Emcee's A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN review — Page 2

"She is a brilliant comedienne..."

Indeed. She was SO funny. And she was still a good singer even though she didn't get to growl...WHO KNEW??!

But seriously, it was definitely nice to see her having so much fun onstage again after hearing from everybody how much fun she wasn't having On The Record. I definitely didn't love the show, but Emily made it far more than bearable. "Love is the Reason": A-DORABLE.

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EMCEE, now is not the time for damage control. We all know that you said ESkins cannot sing or act or at the very least growl. Own up to your poor taste. Embrace it.

I'll love you anyway...not really.

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I just got back from today's matinee of the show and had mixed feelings about it.

First off, there are incredible similarities between A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN and CAROUSEL, which predates it by 6 years. TREE even had a dream ballet, the death of the hero and a graduation scene finale. Too bad it doesn't have a better book.

As Mirian said, there are really two shows here: the love story and the story of Cissy (Emily Skinner). Neither one really works, but the music is quite good and it was terrific to hear "Make The Man Love Me" and "I'll Buy You a Star" sung so well. The cast was very good, but the production just didn't "click".

The Talk-Back was enjoyable, but there were no members of the original cast present. It seems that every single one of them has passed on--even the little girl who played Francie.

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I also saw today's matinee. As hard as the cast tried, they just couldn't overcome the material. For example, Cissy's fake pregnancy was stupid. Obviously just there for 2 minutes of comedy. And then they never refer to the kid again.

I don't understand why they didn't stick with the original story. I think the story of a young girl's coming of age in a poor family would have been more interesting. If they followed the movie a bit more closely, I think it would have been great.

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Updated On: 2/12/05 at 10:37 PM

Just back and dog-tired.

Enjoyable but ultimately forgettable. Emotionally uninvolving plot, some gorgeous numbers. Padded with too many 'neighborhood people up to hijinks' dance numbers.

The Nightmare ballet was BAD.

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Updated On: 2/13/05 at 12:15 AM

Margo - Even though I think I enjoyed it more than you did, I'd have to say I pretty much agree.

And the biggest 'hole' in the plot was - how DID Katie & Cissy get that damn piano? Was that scene cut for ENCORES! Was it ever there?

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"For that matter, your post makes it sound like Katie and Cissy live in the same apartment. They don't."

Uh....I know they don't live together, cookie.

And there was nothing in my post to intimate that they did.

But if you think so, more power to ya...

(You want some coffee? You're up early)

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Updated On: 2/13/05 at 08:24 AM

I think the original TREE may have thrived on Shirley Booth's name for a few months--it was a very hot ticket for a while. However, once the word-of-mouth got out about how lackluster the production was caused the box office receipts to plummet. Please remember, the original production lasted less than 300 performances. This show was never a hit.

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I think the biggest hole for me was definitely... WHERE THE HELL IS OSCAR JR.????

I mean, they even have little Hariette at the end... but... the only way I imaged they stilled HAD a son was because of the line, "We gonna have a baby... finally... I mean... again!" HELLO... the phantom son!!!

Of course, the piano thing was a big confusion as well. Agreed that the nightmare ballet was frighteningly shameful.

I did enjoy it quite a bit more last night than I did Thursday. I haven't decided if it was because I had much better seats or if it was because it was a bit tighter. Either way, I left far more pleased.

I also think Emily's accent was the most remnant of an actual Brooklyn accent in the entire cast. (Although she was heading a little down Edith Bunker lane... but it totally worked.) The rest of the accents were totally inconsistant or off a bit. (Though HOW adorable was Ms. Anderson?!)

But hey, whatever. Accurate accents or not, no one can deny Sally or Jason's freakin' unbelievably crystal clear and powerful voices.

I also think little Katharine Faye Barry was adorable. The whole time I kept thinking she totally reminded me of the American Girl doll Molly, and then I read her bio to find out she had been in the revue. Of course.

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SERIOUSLY! I've seen better vision at my seven year old neighbor's dance recitals!!!

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Updated On: 2/13/05 at 02:13 PM

*coughs* I think Emily's accent was brilliant... I was joking about the Edith thing. I was prolly more pleased with Emily's choices and delivery than most people (since a lot of people felt "underwhelmed" by her performance... hmph).

I definitely did NOT like the nightmare sequence, though. The son thing needed to be worked out.. and the line, "Come on, Cissy, we're gonna go get that piana," rings a bell, but things magically appeared and disappeared too often.


PS: Why "to all AND daisy"??? Since when don't I fit into the category of "all"?

I'd also like to say I didn't fall asleep either time. In fact, the second time I was dancing along to most of the numbers and my eyes were glued to the stage during the more dramatic ones. I had a few qualms with the book, sure, but on the whole I enjoyed the production!

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Did anyone else notice that the authors wrote themselves into a corner? In the original story, there was a brother. So when graduation came, the mother went to the brother's graduation and Cissy went to Francie's. But in the musical, there is no brother and one of the biggest plot holes was the mother not going to the graduation because she was too embarrassed that Francie didn't have flowers, after making such a big deal that Francie would be the first in the family to graduate. I thought they could have covered that much better than they did (both in the 1951 version and Encores).

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Looking forward to your review.

Miriam

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