Posted: 12/9/15 at 9:27am
When are the critics coming? Is there anyway they can bring back the framing device in whole to make it easier to understand or are they late to the party?
Posted: 12/9/15 at 10:25am
I was there last night and enjoyed it very much. It's a solid production. The opening was thrilling, and I loved the choreography throughout the show. The cast is uniformly excellent. Danny Burstein, who is truly one of my favorite actors, brings a lot of humor and warmth to the role, and I really believed he cared as deeply as he did for his family. I especially loved Jessica Hecht, who is typically hit or miss for me on stage.
Her reaction to Chava in act two was a highlight of the night for me.
I also loved Jessica and Danny's version of "Do You Love Me?"
I didn't care for the set. As someone else pointed out, the hanging houses do seem a bit cartoony. I also disliked the design of Fruma Sarah but the dream sequence went over very well regardless. I'm undecided about the framing device; there's so little of it that it sort of feels clumsily shoehorned into it so I sort of feel like what's the point? I do appreciate the intention.
Posted: 12/9/15 at 10:33am
Call_me_jorge said: "When are the critics coming? Is there anyway they can bring back the framing device in whole to make it easier to understand or are they late to the party?"
The show doesn't open for 11 more days, so I think they have a small handful of performances left before critics go.
Posted: 12/9/15 at 10:34am
"there's so little of it that it sort of feels clumsily shoehorned into it so I sort of feel like what's the point?"
My thought exactly.
Posted: 12/9/15 at 11:03am
I saw it last night. The people I was with were confused about why Tevye was wearing an anachronistic red coat. The framing device just doesn't work.
Posted: 12/9/15 at 11:27am
Oh come on, you sound like a Yente. Excellent performance.
Posted: 12/9/15 at 11:30am
Our neighbor who is on this board and commented in this thread already saw this and K& I. He cannot believe both shows were directed by the same person.
Posted: 12/9/15 at 11:45am
Mr Roxy said: "He cannot believe both shows were directed by the same person."
That can be interpreted many ways.
Posted: 12/9/15 at 12:10pm
It's pretty obvious what the neighbor meant....
Posted: 12/9/15 at 12:15pm
OMG2 said: "When it opens DECEMBER 20th.
"
Actually, the critics will probably come before that, as per usual. But I wouldn't expect you to know how that works.
Posted: 12/9/15 at 12:15pm
A guy we know on this board has a neighbor who posts on this board and he said he said
Posted: 12/9/15 at 12:21pm
Hamilton22 said: "It's pretty obvious what the neighbor meant...."
If he liked Fiddler, it means he was surprised that such a different take on another classic came from the same dude.
If he didn't like Fiddler, it means he couldn't believe the triumphant King & I lose his bearings so much with this production.
Since this thread has at least five pages of you agonizing in advance about this show being awful, before you actually saw and liked it, it's not really worth digging through the archives to find what someone's neighbor really meant.
Posted: 12/9/15 at 12:23pm
It does not matter as we are not going to see it so there it's nothing to us.
Posted: 12/9/15 at 11:56pm
They usually come before the opening and if they choose to, on opening night.
Thank you very much for thinking I wouldn't know that. I am sure the commenter meant when will be the review of the critics opinions. Most will e on December 21
Posted: 12/10/15 at 12:12am
Years ago I saw Mama Mia in four different places. London Los Angelos, New York and Toronto. Also in London again. iit was over at least 18 months. Since every cast was different, I can see the difference. The audience couldn't know the difference, but the London production was like no other. Fabulous.
Zero Mostel is in a special,unforgettable Tevye. So as wonderful as Danny is, Zero goes back along time ago. Motel in this new production is the very best. Adam captured his amazing nuances and is incredible. The rest of the cast was fine. Golde played by Jessica Hecht is a little too pretty as Golde. I liked her, but wondered why they chose her.
Posted: 12/10/15 at 12:39am
Wow, the reviews on this thread sure have been torn up aren't they? There's the team that really loved what Bartlett Sher, Hofesh Shecter, Michael Yeargan, Catherine Zuber, Donald Holder, and Scott Lehrer put together with all around praise for the cast while the other team is really indifferent about everything. Can't wait to hear what critics say about this production in 10 days from now.
