CAROLINE Coming To London - NY To Follow?- Page 2

[rjm516]

Posted: 3/25/18 at 5:25pm

Okay so I saw this last night, the Hampstead Production that is transferring to the West End proper in November. And honestly, it was not good. I feel like there were tons of interesting threads of potential stories - Caroline's relationship with Noah, Caroline's with her children, Caroline and the new wife, the new wife and Noah, the grandparents with the parents, the grandparents with the maids, the father's grief - and they tried to shoehorn ALL of that into a show, and none of it resonated even a little bit. There was too much they were trying to do and as a result it felt like they did absolutely nothing with it. I really had the highest of hopes for this production because musical theatre in London is almost abysmal, and while Sharon D. Clark is wonderful as always, she deserves much better. This was not a good show. And the score just made me want to listen to Fun Home, when Tesori got much needed lyrics help from Kron. There are so many clunkers. I mean the performance of the Hannukah songs was the highlight.

[JBC3]

Posted: 3/25/18 at 5:41pm

rjm516 said: "Okay so I saw this last night, the Hampstead Production that is transferring to the West End proper in November. And honestly, it was not good."

Sounds like you liked neither the book or the music, nor the production itself.

FWIW, people at TheatreBoard seem to be having far more positive reactions, albeit some mixed.

http://theatreboard.co.uk/thread/3483/caroline-change-hampstead-theatre?page=6 Updated On: 3/25/18 at 05:41 PM

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 3/25/18 at 5:54pm

A friend of mine saw it and said that the show deserves better.

[Here_I_Go_Again]

Posted: 3/26/18 at 1:03am

Just bought my tickets for its London west end transfer on Nov 20! Can’t wait!!

[MadsonMelo]

Posted: 3/26/18 at 1:18am

Probably my favorite musical of all time, but a revival would be a big flop

[rjm516]

Posted: 3/26/18 at 9:49am

Yeah JBC3 I think you're right. I honestly had NO exposure to anything in this show before seeing this production so I want to give it the benefit of the doubt, but the book didn't work for me and I didn't like the music. I'm glad other people seem to be loving it but I really wanted to love it too. I can picture however how some of for example Emmie's songs would have been much more impressive sung by someone like Anika Noni Rose who could really blow them open. 

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 3/26/18 at 9:54am

Frankly, if you thought the Hanukkah song was one of the highlights of the score, I find it difficult to believe you were paying very close attention.

[rjm516]

Posted: 3/26/18 at 10:18am

That was the only time the ensemble seemed to gel and anything seemed to come alive. 

[Wick3]

Posted: 3/26/18 at 12:50pm

I think understanding the context of the show may help. I, too, saw the Hampstead production of Caroline or Change this past Saturday (matinee) and loved it. I went with a friend who is British and didn't know anything about the show and she was a bit confused at times on what was happening. 

When I saw this on Broadway back in 2004 I sat in the mezzanine and recall act 2 was simply an unbelievable theatrical experience. The Hampstead is certainly more intimate and I sat on the 3rd row stalls and was again blown away especially in Act 2 in the surrounding scenes of "Lot's Wife". I was a college student back in 2004 but now having lived more of life, I felt that I was more emotionally engaged with this show this time around. 

I'm a fan of Lauren Ward (she was on Bway in Matilda a few years ago) and am glad she was in this production of Caroline or Change! However, Sharon Clarke was certainly the showstopper no question. Given the current political climate here in the USA with racism, socioeconomic differences between the top 2% and other 98%, etc. this show certainly is relevant and I hope it does come back to Broadway. I think to fully appreciate the show it may help to be somewhat familiar with the story and as always, seeing it a second time would definitely help. Most of Kushner's lyrics tend to have a deeper meaning and it's one of those shows that I normally have to process for at least a few hours after seeing it to appreciate it more. 

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 3/26/18 at 1:46pm

Listening to the cast album all the way through, which is pretty much the entire show, is an incredibly thrilling experience and I get jealous of anyone who gets to see a great live production of it. The original production looked inspired and mesmerizing, especially with the first few songs.

I get some of the criticism of having so many threads in the book giving a feeling of the stories being unresolved, but it's not one that I agree with. I think the book delicately balanced everything perfectly and I think getting older, I realized how much more these stories resonated from all the characters.