Could N2N be this year's AVENUE Q? — Page 3

Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx also composed a song entitled "Vote Your Heart," sung by the entire cast, about why they felt they should win Best Musical.

"Vote Your Heart" was not about why they felt they should win Best Musical. It was about Rod seeking advice on who he should vote for president of his rotary club. He didn't know weather to vote for his old friend, the very wealthy guy, or the hot guy -- and the cast instructed him to vote his heart.

First off, the dancing dresses is part of the boy's lavish dream sequence. It makes sense. It's suppose to be this big, fun number. It's about this presumably gay boy's fantasy. It makes sense. And the tutu's is part of the the curtain call. It's not part of the show. It's suppose to liven the mood the way the big dance number at the end of Hair does. It helps the audience leave with a smile rather than depressed.

Well, before that encore/curtain call parade, I don't think that most of the audience isn't depressed. They're supposed to feel moved. And that would be a good feeling and an accurate representation of the ending of the story that was just told. It doesn't end on a depressing note.

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I could not disagree with you more, jordan.
I have now seen the show ten times, and there has not yet been a performance where the cast has been giving less than a 100% percent. I was there on Wednesday, and I severely doubt between two performances the show took a nose dive.
Thanks (yes, that's sarcastic), DRSislove, for essentially saying my entire family is delusional. We all know what we experienced. I'm glad you've never seen anyone giving less than 100%. A ton of them were on Friday.

Also, when I saw Billy this past February, the kids were what pulled the show through, otherwise the performances were half phoned/ half performed.
Thank you jagkfb for validating that our experience might not be so rare.

I wasn't into BILLY ELLIOT, either. I don't understand the hype. With the exception of the choreography, which was mostly spectacular, there wasn't much of a musical there. I much preferred Elton John's scores to AIDA and LESTAT. His score for BILLY ELLIOT wasn't distinctive enough to stand on its own. I found the book to be choppy, lacking flow.

Just when I thought I was going to walk away and say, "This was an OK musical," that encore happened. This musical wasn't about telling a story. It was about providing spectacle. I very much walked into the theatre wanting to LOVE it, and I couldn't have been more disappointed.
And Foster... So you're allowed to WANT to love something and be disappointed but I'm not? Hmmm... Pot, kettle much?

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Either way, I still felt more emotion watching Billy Elliot.

Because they manipulated you too.

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Could N2N be this years AVENUE Q?


No.

After awhile - especially the second act - the songs in Next to Normal tend to blend together and just form one massive pop-rock song. And those ballads just kill the momentum to me in Act 2.


- Oh boy. Do you not realize that the second act is almost entirely sung-through for a reason? Having big production numbers, and stopping for applause, would completely take the audience out of the story, and would destroy the emotional connection the audience has with the story and its characters.

Updated On: 4/20/09 at 03:40 PM

It just occurred to me that I don't remember a single song from Billy. I remember the moments on stage, but I couldn't sing you the tune.

If Diana would have just said the line "so anyway I'm leaving", and then whatever few lines to sum up the reasons, THAT would completely kill the momentum and seem so out of place. Throughout the entire show and the second act especially, the story is told through song and the book is just transitional. It wouldn't make sense for Diana to just speak that emotional, pivotal moment.

She's explaining why she's leaving. You don't leave your husband of 20 years, who's stood by you through that sort of experience, without some attempt to explain yourself.

But, I will admit that one song I could do without is "Maybe", when Diana sort of patches things out with Natalie. It's a nice moment but it goes on a bit long.

"Maybe" is one of my favorite songs in the second act and is absolutely needed, there needs to be some sort of closure between Diana and Natalie.

Out of all the songs in N2N the only one I think I wouldnt really miss if it were cut is "Why Stay? / A Promise" but I'm sure a lot of people will say that moment is needed as well.

Actually, I'm not the hugest fan of So Anyway as a song either. It's just never been one of the songs I've really really gotten attached to. That said, I think it's important to have it in there in it's full form because it provides for that transition that has to occur. Right before that, you have Diana patching things up (or at least beginning to patch things up) with Natalie, and Henry comforting Natalie in this really poignant and uplifting moment. It would just not work to have Diana abruptly come out, say "so yeah, I'm leaving", and then that's that. It wouldn't allow the audience any time to process the full extent of what she's doing, and it wouldn't allow Dan the time to get to the emotional state he needs to be in for I Am The One (reprise). I've never personally thought of the song so much as something that's meant to stand out on it's own. Rather it's just supposed to allow for the time it takes to get from this uplifting scene with Natalie and Henry, to this scene where Dan has truly hit his lowest low, and finally acknowledges Gabe. You just need that in between time, and So Anyway is the way to have it. It's a really good transition song I imo.


And in regards to Maybe- I agree, the way it is on the cast recording is too long and kind of unnecessary. But luckily they DID cut it down pretty significantly during previews, so now it's pretty short and to the point :) I've always loved the part where Natalie comes in, and all the stuff that follows. I just felt like the beginning part dragged on. And now they've cut out that whole "fly to the devil you know" bit, so it's really much better. Diana says a couple of lines and then it gets straight to the heart of it with Natalie coming in. So it makes for a really nice moment now :)


I really do feel like the creative team has done SUCH an amazing job editing this show. It really, really flows well now imo, and I DON'T personally feel that there's a single song or scene that's unnecessary or that drags on at this point.

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I think both of those moments are needed, but maybe could have done better or in a more creative way, I don't know. It just sort of makes the show drag to have so many ballads so close together, ya know?

And yeah, Foster, I'm not sure what you were saying, but I agree with you, and if either of them wins I'll be happy, and it will be one of them.