Feingold on "Caroline"

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/3/03 at 12:45pm

Look, MusicMan, it's a negative review that (if you read between the lines) is a RAVE! Of course, that's using your logic, in which the praise Brantley heaped on "Caroline, Or Change" was actually a total dis, in your estimation, as a theater professional yourself.

"But it is a beautiful failure, a failure in the Henry James sense: something that a success somehow ineffably isn't. It's full of passion and intelligence, with an unmistakable personal feeling that moved me..."

"George C. Wolfe's production, which is no kind of failure at all: Graceful and forthright, serving the words and music at every turn, it's certainly the best directing he's ever done..."

"And its cast is beyond wonderful, a walking tribute to the glorious pool of gifted artists we live among here in New York, starting with magnificent Tonya Pinkins in the title role..."

"...Tesori's score offers an ethereal sympathy for the people onstage that suggests an angel viewing them from above."

As a Henry James fan, as a Tony Kushner fan who has learned a thing or two about angels viewing from above, as a theatergoer who loves a show that TRIES, it's exactly the sort of thing I love.

Link

Updated On: 12/3/03 at 12:45 PM

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 12/3/03 at 1:22pm

All the critics, though, have seemed grateful it tried something new but were still disappointed in the actual result.

A nobler failure perhaps but seems to be a failure nonetheless. (Haven't seen it myself, just gauging critical opinions.) At what point does the result take center stage and the aspirations fall to the academics to discuss?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/3/03 at 1:24pm

Let it have its natural life off-Broadway. I have a feeling that with time, people will appreciate the show in hindsight. That's my hunch.

[Al Dente]

Posted: 12/3/03 at 1:29pm

Namo, YOU rock!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/3/03 at 1:31pm

Al, you're god-like, and you know what THAT means! God, you rock!

[Al Dente]

Posted: 12/3/03 at 1:35pm

Al is guffawing out loud, or GOL!