CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Reviews- Page 5

[Jarethan]

Posted: 4/23/17 at 10:44pm

Jeffrey Karasarides said: "Why do you people have to be so mean? I can post the reviews any way I'd like. What are you, the posting police?

 

No...they are actually asses.  I love the fact that you post these...makes it very easy for me to see when they are handed to me.

 

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 4/23/17 at 10:47pm

No we aren't, we just try to make it easier as we have done for years and years for people who don't have time to read all reviews. It's not brain surgery 

[BroadwayMomma]

Posted: 4/23/17 at 10:52pm

That desert/dessert typo in the NYT review is really bugging me.  

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 4/23/17 at 10:55pm

bdboston said: "Jeffrey Karasarides said: "What are you, the posting police?"

Oh, the irony...

 

 

"

lol.

---

Brantley was very kind, I thought. 

 

[evic]

Posted: 4/23/17 at 11:06pm

[evic]

Posted: 4/23/17 at 11:07pm

Jackie Hoffman should never play the Lunt again-it is a curse for her.

[NoName3]

Posted: 4/23/17 at 11:12pm

Brantley's comment about Depp playing the part as a mix of Michael Jackson and Anna Wintur is hardly original to him. It was a widely repeated opinion when Burton's film opened.

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 4/24/17 at 12:04am

Brantley was far kinder than I expected. He spends most of the review talking about Borle, who he enjoyed.

Shocked that he like the sets and the Veruca ballet...

[freewilma]

Posted: 4/24/17 at 12:08am

BroadwayMomma said: "That desert/dessert typo in the NYT review is really bugging me.  

 

"

It bothered me too so I looked it up. It seems like both are somewhat acceptable by many. However, the origin is just deserts. Click here for more info. http://grammarist.com/spelling/just-deserts-just-desserts/

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 4/24/17 at 12:11am

I noticed about two or three definite typos in Brantley's Dolly! review the minute it went live. I believe they were changed later. Are his reviews being copy-edited?

[BroadwayMomma]

Posted: 4/24/17 at 12:14am

freewilma said: "BroadwayMomma said: "That desert/dessert typo in the NYT review is really bugging me.  
It bothered me too so I looked it up. It seems like both are somewhat acceptable by many. However, the origin is just deserts. Click here for more info. http://grammarist.com/spelling/just-deserts-just-desserts/

I had no idea!  I take it back then.  Thank you for that!

 

 

[Margo319]

Posted: 4/24/17 at 1:02am

Pretty much everyone hated it on BWW, so I did not think the critics would think completely differently.  These reviews are on point but kids don't read reviews so maybe this will last through the summer.  It was the only show I got angry at in my lifetime.  Worst show I've ever seen.  

[GreasedLightning]

Posted: 4/24/17 at 1:12am

Kids may not read reviews, but they also don't cough up the money for their tickets either. Lol. 

[GreasedLightning]

Posted: 4/24/17 at 1:12am

Kids may not read reviews, but they also don't cough up the money for their tickets either. Lol. 

[GreasedLightning]

Posted: 4/24/17 at 1:12am

Kids may not read reviews, but they also don't cough up the money for their tickets either. Lol. 

[GreasedLightning]

Posted: 4/24/17 at 1:12am

BWW, you are rude. Sorry about that ^

Updated On: 4/24/17 at 01:12 AM

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 4/24/17 at 1:43am

"No we aren't, we just try to make it easier as we have done for years and years for people who don't have time to read all reviews. It's not brain surgery"

You seem insufferable and entitled. JK finds and posts a link for you, you're too lazy to click on it and read it for yourself, and JK is the bad guy? Is your time more important than his?

Does someone cut up your meat for you, too? 

Why don'y you post links with a synopsis, songanddanceman, instead of complaining that someone isn't doing enough to save you your oh so very important time?? 

