DRS tour review! 1/21/07

I recently saw DRS at the Fox Cities PAC and I fell in love with it! The show was hysterical and I don't think I laughed so hard at the theater in a long time. It was great! The cast was wonderful with a few exceptions, the music was very catchy excepth the boring opening song, the newly toned down sets were alright but a little cheap looking. The turntable is still there and it is very effective.

TOM HEWITT- He was great as Lawrence and was great in Love Sneaks In. He has GREAT chemistry with D.B. He defintly was one of the best.

D.B. BONDS- His Freddy was hysterical! He was awesome and defintly the stand-out of the night. His voice was wonderful and his comedic timing was impeccable. On the DRS tour website, it says he is a Freddy u/s, but maybe with the changes he got bumped up to lead (which he deserves).

LAURA MARIE DUNCAN- She has a great voice and defintly surprised us at the end, but before the end her character wasn't what I expected. I had very high hopes for her and I was a little let down. I think I was more let down on Christine, so it's really not Laura's fault. Her wig didn't fit right and that bothered me a little.

HOLLIS RESNIK- Her Muriel was great and she was so great in the role! Not much else to say, but she was hilarous!

DREW McVETY- His Andre was ehhh..

Paige Pardy- WOW! Her Jolene was to die for! I wish she was in the show more because she was phenomenal! D.B. and her were the stand-outs of the show! I LOVE her!!

Overall the ensemble was great and I would die to see the OBC in this show! To everyone who saw the OBC, I envy you! But if the tour comes around your city.. DEFINTLY see it!

Updated On: 1/22/07 at 04:52 PM

Glad to hear it's in good shape. Could you elaborate on the sets though, please?

DB was listed as Freddy and sets looked almost like a high school production (but a very good high school production!) Everytime someone went up the stairs at Lawrences house, it shook. The sets were good, but not great.

triple post.. sorry!

Updated On: 1/22/07 at 05:55 PM

Renthead, could you tell what had been scaled back? Besides the steps, what looked really bad?

Yeah i saw Paige Pardy, I'm sorry I wasn't really paying attention to the site that good. Paige was unbelievably amazing! Since I never saw the broadway production, it's hard for me to really describe the sets by how they were before. MLE, can u elaborate?

I'll be seeing it in Hartford in June... let's hope nothing gets scaled back by then.

Wow, it'll be 11 months since I last saw the show.

Elaborate on what, renthead?

I'm glad the show is still in great shape and being enjoyed by audiences, as it should be!

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I'm totally exhausted and won't be able to put together much coherent thought. I JUST got back from opening night in Pittsburgh. (Granted, I live 50ish miles away... but still).

Let's just say that things didn't exactly start on a positive note. There was approximately a 40 minute technical delay before the show and an extended intermission. From what I could figure out (based on knowing the show, the set, and the noises I was hearing), the turntable died.

Once they got the turntable up and running, the performance went off pretty well. The audience was really quite peeved and restless from the delay, and I noticed quite a few people left at intermission (at least around me- I was side front orchestra).

I was prepared to be underwhelmed and was pleasantly surprised. I'll comment in depth on the set changes tomorrow, I promise. Overall, they looked flat, but I attribute that to several changes to drops and the very few crystals on the scenery. Anyone who went on one of Greg Jbara's backstage tours will remember that he warned that the tour scenery would have to have very few crystals because of the problems that the Broadway company found transporting the scenery to/from San Diego and New York.

I liked most of the cast, however. As I said, I'll really get into boring details tomorrow for those who are curious.

Same curtain though- perhaps a tad less sparkle.

Ooh exciting! I have tickets for press night in Boston, and I can't wait. Are there any reviews from Providence yet?

I'm going tonight, I'll post a review sometime tomorrow.

I enjoyed the set even though it was supposed to have been scaled down.

(My San Jose Review)

I greatly enjoyed the show and since I am fairly new into theater (started watching avidly last year)I don't have much in my "repertoire" but I enjoy each time I go for new stage experiences that I get.

I enjoyed the elegant set of the DRS tour and the cast is amazing! I watched the show without any idea on what to expect since I havent heard the cast recording nor seen the movie except for some review and pics that I read from here.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=17591

The 3 main cast were wonderful and I enjoyed Bond and Duncan's powerful voice. The person who played the Oil Heiress was also powerful and I just couldn't imagine all the strain she put in her voice producing that fake "harsh" texan accent!

I enjoyed the love song inside the hotel when Jeffrey finally stood up :P

Overall...it was a magnificent experience and it will definitely bring me back for more shows to come specially Beauty and the Beast, Cabaret and Little Shop of Horrors.

I don't know about Guys and Dolls....kinds sounds too gay but if I do my research and end up liking it...I might also see it...depending on my time and budget :P

I am disapointed they didn't have merchandise.