Finally Bit the Lemon and It Sucked
Finally Bit the Lemon and It Sucked
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/7/04
Finally Bit the Lemon and It Sucked#0
Posted: 12/8/05 at 4:25am
Last night I saw one of the final performances of In Your Life, and here's all I have to say:
First, I thank of all of you who shared with me your honest opinions.
It was quite difficult to take the leap because the views you expressed were so divergent and contradictory.
I have not found myself ever questioning whether I should see something or not. In this case, I was perplexed, conflicted. So I asked that you indulge me once more by offering succinct commentary, and you came through for me. Thanks.
So here's my opinion of In My Life:
1. Many of you said you loved it. I did not love it.
2. Many of you, often snidely or condescendingly, said that you loved it because it was "so bad." It's "Broadway's biggest joke since Suzanne Somers," that sort of thing. I did not think it was "so bad that it was good." I didn't think it was even that good. (I do like some things that are so bad, they're good, but this ain't one of 'em.)
3. Many people just "didn't get it." I think the reason you didn't "get it" is that it cannot be "gotten." There isn't any depth, or enough story or character development to "get."
4. Many people just "didn't like it." This is the category into which I must place myself.
I was simply bored. Some supporters of the show claimed that it was "inventive" and "original" and "different." I didn't find it any of these things. I thought it was derivative, recycled and silly (not in a good way).
Most of the cast is quite talented and deserve better, as others have said. David Turner was the only actor who actually lit up the stage. Everyone else's characters completely lacked depth or, or...character!
Instead of thinking this was a hilarious musical just because it was so dreadful, I feel void and unsatisfied. My expectations going into the theatre were lower than low. And they were not met.
Rather than laugh at how bad this show is, everyone should feel sad knowing how much money, time, hard work and talent went into producing this lackluster, amateurish exercise in wish fulfillment--when these resources could have been used to create something that entertained, enlightened or moved us.
So, no, it's not the laugh of the century to me. It's pathetic and depressing. I know so many talented actors, composers and playwrights who will probably never get to Broadway. They're struggling while Mr. Brooks convinces someone to finance his one-man-bomb. Someone else on the board said something like this too: The millions that this show cost to produce could have done a lot of good somewhere. Instead, it was wasted on someone whose ego needs to be nourished...while the rest of us suffer because of it.
I wish the entire cast well and look forward to seeing them in something else that will truly respect and showcase their talent. Closing the show is actually good for them. No matter how hard they work, they will never be able to make this show any better. They do deserve better...and so do we.
P.S. Now I am really bummed that Trailer Park closed. It was a by-far better show than In My Life.
http://www.roches.com/television/ss83kod.html
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"If any relationship involves a flow chart, get out of it...FAST!"
~ Best12Bars
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
re: Finally Bit the Lemon and It Sucked#1
Posted: 12/8/05 at 6:04am
Disagree 100 %.You are entitled to your opinion even if it is the wrong one
Onward & upward
re: Finally Bit the Lemon and It Sucked#2
Posted: 12/8/05 at 9:43amWhat a mature response, Mr Roxy.
Stand-by Joined: 11/29/05
re: Finally Bit the Lemon and It Sucked#3
Posted: 12/8/05 at 10:06am
Well said, Miss Pennywise. We will agree to disagree, however. But isn't it great that we at least had a show to discuss in such depth and at such length?
I never saw Trailer Park, but I completely see your point. I feel the same way every time a good show closes and The Producers (insert your least favorite show here)keeps running and running and running.....
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/9/03
re: Finally Bit the Lemon and It Sucked#4
Posted: 12/8/05 at 11:04am
I wonder how many of the cast members are secretly elated that the show is going to be over soon.
I am sorry you didn't dislike it enough to enjoy it, but aren't you glad you went?
re: Finally Bit the Lemon and It Sucked#5
Posted: 12/8/05 at 11:07amYou have said some very true and profound things. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
re: Finally Bit the Lemon and It Sucked#6
Posted: 12/8/05 at 11:13am
Everyone's entitled to their own opinion.
I just disagree with yours completely.
re: Finally Bit the Lemon and It Sucked#7
Posted: 12/8/05 at 11:21amDitto. I thought it was money well spent. But, of course, to each their own. It is more of an experience than a show.
