creators should have thought harder.