BYE BYE BIRDIE first preview...- Page 10

[Calvin]

Posted: 9/18/09 at 10:44am

I was there last night too and agree largely with adamgreer. I thought the choreography was somewhat sloppy all around, not just with Gershon, but I enjoyed myself overall. Plus, I'm probably one of the only people in America who has never been forced to see or be in a high school production of the show, so the show doesn't feel as musty to me as it probably does to some others.

And I was pleasantly surprised by Funk after the scathing notices about him from the first previews.

[BwayBuff2]

Posted: 9/18/09 at 12:10pm

After receiving confirmation, I was right. The roles of Albert and Rosie were also offered to:

Eric McCormack
Bradley Cooper
Paul Rudd
David Hyde Pierce

Catherine Zeta Jones
Karin Olivo

[yeomansden]

Posted: 9/18/09 at 1:49pm

<>

Matthew was just in another Roundabout show last season, The Philanthropist. Of course, he and the show were terrible, and it had the distinction of being the only Broadway show I ever walked out on at intermission...so if that's what you mean by "not acting", I guess I can agree with you...

"Now I'm embarrassed. I just met y'all, and I'm way too talky."

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 9/18/09 at 1:53pm

Now THERE is some imagination for you. Lets just offer the role to the actors who have recently played roles created by Chita Rivera.

[ljay889]

Posted: 9/18/09 at 1:56pm

I personally don't believe Karen Olivo was offered the role. She's been involved with WSS since last October. And this was before she won the Tony, I doubt Roundabout would just offer her the role without auditioning her. I'm going to have to get some "confirmation" of my own.
Updated On: 9/18/09 at 01:56 PM

[LoLsmileyFace]

Posted: 9/18/09 at 2:00pm

To: dramamama611 ... I'M well aware that YOU didn't call ME names. Thank YOU for commenting on my poor choice of WORDS to use. After all THIS isn't all about WORD choices...It IS about the show BYE BYE BIRDIE...

[BwayBuff2]

Posted: 9/18/09 at 2:03pm

ljay889...dude, I work with (WITH not FOR) Roundabout and have a copy of the offer list in front of me. I'm not pulling this out of thin air.

[ljay889]

Posted: 9/18/09 at 2:05pm

Keep bragging. I'm not impressed!

[broadwaypink]

Posted: 9/18/09 at 2:18pm

BwayBuff2- yeah i believe you because i also heard that from someone else.

dramamama611-Who cares if someone used a Thesaurus. i dont believed that a thesaurus was used in Bye Bye Birdie so why bother bringing it up. Stop causing drama.

[BwayBuff2]

Posted: 9/19/09 at 1:49am

ljay889...haha, calm down, dude. Believe me, I'm not trying to impress anybody. Especially you. Just sharing facts.

People on here are ridiculous, it makes me laugh.

[gregj63]

Posted: 9/19/09 at 6:44pm

Saw today's Saturday matinee, tried not to read too much here to bias my opinions beforehand. Thought Stamos sang flat much of the time, can't dance, and even his acting was lifeless. Gershon was serviceable, but nothing special. Funk was just bad, felt no energy at all from his performance. Enjoyed Irwin's hamming it up, and thought Trimm was excellent, great singing and acting, and the rest of the cast did a good job. But overall the show felt lifeless, without much energy on even the familiar crowd-pleasing numbers. And to me, no standing ovation from the easy to please Sat matinee crowd doesn't bode well for the show's word of mouth.

[Pgenre]

Posted: 9/19/09 at 6:52pm

"The most extravagant part of the show was the teens."

Really? "Extravagent"? I prefer:

"The most outrageous part of the show was the teens."

Or...

"The most contagious part of the show was the teens."

Or, the best choice:

"The most outrageous/contagious part of the show was the teens."

But NOT:

"The most extravagant part of the show was the teens."

I'm red-day for change,
P

P.S. Cooper and Olivo would have been perfection... and they could even out-sexy John and Gina!
Updated On: 9/19/09 at 06:52 PM

[Dollypop]

Posted: 9/19/09 at 9:01pm

I know for a fact that Eric McCormack was approached about this and turned down the offer. He wants his next Bwy musical to be an "otiginal".

[Meteora]

Posted: 9/20/09 at 2:22pm

I saw the show last night, and was unimpressed. And this is from someone who LOVES the musical.