Stand-by Joined: 6/20/05
re: Finally Bit the Lemon and It Sucked#8
Posted: 12/8/05 at 11:32am
Yes the show boasts a strong cast and i disagree that the only person who lit up the stage was Winston..who i adored. I found every actor lighting up with their own special energy. How could you be bored. Were you listening to what was happening. ..although it did jump from farce to musical drama at its height, being bored you should not have been. The base story is this man is going to die and GOD/AL is indifferent to it, until a point.
I am baffle as to why people on this board look at show and cant get it. Yes the set changes were to much...and yes the direction lacked a bit of ..continituity....and maybe some fine tuning..but please people..this show has
love,
comedy,
anger,
fear,
desperation
sex,
gay characters,
kids,
loss
how much more could you want. i think yo all go to shows expecting things that are far fetched. have you ever tried to go and just enjoy.
I APPLAUD THE CAST OF IN MY LIFE FOR COURAGE TO KEEP DEVELOPING AND WORKING EVEN WITH ALLYOU NEIGH SAYERS...ONWARD AND UPWARD
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/9/03
re: Finally Bit the Lemon and It Sucked#9
Posted: 12/8/05 at 11:56am
this show has
love,
comedy,
anger,
fear,
desperation
sex,
gay characters,
kids,
loss
how much more could you want.
How about a dog?
re: Finally Bit the Lemon and It Sucked#10
Posted: 12/8/05 at 12:06pm
I saw the show last night, as well. I'm on the train that is was so bizarre and absurd that it was entertaining.
I will say Mr. Brooks knows how to write a pretty melody and make some eminently hummable music, even if it's deep fried cheese on a stick (though really, some of those lyrics were just atrocious).
He also knows how to cast some charismatic and talented leading men. I think Christopher J. Hanke is better than the material he was given, but he made the most out of it (especially in not making Tourette's just one long punch line). David Turner obviously has some serious stage presence and he didn't cry at the fact that he actually had to play Winston, that's always a plus.
His leading ladies on the other hand… I didn't really understand the complaints about Chiara Navarra until I saw her myself and no one wants to pick on a child, it's not nice. The kid has the voice of someone 20 years her senior, but part of being a working actor on Broadway is the ability to act. Perhaps her parents should stick with having her record music and/or get her some lessons because it was just painful watching her try.
Jessica Boevers actually made a believable quirky woman but her voice did nothing for me, at all. I felt like she was straining the entire evening which seemed odd since the songs didn't seem especially difficult to carry.
The sets were clever to a point. Then you get to the lemon and any strain of credibility this show was going for just goes flying right out the window. Am I supposedly to take this show seriously when a big lemon falls from the sky? I can stretch my imagination with the best of them, but c'mon!
I think what really killed this show wasn't it's trip into the nether world of ridiculousness in some segments but the fact that it was a very fragmented musical venture. There was just a lot of really odd, random things happening, hoping to add up to one big spectacle. Like random lines about hoping Vera's best friend had braces and random breaking the fourth wall with Winston and lemons falling from the sky. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to why these songs were all strung together and unfortunately the sum of its okay parts didn't add up to a worthwhile whole.
Stand-by Joined: 11/29/05
re: Finally Bit the Lemon and It Sucked#11
Posted: 12/8/05 at 12:58pm
Jessica Boevers is on my list of mediocre talents that I just can't understand WHY they keep getting used!
Sueleengay... we rarely see eye to eye, but:
1. The dog comment was dead on! And I'd like to add that the only thing the set didn't do was have anything come out of the floor,so that was something else it could have used.
2. I heard that Chris Hanke said he'd be relieved when it was over because he was tired of hearing how bad the show is and getting pity for it. He's proud of his work (and should be...talk about making lemonade out of lemons)
re: Finally Bit the Lemon and It Sucked#12
Posted: 12/8/05 at 2:04pmChris Hanke is such a sweetheart! He needs to be cast as a lead in another show, QUICKLY!
"Watching a frat boy realize just what he put his d!ck in...ex's getting std's...schadenfruede" ~ Ave Q
"when dangers near, exploit their fear" ~ Reefer Madness the Musical
re: Finally Bit the Lemon and It Sucked#13
Posted: 12/8/05 at 2:32pm
Sueleen, it has a cat... named Yoda... sort of...
