Caroline, or Change is back!- Page 4

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 11/8/04 at 3:39pm

Aparently not. You're still posting. You're remarks about me not liking CAROLINE make you look like a theatre snob so that sums up my point.

[Plum]

Posted: 11/8/04 at 4:09pm

Oh, God, not the old snobbery argument. I've already had it out with MusicMan over this, I think, so I'm not repeating myself.

Posted: 11/8/04 at 9:55pm

Be thankful for theatre snobs.

Without someone saying,
"I can [write/compose/direct/act/choreograph/orchestrate] better than this," Broadway would have been overrun by mediocrity, in the name of popular taste, many decades ago.

Just think what would have been lost.

For an audience member, liking CAROLINE isn't saying you're a snob, it's saying you appreciate more from the theatre experience.

[scotty]

Posted: 11/8/04 at 10:01pm

I once dated a theatre snob. Didnt work out.

cant we all just GETALONG???

[JJsugar]

Posted: 11/8/04 at 10:15pm

oh that is good i hear soo many good things bout this show, if they also come to San fran. i might see it!

is it as good as you all say'

well, uno us west coast folks like the theater too so it's nice wen they go on tour and we get to se some good shows!

new york has everything i'm glad a good show is coming out west!

hee haa..now rope those cows we are in the wild west out here still! LOL>>

can someone tell me more about this show and if they will come to SF?

[Plum]

Posted: 11/8/04 at 10:58pm

The show has a libretto and lyrics by Tony Kushner (Angels in America) and score by Jeanine Tesori (Thoroughly Modern Millie). The plot is prosaic- it's about a black maid working for a Jewish family in 1960s Louisiana- but it has plenty to say about politics, economics, race, and the nature of families.

It's a lot to take in in one performance- in fact, I don't think you can take it all in in one performance- but it's really lovely. And the cast, which is, with one exception, the same as the one on Broadway, is really exceptional, with great actingcskills and beautiful singing voices. I haven't heard about a San Francisco transfer, but no one really knows what will happen to the show after this LA run.

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 11/9/04 at 1:50am

"liking CAROLINE isn't saying you're a snob, it's saying you appreciate more from the theatre experience."

That's exactly what a theatre snob would say. You're saying CAROLINE is above the more popular shows and that it has more. Nobody knows that, that's just your personal taste. Plum, thank you for playing. You got nothing else for me.

[JJsugar]

Posted: 11/9/04 at 2:26am

hi plum...nice to see you, thanks for the basic run down of caroline show!

uno, it sounds interesting i like a good story and well i guess we will have to keep our ears open if it comes to SF!

i get a bit tired of the shows out here cause we don't get nearly as many as NY and LA! of course we had the big shows like Phantom and le mis. etc.. and i saw a few shows in london a few years back!

i do think SF needs to improve on the shows they get and hopefully these tours stop by the golden gate city by the bay! LOL>> it's a lovely place...

well, maybe caroline will come up north to SF after it's LA run, we can only hope for a new show up here! i saw some stupid commerical for a show for kids that a plant eats the audience it was some theater thing, but i really wish we would get a real show in Sf i seen everything mostly that i was intested in!

i am Not a Lion king fan too much, so my mom thought it was nice, but not one of the better shows she has seen! i have no interest in it i'm sure it is good!

soo if any producers read this board don't forget San Francisco cause we need more shows please! lol..

if anyone ever does visit SF the beach blanket babalon is really funny its like that movie 'bird cage' its a drag show musical i guess it's very worth seeing and is hysterical! lol.. it's a famous show in SF been around for years!

unless i want to see lion king there is just nothing to see in SF at this time i don't think? i saw Phantom like 5 times and Le mis a few times also i use to love those shows!

i'm bored good thing it is Ice skating season i do enjoy watching skating!

if caroline is as good as you all say, then i will check it out if it ever comes to SF...

[Broadway Matt]

Posted: 11/9/04 at 2:28am

JJ have you bought tickets for White Christmas yet? I can't wait to get back to SF in a few months to see d'Arcy in that!

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 11/9/04 at 2:28am

jj, u a boy or girl?

[JJsugar]

Posted: 11/9/04 at 2:43am

hey Broadwaymatt...you on west coast also?
i was thinking about maybe going to 'white christmas' i saw the commercial!

is it the same story as the movie do you no? or is it different?

i had posted a while back that they should make a musical of white xmas so it is very funny that suddenly there is one! LOL

i'm a girl with a attitude...

so we must all be the west coasters up this late! LOL

so Broadwaymatt are you in north calif? i'm in the bay area in general i don't give out my town i'm in, but it's safe to say i'm in the beautiful sf bay area! lol

nice to see you broadwaymatt!

yeh to the west coast people nice to see a few on here!

