Curtains

[Glory]

Posted: 12/23/07 at 10:38am

I got tickets for Christmas and was wondering what everybodys thoughts are on the show. I'll be sitting orchestra right row F. I also got the cast recording and the music is great. I just wanted to know what everybody thought of the show.

[Clayford27]

Posted: 12/23/07 at 12:29pm

I love the show...I've seen it three times. lol It's a very fun show, and the entire cast is wonderful. It's very well put together. Not to mention, David Hyde Pierce is amazing. I think you'll really enjoy it! Have fun! :)

[uncageg]

Posted: 12/23/07 at 12:34pm

I saw it the week before last and loved it. Just a fun show. And funny. I saw it on Dec. 5th while Ziemba was out on vacation and Monk was out due to an injury. I was really upset when I got to the theater and saw Monk was out (I knew Zienba was out). Their understudies were really good but I just love the show itself. I hope to see it again with Ziemba and Monk.

[Rosalind]

Posted: 12/23/07 at 12:44pm

I saw it with my dad, and it's just a lot of good, unpretentious, warm fun. David is very good, and very humble in his performance. The choreography is FANTASTIC.

[uncageg]

Posted: 12/23/07 at 1:23pm

I agree, the choreography is really good. And the fantasy dance sequence in the second act was almost worth the price of admission alone. Hyde Pierce looks like he is just having a blast during that number.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 12/23/07 at 2:39pm

It's a wonderful show that is great fun. The "whodunit" plotline is almost secondary. Enjoy it!

[philcrosby]

Posted: 12/23/07 at 4:07pm

It is a big old-fashioned musical comedy, the kind, well, they just don't make anymore. It's only purpose is to entertain, and it does it wonderfully. The cast is marvelous. Have a GREAT time!

[meredithchandler73]

Posted: 12/23/07 at 5:30pm

I'm delighted to see these encouraging posts. I feel like I'm in such a minority - being a big fan of CURTAINS. (And back in the spring everything was GREY GARDENS this and SPRING AWAKENING that.)

I'll echo the other sentiments posted so far - just go and have a good time.

[jasper2]

Posted: 12/23/07 at 8:53pm

On a slightly unrelated note - does anyone know what Curtains was offering during the recent collection drive for BC/EFA?

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 12/23/07 at 9:00pm

The Carols For A Cure CD, a cookbook with recipes from various Broadway stars autographed by Deb Monk, signed Playbills, and signed posters.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 12/23/07 at 9:00pm

I took my parents as a surprise when they were up here the last time and we all loved it. My dad's reaction when the overture started was "Now this is how a Broadway show is supposed to be!" :)

[StageFan2]

Posted: 12/23/07 at 9:29pm

jasper2 - turn on your PM's please. I tried to answer your PM to me the other night, but your not receiving PM's.

On topic - CURTAINS is the best, most fun I've had at a show this season. It sports the best cast on Broadway right now, and each of them struts their stuff to glorious perfection. You'll have a blast! Enjoy!

Updated On: 12/23/07 at 09:29 PM

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/23/07 at 9:42pm

Sorry to be the naysayer here. I absolutely HATED Curtains.

I thought it was insipid and a total waste of time. I was bored out of my mind. I am not against a bit of wholesome fun or fluff, but I found nothing to keep me entertained or even interested.

A Tony Award for DHP? Ugh. His accent was inconsistent and the character itself wasn't one that ANY decent work-a-day actor could pull off to the same quality.

Note: this is NOT a knock to the actors in the show, but TO the show itself.

While I know I am in a (perhaps vast) minority; I would not reccommend this show to anyone.

[ashley0139]

Posted: 12/23/07 at 9:49pm

This is my favorite show on Broadway right now. Such good musical theatre fun. I loved it.

[nicholscreek]

Posted: 12/23/07 at 10:29pm

I think you will love it. It has lots of great songs, dancing, and performers. Also has some very funny parts. I love Jason Daniely's song ("I Miss the Music") and DHP's performance is worth the price of admission itself.

