BWW TV First Look: NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT Cast Performs in Rehearsal!

[Rob]

Posted: 3/14/12 at 7:22pm

Click Here to Read BWW TV First Look: NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT Cast Performs in Rehearsal!

[ljay889]

Posted: 3/14/12 at 7:40pm

Yikes...

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/14/12 at 7:50pm

Well Kelli and Judy seem fine... I know Broderick is meant to be drunk (at least in the first clip), but umm...

[shrekster224]

Posted: 3/14/12 at 8:09pm

Rob Hartwell and Samantha Strum "rock my socks". But that's it.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 3/14/12 at 9:35pm

I have a feeling this is going to be a rough one for Kelli O'Hara. Her character is supposed to be a sassy, brassy, belty, relatively crude bootlegger (Sutton Foster played it in the reading,) which goes against everything about O'Hara's persona. She sounded pretty on "Someone To Watch Over Me," but her attempts at being harder edged in the earlier portions of the clip were awkward and embarrassing.

Updated On: 3/15/12 at 09:35 PM

[broadwaybabytn]

Posted: 3/14/12 at 9:35pm

It just looks so... BLAH.

[CukorLover]

Posted: 3/14/12 at 9:36pm

You took the "yikes" right out of my mouth !!!!

[CukorLover]

Posted: 3/14/12 at 9:37pm

I mean when your Broadway ensemble looks this bad, you're really in trouble !

[thetinymagic2]

Posted: 3/14/12 at 9:49pm

Aren't 3 of the 4 songs here just recycles from CRAZY for YOU. Hate to say it, but Holy G=d this looks terrible. Typical "busy" unartistic choreo. Why do they pre market shows with these stupid rehearsal clips??

[bk]

Posted: 3/14/12 at 9:53pm

I don't know at what point it became common practice to do these "press events" but they should stop it immediately. If the stuff is good it doesn't really get buzz out, but if the stuff is bad, well, that buzz does get out. I mean, do they honestly think that showing something like this to anyone at this point is doing themselves any favors? From where I sit, the answer is a big no.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/14/12 at 10:04pm

That's exactly it. Surely someone involved saw this clip, and wasn't so blinded by their love of the show and cast to not realize it does NOT make a good first impression? It's true among a few hardcore theatre types that leaked demos and workshop audios of scores have made people excited for shows opening--but not enough to really affect audience numbers, and these video clips of early rehearsals have, I have zero doubt, NEVER looked impressive enough to make people want to see the show then and there.

[AndersonTours]

Posted: 3/14/12 at 11:03pm

Matthew looks like he doesn't even care. He can't dance. He can't act. And he can't sing. Perhaps all the rumors of him just being lazy all these years are true.
That was just awful.
I am kinda speechless folks.
How old is he anyway? Perhaps he should have gone to the gym in order to get ready for this show?
This was sad to see.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 3/14/12 at 11:15pm

I couldn't even make it through a 4 minute clip let alone a 2 1/2 hour show. This looks sooooooooooooooooo boring.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 3/14/12 at 11:53pm

so can Bonnie & Clyde still get nominated for Best Musical over this & Leap of Faith??

those clips gave me no reason to run out and see this.

Updated On: 3/14/12 at 11:53 PM

[averagebwaynut]

Posted: 3/14/12 at 11:59pm

Just to clarify one point -- EricMontreal22 said:

Surely someone involved saw this clip, and wasn't so blinded by their love of the show and cast to not realize it does NOT make a good first impression?

I can't speak to this one in particular, but having been to quite a few of these, typically, Broadway World sends a crew to these events (as do any number of other media outlets) and they shoot the footage themselves. No one associated with the show gets to see or pre-approve these things before they are posted by the media (only thing the show has control over is whatever footage they shoot themselves for use on their own website).

With that said, I agree with you that these things rarely come off well on video. They DO, however, usually play better live in the room. So perhaps they'd be better off doing them for those who need to see it -- print media, group sales agents etc -- and keeping video crews out. Or only allowing their own video crew and only releasing their own edit of the footage.

[bk]

Posted: 3/15/12 at 12:13am

They play better in the room because they stack the room with friends, in addition to whatever press is there. Who do you think is doing the whooping and hollering? If you've been to them, you know exactly who.

