FLOYD COLLINS Previews — Page 5

Saw this tonight, well 1/2 of it. In the 22 years of living in NYC, seeing countless shows, this is the very first time I have left at intermission. It was so disappointing and boring to me. Thank god it was a lotto ticket.

This score is one of my absolute favorites so of course I was very excited to see this. It didn't disappoint but I do question many of the choices.

The book of the musical - ROUGH. This was the first time I saw a production of it and I'm shocked how dull the dialogues are in comparison to the songs. That's just some plain bad writing, no excuse.

The design ... I get the choice but if you're not going to build a cave, give us something else. Make the actors work with the space. Use projections to fill up the space. I don't know. But the stage design wasn't good.

Singing and acting, but especially singing, were good to excellent. Jeremy Jordan is very one note but shockingly, it was the one note this role seems to need. I really liked the opening section, Daybreak, The Riddle Song, Through the Mountain and How Glory Goes.

There's one person in the cast whose singing is amazing but shouldn't be anywhere near the stage.

I wish there were more musicals like this. It's complicated but deliciously specific in terms of the use of its music, the bluegrass influences are such a strong storytelling aspect, and the characters are flawed but so human. I cried several times during the show for its sheer humanness and frankly, that's something a lot of other shows are missing. This here is the reason why people will revisit the material many times in the future which I'm not sure about with many other Broadway musicals at the moment.

Cast recording announced yesterday! Due in July.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DIiAqoksIEw/

Completely agree!! What a fantastic show. I felt like the stage and lighting really put you in the rural Midwest, both in landscape, pace, and culture. I was fully immersed in the story, and was moved to tears multiple times. They were filming the night we were there so we got moved from left orchestra to 3 rows center. It was amazing being so close to the cast, just WOW. Highlights were definitely Jeremy, Jason, and Taylor. While Lizzy does not have the pedigree of the rest of the cast, she was lovely and I enjoyed her performance. I was honored to meet Tina as we were leaving (she was taking notes on the night's performance). I took a 24 hour trip from Denver to see Floyd Collins and Redwood, and enjoyed both productions thoroughly. I would GLADLY pay to see especially Floyd Collins again. Can't wait for the cast album!!!

I thought that the vocals were the strongest element of the show and there were a few thrilling moments. To me it played much like an operetta where the story telling was heightened. Therefore the acting seemed forced at times and I was less involved than I wanted to be. It had very little emotional impact. I wondered if less could have been more.

The staging which had some lovely pictures but at times felt overly directed. I would have preferred if Jeremy could have been moved around rather than spending so much time far stage right. Given I was sitting far house right he seemed miles away from me.

The music however was fun in the respect that you never quite knew where it was going. There was nothing predictable about it.

Updated On: 4/18/25 at 02:12 AM

I respectfully disagree about this odd anti-hero having no arc. I discovered anew in this production how "The Call" and "How Glory Goes" are not only bookends on the tragic trajectory, but structurally perfect illustrations of musical theater craft. The critical image for the lexicon of the lyrics remains an illusive - for the ill-fated protagonist - definition of glory. And the very opening words, "If I follow that sound/I could find what I'm lookin' fer/It could be Glory callin'" rebound with metaphysical poignancy in "Only heaven knows how Glory goes/What each of us was meant to be." The story proper is an earthbound examination of hubris-as-survival emerging from hardscrabble lives; the universal theme underneath is the existential quest for validation, worldly and spiritual. Finally, in the closing moments, Floyd finds deliverance.

To me, Jordan's performance supports this: he harnesses his own leading man charisma to start almost daringly big, with unbridled bravado and brazen confidence, as "The Call" demands, and then slowly bears witness to his own escalating dilemma as those qualities end up leached, drained from his immobilized body. His nuanced moments of recognition - when he's hit with creeping hopelessness - are wrenching. His face was flooded with terror long before acceptance, and his eyes filled as he tried to will optimism with a performative grin. I found his characterization's development shrewd - he unearthed Floyd's native intelligence and hubris but then flattened both, as fate intervened. To my point above, Jordan then shows us his hard-won ownership of fate's verdict.

Updated On: 4/18/25 at 09:44 AM

Auggie27 said: "I respectfully disagree about this odd anti-hero having no arc. I discovered anew in this production how "The Call" and "How Glory Goes" are not only bookends on the tragic trajectory, but structurally perfect illustrations of musical theater craft. "

Seated close to Jordan, I witnessed the physical and emotional arc your full post describes. I found his choices thoughtful, nuanced, and powerful. I do think the show's book may not reveal as much of an arc as some might expect.

I do wonder if Landau's choice to set Jordan so far off to one side of that huge stage hindered both the storytelling and how audiences experienced his journey. Previous productions I've seen placed Floyd near center with the other action happening around and behind him, literally centering him and his story.

Updated On: 4/18/25 at 11:13 AM

ChairinMain said: "I am shocked at all the nay-sayers on this one. I loved it. I boughta LincTix seat for this months ago, and lucked out in sitting right in front of Floyd's "stuck" location, so maybe that effected my experience. (seat House left if you can, folks!)It's such a beautiful, mournful show, and its' cast and staged beautifully. There is such a wonderful use of negative space on this stage. It feels vast and lonely, and the use of specific light and show creates the emptiness and waste of the land the characters live in and the alternating vastness and claustrophobiaof the caves Floyd is exploring. The score is gorgeous and challenging and elegiac, and to hear it conducted by Ted Sperling, one of the great living broadway conductors, is a dream. I feel like I saw a very different show than everyone else here."



Precisely how I felt at the show last evening. Stunning evening of theater. I can understand why some may not like it or have a difficult time with it, though

Just got out of tonight’s show. They’ve tightened it a bit since the early previews. The score really is one of the best on Broadway and it sounds incredible.

Updated On: 4/18/25 at 10:36 PM

JC: Did Landau alter much of the blocking, particularly the two- and three-character scenes that provoked much discussion? I am curious how much they continued to polish even alter the staging, to further plumb the expanse of the Beaumont stage. I had no problems with it 10 days ago, but the show began on 3/27. It's heartening to read two posts of returning audience members who found more to admire a month later. It's a beautiful tale exquisitely scored, a great piece of Americana, and I, too, and rooting for Jordan to be rewarded.

I was also there tonight. I enjoyed this a lot. The difficult score is performed extremely well all around. I think this is Jeremy Jordan’s best work to date. While I do wish some of the cave sequences were re-conceived (the opening was a lot of fun, but I would have liked some physical representation of Floyd being trapped), there were many thrilling moments and the songs were done justice by this cast and orchestra. Really glad I saw this.

The LED wall was glitching a bit at the beginning of the show and I couldn’t help but think that almost everything they achieve with that element could have been done with lighting against a cyclorama.