Stamos was fine. Not spectacular, but fine. I thought Gershon was AWFUL. She just doesn't have a singing voice that is meant for the stage. She quite clearly couldn't hit all the notes in English Teacher. The phrase "Mrs. Phi Beta Kappa Peterson" is repeated at least three times over the course of the show, and Gershon failed to hit it each time, instead changing into an almost whispery voice to try to disguise the fact that she couldn't hit it. Every time she opened her mouth to sing, I cringed. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why they cast someone who is just not a good or even serviceable singer in a lead musical theater role. I don't see this show lasting long with her in it.

Thought Allie Trimm as Kim was excellent. Beautiful voice. I'm surprised to see so many people disliked Funk; I loved him. Thought he was perfect with his movements and hilarious. His voice was fine for what he was portraying--a teen pop idol. For me, Honestly Sincere was the best number in the show by far, followed by One Last Kiss, and both of them largely because of Funk.

I thought Irwin was over the top--funny, yes, but almost desperately so. A lot of his scenes passed the line from comical to ridiculous. The kind of laughs you'd expect in a high school production. Which, more often than not, this felt like. I also thought the choreography was weak and boring all around, particularly the scene at the end in a jungle gym where Kim and Conrad just stand inside it the whole time and then strike a pose at the end.

[AC126748]

Posted: 9/20/09 at 5:23pm

Call me crazy, but Gershon was the only part of the show I truly liked. She may not have the most spectacular voice, but at least she was engaged in the production going on around her. Everyone else was either overacting (Irwin, Houdyshell), underacting (Stamos, Hoty) or barely registering (Funk). And her "Spanish Rose" was pretty impressive.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 9/20/09 at 5:47pm

I wonder if Sondheim will give Lin-Manuel Miranda permission to translate the lyrics for How Lovely To Be A Woman.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 12:10am

The show was cute, but kinda blah. Biggest problem is Stamos and Gershon. TOTALLY miscast! You don't realize just how small their roles are until you realize they do nothing interesting with their time onstage. And seriously, I could come up with a list of a dozen over people who could've rocked Albert and Rose (apparently so did Roundabout). Totally starting dozing off during Spanish Rose. The rest of the cast was overall really great, but somehow the whole thing felt under-directed.

But the theatre is gorgeous! Except for some guy pulling a faucet out of the wall and causing a flood during intermission. The bathroom attendant said it was the second time it happened today.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 3:11pm

>>>"And I was pleasantly surprised by Funk after the scathing notices about him from the first previews"<<<

From this comment can I surmise that Funk has finally realized his role is based on Elvis Presley and not Bobbt Rydell?

Funk has all the sex appeal of a Pop Tart.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 9/25/09 at 12:31am

I saw the show tonight, and I just thought it lacked a lot of originality and life. The sets were awful. Greys and plastics? The whole show felt cold and devoid of any sort of emotion or heart. Why would Maude's Road Side Diner be so retro hip? It's a roadside diner!

Stamos and Gershon were both pretty bland and boring. Gershon almost won me over with "Spanish Rose," but for the rest of the show she barely registered.

Funk was only good when singing, and other than that he had a weird Southern twang and just boring acting.

I love the music, but why can't I ever hear it with actual singers singing it?

Look at South Pacific and West Side Story. Both big revivals with no "names" in their casts. And they're doing just find at the box office. Why did Roundabout have to shell out some "names" (and not even really names, more like C list celebs) for this revival?

The direction/choreography was bland as well. I wish he could have made one strong choice. "Kids" was just bad. It didn't even really register. They were just running around the whole time.

Irwin and Jayne were the only actors who got it right. It's suppose to be a big theatrical show. It's not suppose to be a show with subtle acting choices. Make big bold gestures and choices. Isn't that the style of the show? I thought Irwin totally stole the show, and I don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing, but I was more interested in him than anyone else.

Stamos' "Happy Face" just lasted FOREVER. And why didn't they open the show with the phone song? That would have been a far better choice than starting the show with someone trying to find a pitch singing "An English Teacher."

"One Boy" was gorgeous though. Props to them!

[ljay889]

Posted: 9/25/09 at 12:41am

RentBoy, you decided you were going to hate this production weeks ago. You made it very clear that you were "over Bye Bye Birdie."

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 9/25/09 at 1:03am

I saw this again tonight and there have been TONS changes, large and small.