[averagebwaynut]

Posted: 3/15/12 at 12:59am

The whooping and hollering heard here is absolutely in large measure due to the cast cheering their colleagues, but I'm not judging on that basis.

As I said, I can't speak to this one specifically as I wasn't there, but when I say these sorts of staged events traditionally play better in the room, I'm talking about the legitimate reactions observed on the faces and in the applause of the journalists, video crews and group sales folks.

Indeed, more often than not, these studios actually have very little room for any extra "friends and family" besides the invited press, the group sales people, the creatives, music staff and SMs who are normally in rehearsal, and maybe a few producers. Your assertion is really more applicable to an invited dress rehearsal where there is plenty of room, the show can make sure it's a biased crowd and the reaction is often indicative of nothing. But at one of these, you can usually tell if the invited folks are having a good time and more often than not, even the ones that seem less than stellar on video (which is most, IMO) were actually much better in the room.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/15/12 at 1:07am

"can BONNIE & CLYDE get a nom for best musical over this and..."
NO, but SPIDERMAN probably will.
This board will be a buzzin'.

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 3/15/12 at 7:23pm

Do Matthew's people know this footage made its way out of the rehearsal hall? Ouch.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 3/15/12 at 7:46pm

Her character is supposed to be a sassy, brassy, belty, relatively crude bootlegger (Sutton Foster played it in the reading,) which goes against everything about O'Hara's persona.

Um, did you see The Pajama Game? While not "crude" in that, she definitely was sassy, brassy, and belty. I'd definitely call her those things for parts of South Pacific as well. And she definitely proved that she could do sassy in the recent She Loves Me concert at Roundabout.

[jewishboy]

Posted: 3/15/12 at 10:40pm

I did, and I would say at most Kelli O'Hara was sassy, brassy and belty "lite." I think Broderick looks appealing. Not a great dancer, but I like the way he moves. Unfortunately I think this show will mark Kathleen Marshall as a second rate Susan Stroman. This may sound harsh, but Susan Stroman is who I consider the best choreographer working on Broadway today. Also, this is only a clip, so who knows!

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 3/15/12 at 10:46pm

bjh2114, I did, and O'Hara cannot belt. At all. What she was doing in THE PAJAMA GAME was a very pronounced mix, and she cracked badly when required to belt in "Honey Bun" all three times I saw her in SOUTH PACIFIC (I completely adored her Nellie otherwise, for the record.) There's nothing anywhere near brassy about her voice. And while I guess you could make a case for Nellie and Amalia Balash having their "sassy" moments, they're very much ingenues at heart. Billie couldn't be further from that.

They're certainly re-conceiving aspects of the musicality of the character to fit O'Hara's more legit type, but I maintain that she's woefully miscast. Is she a versatile performer? Absolutely? But is this type of material what she does she well? Absolutely not.

Updated On: 3/15/12 at 10:46 PM

[bjh2114]

Posted: 3/15/12 at 10:48pm

O'Hara cannot belt. At all. What she was doing in THE PAJAMA GAME was a very pronounced mix

I know the difference between a belt and a mix, thank you. And I have heard Kelli do both. And I've never once heard her voice crack, on Honey Bun or otherwise, any of the countless times I've seen her.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 3/15/12 at 10:54pm

If you're calling what O'Hara did in SOUTH PACIFIC belting, than you don't know the difference, because she never once went into her chest voice for a sustained amount of time in that show.

Listen to "Honey Bun" on the cast recording and compare it to the PBS taping of the show for a perfect example of what I'm talking about. In the studio, she managed to belt the big "broad" on the lyric "And she's broad where a broad should be BROOOOOAAAAD" at the beginning of the song, but on the televised performance, she literally sings that note (and the entire phase) completely in her head voice. That's the note she cracked on every time I saw the show, and that's the note she eventually stopped trying to belt altogether.

Updated On: 3/15/12 at 10:54 PM

[bjh2114]

Posted: 3/15/12 at 10:57pm

First of all, I said "parts of South Pacific". Secondly, who said that's the place I've heard her belt as opposed to mix? I've seen her in concert many times, and she's definitely done some songs that require her to belt, which she has done gloriously. She may not do it often, but to say that she does not do it well is as foolish as it is just plain wrong.