Biggest Disappointments- Page 3
Biggest Disappointments
re: Biggest Disappointments#50
Posted: 9/12/06 at 6:31pmWow.
re: Biggest Disappointments#51
Posted: 9/12/06 at 9:02pm
The original London produciton of PASSION. I had seen the Original Broadway Production, seen the Judi Dench A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, Mendes' COMPANY.. and the Michael Ball in PASSION. If I had seen that prodution first, I would have sworn off Sondheim... well, not really.
Faye Dunaway in MASTERCLASS... After Zoe and Patti, Faye was embarassing.
re: Biggest Disappointments#52
Posted: 9/13/06 at 5:08amamericanboy, are you kidding? The revival is one of the best productions I hav seen! I think the whole simplicity totally works.
re: Biggest Disappointments#53
Posted: 9/13/06 at 7:26am
i know everyone's gonna hate me, but avenue q. i didn't dislike it or anything, but because i knew the songs in advance, that really ruined it for me.....whereas spamalot was amazing even though i knew all the songs and whatnot in advance...i think i wanted to like ave q too much.
chitty chitty bang bang also
re: Biggest Disappointments#54
Posted: 9/13/06 at 8:23am
I kinda agree with amricanboy. Having seen the original (man, do I feel old tonight) and knowing it's to be staged as a series of vaudeville turns, this took that elegant concept and made it into two hours of sleaze and skin.
Aint nothin' wrong with that, you understand, but there were other points in the play that got lost by having everything staged more or less in a line DS. Yes, it was lovely in its simplicity, but this, IMHO, underscored that sometimes you can make things too simple.
re: Biggest Disappointments#55
Posted: 9/13/06 at 8:37amI am going to be shot for this one...but I was disappointed in Sweeney Todd's revival. Having performed it twice regionally, I thoroughly enjoy the challenging score and it's explosions of rage throughout. I was disappointed mostly with the fact that the score was lowered. I felt that it took something away from the power that it had. I also didn't likt the female Pirelli idea, as I enjoy hearing a good male tenor in the role. I assume things were scaled down score-wise to match the whole scaled down idea, but was it scaled down for a director's "vision", or as a cost cutting move? I don't know. However, I am sure someone will "enlighten" me. But in my opinion ( reaffirming MY opinion, as in.. for MY taste) I thought it lacked oomph having known and sung it in the original key. As far as vision, I still am a traditionalist. I want to see Hamlet set in its proper place and time, and not set in the Vietnam War. I am a firm believer in , "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
re: Biggest Disappointments#56
Posted: 9/13/06 at 8:53am
Hamlet,
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
I do respect your opinion. But I recall reading somewhere that Sondheim's ORIGINAL vision was to have a smaller-scale Sweeney. It was Hal Prince's idea to do it full-scale. So perhaps in this case, your quote doesn't apply in regards to what Sondheim envisioned.
re: Biggest Disappointments#57
Posted: 9/13/06 at 8:59amI didn't know that, thank you. Was the score written down a step originally? or just the original concept? Although, that may have been Sondheim's vision, Prince's vision was the one presented, and very successfully. That, and other productions I have seen/ or performed were similar in style. They are the only thing I have to formulate my personal opinion on. :)
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/12/04
re: Biggest Disappointments#58
Posted: 9/13/06 at 9:01am
NOTRE DAME DE PARIS
THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA
THE PRODUCERS
re: Biggest Disappointments#59
Posted: 9/13/06 at 9:14am
Hamlet, I gotta give you credit for sharing your opinion! I think I would be too scared to post something like that. (Besides, I LOVED the revival).
First, the Sweeney Revivial was the only production I've seen, so I don't have much to compare it to. I saw the DVD of the concert with Patti Lupone and George Hearn. The concert definitely had a much fuller sound because there was a very large chorus. There was also a pipe organ playing in the beginning (kinda like an overture). I don't know if that's part of the original stage production or something they added for the concert.
I don't know if the score was written down a step. I'm not that musically inclined :)
I will have to see the original production that was filmed with Angela Lansbury. I'm curious now to see the full-scale version.
re: Biggest Disappointments#60
Posted: 9/13/06 at 10:05am
The original did indeed have the pipe organ opening (as Sweeney's grave was being dug), followed by the factory whistle.
The show was huge, no doubt about it, almost to the point of dwarfing the actors. Prince's design team brought an entire abanoned factory building over from New Jersey and had it installed as the set, so everything was performed inside the gigantic shell.
As much as I loved the original, it always felt a little too big. It was written as an hommage to Grand Guignol style theatre, not grand opera, but there were moments -- like Sweeney cutting the judge's throat with this huge arcing gesture that sent a stream of blood flying offstage right -- that just seriously *worked*.
The revival was fun, but I have to admit my estimation of it has gone down now that I know this is Doyle's "thing".
(And no, we dont need to start up that argument again. You're not gonna change my mind on this, folks, not until I see it in performance and have Doyle's work change it for you.)
re: Biggest Disappointments#61
Posted: 9/13/06 at 10:31am
I'm going to define my disappointments in two ways: Shows which were disappointing in that I had high hopes for their success, and shows for which the idea was fantastic, but the final product fell far short of what I would even charitably call "good."
1: Shows that were very good, but still flopped
CHESS
DANCE A LITTLE CLOSER
QUILTERS
CAPEMAN
EATING RAOUL
2: Good ideas gone horribly wrong
CARRIE
BOUNCE
WICKED
BEST LITTLE WHORE GOES PUBLIC
SIDE SHOW
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/27/06
re: Biggest Disappointments#62
Posted: 9/13/06 at 4:33pmWicked may have wrong spots. But it isn't horrible wrong.
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