Miss Pennywise, you're pretty much dead on about this show. It's not spectacularly bad, nor is it spectacularly good, it's merely boring. Perhaps because we both saw it so late in the run when we already knew everything so shocking about it (Pirates, skeletons, rumor-tumor, etc.) is why there was nothing to shock us. It was a boring show with derivative music and the only reason it ran at all was because it had a very good cast working hard to surpass the material. In many cases, they did. The little girl with her big American idol voice, Winston with his schtick (much of which is apparently made up). I disagree that he was the only person to light up the stage. I thought Chris Hanke did an good job with an unfortunately challenging character. I don't know who in their right mind would burden the romantic hero of a musical with Tourrettes syndrome, but he handled it well.
I don't know, as has been pointed out in reviews, the show may be weird, but it's weirdness without a sense of humor. Poor David Turner had to give it as much of one as he could. And there is nothing genuine in the show except its actors, trying so hard to make us believe that nonsensical world they live in.
Maybe Joe Brooks will stay on Broadway as a creative producer though. He's certainly interested in encouraging imaginative work!
joey
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/7/04
re: Finally Bit the Lemon and It Sucked#14
Posted: 12/9/05 at 4:08am
I found Jessica Boevers' voice screechy and her character annoying. I also thought her friend looked like a mod Madame Thenardier, so I couldn't see her as anything else BUT Madame Thenardier after a ride in H.G. Wells' Time Machine.
Everyone else was wonderful. The entire cast should be loudly lauded. (I think some of Joe Brooks' writing is starting to rub off on me. Better reread Ulysses before I cave.) They took a very poorly written piece and SOMEHOW made it come alive. If the characters had been better developed I'm sure I would have cared about them, but since they were one-dimensional and the story as flimsy as generic-brand tissues, their job was herculean and their mission doomed.
I will look forward to seeing all of them in something new and will then elate in their success.
Believe me, I am open-minded and have a predilection for the bizarre (I won’t go into that here though), but neither cleverness nor wackiness can turn emptiness into substance.
Yes, I left the theatre feeling downright sad. I really felt for these actors, many of whom are making their Broadway debuts. I thought about how hard they'd worked to finally get there and then to have this be their vehicle. I felt bad for the members of the band and the production crew who will now be out of jobs. I even felt bad--really, really bad--for the guy selling merchandise after the show. I thought he was going to cry. I bought a bunch of stuff and tried to say encouraging things because I could see how awful he felt.
The cast should feel proud of their work. THEY are not the problems. The set and costume designers are not the problems. The problems (in part) are--
1. a simplistic story needlessly infused with unrelated complexities that results in an overall sense of disjointed awkwardness (sometimes referred to as a “nightmare”)
2. lack of reason (which is needed even to make a fantasy work)
3. no continuity
4. no cohesiveness
5. no attempt to connect the characters on stage to the real lives of the people they're trying to reach: the audience
6. cutesy "jokes" that were nauseating when they first appeared in 1917
7. a rock band manager, very unnaturally, quoting Carl Jung in a diner
8. confusion about characters' roles (e.g., Was Winston a good witch, a bad witch, or not a witch at all????)
9. actors being forced to say lines that speed at 100 mph only to stop suddenly and then disappear into thin air
10. a "concept" of god so under-developed that it actually makes Catholicism seem logical
I could continue, but I won't. I went into the theatre thinking, "Maybe this will be one of those shows that I love and everyone else hated." I wanted to like it. But I didn't.
My husband, who could not attend, asked me afterwards if I thought it was worse than Napoleon, which he and I agree is the single, worst production we have ever seen together. I had to think about it, but I concluded that In My Life had some good things in it, and it also had potential. (Napoleon did not.) In the right hands, In My Life may have been able to overcome many of its shortcomings. I've known a lot of talented people who wound up destroying the thing they worked years to create because they wouldn't let anyone else take it to where it needed to go. So it died. And, sadly, so did In My Life.
Oh, and one last thing, although it's been nearly 30 years since my last confession, I must admit that I did think it ridiculous that god was actually performing the wedding ceremony...and so I, very spontaneously, let out a "No!-This-can't-be-happening!" kind of laugh." Sorry. (And "sorry" for the long post.)
http://www.roches.com/television/ss83kod.html
**********
"If any relationship involves a flow chart, get out of it...FAST!"
~ Best12Bars
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