Encores’ THE LIFE - Performances & Reviews- Page 5

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/20/22 at 6:06pm

I'm just getting home from the matinee and I'm a confused/perplexed/stumped...all of it. I expected a dumpster fire of catastrophic proportions and was looking forward to said fire. It wasn't that. In fact, for the first act I found myself really enjoying myself. I was seated in the front mezz but one of the tallest people alive WITH A HAT HE WOULDN'T TAKE OFF sat right in front of me so I moved back like 10 rows where there were quite a few empty seats. I think that from there the sound was maybe better than it was for others in different areas? Don't get me wrong, it was LOUD - too loud, but from there it wasn't anything I couldn't really handle and had no problem understanding lyrics. 

Now, I'm going into this not knowing the original very well. I've listened to the cast album before but it's been quite a long time and I only am really familiar with a handful of the more popular songs from it. So by the end of Act One, my criticisms were fairly minimal - I was really enjoying it. However, I feel that all of this productions problems came in Act Two. It seemed to all of a sudden become overly cliche and over the top preachy enough to make me roll my eyes more than a few times. I half expected Billy to walk out on stage and just yell at the audience for a while to hammer home a point that he didn't need to make to this audience. From the RIDICULOUS Trump/Reagan mask scene to the ending (even though I'm not familiar with the original ending, I could damn well tell that wasn't it), the bad really outweighed the good, of which there still was quite a bit of. I can't fault the cast at all because DAMN they were good. All of them. Not being familiar with Ledisi before, she damn well deserved that standing ovation after "The Oldest Profession". Alexandra Grey was fabulous and Antwayn Hopper's voice (and ok yeah his abs) will be living rent free in my mind for a while now.

I just wish I could have seen "The Life". Not "Billy Porter's The Life".

[ijest22]

Posted: 3/20/22 at 6:51pm

Jordan Catalano said: "I'm just getting home from the matinee and I'm a confused/perplexed/stumped...all of it. I expected a dumpster fire of catastrophic proportions and was looking forward to said fire. It wasn't that. In fact, for the first act I found myself really enjoying myself. I was seated in the front mezz but one of the tallest people alive WITH A HAT HE WOULDN'T TAKE OFF sat right in front of me so I moved back like 10 rows where there were quite a few empty seats. I think that from there the sound was maybe better than it was for others in different areas? Don't get me wrong, it was LOUD - too loud, but from there it wasn't anything I couldn't really handle and had no problem understanding lyrics.

Now, I'm going into this not knowing the original very well. I've listened to the cast album before but it's been quite a long time and I only am really familiar with a handful of the more popular songs from it. So by the end of Act One, my criticisms were fairly minimal - I was really enjoying it. However, I feel that all of this productions problems came in Act Two. It seemed to all of a sudden become overly cliche and over the top preachy enough to make me roll my eyes more than a few times. I half expected Billy to walk out on stage and just yell at the audience for a while to hammer home a point that he didn't need to make to this audience. From the RIDICULOUS Trump/Reagan mask scene to the ending (even though I'm not familiar with the original ending, I could damn well tell that wasn't it), the bad really outweighed the good, of which there still was quite a bit of. I can't fault the cast at all because DAMN they were good. All of them. Not being familiar with Ledisi before, she damn well deserved that standing ovation after "The Oldest Profession". Alexandra Grey was fabulous and Antwayn Hopper's voice (and ok yeah his abs) will be living rent free in my mind for a while now.

I just wish I could have seen "The Life". Not "Billy Porter's The Life"."

I was there. I pretty much agree with you, except I also enjoyed the second act.  I was in front orchestra, and they must have adjusted the sound, because it was standard Encores decibel level.  Not loud at all.  Maybe the original was better. I don’t know. I’ve never seen or heard it, but I enjoyed this.  I could have done without the moralizing, but it made for a unique evening. Maybe they should have paid more attention to their audience, and maybe they’ll pay the price for that, but I’ve had much less enjoyable afternoons at Encores listening to boring, intact old scores. 