[Broadway Matt]

Posted: 11/9/04 at 3:10am

well I'm in NYC right now. I've been out here for school since January, but I'm from the San Jose area originally and spent my last few summers there. Now that I'm working and taking more units at school, I'm pretty much full time out here, but I am making a point to get out to SF for maybe a week over the holidays. Gotta see the family and catch White Christmas. I don't know too much about the stage adaptation of the movie, but it's been running a few days now so buzz must be starting to go around in Nor Cal. I only know that it's basically the movie, with the same famous songs and an adapted stage text built from the screenplay. Brian d'Arcy James is the lead, so I'm there. He's one of the only 2 performers that I'll travel cross country to see. If you were debating whether to see it, I'll go out on a limb and say See It! It's sure to be a fine piece of Christmas theatre! And I predict that, after this holiday run is over, the next time we see BDJ will be in a Broadway lead role. Mark my words.

[JJsugar]

Posted: 11/9/04 at 3:32am

hey you still up great! lol..

so you are from san jose! very cool a local person no wonder i like you!

i'm from san mateo county... so not to far from san jose ! i competed in gymnastics in college when i was younger and went to many meets at san jose state! an old boyfriend went to san jose state also! lol

so you are in college in NYC? are in in theater also like it seems many of the people on this board?

well... i'll try to find out more about white christmas i can't remember wher is it playing one of the theaters !

uno, it's soo funny cause back last year i posted on an Idol board that i thouht they should do a broadway version of white christmas...so it is very ironic to see it now all of a sudden!lol..

i'm thinking about going and i will talk to my family to see if anyone might want to go with me!

so you think it is the same story as the movie and world war two based similar story! i love the movie white christmas!

Oh Broadway matt? i assume you are a guy since you are Matt? well, i grew up not too far from where the Bing crosby estate and home is Mrs. crosby still owns it! they even belonged to the same church as we do and their Kids went to school in my home town we only live a mile or soo away from their estate!

Bing crosby was very much apart of our community since he and his family lived near where we do in the same town and the kids going to the local schools!

my dad was a big fan of Bing and our whole family is! i wish they would Re formatt his music some of the old bing cd's need to be redone with better equipment to smooth out the music part ! gotta love bing's voice and that is why i love justin's voice he reminds me of Bing especially on his cd he really has that buttery crooner voice!

thanks Broadwaymatt...so great to meet a Local bay area person on here! study hard in school! LOL>> are you an Actor also?

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 11/9/04 at 3:33am

bump bump bump bump bump bump bump

[JJsugar]

Posted: 11/9/04 at 3:45am

nite broadwaymatt, i'm off to sleep my eyes are closing! lol..

i'll see you again on here, i'll stop by for sure! now i'm more motivated to check out white christmas i needed a bit of a push so i'll check the paper to see where it is playing at!

i think a matinee is better so it is ot too crowded i'm not into big crowds! lol

maybe my mom will want to go she loves white christmas!

so you said the Lead actor is realy good so that is nice to hear!

talk to you again.... oh it is suppose to rain out here tomarrow and it s a bit cold for the bay area! we got a hail storm really bad last week in sn mateo hills and i heard san jose may have gotten some also!

go Sharks! LOL>> take care Matt! see you soon! i'm dreaming of a white christmas! LOL

[Plum]

Posted: 11/9/04 at 2:49pm

Bronxbound, I didn't know this was a game. Do I at least get a consolation prize? A lifetime supply of sardines?

No?

Gosh darnit.

...

The day I need to defend my tastes to you, bronx, will be a very sad day indeed. Like I said, I've addressed that moronic "snobbery" accusation in plenty of other posts. Search for them.

[DesperatelySeekingStranger]

Posted: 11/9/04 at 4:27pm

I think Caroline has a decent shot at playing SF considering the lead producer is based in SF if I remember correctly. Based on the Ahmanson's wedsite, almost all of the cast is returning with the exception of part of the Radio, Dottie, the Dryer, and Noah. Also, the role of Noah is supposedly being alternated with Sy and some other kid. Rumos has it that Harrison Chad wasn't asked back b/c he's too big for the role now. Whatever, I just hope it'll extend or play SF when I get out there early next year.

[Plum]

Posted: 11/9/04 at 5:01pm

Rumor has it that Harrison Chad wasn't asked back b/c he's too big for the role now.

What? That's the first I heard of that. Maybe he, you know, wanted to go to school in one general area. He's a kid, after all.

