#1
Posted: 1/19/08 at 12:34pm
Hey all!
Well we got back from NYC yesterday night so i thought i'd write up my mini review.
MONDAY / RENT
I got to the city early on Monday and had a choice between RENT and AVENUE Q. Had already seen AVE but had no interest in RENT... a little torn on what to see... then decided to go with RENT. I loved it! I remember when RENT came out on broadway. i was in high school and everyone was obsessed over it and i remember what a big deal it was... but i never wanted to see it... just didnt interest me... but i'm glad i saw it (especially now that we know its closing). The guy who played Roger (sorry dont have my playbill on me now so i dont remember his name) impressed me most. incredible voice. tamyra was also great. loved the music, the story was heartbreaking... just a shame the theater was barely half full.
TUESDAY / CURTAINS
We had incredible seats to Curtains! Overall we had a fun time, but i wasnt obsessed or anything. I thought the first act was weaker than the second act. It picked up much more after intermission and became more enjoyable. DHP was great, hilarious, but I enjoyed Deborah Monk most. My biggest peeve, Jill Paice (Niki)... jesus christ i kept hoping "the killer" would shoot her dead, but no such luck... we had to endure her thru-out the whole show... her extreme over acting, her annoying voice, everything about her performance made me want to jump right off that Mezz balcony. But i didnt let that spoil the show... we still had fun. Overall probably my least favorite of the shows we saw this week, but still enjoyable and a good time!
WEDNESDAY / LEGALLY BLONDE / THE COLOR PURPLE
LEGALLY: We started off with LEGALLY at a matinee performance. The Positive: LBB is great. Her voice wasnt the best (a little too nasally for my taste) but she has great comedic timing and definitely gives her all. The theater was once again pretty empty (not sure what was going on this week??) but that didnt stop any of the performers from giving it their all. Lots of energy from the cast. Christian Borle was also great. He really made you root for him. But without a doubt the star of the show was Orfeh. She had us in stitches. Even a crazy ridiculous song like "Ireland" was a blast because of her. And a great voice. The Cons: Richard Blake. I did not enjoy this guys singing at all... or acting... or anything. He sounded like a fallen member of "98 degrees" with absolutely no stage presence. He didnt ruin the show, but his role could have been cast better. Overall: A fun show... i knew this was a show that was really for the "tweens" out there, but i think they made it enjoyable enough that those of us over 14 could enjoy it too... not the greatest show on the great white way, but a fun time.
THE COLOR PURPLE: Finally! A show that really moved me. Before I get into my review let me say that I have always been a huge fan of the book. I've read it several times since I was a kid and the Spielberg film is a classic. But I was weary of the show since it was produced by Oprah. Oprah is great and all, but she has a tendency to produce stuff that is very very mediocre. While the show wasnt an A+ i had a great time and it really moved me. The Pros: No doubt about it the star of this show is newcomer Zonya Love. Everything about her performance WAS Celie. Her facial expressions, her acting, her singing, she just broke my heart the way Whoopi did more than 20 years ago. Other standouts were Withers as Shug (fantastic!) and White as Mister. Lakisha Jones also impressed with her small role as choir singer... and I loved the three ladies who played the gossiping church ladies. No doubt this cast can SANG.... not just "sing"... but they can SANG! Very glad we saw it... would love to see it again one day. The Cons: Chaka and Bebe... yeah they sang fine and they werent awful or anything but for all the hoopla made about them appearing in the show I was not impressed in the least. The one song I looked forward to the most was "hell no" and it came and went with little to no impact... Chaka cant act and her singing is more screechy yelling than anything. But no biggie... Zonya and Elisabeth were there to keep things great.
THURSDAY / SPRING AWAKENING
The show i had been hearing about for months! winner of a trillion tony awards and winner of best musical... i couldnt wait! The Pros: Fantastic cast. Great voices. All very committed to their roles. The music was incredible I thought... I was looking forward to picking up the cast album afterwards to give it another listen. The Cons: As great as the performances were and as great as the music was, the book just didnt impress me as much as i thought it would. it was good without being GREAT. Also, and maybe people will hate me for this, but i DID NOT enjoy Blake Bashoff as Moritz. God was he annoying... his singing was great, no doubt this guy has a great voice, but when he was acting and "trying" to be funny he just irked me to death. Not for one second did I believe him in the role... he stuck out like a sore thumb in the cast...
P.S. i know i'm not the only one who has to have said this before... but jesus christ someone get these poor kids umbrellas for when they need to act opposite Jonathan Groff. The guy was like a geyser of spit. Even when he was just talking it was a shower of spit that would make it from one end of the stage to the next. Several times the spit was so much that it was dripping off his chin... it was disgusting. The guy was great in the role, great singer, good actor, but jesus, lol, the spit was so distracting... very distracting... just a little side note... :)
A great week at the theater. Looking forward to going back...
UPDATE: I've just uploaded a few photos from the week
http://www.flickr.com/photos/monandpab/sets/72157603755111211/
Well we got back from NYC yesterday night so i thought i'd write up my mini review.
