Curtains Reviews

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 7:10pm

Talkin Broadway is Mixed:

"Curtains has, hands-down, the best book of any new Broadway musical in years. It not only captures the dusty glitter of the theatre and the bloody grit of hard-boiled suspense, but does so while proving that irony- and comment-free earnestness need not be the criminal offense so many of today's shows seem to fear.

As a result, even though the characters are mostly familiar archetypes, they say things worth listening to.

_______________________________________________________________

It's when people start singing that Curtains starts flatlining. Kander and Ebb have often written of the tenuous relationship between the onstage and offstage worlds - their groundbreaking Cabaret and Chicago deal with it directly, and even their more modestly themed titles like 70, Girls, 70, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and Steel Pier pay oblique homage. But here, only in one song does the theatrical setting rise above mere scenery.

That’s the second act's "A Tough Act to Follow," in which Cioffi and his ingénue intended Niki Harris (Jill Paice) become Fred and Adele for a grand romantic fantasy, does the score generate a spark matching the book's. Pierce, so often unyielding on both screen and stage (as his appearance in Spamalot two years ago demonstrated), becomes the very embodiment of emotional and physical fluidity musicals at their best celebrate - overwhelmed by love, theatre, and life itself, Cioffi is transported. So are we.

The songs in the rest of the show do not suggest Kander and Ebb, let alone Holmes, at their best, or even second-best. _______________________________________________________________

Director Scott Ellis has otherwise maintained a firm, funny grip on things: With his help, as well as that of Anna Louizos's elaborate sets, William Ivey Long's razzle-dazzle costumes, Peter Kaczorowski's lights, and William David Brohn's rollicking orchestrations, Curtains never sags. But lacking the fuel of a great score, it also seldom flies.

It's only when Holmes and Cioffi are most excitedly hawking their wares that the mediocre becomes magical. It's impossible to imagine Curtains without these two men proving the powerful influence an outsider can have, even in - or perhaps especially in - the theatre. If they haven't made this show all it could have been, they've met inspiration more than halfway, and helped make Curtains, if not quite great, almost good enough."



http://www.talkinbroadway.com/world/Curtains.html

Updated On: 3/22/07 at 07:10 PM

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 7:13pm

Insert cliched remark about how Talkin' Broadway hardly overly likes anything.

I'm betting things will get better.

[shesamarshmallow]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 7:14pm

Fred and Adele, really? I wasn't aware they had any romantic duets...

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 7:15pm

I certainly don't disagree with that review.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 7:23pm

The AP is pretty much a Rave:

"You think getting away with murder is hard. Try writing a Broadway musical.

Both subjects are very dear to the heart of "Curtains," a thoroughly entertaining new musical that opened Thursday at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. It's a blissful, often very funny celebration of a bygone era, a theater world that has largely disappeared.
_______________________________________________________________
Director Scott Ellis artfully keeps that balance intact while pushing the convoluted plot forward.

Holmes has written mysteries before — novels, plays and, his best-known theatrical effort, a musical based on Charles Dickens'"The Mystery of Edwin Drood." He skillfully sets up a story chock full of twists, turns and red herrings. And his one-liners about the theater have the zing of a man who knows his way around a stage and the disasters that sometimes lurk there.

The chipper score, buoyed by William David Brohn's period orchestrations, is by John Kander and Fred Ebb, the team behind such musicals as "Cabaret" and "Chicago.""Curtains" may not rank with those classics, but on an initial hearing, there appears to be at least one Kander and Ebb standard here. The number is called "I Miss the Music," a hymn to that special collaboration between a composer and a lyricist.
_______________________________________________________________

Nostalgia is the order of the day, a fondness for a time when musicals were just meant to be fun. Yet they were more than that. One of the most touching moments in the show occurs when Pierce, his face awash in a beatific smile, attempts a dance routine with a whole chorus doing the same steps behind him. Dreams don't get much better than this."


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/03/22/entertainment/e141415D06.DTL

Updated On: 3/22/07 at 07:23 PM

[jv92]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 7:25pm

Technically, "I Miss The Music" isn't standard Kander and Ebb since Fred Ebb didn't write it, but the praise is nice. It is a great song.
Updated On: 3/22/07 at 07:25 PM

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 7:39pm

Beautiful.

[Becoz_i_knew_you21]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 7:42pm

Talkin' Broadway doesn't like anything.

[jv92]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 7:53pm

Fire the critic. He's a nasty man who doesn't care much for anything. I often wonder why anyone bothers reading his crap.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 7:59pm

Isn't it "I Miss the Music"?

[jv92]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 8:02pm

Yes and I'm going to correct myself. I type too fast.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 8:21pm

To be fair, Matthew Murray actually raves about plenty of shows -- just go to Talkin Broadway's list of past reviews, and you'll see easily over a dozen positive reviews from him in the past six months alone (including Journey's End, the Coast of Utopia plays, Prelude to a Kiss, The Apple Tree, Little Dog Laughed, Kiki & Herb, Jay Johnson, Gutenberg et al). He just seems to get people upset when he doesn't give a rave to every big budget Broadway show that comes down the pike. All in all he doesn't pan that many more shows than Brantley or Isherwood do (how often do you see an out-and-out rave from either of them?), but seems to get a lot more grief for his opinions.

[jv92]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 8:26pm

Unfortunately Margo, he has failed to agknowlegde plenty of wonderful shows of late (Grey Gardens and Doyle's Sweeney Todd are two that come to mind) as brilliant. Brantley has. I certainly don't think every big budget piece of schlop deserves a rave, but some shows that Murray hasn't liked for rather stupid reasons have deserved at least possitive reviews.

