I just watched those clips, and I have to admit that I LOVE "Honestly, Sincere". I thought Nolan was very sexy and sold the song really well... but "The Telephone Hour" was hellish. The staging made absolutely no sense and the kids were atrocious. Was that the best they could come up with? Really? It's been 50 f*cking years!!!!
"There's nothing good on. The media hates Christmas. The media loves vampires, though. Maybe they will show a Twilight Christmas." -Danmeg's 10 year old son.
JoeKv99, to answer your question, I liked the gawkiness and silliness of it, something that seems very fitting, considering. The set pieces and phones had a playfulness about them. And for myself, I loved to see real kids cast in those parts instead of young-looking adults.
I loved the original 'Telephone Hour', but I've seen it done ad nauseum. It's nice to see it re-explored, and the choreography had a wit and charm about it.
I'm not familiar with Bye Bye Birdie, so maybe it's supposed to be sung that way, but is "The Telephone Hour" supposed to sound so strained? To me it sounded like dying cats more than teenagers singing.
The worst thing about these lousy revivals--like Pal Joey and West Side Story and Guy and Dolls and this one--is that they give a new generation a very mediocre idea of what Broadway can be.
If you liked Kudish in the TV movie, you should have seen him in the stage version with Tommy Tune (done about five years previously). No one knew who he was going into the show and no one forgot him after seering it.
I liked the staging for "the telephone hour" though the vocals were atrocious. and honestly sincere was just bad. Nolan had no presence. The choreography wasn't terrible, but it was nothing special. And I agree about the reactions of the teenage girls in that scene. That was just bad acting.
The choreography wasn't terrible, but it was nothing special.
Then it doesn't belong on Broadway.
Shows like West Side Story and Bye Bye Birdie were created by gifted artists who could give a show an identity by the way it MOVED.
If you haven't got that talent--and I'm talking to YOU, Mr. McNeely, and YOU, Mr. Longbottom--then go back to summer stock and leave the Gower Champion and Jerome Robbins shows to grown-ups.
The worst thing about these lousy revivals--like Pal Joey and West Side Story and Guy and Dolls and this one--is that they give a new generation a very mediocre idea of what Broadway can be.
Applause.
Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE