Everybody Rise! Sondheim Celebration at Hollywood Bowl

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 7/30/23 at 8:44pm

Heading out to see LuPone, Stokes, Sutton, Sierra Boggess, Norm Lewis et al at the Hollywood Bowl tonight! Should be a great night. Post your postmortems here!

[Dom P]

Posted: 7/30/23 at 8:50pm

Yes. Very interested to hear people's thoughts on this event. 

[DCS]

Posted: 7/31/23 at 9:49am

Thumbs down from me.  Some decent highlights, but overall, it was pretty dreadful.

[DebraR]

Posted: 7/31/23 at 10:12am

Would love to hear why.  Went to closing night of Into The Woods instead but really wanted to see it.

[TellZ]

Posted: 7/31/23 at 10:49am

It felt very short even though it really wasn't, and people are bound to quibble with song choices because there are just too many to pick from and someone surely didn't hear their favorite. Patti sounded great but I did not enjoy her Send in the Clowns. She brought the house down with Ladies Who Lunch. Her sleeves were spectacular.

Weird to see Sutton's Moments in the Woods so close to seeing Stephanie J. Block perform it at the Ahmanson, but fun to compare. Sutton's was very funny, but also of course in concert context. I found Stephanie's to be just devastating (as well as funny). Stokes sang just before Sutton, and as he left the stage he grabbed her and they kissed multiple times, giving her something to go from.

Stokes did Getting Married Today as a one man show, playing all the characters. Got a partial standing O.

Norm Lewis and Brian Stokes Mitchell sang Pretty Women together, which was a gorgeous highlight. Norm and Sierra's Too Many Mornings was stunning too. I thought Skylar sounded fantastic, and he and Sierra nailed Moving On. Sierra is just incredible.

I didn't keep notes of the song list, so this is a partial one just from memory. If I think of more I'll post them.

Night Waltz - Sierra, Sutton, Skylar, Norm, Choir

What More Do I Need - Sierra

Everybody Says Don't - Norm

Getting Married Today - Stokes

Too Many Mornings - Norm and Sierra

There Won't Be Trumpets - Sutton

With So Little To Be Sure Of - Norm

Being Alive - Patti

Another Hundred People - Sutton

Epiphany - Stokes

A Little Priest - Patti and Stokes

Flag Song - Stokes

Buddy's Blues - Skylar

Pretty Women - Norm and Stokes

A Weekend in the Country - Company

Night Waltz II - Company

Send in the Clowns - Patti

Ladies Who Lunch - Patti

Finishing the Hat - Skylar

Move On - Skylar and Sierra

Sunday - Company

[Popular]

Posted: 7/31/23 at 11:49am

DebraR said: "Would love to hear why. Went to closing night of Into The Woods instead but really wanted to see it."

Was at closing of ITW as well. Do you know why the orchestra section had a freak out moment before the show? Almost sounded like they spotted someone famous walking in but I couldn’t see from the mezz.

[DAME]

Posted: 7/31/23 at 12:04pm

I thought it was an extraordinary evening and they were all in top form.  Patti and Skylar were my favorites.  Loved seeing A Little Priest performed by Lupone and Stokes. Norm Lewis kind of disappeared.  I thought Sutton was in gorgeous voice in all her work.  The audience loved the show.  Humidity was a little high.  But there was a back and forth of affection with the audience and performers that was just the coolest thing.  Great night.  Show was just under 2 hours.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 7/31/23 at 12:20pm

Actually one of the very best nights of this kind we’ve been to! Packed house all the way back to the cheap seats!

No patter, no embarrassing intros, just the songs, one after another. 

Brian Stokes Mitchell did all the parts in an hysterical “Getting Married Today”, then dueted with Patti on “A Little Priest”. Brilliant!

Of course Patti had to do her signature “Ladies Who Lunch”. Perfection. 

Sutton Foster and Sierra Bogess’ best number was probably their contrapuntal duet of “Losing My Mind” and “Not a Day Goes By”. 