[UWS10023]

Posted: 3/20/22 at 10:38pm

A friend who worked front of the house for the show said that by Saturday evening the sound issues had been worked out. He quipped that perhaps the moral of the story is to wait until the end of the week to see Encore’s productions. 

 

 

 

[uncageg]

Posted: 3/20/22 at 11:43pm

The only reason I would have seen this would have been for Ledisi. She is an R&B Goddess. But what I feared Porter might do to this show seems to have happened and am kind of glad I decided against seeing it.

[dan94]

Posted: 3/20/22 at 11:57pm

I saw it this afternoon. It wasn't awful. It was just...boring. You start the show with a monologue telling us how everyone's life ends, kinda kills the dramatic tension. 

It's been said before but it can't be overstated - the orchestrations took all of the variety out of the score. The songs really started to sound the same, and that's not how they were written. The new song placement didn't really work. They're singing My Body and railing against what? Queen getting a shot at a low cost clinic? The moments just didn't build.

The tr*mp/Reagan half-face masks were uncanny valley. And while the book revisions didn't work - there were a large number of baffling directorial choices. Mary throws cash in the air only to have to play 52 pick up in the middle of a song. And then does it twice more in the same number!

Ledisi was the reason to see this. She gave an excellent performance and deserved better. She really rose above her surroundings in thrilling and shocking ways.

[missthemountains]

Posted: 3/22/22 at 12:54pm

I saw it. The trump/reagan masks were by far, the lowest point in the evening. The sermons and preachiness of it all...everyone has pretty much nailed it. Some really great performances there, specifically Alexandra Grey, Antwayn Hopper, and Ledisi. Love, Love love Mykal Kilgore but his vocal talents were underused here.

I haven't seen the original, so I have nothing to compare it to, but all I have to say is aside from the change for:

 

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Queenie being a transwoman. That was cool.

I thought almost all of the changes were likely for the worst. I blame Lear DeBossenent. I wish we could just see the shows as they were written. This is an example to me of peak neoliberalism at its worst. Not everything needs to be re-tooled for modern audiences. We don't need to have everything tie back today in the text. Allow audiences to draw comparisons based on their own observations.

One last thing I wanted to say is everyone keeps saying that THE LIFE takes place during the 80's--but I was getting a strong mid 70's vibe, with the exception of the AIDS plotline. It reminded me a lot of THE DEUCE. Although, as someone who has designed costumes for early 80's, first few years really is basically an extension of the 70's, though, the colors were much more muted in the early 80's to try and get away from the flashy "disco" look that was out of style. Lots of earth tones in the early 80's.

Updated On: 3/22/22 at 12:54 PM

[RyToast1]

Posted: 3/23/22 at 6:52pm

Alexandra Grey tweeted about the show and closed it with “…we’ll see you on Broadway soon!”

uhhh??

https://twitter.com/1alexandragrey/status/1506030099337920515?s=21

[JSquared2]

Posted: 3/23/22 at 6:58pm

RyToast1 said: "Alexandra Grey tweeted about the show and closed it with “…we’ll see you on Broadway soon!”

uhhh??

https://twitter.com/1alexandragrey/status/1506030099337920515?s=21"

Surely she means the actual street of Broadway??

[BritCrit]

Posted: 3/24/22 at 8:26am

JSquared2 said: "RyToast1 said: "Alexandra Grey tweeted about the show and closed it with “…we’ll see you on Broadway soon!”

uhhh??

https://twitter.com/1alexandragrey/status/1506030099337920515?s=21"

Surely she means the actual street of Broadway??"

She will certainly be in another Broadway musical at some point down the line, but I don't think there is any demand for The Life to make it to Broadway...

 

[UWS10023]

Posted: 3/25/22 at 12:13pm

Billy seemed open to a transfer in one of his televised interviews.

[BritCrit]

Posted: 3/25/22 at 12:22pm

UWS10023 said: "Billy seemed open to a transfer in one of his televised interviews."

Stranger things have happened, but the poor word of mouth makes it unlikely. I think that Billy Porter DOES have the commercial clout to get a project onto Broadway, but I don't think The Life will be that project...