City Center Encores! 2023-24 season: PAL JOEY • ONCE UPON A MATTRESS • JELLY'S LAST JAM • TITANIC- Page 7

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 11/3/23 at 9:58pm

I've sat in the balcony for most if not all Encores for at least a decade and that was the FIRST time I couldn't hear...well, anything.

Ensemble atmospheric (inner monologue??) tapping was VERY loud and outdid any time anyone opened their mouth. I thought when they'd sing we'd get more amplification but man did the band (trumpet especially) drowned out everything. I'm pretty familiar with the R&H catalog but still had no clue what song was what. 

I get that "old school" Encores rules have sailed and it's no longer "flaws and all" and is now "well, we can FIX this and maybe run it!" but why the HECK is this being called Pal Joey??? 

 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 11/3/23 at 10:31pm

One other thought:

A lot of the musical numbers are really poorly staged. There are some highlights. But there's a lot of sloppiness, and nothing in it hits the heights of SHUFFLE ALONG or Glover's other work, and it rarely feels motivated by character/story. Savion doesn't even give himself a great specialty, he fades into the ensemble.

It's just so disappointing when so much good talent is assembled and the results are so meh.

I hope JELLY'S LAST JAM will have stronger choreo. That show will have tap choreography by Dormeshia (who is in the JOEY ensemble and called "the queen of tap" by the NYT) and non-tap choreo by Edgar Godineaux.

Updated On: 11/3/23 at 10:31 PM

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 11/4/23 at 6:36pm

I'm not feeling the greatest... thinking about skipping this. Does anyone recall the runtime?

[RWPrincess]

Posted: 11/4/23 at 7:42pm

I was excited to see Loretta but now I am rethinking the travel time tomorrow 

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 11/4/23 at 7:47pm

Staying home... my body says no. I would give the ticket away but I don't know if you can with Access25 (I think it's a pick up) and after these reviews...

[BETTY22]

Posted: 11/4/23 at 7:49pm

This was a massive disappointment. Sad. 

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 11/4/23 at 11:54pm

Saw the matinee today. Comparable to New York, New York, but with better vocals, and Loretta Devine, who was better than anything in it, so it's Pal Joey by a nose.

Updated On: 11/5/23 at 11:54 PM

[CoffeeBreak]

Posted: 11/5/23 at 12:57am

Updated On: 11/5/23 at 12:57 AM

[UWS10023]

Posted: 11/5/23 at 8:11am

This is a bit off topic, but I recently paid full price for an off Broadway show and many seniors showed up with $4.50 tickets that they had gotten through one of those seat filler memberships. The show was not very good so I found myself a little jealous!

The running time was a little under 3 hours. Most shows at City Center cut down the running time as the week progresses with quicker cues and so forth, but it sounds like this show has remained the same length. When I saw it the cues were slow and the scene work was not holding together very well and it meandered.The lead actor seemed to be singing inward rather that outward if there is such a thing. At times he sounded garbled like he was swallowing his voice.
I was in the balcony and there were many rows that were partial view because of a catwalk in the set design. 
 

City Center has had a lot of artistic staff changes which is fine but the Old Guard knew the limitations of the stage and figured out ways to play to all of the seats by moving things downstage and avoiding using upper stage right and upper stage left because those areas would get blocked by a proscenium that cuts into the width of the stage. They also were very careful with elevations.

Most directors know instinctively how to stage a show for all of the seats and they double check their staging by running all over the house during rehearsal to check the sight lines.
 

 

[DramaTeach]

Posted: 11/5/23 at 7:09pm

Went in with low expectations because of the chatter here, and I think that served me well because I didn’t hate it. Here are my takeaways:

1) Ephraim Sykes was not enough for Joey. He doesn’t have enough control of his voice to convey an ease and swagger. I could also feel him trying to give what he thought he was supposed to give in the performance and, again, it should be easy. I shouldn’t feel the effort. His “new sound” and the excitement over his performances didn’t land because of all that.

2) The ladies were wonderful. Aisha Jackson has a gorgeous voice. It was interesting because the Playbill said she was in Once Upon a One More Time, and I left so unimpressed by the talent in that, but I guess it’s just that Britney’s songs are not meant for Broadway. This was her wheelhouse. Elizabeth Stanley is always excellent and her “Bewitched…” was gorgeous, sexy and funny at the same time.