But I could theorize why the sets that Yeargan made here for Fiddler on the Roof (from what I've read on here) won't compare to his magnificent work on The Light in the Piazza, South Pacific, and The King and I. I think it's due to the fact that the Vivian Beaumont has a LOT more space than any normal Broadway theater would carry (unless your theater is the Winter Garden). So I can see why Yeargan's normal Broadway work outside of the Beaumont has left people really divided, but I think the sets for his Bridges of Madison County is simple but imaginatively clever.
Updated On: 12/10/15 at 12:39 AM
Posted: 12/10/15 at 12:53am
Well that's a new one.
If someone doesn't like the set, the theatre isn't to blame.
Posted: 12/10/15 at 12:58am
Hmm, that's a good point wickedfan; but I can't help but to notice that whenever Michael Yeargan designs the sets for any production at the Vivian Beaumont, people praise them as striking, clever, stunning and smartly simple running at the same time, making for a memorable looking production. But whenever he does design sets outside of that theater in other productions it suddenly makes people feel torn on how they feel about it. I don't know, maybe i'm just crazy or something and it's all in my head.
Posted: 12/10/15 at 1:14am
Musical Master, when you have the time, go back and look up the preview threads for both South Pacific and The King and I and you will see that Yeargan's sets were not praised by some posters. In fact, when I saw The King and I a week after it opened the women next to me complained about the "lack of any set" and wanted "more drapes, lamps and lavishness" (all their words). I also know people who were miffed that Yeargan won set design for South Pacific and Light in the Piazza over Sunday in the Park with George and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, respectively. I, personally, have only been disappointed by a Yeargan set when I saw Women on the Verge. I've loved every other set of his. But no designer (or anyone for that matter) has a perfect track record.
OK, maybe Boris Aronson.
Updated On: 12/10/15 at 01:14 AM
Posted: 12/10/15 at 1:17am
OMG2 said: "They usually come before the opening and if they choose to, on opening night.
Thank you very much for thinking I wouldn't know that. I am sure the commenter meant when will be the review of the critics opinions. Most will e on December 21
"
In print, sure. But realistically most of the "critics opinions" reviews will, in fact, be posted on 12/20.
Posted: 12/10/15 at 1:26am
Once again wickedfan good points. I guess it's all just a matter of opinion and conjecture about Michael Yeargan and what sorts of designs he's come up with. Maybe I was sounding like a set designer conspiracy nut who should simply...
Posted: 12/10/15 at 8:51am
Saw it last night and thought it was a very good, but not great, production of Fiddler. It was certainly MUCH better than that sterile 2004 David Leveaux-production. My thoughts:
I thought Danny Burstein gave a nice, nuanced performance, although I agree with some earlier posts that he tended to fade into the ensemble. Poor direction, maybe? Burstein wasn't larger-than-life (as I'm sure Zero Mostel was), but I'm hard pressed to think of any larger-than-life actors who could play Tevye now. A restrained Mandy Patinkin (a contradiction in terms?) might have been fun.
I'm surprised that Alix Korey is getting so much hate here. I've seen funnier Yentes, but I thought she was fine.
The red jacket framing device is a big mistake, probably the production's biggest. I guess it has been minimized since previews began, but it still makes no sense. Why in the world is Tevye sporting a stylish Land's End jacket?
The other big mistake is having two women play men in the dance numbers. It is immediately obvious that they are women. Did Sher really want to direct a production of Yentl?
The new choreography is fun, but the dance for "To Life" is a bit of mess. The conflict between the Russians and Jews is not as clear as in the original Robbins choreography.
The sets are more threadbare than I would have liked, certainly nothing like LCT's lavish King & I. The stagehands and actors are still moving scenery, and it was especially distracting when actors showed up behind Tevye and Golde's beds prior to rolling them offstage after the dream.
And one small peeve: Tevye's dialogue leading into "If I Were A Rich Man" is "I realize, of course, that it's no great shame to be poor, but it's no great honor either." On the original cast recording, Mostel nails the second half of that sentence, and I'm sure he got a big laugh in the theater. Topol (in the movie) and Burstein both blow it by not using any inflection, so the line barely gets a smile.
Posted: 12/10/15 at 9:14am
I felt the same way as you did. Nothing special about this misguided revival.
Posted: 12/10/15 at 4:11pm
Off the topic- LucyEth- I love your Name! Just noticed it!