MONDAY / RENT
I got to the city early on Monday and had a choice between RENT and AVENUE Q. Had already seen AVE but had no interest in RENT... a little torn on what to see... then decided to go with RENT. I loved it! I remember when RENT came out on broadway. i was in high school and everyone was obsessed over it and i remember what a big deal it was... but i never wanted to see it... just didnt interest me... but i'm glad i saw it (especially now that we know its closing). The guy who played Roger (sorry dont have my playbill on me now so i dont remember his name) impressed me most. incredible voice. tamyra was also great. loved the music, the story was heartbreaking... just a shame the theater was barely half full.
TUESDAY / CURTAINS
We had incredible seats to Curtains! Overall we had a fun time, but i wasnt obsessed or anything. I thought the first act was weaker than the second act. It picked up much more after intermission and became more enjoyable. DHP was great, hilarious, but I enjoyed Deborah Monk most. My biggest peeve, Jill Paice (Niki)... jesus christ i kept hoping "the killer" would shoot her dead, but no such luck... we had to endure her thru-out the whole show... her extreme over acting, her annoying voice, everything about her performance made me want to jump right off that Mezz balcony. But i didnt let that spoil the show... we still had fun. Overall probably my least favorite of the shows we saw this week, but still enjoyable and a good time!
WEDNESDAY / LEGALLY BLONDE / THE COLOR PURPLE
LEGALLY: We started off with LEGALLY at a matinee performance. The Positive: LBB is great. Her voice wasnt the best (a little too nasally for my taste) but she has great comedic timing and definitely gives her all. The theater was once again pretty empty (not sure what was going on this week??) but that didnt stop any of the performers from giving it their all. Lots of energy from the cast. Christian Borle was also great. He really made you root for him. But without a doubt the star of the show was Orfeh. She had us in stitches. Even a crazy ridiculous song like "Ireland" was a blast because of her. And a great voice. The Cons: Richard Blake. I did not enjoy this guys singing at all... or acting... or anything. He sounded like a fallen member of "98 degrees" with absolutely no stage presence. He didnt ruin the show, but his role could have been cast better. Overall: A fun show... i knew this was a show that was really for the "tweens" out there, but i think they made it enjoyable enough that those of us over 14 could enjoy it too... not the greatest show on the great white way, but a fun time.
THE COLOR PURPLE: Finally! A show that really moved me. Before I get into my review let me say that I have always been a huge fan of the book. I've read it several times since I was a kid and the Spielberg film is a classic. But I was weary of the show since it was produced by Oprah. Oprah is great and all, but she has a tendency to produce stuff that is very very mediocre. While the show wasnt an A+ i had a great time and it really moved me. The Pros: No doubt about it the star of this show is newcomer Zonya Love. Everything about her performance WAS Celie. Her facial expressions, her acting, her singing, she just broke my heart the way Whoopi did more than 20 years ago. Other standouts were Withers as Shug (fantastic!) and White as Mister. Lakisha Jones also impressed with her small role as choir singer... and I loved the three ladies who played the gossiping church ladies. No doubt this cast can SANG.... not just "sing"... but they can SANG! Very glad we saw it... would love to see it again one day. The Cons: Chaka and Bebe... yeah they sang fine and they werent awful or anything but for all the hoopla made about them appearing in the show I was not impressed in the least. The one song I looked forward to the most was "hell no" and it came and went with little to no impact... Chaka cant act and her singing is more screechy yelling than anything. But no biggie... Zonya and Elisabeth were there to keep things great.
THURSDAY / SPRING AWAKENING
The show i had been hearing about for months! winner of a trillion tony awards and winner of best musical... i couldnt wait! The Pros: Fantastic cast. Great voices. All very committed to their roles. The music was incredible I thought... I was looking forward to picking up the cast album afterwards to give it another listen. The Cons: As great as the performances were and as great as the music was, the book just didnt impress me as much as i thought it would. it was good without being GREAT. Also, and maybe people will hate me for this, but i DID NOT enjoy Blake Bashoff as Moritz. God was he annoying... his singing was great, no doubt this guy has a great voice, but when he was acting and "trying" to be funny he just irked me to death. Not for one second did I believe him in the role... he stuck out like a sore thumb in the cast...
P.S. i know i'm not the only one who has to have said this before... but jesus christ someone get these poor kids umbrellas for when they need to act opposite Jonathan Groff. The guy was like a geyser of spit. Even when he was just talking it was a shower of spit that would make it from one end of the stage to the next. Several times the spit was so much that it was dripping off his chin... it was disgusting. The guy was great in the role, great singer, good actor, but jesus, lol, the spit was so distracting... very distracting... just a little side note... :)
A great week at the theater. Looking forward to going back...
UPDATE: I've just uploaded a few photos from the week
http://www.flickr.com/photos/monandpab/sets/72157603755111211/
Updated On: 1/19/08 at 12:34 PM