 

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 4/24/17 at 2:12am

Scarywarhol said: "David Cote at Time Out is...Quite negative. 

https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-1"

"Here Borle encourages us to loathe Wonka at our earliest convenience" This seemed a little unjustified beyond the "fey bully" description. Did I miss something?

 

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 4/24/17 at 2:23am

From the David Rooney Hollywood Reporter review...

"perversely charmless"

"an abrasive parade of garish color"

"one of the most aesthetically off-putting family musicals in memory"

"the most offensive Russian stereotypes since Putin"

"the absurdly over-qualified Jackie Hoffman"

For a different show, those might actually work. 

Also, this is one of the more informative reviews. I forget if Grandpa Joe worked at the factory in the book or the other adaptations. How does that square with Wonka's age? 

[EvanK]

Posted: 4/24/17 at 2:27am

"That’s “The Candy Man,” which became a swinging pop hit for Sammy Davis Jr. Swinging is not the adjective for Mr. Borle’s interpretation, which exudes a quiet, baffled detachment, as if his thoughts were elsewhere."

While Brantley may give Borle some praise, I think the above quote shows that he didn't really enjoy his performance until act 2. The only person he really gives full praise for is Hoffman. 

 

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 4/24/17 at 2:38am

Jesse Green for Vulture spends a good chunk of time shifting the blame from the creators...

"On the page, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory immediately reveals itself as a bad candidate for stage musicalization, despite a number of so-called songs (actually weird doggerel) already in the text. For one thing, the story is so heavily patterned it quickly grows both predictable and laborious: One at a time, five children find the golden tickets that Wonka has hidden in his chocolate bars; when they come to the factory to claim the grand prize, they are eliminated in aptly awful ways until only our hero, Charlie Bucket, remains. (We know he is our hero because he is neither fat nor rich nor gross nor acquisitive.) To the extent Dahl invests much writerly energy in anything, it’s not in evocative dialogue or depth of character but in the imaginative products and bizarre processes of the factory: [...] As such, it’s both a weird read and a disturbing one

The two movie adaptations got around these problems by substantially altering the story (in different ways) and playing up the fantasy and special effects. For the stage musical those solutions were themselves problems. With fans invested in the different versions of the tale, the authors, perhaps at the behest of the rights-holders, seem to have felt obligated to include elements of all three, leading to a confusion of characterization and tone that Grieg could not resolve.

And when the theater is in competition with film over special effects, theater will lose. Understanding this, and apparently in response to the London production’s elaborateness, O’Brien rebuilt the New York version as a simpler affair, hoping the audience would use its imagination to fill in the blanks; the result is an unusually dull set design by Mark Thompson and effects that would hardly have seemed special twenty years ago. 

The last paragraph is the only one that really focuses on this show.

[Speed]

Posted: 4/24/17 at 3:35am

I disagree that theater can't compete with film for special effects.  Great theatrical wizards that is happening live in front of you is even more awesome than film effects, especially those that are just computer animation.  I think of some of the amazing effects of The Lion King when I think about great theatrical magic.  The water as a piece of fabric being pulled into the center of the stage and Puzzle pieces in the dark joining to form the face of Mufasa are two examples.

[brian1973]

Posted: 4/24/17 at 3:40am

songanddanceman2 said: "No we aren't, we just try to make it easier as we have done for years and years for people who don't have time to read all reviews. It's not brain surgery 

 

Honey, your time can't be that important or you wouldn't spend it on a Broadway message board berating someone for not following silly little rules you have self imposed.

Get

over

yourself "

 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/24/17 at 5:16am

Song and dance didn't make the "rules". It evolved. ..give an overall impression and the link. Thats called tradition.

Don't give Jeffrey too much credit...he's not "finding" much but just simply reposting the roundup from BWW' S article. 

[rjm516]

Posted: 4/24/17 at 5:50am

It's not a typo in the NYT article - 'just deserts' is the proper phrase (it's like what they deserve, stems from the same root). When you see "just desserts" it's usually a pun like at cake shops - granted that would have worked here.