[karen24]

Posted: 12/23/07 at 10:52pm

I had a good time at "Curtains" and I'm sure you will too. The performances are all very good--I loved David Hyde Pierce and Karen Ziemba. It's one of those shows that kind of carries you along and you just have fun.
However...if you are a Broadway musical fan who has seen a lot of shows over the years (like me), you may start thinking about the show after you're home, and feeling, as I did, that it could have been even better.
My chief reservation about the show is that I just don't think the lyrics are as good as they could be. It was really frustrating to me because I thought a lot of the music was beautiful, and IMO the lyrics didn't reach the same level of quality. For example, I think "I Miss The Music" is a beautiful song--the music, that is. But I kept waiting for the lyrics to do the music justice.
My other reservation about the show was that I didn't think the writers really followed through with the idea of "Robbin' Hood" being a terrible show--I thought they could have gotten better, more subtle humor out of showing just how bad it was--rather than going for the quick, easy joke. Big numbers like "Thataway" and "Kansasland," for example--were we supposed to be laughing at their vulgarity and cheesiness? I think so, but the way they were performed, they just came off like big production numbers that we were supposed to cheer.
I hope these comments don't spoil your enjoyment of the show. As I said, there was a lot that I did like about it, especially DHP and Karen Ziemba, the music, most of the dancing, and the general feeling of fun. I just wanted more, and was frustrated because given the quality of the actors involved, not to mention the writers, lyricist, composer, etc., I thought the show could have and should have been even better.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 12/23/07 at 11:01pm

"My other reservation about the show was that I didn't think the writers really followed through with the idea of "Robbin' Hood" being a terrible show--I thought they could have gotten better, more subtle humor out of showing just how bad it was--rather than going for the quick, easy joke. "

I always thought that Robbin Hood was not a terrible show, it was just dragged down by the presence of Jessica Cranshaw. I never felt that they were trying to insinuate that the show they were putting on was actually "bad."

[Smaxie]

Posted: 12/24/07 at 12:49am

>For example, I think "I Miss The Music" is a beautiful song--the music, that is. But I kept waiting for the lyrics to do the music justice.<

The music AND lyrics for "I Miss the Music" were written by John Kander. In this case, it's about context. The song is about a songwriter writing without his partner, and it's Kander's elegy for his late writing partner, Fred Ebb, who didn't live to see Curtains completed. Yes, it works in the show for Jason Danieley's character, but for some of us who eagerly awaited each new Kander & Ebb score, the song has a dual meaning, particularly when Jason gets to the lyrics, "But when you're writing a song without a partner, that's a completely different matter/No one tells you, 'That's not funny'/No one says 'Let's cut that bar'/No one makes you better than you are."

> I didn't think the writers really followed through with the idea of "Robbin' Hood" being a terrible show<

Robbin' Hood is not supposed to be a terrible show. Lt. Cioffi talks about how much he enjoyed the cast and score, with the exception of Jessica Cranshaw. He also defends the show to Daryl Grady, who himself says he praised the choreography and the performance of Niki Harris in his review.

There was a second tier of '50s/'60s musicals... not the A+ classics like Guys & Dolls, My Fair Lady and Gypsy, but the one or two season loose, amiable musical comedies like Li'l Abner, Destry Rides Again, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, etc. That is the style of show that Robbin' Hood is trying to assimilate, right down to the artificially painted flats and backdrops of a '50s era show as designed by the likes of Oliver Smith and choreography in a style redolent of Michael Kidd and Agnes De Mille.

>A Tony Award for DHP? Ugh. His accent was inconsistent and the character itself wasn't one that ANY decent work-a-day actor could pull off to the same quality.<

It's a performance of considerable charm, that builds to an ecstatic point in the beautifully staged "Tough Act to Follow". If you were to ask me why David Hyde Pierce won the Tony, I'd point to that number as the clincher.

As far as his accent, I think he's incredibly consistent with it, even singing with it - not easy to do with those distinctive Back Bay vowels. TheaterMania's Peter Filichia hails from Boston, sounds remarkably like David Hyde Pierce's Cioffi, and has pronounced Hyde Pierce's accent as "spot-on perfect". That's good enough for me.

Updated On: 12/24/07 at 12:49 AM

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 12/24/07 at 4:10am

There were a couple of problems I had with the show, such as with some of the music; however, I overall enjoyed the show and would recommend it. I saw it with the original cast and thought that each person did fabulous in their respective parts.