3) I love tap, but I don’t get Savion Glover’s tap. It’s just constant stomping. I get that they were supposed to be his inner drive, but eh. Not a fan.

4) Those arrangements were not it. It’s gorgeous music and they changed it too much, so we lose the melody. 

5) Everyone else was just there. Ashmankas was fun in a tiny role, Divine was fine, and so was everyone else. Fine.

I don’t think this is entirely a lost cause, and it seems like they want to continue working on it because they were giving out surveys when they show ended, but it needs some significant changes. Good luck to them!

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 11/5/23 at 7:19pm

The thing that Jack Viertel and the original Encores founders preached was that you have to cut down the book to like 2-5 minutes between songs. Just enough book to set up the songs and give audiences a sense of the story. The limited rehearsal time limits down on the amount of nuance that can be brought to a show. Their 1776 didn't work all that well because it relies so much on the book. Some of my favorite Encores shows have been musical comedies, because they can fare a little better with a seat-of-your-pants schedule than dramatic work.

Wanting to revise a show is all well and good. But it's tough to pull off in less than 2 weeks of rehearsal, even if there was a previous workshop a few months ago (because it sounds like there was major surgery done way too late in the process).

[buffalospeedway]

Posted: 11/5/23 at 7:52pm

Loved it, and Aisha Jackson was the standout for me. Her voice is exquisite. Ms. Devine is hilarious. I found it to be a rich and timely meditation on the compromises and negotiations that Black artists are expected to make in an antiblack world. 

Additional spoiler-ish thoughts:

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

The part where Joey confronts the audience "Blue Moon" was great. It was as if to say this is *our* PJ, not the RH or Sinatra versions.  

Happy closing to all involved!

[R. GreenFinch]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 10:04am

DramaTeach said: "3) I love tap, but I don’t get Savion Glover’s tap. It’s just constant stomping. I get that they were supposed to be his inner drive, but eh. Not a fan."
 

Interesting that's how it came across for you! Rhythm tap is highly articulated and technical, more about sounds instead of showier tricks. Definitely more than stomping going on there, but I could see that's how it would look depending where you were sitting. Compare what's going on here to Some Like It Hot, just two different styles of using the same steps and combinations. I thought it was super refreshing to see this style, even if the rest of the piece didn't always work for me. This style is the foundation of American tap before it was a bit more whitewashed, so I liked seeing it. 

[BroadwayGirlie2]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 12:27pm

DramaTeach said: "Went in with low expectations because of the chatter here, and I think that served me well because I didn’t hate it. Here are my takeaways:

1) Ephraim Sykes was not enough for Joey. He doesn’t have enough control of his voice to convey an ease and swagger. I could also feel him trying to give what he thought he was supposed to give in the performance and, again, it should be easy. I shouldn’t feel the effort. His “new sound” and the excitement over his performances didn’t land because of all that.

2) The ladies were wonderful. Aisha Jackson has a gorgeous voice. It was interesting because the Playbill said she was in Once Upon a One More Time, and I left so unimpressed by the talent in that, but I guess it’s just that Britney’s songs are not meant for Broadway. This was her wheelhouse. Elizabeth Stanley is always excellent and her “Bewitched…” was gorgeous, sexy and funny at the same time.

3) I love tap, but I don’t get Savion Glover’s tap. It’s just constant stomping. I get that they were supposed to be his inner drive, but eh. Not a fan.

4) Those arrangements were not it. It’s gorgeous music and they changed it too much, so we lose the melody.

5) Everyone else was just there. Ashmankas was fun in a tiny role, Divine was fine, and so was everyone else. Fine.

I don’t think this is entirely a lost cause, and it seems like they want to continue working on it because they were giving out surveys when they show ended, but it needs some significant changes. Good luck to them!"

 

I agree that there is something there worth exploring, and it seems the creative team still hopes to move this forward. My friend and I were at the performance on Saturday night, and there was a group outside the theater gathering feedback and passing out QR codes.

The QR Code leads to this google survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfhyKZumyQS9rYPJvyEyuxT0f-iiBmtmoWXYAL2dkuqRa3Isw/viewform

[StageStruckLad]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 3:44pm

I'm not sure Pal Joey was better than The Life, the previous record holder for worst Encores show ever. Pal Joey's storyline has now been changed to the story of a Black singer who feels that the whites have appropriated the music created by Blacks.

