Excerpts Moby Dick, In Concert Under the Whale

It's already here! Tonight and tomorrow... anyway, I have two tickets to Saturday's show that I need to unload if anyone has any regrets about missing this sold out preview?! LMK...

Impossible2 said: "ColorTheHours048 said: "But how WAS it?"

Seriously...wtf is wrong with these people?

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I personally liked it a lot! We got selections from most of the show/book, and it was a range of different musical styles. Honestly it just made me very excited for it to go to ART, since everything about the show is just such an interesting artistic decision.

The only song that would be make or break for me would be Pip's big solo number Tamborine, it's quite long and the particular way it's done is certainly odd out of context for the show. However the follow up TO the number makes every oddball reference worth it and there's a lot to unpack in just The Ballad of Pip. Dusk and Symphony were quite beautiful, and I loved the overall way the music flew through the book and really connected with what Melville was doing. The performances were all excellent and I hope most of the cast carries on over to ART, and the show is in really excellent shape in terms of music.

They also did a bonus song that isn't included in the program which was a more upbeat number about the benefits of using sperm oil. I think it's Chapter 96 in the book? It's definitely a comedy number, but it kind of just relies heavily on how funny sperm is.

Hi everyone! I'm back to post some thoughts. We went through the lottery off TodayTix. We got there at about 8:15, checked in at a table, were wristbanded and directed to the line, and we were let in almost right after. I didn't find the upstairs overly chilly, just air-conditioned. Lotto winners were seated on the upper level, and we were seated house right. Single rows of seats, so you don't have to worry about anything blocking your view.

Sound was a huge issue upstairs - those around us agreed the acoustics of the hall and speaker arrangements made the lyrics VERY difficult to understand. Spoken portions were hardly intelligible from where we were, while singing was much clearer. It didn't matter much to us, because my husband has studied the book before, and I just wanted to enjoy the music. I imagine it was clearer-sounding sitting center balcony, but someone else would have to chime in.

I thought musically it sounded great! My favorites were The Sermon (still humming a bit this morning), Knights and Squires (introducing the crew), Dusk (solo for the first mate, I found it beautiful.), and The Pacific. The entire The Ballad of Pip sequence was divisive for us. I LOVED it, it was probably my favorite section, especially Shanty and Ocean. Tambourine has a sort of chorus-sung intro and outro, but is primarily spoken-word beat poet style over a jazz drum. I IMAGINE it was very very good, but because we could only grasp about 25% of what he was saying (spoken, not sung). The audience on the floor seemed engaged though! My husband hated this part and thought it went on for too long. He also complained that Pip was an adult man playing a small cabin boy - he's supposed to be about 9 years old in the book. I didn't mind it at all.

Stand outs to me were Starr Busby, Ashkon Davaran, Matt Kizer, and Dawn Troupe-Masi. Robert Cuccioli as Ahab had very little time onstage but what a presence and force!

Overall, I'd say I enjoyed it and it was a very unique experience. I truly, truly hope Malloy puts out a full cast recording, maybe after the Boston run? I'd love to hear this again. Fingers crossed!

Updated On: 7/27/19 at 11:35 AM

Sorry, I'm not really sure if this is a stupid question, but is there any chance of this coming to New York for a full-fledged run after Boston?

SandyDee said: "Downstairs was perfect, but they might have planned for it since everyone is jammed packed together. Upstairs it was like...maybe thirty seats in a single file around the whale? Downstairs it was very tight, but as someone who detests being hot I had no real problems with temperature. More so how freaking tight the seating was, I sat in dead center on one of the side aisles and I thought I was going to dislocate my hip trying to be comfortable."

Okay, good to know. Thanks! I’m the same way about being hot so it sounds like it will be comfortable. I’m headed in now to see In The Green and didn’t want to carry around a jacket all day. I’m 5’, so I rarely have trouble with tight seating (except that I hate feeling crowded), but I’ll warn my husband!

victoriafr said: "Sorry, I'm not really sure if this is a stupid question, but is there any chance of this coming to New York for a full-fledged run after Boston?"

That's a very interesting question, and the assumption is yes. If I remember correctly, Moby-Dick was originally developed under cooperation with Berkeley Rep and the Public, and it was originally supposed to run in Berkeley Rep's 18/19 season and then transfer to the Public for 19/20. BUT then something happened where Berkeley Rep and/or the Public dropped the show unexpectedly for last season, and Dave went into scramble mode to rebook Moby-Dick at a different company. ART offered him a spot in the 19/20 season, but then with no show in an 18/19 season Dave scrambled to get another show up (which is why Octet was created and produced, and why it also has such a generic title since he didn't know what it would be about when he quickly booked a gig). So now that it's running at ART, I don't think it's public knowledge whether the agreement is still on with the Public or not for now their 20/21 season. They would be fools to turn it down and if they do, someone else will certainly pick it up with how much hype Dave has, and how he managed to have a sold-out double extended run of Octet this past spring.

Ledaero said: That's a very interesting question, and the assumption is yes. If I remember correctly, Moby-Dick was originally developed under cooperation withBerkeley Rep and the Public, and it was originally supposed to run in Berkeley Rep's 18/19 season and then transfer to the Public for 19/20. BUT then something happened whereBerkeley Rep and/or the Public dropped the show unexpectedly for last season, and Dave went into scramble mode to rebook Moby-Dick at a different company. ART offered him a spot in the 19/20 season, but then with no show in an 18/19 season Dave scrambled to get another show up (which is why Octet was createdand produced, and why it also has such a generic title since he didn't know what it would be about when he quicklybooked a gig). So now that it's running at ART, I don't think it's public knowledge whether the agreement is still on with the Public or not for now their 20/21 season. They would be fools to turn it down and if they do,someone else will certainly pick it up with how much hype Dave has, and how he managed to have a sold-out double extended run of Octet this past spring."

I'm confused about the situation, and my confusion is compounded by the lack of understanding of the relationships between the various theaters. So excuse my dumb questions.

- What is the relationship between the Signature Theatre, where Dave Malloy is a listed as having a residency as Signature's first musical theater writer, and any other the other theaters - including ART? I assumed, perhaps incorrectly, that Malloy's agreement with Signature was a separate thing from his Moby Dick musical.

- I knew, or thought I knew, that the Moby Dick musical was being developed by the Public Theater and Berkeley Rep. (As a San Francisco Bay Area resident, I was hoping it would premiere here.) But after some delays in announcing a full season, Moby Dick wasn't on the Berkeley Rep's 2019-20 season. And it's not on the Public Theater's 2019-20 season. That seemed unusual to me. I have a hard time believing either theater would reject Malloy's Moby Dick musical. because while Great Comet may have been a financial failure on Broadway, it was a much-praised musical that raised Malloy's profile. (Octet was an easy sellout, albeit in a small theater, and he raised enough money for a cast recording in a day.) And Rachel Chavkin just won a Tony. The concert this weekend seems to have stirred a lot of attention.

- So my assumption was that something else happened instead, and that Chavkin and/or Malloy preferred to go to ART (where they have experience from Great Comet). That could be totally wrong. I don't know what role, if any, the Berkeley Rep or Public Theater have with the Moby Dick musical at this point. Any idea?

- While I'm very interested in this show, it does not seem like a Broadway musical. But the timing of the ACT run makes me think it could premiere somewhere in New York City sometime in the spring (or possibly next fall). It's clearly not headed to the Berkeley Rep or the Public Theater this season. I suppose it could the next season, or it could go somewhere else entirely as Malloy and Chavkin rework and revise it. That wouldn't surprise me, given their histories together and separately, but I probably have no clue.