#1
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
"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
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
Updated On: 3/22/07 at 07:10 PM
