Chitty 12/11 Review

[mijofly19]

Posted: 12/12/05 at 3:37pm

I saw the show for the first time last night, and it was great. This is my first review, so I apologize in advance for any flaws it may have. Rick Hilsabeck was on for Raul, and Julie Tolivar was playing Truly. I was dissapointed that i would be missing Raul and Erin, but these two were very good. We had seats in the back row of the theatre, but we were able to see everything on the stage. Rick and Julie were great in the lead roles, but Marc Kudisch and Jan Maxwell were AMAZING in their roles. The two of them truly stole the show. They both deserved their Tony noms. Philip Bosco, Henry Hodges, and Jaclyn Meidenthal were great as Grandpa, Jeremy, and Jemima. Chip and Robert were hysterical as Goran and Boris, and Kevin Cahoon's "children" is amazing.

After the show we went to the stage door, and we met Rick, Julie, Jan, and Kevin, and they couldn't have been nicer. They signed and took pictures and were really nice.

There are two questions I have about the show. In the beginning, when the entire cast is on stage, three banners drop down from the ceiling. I believe the two on the sides are of the two flags, but the middle one fell down right away. Right when the flags first appeared the black one fell straight to the ground. I was wondering what the black flag was? The other part was in the beginning, when they are in the windmill, Rick took the hat and placed it on the hook, and it fell. Later he placed it on there again, and it fell again. I doubt it, but I was wondering if this happens everynight?

Overall, this was a great show. I strongly recommend it to everybody, especially if you have children. The seats we got were for the last row of the theatre and cost $20, but we could still see everything. I'm sad to see it closing. Although I loved both the Liong King and Beauty and the Beast, I thought that this was the best "for kids" show on Broadway right now, and am sad to see it go.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 12/12/05 at 3:53pm

Does anyone know why Raul is out so much?

[thetheatrekook]

Posted: 12/12/05 at 3:55pm

Raúl doesn't do the Sunday night shows...hasn't for a while. Other than that...has he been out much? I haven't heard.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 12/12/05 at 3:58pm

He never does the Sunday night show.

As for his other absences....he's kind of inconsistent in this role, to put it nicely. I've seen him give a good performance, but several times I've watched him literally phone it in. I don't think he's very happy to be in this show. It's become quite clear that fun, happy, family shows are not for him.

[GretchaSketh]

Posted: 12/12/05 at 4:00pm

There are three flags in the beginning. a British one on the left, the Vulgarian flag on the right and in the middle a flag that says British Grand Prix 1910.
and no the hat thing doesn't happen every night. I've never seen it happen actually.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 12/12/05 at 4:12pm

Raul *really* hasn't had that many unscheduled absences. When the schedule changed, it was fairly well publicized that he wouldn't be doing the Sunday night shows -- there was never a public announcement of *why*, but if I had to throw a guess I'd say it has something to do with the vocal demand of *three* two-show days on someone who, well, to put it kindly, is not truly a singer. Other than that, he had a week off during the summer, as did the majority of the other leads, and I think he's only missed... not more than five other shows. Not to say that he's perfect every night just because he actually shows up, but that's for personal opinion.

I've seen the hat fall off the hook; just a random weird thing.