 

So of course the music of Rodgers and Hart, two white songwriters, makes perfect sense for this new plot. Thank god for Loretta Devine. The audience loved her. And sympathy to poor Elizabeth Stanley, who had the most poorly rewritten storyline. She also lost two songs in the first act, as shown by the updated song list that was inserted in the Playbill. The new one is on the right. 

 

Co-director Tony Goldwyn rushed to the lobby after the show. I heard one woman tell him that this production MUST move to Broadway!

 

https://ibb.co/9w22ZQX

 

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 11/6/23 at 7:09pm

Loretta had a line about going off to the border, and then she said something that got a big laugh. What was that line?

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 12/4/23 at 12:56pm

Great casting additions!

Sutton Foster (Princess Winnifred) and Michael Urie (Prince Dauntless) will be joined by the following:

Cheyenne Jackson (Sir Harry)
Nikki Renee Daniels (Lady Larken)
David Patrick Kelly (King Sextimus the Silent)
J. Harrison Ghee (Jester)
Francis Jue (Wizard)

The ensemble includes Kaleigh Cronin, Ben Davis, Gaelen Gilliland, Jaquez, Morgan Marcell, Abby Matsusaka, Adam Roberts, Ryan Worsing, and Richard Riaz Yoder

Of note, casting for the Queen has not yet been announced.

[HenryTDobson]

Posted: 12/4/23 at 12:57pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Great casting additions!

Sutton Foster(Princess Winnifred) andMichael Urie(Prince Dauntless) will be joined by the following:

Cheyenne Jackson(Sir Harry)
Nikki Renee Daniels (Lady Larken)
DavidPatrick Kelly(King Sextimus the Silent)
J. Harrison Ghee(Jester)
Francis Jue(Wizard)

The ensemble includesKaleigh Cronin, Ben Davis, Gaelen Gilliland, Jaquez, Morgan Marcell, Abby Matsusaka, Adam Roberts, Ryan Worsing, and Richard Riaz Yoder

Of note, casting for the Queen has not yet been announced."

No Minstrel yet either, though I do wonder if they'll take this character out. Great cast otherwise! 

[Kad]

Posted: 12/4/23 at 1:01pm

Why would they remove the Minstrel? They’re a rather key role and they’re of course also part of the song “The Minstrel, the Jester, and I.” 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 12/4/23 at 1:17pm

It may be that the Minstrel casting (and other casting) just isn't confirmed yet. I won't get my hopes up but it would be fun if Christian Borle played the Minstrel since he and JHG had such good chemistry.

[HenryTDobson]

Posted: 12/4/23 at 1:42pm

Kad said: "Why would they remove the Minstrel? They’re a rather key role and they’re of course also part of the song “The Minstrel, the Jester, and I.”"

Fair enough, I just thought it was strange to be left off. It could easily be combined with the Jester character and I personally wouldn't miss that song (one of my least favorites in the show) but maybe they're waiting to announce.

[Kad]

Posted: 12/4/23 at 1:47pm

I agree the role could be combined with the Jester- frankly, I find the whole book of the show to be very weak and extremely padded out, particularly the second act- but I also think major revisions have not been executed well in Encores productions. It’s just not a great platform for it given the massive time constraints. 

[HenryTDobson]

Posted: 12/4/23 at 1:56pm

Kad said: "I agree the role could be combined with the Jester- frankly, I find the whole book of the show to be very weak and extremely padded out, particularly the second act- but I also think major revisions have not been executed well in Encores productions. It’s just not a great platform for it given the massive time constraints."

Agreed, the books is very inconsistent. I'm curious to see the revisions they make, especially since they keep plugging it as a "concert adaptation." What does that even mean...?

Not sure if this has been suggested, but Jackie Hoffman would kill as the Queen. And would be a cool coming after she performed Winnifred off-Broadway.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 12/4/23 at 1:58pm

There was a rumor on here that Baranski was the queen. But perhaps that's not happening anymore.

[Kad]

Posted: 12/4/23 at 2:03pm

Typically “concert adaptation” just means a pared down version of the book. Which I’m fine with considering this show’s book is a lot of schtick that is very hard to make funny these days.