[GoSmileLaughCryClap]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 8:27pm

And this was actually far from a pan. If the Curtains PR firm chose to pull quotes from his review for an ad, there would be lots for them to print with the obligatory exclamation points.
Updated On: 3/22/07 at 08:27 PM

[B3TA07]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 8:30pm

"seems to get a lot more grief for his opinions."

I think that is because of where his writing is published...as opposed to New York Times Critics...


I ain't hatin', just sayin'.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 8:35pm

AM NY gives it Two-and-a-half Stars:

"Unlike 'Drowsy,' which is a postmodern homage to old-fashioned musical theater, 'Curtains' feels as though it comes from the lost and found of golden-age musical comedy, resulting in (mostly) good and (some) bad consequences. In addition to David Hyde Pierce as the detective, 'Curtains' brings together a wonderful ensemble of performers. Still, this could have been a stronger musical, as evidenced by its flat, somewhat lackluster first act. The problems result from Scott Ellis¹ hit-or-miss direction and Rupert Holmes¹ over-written, seemingly unedited dialogue."
http://www.amny.com/entertainment/stage/am-curtains0323,0,2620561.story?coll=am-ent-headlines

[madophelia]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 8:38pm

From the Hollywood Reporter:

...the show lacks the greatness of many of the composing duo's previous efforts ("Cabaret," "Chicago"), but it has enough fizzy fun to make it a serious contender for Broadway hit status, especially with stars David Hyde Pierce and Debra Monk offering terrific, crowd-pleasing performances.

[...]

The score offers few memorable songs, but many of the numbers are quite fun, including "What Kind of Man," which hilariously skewers theater critics; the sublimely goofy "Thataway"; and the self-reflective "Show People." In general, Ebb's lyrics (Kander and Holmes also contributed) are more memorable than the melodies, but the songs are more than bouncy enough to get by.

Holmes' joke-laden book, which mines every cliche of the genres it spoofs, offers more than its share of groaners and won't garner any comparisons to Noel Coward. But it does get the job done, garnering consistent laughs with both its vulgar one-liners (Monk scores with a series of wisecracks about her husband's sexual inadequacies) and numerous sight gags.

Director Scott Ellis provides a suitably antic tone to the proceedings, which includes such clever touches as having the conductor incorporated into the action at one point. Tech credits are first-rate, with Anna Louizos' costumes and William Ivey Long's sets entertainingly filling their double duties for the backstage action and the Western-themed show within a show.


The Hollywood Reporter Review

[madophelia]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 8:51pm

And Variety:

One crafty way to make a musical critic-proof is to disarm the crix by skewering them where they live. Not only does "Curtains" have a show-loving gumshoe as intent on fixing a beleaguered Boston tryout production as he is on solving the murders that are depleting its ranks, it also has an antagonistic anthem to "everyone's enemy": theater reviewers. But at the risk of playing to the prejudices of William Goldman, who so graciously described legit critics in this paper last week as "humorless failures," "Curtains" isn't funny enough. At least that's the case for half the show, making it all the more surprising that, in the final assessment, it works.

That this determinedly old-fashioned murder-mystery musical actually comes out on top is a credit to the talented creative team involved, on- and offstage. Rarely does a show with such a meandering first act -- enlivened by low-key laughs but alarmingly light on momentum -- bounce back after intermission with such infectious, ingratiating spirit.

[..]

Its tunes are never going to challenge those of the darker-textured "Cabaret" or "Chicago" as musical standards, and Holmes' book is a joke-driven concoction that needs a sharper pen. Amusing when it should be uproarious, pleasantly tuneful when it should be transporting, the show diverts but never dazzles. Somewhere early in act two, however, it quietly builds charm, cheek and cleverness, making it register as satisfying entertainment by final curtain.

[...]

While there's plenty going on, the underpowered first act is like a congenial game of Clue, with the appealing cast forced to compensate for the wan humor of Holmes' book. But as the conductor turns to face the audience at the top of act two and confirm the second murder, something starts clicking.

[...]

While the songs are unlikely to stand up outside the context of the show, fans doubtless will enjoy the associations of hearing so many Kander & Ebb numbers that provide a double-edged reflection on showbiz lore and the process of making musicals. The most poignant is the sweet lament for a broken collaboration, "I Miss the Music," with lyrics, as well as music, penned by Kander after Ebb's death.

Director Scott Ellis stages the show with a light touch and a steady balance between backstage business and rowdy "Robbin' Hood" production numbers. He's aided by Louizos' imaginative, retro-styled sets and William Ivey Long's characterful costumes. Choreographer Rob Ashford seems overly convinced that a Kander & Ebb score demands spread-eagled women but, its occasional vulgarity aside, the dancing is plenty boisterous.

It's the cast, however, that lends distinction to the inconsistent material....
Variety review

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 8:59pm

That's certainly mixed-to-positive.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 9:06pm

Loving the raves for David Hyde Pierce, agree with all of them.
Debra Monk is getting great reviews too which is quite fun to read

[jv92]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 10:03pm

Anybody dig up the Times' review yet? I know it usually comes up between 10 and 10:45.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 10:04pm

Looking.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 10:15pm

More from Matthew Murray, who, by the way, can bite me:

"Ziemba and Noah Racey, playing Robbin' Hood!'s title role, redefine 21st century Broadway vanilla: Watching them kick and belt their way through the saloon specialty "Thataway!" without a teaspoon of charisma between them is like staring into a black hole."

[MrWayne]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 10:20pm

Wow! I have to say that even though the reviews are good they are not what I expected them to be. I thought this show would be a smash! We'll see what the Times says.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 10:22pm

Who do you think took this one? Brantley or Isherwood?