[Dre2387]

Posted: 12/24/07 at 5:54am

when I saw the show (right after it opened), I thought his accent was a little inconsistent. But now, I think he's got it. It takes time and patience, I say, to nail down an accent.

but overall, i love the show.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 12/24/07 at 7:30am

>For example, I think "I Miss The Music" is a beautiful song--the music, that is. But I kept waiting for the lyrics to do the music justice.<

The music AND lyrics for "I Miss the Music" were written by John Kander. In this case, it's about context. The song is about a songwriter writing without his partner, and it's Kander's elegy for his late writing partner, Fred Ebb, who didn't live to see Curtains completed. Yes, it works in the show for Jason Danieley's character, but for some of us who eagerly awaited each new Kander & Ebb score, the song has a dual meaning, particularly when Jason gets to the lyrics, "But when you're writing a song without a partner, that's a completely different matter/No one tells you, 'That's not funny'/No one says 'Let's cut that bar'/No one makes you better than you are."

Smaxie ~ That's it exactly. One of the teachers I work with had the chance to meet Kander and talk with him about it. he wrote that song upon his return from Ebb's service, so that only adds to the poignancy.

[karen24]

Posted: 12/24/07 at 10:31am

Well, I don't know about the theory of Kander writing "I Miss The Music" as an elegy for Fred Ebb. I have read interviews with him in which he says that he really didn't write the song with Ebb in mind at all--that in fact Ebb would have found that concept much too sentimental. (There's a reference to this in a NYT article titled "Kander Without Ebb? Start Spreading The News," from August 27, 2006. Of course, I suppose one could argue that he did it unconsciously.)
I see what some of you are saying about "Robbin' Hood" itself not being a bad show, just its star, but if that's the case, then I have to go on to say that I found the "improved," post-Jessica numbers, like "Thataway," disappointingly vulgar--I'm not a prude, but it seemed to me that the song was using vulgar dancing and lyrics to get cheap laughs. "What's that music/What's that dance/What's that stirring in my pants"? Sorry, I just don't get it.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 12/24/07 at 11:28am

>Well, I don't know about the theory of Kander writing "I Miss The Music" as an elegy for Fred Ebb. I have read interviews with him in which he says that he really didn't write the song with Ebb in mind at all--that in fact Ebb would have found that concept much too sentimental. (There's a reference to this in a NYT article titled "Kander Without Ebb? Start Spreading The News," from August 27, 2006. Of course, I suppose one could argue that he did it unconsciously.)<


At the time of that article - the Los Angeles production of Curtains - the middle section of "I Miss the Music," starting with "When you're writing a song and you've a partner..." didn't exist. Kander wrote that part of the song between the L.A. and Broadway production. One could argue of the L.A. version that it may or may not have been Kander writing about Ebb. But in the finished song, I think it's inarguable.

>I found the "improved," post-Jessica numbers, like "Thataway," disappointingly vulgar--I'm not a prude, but it seemed to me that the song was using vulgar dancing and lyrics to get cheap laughs. "What's that music/What's that dance/What's that stirring in my pants"? Sorry, I just don't get it.<

Yeah, it's a little naughty. But so are some of Michael Kidd's dances of the 1950s, a direct influence for Curtains' choreographer Rob Ashford. Kidd's "Quadrille" for Can-Can (1953) ends with the male dancers pretending to have ripped off the panties of their female partners. Or Joe Layton's work for the streetwalkers in "Little Old New York" from Tenderloin (1960), which left little to the imagination, with spread legs on lyrics like "this town is wiiiiiide open". Or Fosse's "Red Light Ballet" in New Girl in Town (1957), which reportedly caused a scandal at the time. Or Gower Champion's comically horny Shriners in Bye Bye Birdie (1960). Even the Agnes De Mille dance for "June is Bustin' Out All Over" in Carousel (1945) is pretty much an ode to horniness.

Updated On: 12/24/07 at 11:28 AM

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 12/24/07 at 11:40am

CURTAINS was one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had (multiple times) in the theater this year. Like DROWSY CHAPERONE, it's a musical for lovers of musicals. It brings about a whole nostalgic euphoria of the days of musical theater yore.