COMPANY Reviews- Page 2

[aspiringactress]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:45pm

This is kinda stressful. I've never really cared much before about reviews.

[Ariella]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:47pm

I really really hope Ben Brantley doesn't trash it. Whatever happens, it's still #1 on my list to see and the #1 motivation to get to NY.

The wait is painful.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:51pm

As long as Brantley gives Raul a rave--even if he is not so keen on the production--much like his Off-Broadway review of GREY GARDENS and Ebersole, I'll be happy.

But of course I'm hoping for the best. I have not seen this COMPANY yet, but I have seen most every show Raul has been in since he came to New York, and I cannot imagine him giving a bad performance.

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:51pm

::Rushes for Emcee's hand and hoping for some comfort.::

[StephenSondheimWHOO]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:51pm

*JOins the circle and grabs the cokies from LuvtheEmcee.
I'm scared, I really, really, reallly want them to be good. Speaking of the 6 year old I want to see him review Spring Awakening. Anywhoooo *prays for Raul and Company

[aspiringactress]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:52pm

I think we can have some hope at least for Branley's review judging from the Cinci review, although out of town to NY can be very inconsistant.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:54pm

Aww, you guys. I'm fine. I want it to do well, and I'll be disappointed -- but I promise not crushed -- if it doesn't. Sh!t happens, and as in love as I am, I haven't lost sight of the grand scheme.

But I do appreciate the love.

Judging by what I heard about the performance Brantley saw, if he doesn't at the very least love Raul, he has no soul.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:56pm

You just never know what to expect from Brantley. I think of last season with plays like RABBIT HOLE and SHINING CITY, which he gave raves to, while other critics gave them mediocre reviews. I know this is different, because it's a musical, but sometimes he's just in a good mood.

Updated On: 11/29/06 at 06:56 PM

[ElphieDefiesGravity]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:57pm

Wait, did Brantley review Company in Cinci?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 7:03pm

Talkin' Broadway is up. It was reviewed by the same person who reviewed (and disliked) Sweeney.

Here goes.

"The best that can be said about director John Doyle's new version of Company - and it's not saying much - is that it skates circles around his Sweeney Todd from last season, then throws in some figure eights and triple axles for good measure.

You can rest safe in the knowledge that a trip to the Barrymore, where Company just opened after originating at Cincinnati's Playhouse in the Park last spring, recalls a musical more than the Saturday night jaunt to the Meatpacking District Sweeney evoked. No, it doesn't bear much resemblance to the musical composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim and librettist George Furth wrote, but one headache at a time, please."

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"Doyle's meddling never gets more extreme (or more absurd) than having one married couple mime karate while standing on opposite sides of the stage - they're physically touching but not really together, get it? - but his first priority never seems to communicate the story or illuminate the characters in sensible, logical ways.

... Only Esparza even moderately escapes being affected by this: His natural charisma, good-guy grace, and sly magnetism leak out from beneath an affected disinterested exterior that can only be Doyle's work. (Even in dour roles, Esparza has never seemed as joyless as he does here.) If we get no sense of Robert's complete journey from satisfied single to relationship-ready, Robert's conflicted feelings resonate strongly in Esparza's performance and inject his climactic "Being Alive" with a poignant urgency absent in too many renditions."

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"Ah yes, the piano. That brings us to the meat of Doyle's concept: the actors playing instruments. As Company has always been highly conceptual, with most of the scenes swirling into being from the confused corners of Robert's mind, this kind of conceit damages the proceedings less than in the more realistic Sweeney Todd... This gives the production a sense of consistent style that eluded the sloppy Sweeney, though as none of it has anything to do with Company, its dramatic value is nonexistent."

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"Directors of musicals have never before needed to stick instruments in their actors' hands to get them to engage the audience. In directing the original Company, Harold Prince and Stritch made Joanne's "The Ladies Who Lunch" a shattering showstopper with a full pit orchestra, and I've never heard one complaint about it.

It plays here as the inebriated ramblings of a frustrated social climber rather than protean wisdom from a hardened vet of the battle through life, but worse, Walsh is denied the applause her flailing against Doyle's constraints warrants, and that audience apparently wants to bestow upon her. Allowing the audience to applaud is one way to engage them; denying them the opportunities they crave, instruments or no, is alienating. Judging from what he's already given us, it's no shock Doyle chose the latter."

Full review: http://www.talkinbroadway.com/world/Company2006.html

No comment.

Updated On: 11/29/06 at 07:03 PM

[Fantabulous428]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 7:04pm

Elphie, Charles Isherwood reviewed it in Cinci.

Updated On: 11/29/06 at 07:04 PM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 7:04pm

Feel free to give me feedback on how helpful those snippets were. I've never engaged in this ritual before.

Updated On: 11/29/06 at 07:04 PM

[BroadwayChica]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 7:04pm

No. It was Charles Isherwood. You can read the review (which was a rave) here:

https://theater2.nytimes.com/2006/03/21/theater/reviews/21comp.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1164845017-vstJfLdOyirXSmzJFz4XZg

ETA: Beat me to it Updated On: 11/29/06 at 07:04 PM

[ElphieDefiesGravity]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 7:06pm

Oh, okay. Thanks. That's what I thought.


So...was that a positive review for Raul? I feel like joyless is a bad thing, but I was confused.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 7:09pm

Yeah, that was a little confusing. I really hope the reviews start to pick up later on.

[i*heart*fame]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 7:09pm

Well, lets jsut think...when was the last time talkin broadway was positive?

[Sondheim Geek]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 7:12pm

Who gives a crap?!?!? WHERE IS BRANTLEY!
*rushes to Emcee*

[aspiringactress]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 7:13pm

...well, there's no way I am going to be able to do my homework well now.

::procrastinates::

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 7:13pm

yeah talkin' broadway bitches about everything. nothing to be worried about. just a fluke and the typical bitch.




...right?




*rushes to emcee*

[ElphieDefiesGravity]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 7:15pm

*Shields Emcee from the onslaught*

Take a number, everyone.

[Sondheim Geek]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 7:15pm

We all need to meditate. WHERE THE HELL IS BRANTLEY!?!??!? DOESN'T HE SEE THAT WE'RE ALL FREAKING OUT HERE?!?!?

*paces*

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 7:16pm

Hehe.

Um, group hug?

*noodles around* Now we wait. =P

I am surprisingly calm at the present time. I guess because I know TB hates everything.

[BroadwayChica]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 7:16pm

He's cackling with evil glee somewhere.

[ElphieDefiesGravity]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 7:18pm

*kicks Brantley*

If he gives it a positive review, I'll take it back.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 7:18pm

The tone of that review reminds me of how a 4-year-old at work reacted today when I gave him the blue bunny instead of the green bunny he wanted- an incredibly whiny "But it's not the same!"