The scene before English teacher has been cut down significantly. Jokes like only receiving a 1/16 of an ounce of Chanel are gone. Also I think the desks were on stage left before and now they're on stage right.

Gina walks around while "singing" English Teacher. Before when she sang the bridge she was seated. Now she has different movements and blocking. Her final note is cut by the phone ringing.

Telephone Hour seemed the same.

How Lovely to Be a Woman now has Kim in pajamas rather than her pink dress and she gets to walk around the bed.

Rosie's dancing with suitcase after One Boy has been cut. There is nothing left of the dance. She simply pushes the cart downstage and Albert comes on.

Honestly Sincere has been restaged for the latter half of the song. I don't know if it's an improvement, but Conrad is downstage center now and more the focus of the number. (A side note- I don't know if Funk was sick or is losing his voice, but he was VERY hoarse. He was missing notes right and left, especially in Lot of Livin' due to his vocal state.)

I didn't notice this before, but Mrs. McAfee offers Mr. a warm ginger ale, rather than a warm 7-Up. (I don't understand the purpose of changes like this. What is the reason?)

As noted earlier, What Did I Ever See In Him takes place totally in Kim's bedroom.

The dance to Lot of Livin has been shortened, I believe. It definitely seemed much longer the previous time I saw it, especially once the gym set came out.

There was an added line of Rosie asking Hugo what loop the loop meant.

There were some other little changes I can't remember right now, but if they come to me I'll edit.

Overall the show was not in good shape. The audience remained polite all evening. There was just no energy on the stage to inspire a reaction.

Dare it be possible, but I think Gina has gotten worse. Her singing was all over the place. Her acting had less energy, possibly in an attempt to soften her rather nasty Rose from before.

Stamos was still bland, and Happy Face was a bore. The two leads really fade into the background and you almost forget they are even in the play at times. The focus becomes solely on the supporting players, and it is hard to care of the romantic love plot.

Allie Trimm and Matt Doyle are giving the best performances in the show. They really have their characters down and One Boy was my favorite number tonight.

Jayne is still getting the laughs, but Bill seemed a little off tonight. I loved him so much before, but it wasn't working for me this evening.

My initial reaction to this revival was pretty mixed. I love the show, and wanted to like it. I was truly hoping that I would go into tonight's performance and come out saying, "Wow, they've improved so much!" Unfortunately that isn't the case. It was even more lackluster, and without the enthusiasm of the previous crowd the lifelessness of this production was fully exposed.

Updated On: 9/25/09 at 01:03 AM

[ljay889]

Posted: 9/25/09 at 1:07am

They cut off her final note if English Teacher now?? Oy. Does the audience still get to applaud? I don't know why they cut the Chanel joke. It received big laughs both times I saw it.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 9/25/09 at 1:11am

We still politely applauded. I'm sure the answer to my question is somewhere on this thread, but did they rearrange the numbers in the beginning? When I saw a local theater company do it, I believe the show started with the phone song. Why would they switch it?

Also Ljay889, if you read my post you'll see that I did enjoy parts of it, and like I said, I really enjoy the music. I thought the orchestrations for this show were all wrong and the casting was awful. If everyone had a swig of whatever Bill Irwin was drinking, then I think the show would have sored, but the two main leads are stale and boring, and the "sexy icon" is lifeless and can barely carry a note. He seems like a nice guy, but just not right for the part - in the looks, yes- but not in the acting/singing. But like I said "One Boy" was beautifully sung and acted.

I didn't like "What Did I Ever See in Him" being in Kim's room. I don't know, but I don't feel like we got to see much exchange go on between Rosie and Kim, so it just seemed awkward that they would be lounging as good friends on her bed? Maybe that's just me.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 9/25/09 at 1:12am

No, the audience barely applauded for English teacher. It was quite awkward. Whether she can sing it or not, that last note needs to be there.

The Chanel joke got a big laugh last time I saw it too. I guess they felt that first scene was just dragging too much, so instead of working on the pacing they simply decided to cut lines.

Some changes seemed so stupid that I question whether the director understands the problems with his production. Things like moving the desks from stage left to stage right doesn't solve a thing. Take the desks away completely for all I care. The opening book scene is delightful and is peppered with many funny jokes. Just deliver the lines correctly and it should speak for itself.

[ljay889]

Posted: 9/25/09 at 1:13am

Wow. That is really quite strange. The final note really needs to be there. And I love the dialogue/jokes of the opening scene, I agree there is no need to cut that joke.