Norm Lewis was lovely mostly singing lesser songs, but his “Too Many Mornings” duet with Sierra was gorgeous.  

Surprise star of the show was frankly the "kid",  Skylar Astin who did a fantastic “Finishing the Hat” and equally amazing “God Why Don’t You Love Me Blues”. Knockout. 

Like I said, best show of this kind we’ve seen in years. Wow!

[barcelona20]

Posted: 7/31/23 at 12:55pm

Wasn't the biggest fan of the Foster/Boggess duet.  Foster was very staccato with the lyrics and I wanted more belt and less head voice from Boggess.

[OuttaTowner]

Posted: 7/31/23 at 1:09pm

After watching Skyler sing “Finishing the Hat,” I’m convinced he’d make a very good George one day. I never quite thought of him for that, but now…I think so!

[spicemonkey]

Posted: 7/31/23 at 1:40pm

would love to see Skylar do more stage musicals in the future 

[ifonlyilivedinNY]

Posted: 7/31/23 at 2:51pm

I had an amazing time last night. My only complaint is that it went by so fast and a man behind me decided to FaceTime someone during a quiet transition. The call was quickly cut off by all the people whipping their heads around. I am not well versed in all Sondheim shows so hearing music from these shows was a great gateway to discover new things. All in all a wonderful evening at The Bowl.

[Wildcard]

Posted: 7/31/23 at 2:53pm

Skylar was the standout for me as well. Everyone was in top form but they have all achieved a certain renown and was pleasantly surprised at how Skylar held his own. A wasn't a fan of Patti's Send In the Clowns but her Ladies Who Lunch was marvelous. I'd rather get a show like this with top notch performers than fully staged musicals with B & C list performers. The last great musical event at the Hollywood Bowl with top caliber stars was Into the Woods which incidentally starred Skylar, Sutton and Sierra as well. 

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 7/31/23 at 3:32pm

Absolutely agree that the low-point of the night was Patti's "Send in the Clowns". She kept scooping the notes and kind of yodeling her voice around the melody with almost no attention given to the meaning of the words. Very odd, but happily she was magnificent on "Priest" and "Ladies Who Lunch" so all is forgiven. Also she was visibly moved as she spoke the final words bracketing "Sunday" to close the night, and emotion was what the whole night was for. 
Bravo to all!

[JSquared2]

Posted: 7/31/23 at 4:50pm

DCS said: "Thumbs down from me. Some decent highlights, but overall, it was pretty dreadful."

 

Are you sure you were actually there??

 

[invisiblegirl]

Posted: 7/31/23 at 4:52pm

Glad to hear it was a good evening!

Some clips

Updated On: 7/31/23 at 04:52 PM

[DCS]

Posted: 7/31/23 at 9:32pm

JSquared2 said: "DCS said: "Thumbs down from me. Some decent highlights, but overall, it was pretty dreadful."



Are you sure you were actually there??

Yes, I was there.  Were you?  The original poster asked for opinions and I provided mine. 

I thought Lewis, Astin, Boggess and Foster were all very good (although it sounded like Foster was struggling with the key in Another Hundred People -- it just didn't sit in her voice properly).  I am not a fan of either LuPone or Mitchell.  I find that they both over-sing and/or overact and this was pretty much what they did last night.  LuPone tried to over-sing Send in the Clowns and she blew it (as many others have mentioned).  Mitchell sang all the parts of Not Getting Married which didn't work, especially because he decided to play one of the singing roles as drunk (???).  LuPone did fine with Ladies Who Lunch, but I found that she simply shouted her way through Being Alive rather than letting the song build the way it's written.  I didn't care for the song selections (nothing from Forum, Passion, Pacific Overtures, Evening Primrose or Wise Guys and only 1 song from Into The Woods and 1/2 a song from Merrily) and we didn't really need to watch the actors (mainly Mitchell and LuPone) miming holding props.  There were many missed opportunities as far as I was concerned. As I said, that's just my opinion and everyone is entitled to express their opinion here when someone asks.  Thanks!

 

Updated On: 7/31/23 at 09:32 PM