#1
Posted: 5/17/07 at 12:05am
Well , I finally saw the last of the 4 Best Musical nominees tonight: Spring Awakening.
Naturally, i was expecting the second coming due the chats, reviews, etc. The theater was filled to the brim, including standing room. The show certainly takes a while to get moving, and I personally found the score monotonous . There were a few songs that had something going, but the jarring "buttons" just made no sense to me. Interesting that the sustained applause for "Totally Fked" had half of the audience looking around to try to understand what was going on. I honestly wouldn't recommend it to friends nor would I purchase the CD. Naturally, it was a polished and slick piece, but I kept thinking this seems like a fantastic college production done at CCM, NYU or Carnegie Mellon. The cast was hardworking and not without talent, but again, of the top draw University crowd. Those kids must be pinching themselves to even be in the TONY race ! Well good for them.
So now we have Curtains, which I found enjoyable, mostly because of the talents of Hyde Pierce and Monk, some fun characters, quirky story and a couple of good songs.
Grey Gardens with fantastic performances by Ebersole and Wilson as well. Again with a couple of good songs. At least I found the subject matter and book well done and intriguing.
And finally, the un-magical Poppins. The show that should have danced (much better than it does), and should have been fantastical. Instead they chose the darker route. A choice yes, but I feel the wrong one.
I can honestly say that this could be anyone's year. Nothing, with the exception of Ebersole's performance and the intensity of Journey's End, blew me away this year. I just hope Shaiman's got a nice surprise for us again soon.
(And no, I didn't see 110 yet
)
Naturally, i was expecting the second coming due the chats, reviews, etc. The theater was filled to the brim, including standing room. The show certainly takes a while to get moving, and I personally found the score monotonous . There were a few songs that had something going, but the jarring "buttons" just made no sense to me. Interesting that the sustained applause for "Totally Fked" had half of the audience looking around to try to understand what was going on. I honestly wouldn't recommend it to friends nor would I purchase the CD. Naturally, it was a polished and slick piece, but I kept thinking this seems like a fantastic college production done at CCM, NYU or Carnegie Mellon. The cast was hardworking and not without talent, but again, of the top draw University crowd. Those kids must be pinching themselves to even be in the TONY race ! Well good for them.
So now we have Curtains, which I found enjoyable, mostly because of the talents of Hyde Pierce and Monk, some fun characters, quirky story and a couple of good songs.
Grey Gardens with fantastic performances by Ebersole and Wilson as well. Again with a couple of good songs. At least I found the subject matter and book well done and intriguing.
And finally, the un-magical Poppins. The show that should have danced (much better than it does), and should have been fantastical. Instead they chose the darker route. A choice yes, but I feel the wrong one.
I can honestly say that this could be anyone's year. Nothing, with the exception of Ebersole's performance and the intensity of Journey's End, blew me away this year. I just hope Shaiman's got a nice surprise for us again soon.
(And no, I didn't see 110 yet
)