[JJsugar]

Posted: 11/9/04 at 5:11pm

thanks for the info...so maybe the show might come to SF, if it has i missed it some shows are here for a week and leave, so i have missed some things!

but i don't think caroline has been in SF as a standing show playing for a while!

the nest new show in SF, now is white christmas i hear it is good and i am going to try to see if and hope my mom might be up to going with me to a matinee ...

want to avoid the rush hour traffic that is for sure! lol..

i sure hope these producers bring more shows to SF cause it does get boring the same old shows all the time! if you are not a lion king fan you are srewed! lol

i think i saw le mis and phantom a ton of times they were the longest running shows in SF it seemed! the only shows for that matter, but i did love them!

I liked miss sigon i had to go to london to see it! LOL

bring some more shows to SF is all i have to say!

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 11/9/04 at 10:58pm

Please. Harrison Chad was miles too big for the show on Broadway too. I've said it before and I'll say it again - there's no reason that character had to be eight years old. Call him ten - that was the only part of the show that bothered me. Having to believe that kid was 8. But he was so wonderful in the role...I'd rather they change the age in the script than change the kid. As long as he doesn't have facial hair and his voice isn't changing, there's no reason to dump him.

[ElphieZ]

Posted: 11/10/04 at 3:00am

I saw the show tonight. Tonya's voice was very scratchy, a little cracking here and there. Still, she was good. The show was alright, I loved Anika Noni, her voice is beautiful. I really wanted to see whether Idina or Tonya truly deserved the Tony. And the winner is...Idina...I'm not biased, I promise. I would definitely be the first one to say, yes, Tonya should have gotten it if I thought she put on a great performance. Maybe it was an off night, but I think that Idina's character and the tightness of Wicked as a show helped give her the edge. I mean, who doesn't want to see the green girl win? tonya's character has left development and character than Elphaba.

But I still enjoyed Caroline. It was more of a discount musical though, I might have been a little disappointed if I paid $100 to see it.

Just my opinion. feel free to disagree!

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 11/16/04 at 11:15am

Here's a very well-written and perceptive review of the LA production from The Hollywood Reporter/Reuters (can we get this guy to come and review theatre in NYC? -- he's better that 90% of the critics we have here):

"Tony Kushner's "Caroline, or Change" is one of the strangest musicals you will ever see.

No one gets kissed, killed, seduced or falls in love; the main character has a stubborn heart filled with resentment and bitterness; and the moon, radio and washing machine are as personable as any of the humans we meet onstage.

This might help explain why "Caroline" is also one of the most thrilling and moving shows ever presented at the Ahmanson Theatre. Kushner, who already has given us "Angels in America" and the prescient "Homebody/Kabul," once again has left the conventional radar screen to take us into his own oddly slanted, oddly imaginative zone of reality. In doing so, he has very likely created a masterpiece.

As musicals go, "Caroline" does something novel and important. Kushner's book and lyrics and Jeanine Tesori's score are written in the form of a sung-through opera that is both realistic and a fable........

What Kushner, Tesori and director George C. Wolfe have done is to tell this story in such a way that the interior life of the characters -- the play's hidden psychic landscape -- becomes paramount. Moreover, Kushner appears to get their psychology right, and in getting it right on a very personal level, he gets it right on the racial level as well. He especially gets right that part of the "race problem" that is usually most hidden and resistant to change -- the wounds inflicted that run deeper than flesh; the stored feelings of anger and alienation that can settle in bone, as they have in Caroline.


This is why the personification of ordinary objects onstage works so well -- because it illustrates in a touching way how Caroline's bitterness has isolated her to the point that the inanimate world surrounding her is capable of filling some of her basic human needs for community. Without resorting to a drop of sentimentality or racial cliche, Kushner has taken us to the dark heart of the matter for Caroline. Pinkins has a brilliantly written and sung aria in Act 2 in which she gives voice to these buried feelings and the difficulty of changing them; the scene is cathartic in the best sense of the word and almost unbearably moving."


Caroline, or Change Review from the Hollywood Reporter

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 11/16/04 at 11:21am

wonderfully written review.

[uncageg]

Posted: 11/16/04 at 11:26am

It is slated to play the Curran Theatre in San Fran(I thnk that's the theatre's name) in January. This show is in my all time top 3 shows.

Updated On: 11/16/04 at 11:26 AM

[robbiej]

Posted: 11/16/04 at 11:31am

How has no one said this yet:

There may be no such thing as 'right' or 'wrong' when it comes to taste, but there most certainly is 'good' and 'bad' taste.