Curtains Reviews — Page 2

MrWayne-

I was just about to say the same thing. While I didn't care for the show much at all, I thought from all the fuss here on the boards that critics were going to flip over this show and declare its greatness. As stated, the show wasn't for me, but the audience seemed to be having a good time, and reviews on here have been pretty stellar.

Will be interesting to see how the Times sees it.

-QB

Isherwood tends to do the ones that he reviewed before they transferred from Off-Broadway (BRIDGE & TUNNEL, SPRING AWAKENING).

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Where is Barnes' review?

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Theatremania is Mixed-to-Positive:

""We're a special kind of people known as show people," goes a self-congratulatory song in Curtains, the Fred Ebb-John Kander-Rupert Holmes-Peter Stone backstage murder-mystery musical that has finally opened on Broadway after over a decade in the making. What the song doesn't say, while glorifying one of the most demanding and often most disillusioning careers imaginable, is that some show people do learn how to put on a damn good show whenever they set their minds to it. Kander and Ebb revealed the secret in Chicago when they advised, "Give 'em the old razzle dazzle -- razzle dazzle 'em."
So, as they've been raising Curtains for Broadway consumption, the show's creators -- minus the late Ebb and Stone, but including director Scott Ellis and choreographer Rob Ashford -- have ladled on the razzle and the dazzle until they've fashioned a product that defies exiting consumers to say they haven't been entertained. Only a curmudgeon -- perhaps someone like this reviewer -- could walk away muttering about the substitution of craft for inspired musical comedy art.

Curtains operates according to an unwritten show-biz tactic: The Just-Enough Maneuver. There's just enough mystery story that makes sense. There are just enough witty wisecracks among the lame ones, and just enough songs (in William David Brohn's arrangements) that land before evaporating as the final note fades. There are just enough energetic dance numbers, including an Agnes de Mille send-up that younger patrons won't get, and just enough colorful sets (Anna Louizos), costumes (William Ivey Long), and lighting effects (Peter Kaczorowski). But there are more than enough adroit performances by a large contingent of proficient Broadway performers, all of them giving 110 percent."


http://www.theatermania.com/content/news.cfm/story/10351

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Luckily, there are some crafty pull quotes from Brantley's review. Good luck to the press team tomorrow.

"David Hyde Pierce steps into full-fledged Broadway stardom with his performance here."

"Brightly packaged, with “Kiss Me, Kate”-style sets by Anna Louizos and costumes to match by the industrious William Ivey Long, “Curtains” lies on the stage like a promisingly gaudy string of firecrackers"

"a top-of-the line cast"

"Ms. Ziemba, like Ms. Monk, is an appealing and polished veteran who never makes a technical misstep."

Updated On: 3/22/07 at 10:34 PM

They could even pull a Dirty Rotten Scoundrels:

"The" - NY Times
"Best" - Daily News
"Show" - Ny Post
"Ever" - Newsday
"On" - Variety
"Broadway" - USA Today


That said, at least it hasn't been completely panned thus far.

Updated On: 3/22/07 at 10:36 PM

Barnes' review isn't usually online before 2 or 3am.

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Rath - a shame, no?

No show is perfect, but this one deserves to run as much as plenty of others that have. We'll just have to wait and see what the next days and weeks bring at the b.o. I have all kinds of faith in the press office, they've done a yeoman's job so far.

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Remember, Brantley was very cool on DROWSY as well.

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Drowsy Reviews

Summarize, neddy. Mostly good, bad, mixed, what?

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I didn't read the reviews, I just looked for the thread.

I think they were mostly good.