Brooklyn OR When Bad Material Happens To Good Performers- Page 3

[BreakingTheCircle07]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 6:37pm

Thanks Broadwayguy...life's hard when you're all alone and you get bashed for dissing "Cats." ::sigh:: I'm gonna go bite my pillow! Hahaha.

[CurtainUp2]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 8:11pm

I decided that my review of Brooklyn belonged in this thread, so I'm moving it.

SAW BROOKLYN - SAVE YOUR MONEY
Posted On:10/13/04 at 11:13:50 AM

Well... I saw Brooklyn this past Monday, and I have to tell you as much as I was looking forward to it, I wasn't at all impressed. The performances are all good. The performers do the most they can with the material they've been given. I especially enjoyed Ramona Keller and Edina Espinosa. Both have strong voices and deserve a much better show. But, I'm beginning to resent the "new" Broadway; shows with little in the way of sets, costumes, and choreography, not to mention paper-thin plots. At least the costumes in this show were creatively lackluster, (unlike say the "jeans and T-shirt" costuming of "Avenue Q"), but after a while the gimmick of using trash to sub for costumes and props wears thin and one longs for the day of the traditional Broadway musical. No... Brooklyn is not a traditional Broadway musical by any means. But I knew that going in. Rent isn't either, and I've seen it four times. But Brooklyn is no Rent. Far, far from it. This show is nothing more than an excuse to string together a dozen or so American Idol style songs with little regard for advancing it's overall meager plot. Brooklyn's low overhead (only five on-stage players, etc.) may help it to succeed and eventually turn a profit. But it will have to become a "tourist's darling", much like Mama Mia, for that to happen. And Mama Mia has the familiarity of the ABBA score going for it. Brooklyn has two or three catchy pop songs that I doubt you're going to be hearing anywhere other than the Plymouth Theatre anytime soon. So the chances of that happening are slim. All in all an uninspired evening of theatre. Brooklyn may not be the worst way you could spend 90 minutes, but it's far from the best either.

P.S. If you have any interest in seeing this show with Edina Espinosa, I'd see it soon. I give Espinosa a month before she's out sick with "vocal chord strain". Seems to be the ailment "du jour" among today's young Broadway performers. Especially when their shows end up getting less than favorable reviews.