That is true, and I got home from the party around 3 - it was FANTASTIC. Everything about it was great - almost as good as TABOO's last season.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
Very nice review in the Bergen Record (north jersey). The address is too long, but go to www.bergen.com and click on "entertainment"----then go to "stage".
Kissel liked it!
http://www.nydailynews.com/12-10-2004/entertainment/col/story/260623p-223091c.html
"I wash my face, then drink beer, then I weep. Say a prayer and induce insincere self-abuse, till I'm fast asleep"- In Trousers
and a fairly good review from the NY Post
NY Post Review
Chorus Member Joined: 10/21/03
So the reviews seem good for the show and great for some, but there are some stupid comments being made already:
"Also unlike the original, the final curtain falls on Beach and Davis locked in a kiss. This is welcome, but hardly necessary; even without it, the original La Cage managed to convey the love of its two leading characters." by Ken Mandelbaum
Why do people continue to try to explain to the masses why two men in a passionate embrace is not necessary. Can Romeo and Juliet be performed without a kiss? I find it hard to believe that after everything that 'La Cage' has done, as far as breaking new ground, that you still have people that do not and will not understand a kiss between two men unless it is for a laugh. Bravo to Harvey, and the 2 Jerry's for presenting throughout this revived production that a long term loving relationship between two men can be passionate, serious and done for more than a laugh.
PS: The point that the original production conveyed the love of it's 2 leading characters without a kiss is true, but the two men were straight and it was the early 80's.
Well, and I also think the kiss makes a nice contrast to the Act One scene where Georges leans to kiss Albin, and Albin blushes and says "Not in public!"
Even Will kissed Bobby Carnevale on W&G this season, so there's no ground broken here. I'm surprised Mandlebaum felt the need to play the role of Liz Smith. These gay people who bristle so easily. Pu-leeze.
I thought the Brantley review was more balanced than I expected it to be. But he has strange tastes, and I thought it odd that he felt Beach was miscast. It's as if he didn't think the energetic Beach could play bottom (and I'm not referring to the man with an ass's head in MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM). And his comment on Creel was bitchy--the role is frankly thankless. But compare this to some of his nastier put-downs (you WICKED folk, look that one up), and there are plenty of quotes. The shows smells like a hit.
It'll do fine. I fully expected Barnes and Kissell to like it.
But for me, it's sounds like a real lost oppertunity and a cop-out. It could have shown guts as well as glitz. If ever a musical could withstand a meatier re-write, this was it. Albin is sill too much of a wuss. No drag queen I know would be such a lily-livered pushover - they'd cut you off at the knees.
The kiss was terrible, I don't get it.
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/16/04
No, I'm absolutely not kidding. The kiss is such a fantastic ending to the show, however it is staged SO badly. You almost miss the kiss because by the time they ackwardly stop walking and quickly turn to each other, the curtain has already begun falling and is right at their heads when they kiss, so you only see them kiss for about one second. And there's no moment before when one of them pulls one to them, or they look at each other for a second, it's very blocked - almost as if they're like "okay, now we walk here, oh ****, the curtains already almost down, lets kiss real quick because we have to." It was atrocious, and people seriously think about it next time they hire Jerry Zaks to direct anything. Everything I've seen him do he has butchered beyond belief, and it's about time people woke up. His blocking and direction of this show is an abomination.
Im so confused... I read three or four reviews for this show since I am excited to see it and each of them compared the revival to the original which I have never seen in a review before. Ive never heard in say a Fiddler on the Roof or Sound of Music review that the revival wasnt as good as the original. How can they be compared? The original is totally new and fresh and the revival is a reworking of the original and I think most revivals are meant to be different from the original.
Why are you confused? That's what happens. And I wasn't comparing it to the original at all.
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/16/04
Actually, munkustrap, I do agree somewhat with you. They started to walk off, and my mind was screaming, "WHAT? NO KISS?" They did kiss, though, and that cheered me up, but I wish they would just cut out the walk and the pause before it. Just a kiss, downstage center, and the curtain falls in front of them. That's what I'd like to see.
Or turn, walk, a nice moment, a quick smile, and then a kiss AS the curtain starts to fall. The curtain fell so quickly. I just thought this was a terrible production of a fantastic show.
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