ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE Reviews — Page 2

Totes agreed. It's not trying for the Pulitzer. It's just fun, and that's okay. I mean, heck, it's in a hotel.

Keep in mind, when After Eight saw Mary, Mary, he or she fell to his or her knees in ecstasy. Some have wondered if it was an orgasm!

I've been re-reading this bit form Green's notice:

"As a matter of corporate promotion, though, the musical is totally on point. Tully is the perfect ambassador for the Margaritaville brand, which is built on the idea that you can rent hedonism by the week at a namesake resort ... without working a day in your life. Like all such branding, it’s a con, of course; no one but pirates can sustain that lifestyle. And no one with any ambition wants to. Mr. Buffett...has a wife and family and 5,000 employees; he works nonstop. That makes “Escape to Margaritaville” even more cynical than the usual jukebox musical..."

That's the thing about the Parrothead phenomenon (and much American vacationing in general) - it's artificial, plastic, thoughtless and grotesque, in a Koyaanisqatsi/Ugly American way. I'd love to see an exploration on that idea, the American preference for the imitation over the real, for the easy rather than the difficult, and the selfish over the selfless. Much more than a Buffett musical sitcom, designed merely to plug his synthetic empire.

newintown said: "I've been re-reading this bit form Green's notice:

"As a matter of corporate promotion, though, the musical is totally on point. Tully is the perfect ambassador forthe Margaritaville brand, which is built on the idea that you can rent hedonism by the week at a namesake resort ... without working a day in your life.Like all such branding, it’s a con, of course; no one but pirates can sustain that lifestyle. And no one with any ambition wants to. Mr. Buffett...has a wife and family and 5,000 employees;he works nonstop.That makes “Escape to Margaritaville” even more cynical than the usual jukebox musical..."


That's the thing about the Parrothead phenomenon (and much Americanvacationing in general) - it's artificial, plastic, thoughtless and grotesque, in aKoyaanisqatsi/Ugly Americanway. I'd love to see an exploration on that idea, the American preference for the imitation over the real, for the easy rather than the difficult, and the selfish over the selfless. Much more than a Buffett musical sitcom, designed merely to plug his synthetic empire."

It is true that Jimmy is a workaholic. When he moved to Nashville he worked as a writer for Billboard Magazine. He got an education on how artists were getting screwed by the record companies and others. He tried to not let that happen when he started to have some success. The Beatles and many other artists pretty much gave their brand away and made little money off their "image". You can't fault the man for trying to change that. Many other artists have now followed in his footsteps.

And if you have followed his career like I have since the 70s you definitely see a lot of the younger Jimmy in Tully. The show is not Sunday In the Park with George (which I love) but there IS room for this type of show on Broadway. (I also loved Mamma Mia). All the people around me seemed to be having fun last night. Like Jimmy has said in recent interviews "We all need to have a little fun right now".

you're looking at 50 years ago through rose colored glasses. Simon was one of the great comedy writers in history, not vapid mindless entertainment. There was plenty of entertaining garbage 50 years ago. Plus bear in mind that Margaritaville is not doing well...

@markypoo and I am sure you are well deserving of that trifle and more

Since the dawn of the 20th century, there has always been room for fluff on Broadway as well as artistic endeavors and everything in-between. To not welcome fluff would be to negate Broadway's history. But as with more intellectual, witty, artistic and/or the avant-garde, it can be judged and succeed or fail within the confines of its own sub-genre. More often than not, jukebox musicals fail because they are either poorly constructed, poorly written, misconceived, dull or simply don't have a large enough core audience (or any combination of any or all of those things). But there needs to be enough strength in at least one of those areas to compensate for the lack in other areas, which is why shows like Mamma Mia, Jersey Boys, Beautiful, Rock of Ages and even Motown (the first time around, anyway) were able to succeed despite their shortcomings. And if your jukebox musical is meant to be fluff, you need to find a way to crank up or feature the elements around the book to create something that people will want to see. Mamma Mia had a more diverse song selection with a broader emotional range and more universal appeal (ABBA was a global phenomenon). Rock of Ages also had a nice range in its song selection, but also featured a witty book and was firmly (and wisely) committed to its camp stylings. Motown staged most its catalog of hits with dazzling performances that made you forget about the tissue-paper book scenes as soon as the songs started. Beautiful was a smartly constructed biography and Jersey Boys was near perfect in every detail.

Escape to Margaritaville doesn't really seem to have anything that can compensate enough for its monotonous score and stupid book other than bright colors on stage and a large selection of merchandise in the lobby. It's the Good Vibrations of 2018. It will likely go the way of Baby It's You, Lennon, Soul Doctor, Hot Feet, The Times They Are-a-Changin' and Holler If Ya Hear Me.

ACL2006 said: "I still see this lasting through the summer. And running longer than the Donna Summer musical."

I second this!