First Date Reviews

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 8/8/13 at 7:54pm

Reviews are coming out and I realized Limelightmike didn't make the thread yet, so I figured I'd jump on it.

Break legs and post them here!

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 8/8/13 at 7:59pm

Entertainment Weekly is mixed to negative giving it a C+.

If the supporting characters are little more than one-dimensional shtick figures, Aaron and Casey aren't much deeper on the page. (Though Casey might be trying to break her dead-end pattern of dating irresponsible bad boys, you suspect she'd be better off with a steady, job-holding guy with at least a bit edginess about him — even a tattoo might do. And that's clearly not Aaron.) But there's a certain crackle to the performances by Levi and Rodriguez, a kinetic in-the-momentness, that elevates the material. Though your head may tell you to cut short this First Date, you find yourself rooting for this unlikely couple (and the show) to succeed.

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20724341,00.html

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 8/8/13 at 8:00pm

Hollywood Reporter - Positive
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/first-date-theater-review-599320

Broadway World - Positive
https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Review-FIRST-DATE-Earns-A-Goodnight-Kiss-20130808

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 8/8/13 at 8:02pm

The Hollywood Report is positive!

It’s not surprising to read in the Playbill for Broadway’s First Date that book writer Austin Winsberg has extensive television credits, including Gossip Girl and Jake in Progress. This romantic musical comedy -- first seen in a co-production by Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre and A Contemporary Theater -- has a definite sitcom-like quality. But it also displays a genuine wit and musical flair that marks a refreshing change from the onslaught of overblown musicals permeating Broadway these days. Starring Zachary Levi of TV’s Chuck in his Broadway debut and Krysta Rodriguez (The Addams Family, Smash), this modest, unassuming tuner is a definite crowd-pleaser, although it may find itself struggling for tourist dollars when the bigger shows arrive in the fall.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/first-date-theater-review-599320

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 8/8/13 at 8:04pm

The AP is positive!

As the clumsy encounter unfolded, maybe the couple's inner baggage would even surround them with song and dance. That's the entertaining idea behind the sassy new musical comedy, "First Date." The overall tone is satiric, but there's a sneakily persistent undercurrent of optimism in the fun, fast-paced production that opened Thursday night at the Longacre Theatre.

http://online.wsj.com/article/AP7b39bd69402c49de970964912189ec25.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 8/8/13 at 8:05pm

AP - Positive

'That's the entertaining idea behind the sassy new musical comedy, "First Date." The overall tone is satiric, but there's a sneakily persistent undercurrent of optimism in the fun, fast-paced production that opened Thursday night at the Longacre Theatre.'

http://online.wsj.com/article/AP7b39bd69402c49de970964912189ec25.html

Updated On: 8/8/13 at 08:05 PM

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 8/8/13 at 8:06pm

^That's the AP review, not the WSJ's review.

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 8/8/13 at 8:26pm

AMNY is a pan. (2 stars)

“First Date” — a new Broadway musical about, you guessed it, a first date — is just as generic, pedestrian, bare and altogether uninteresting as the title implies that it will be.

http://www.amny.com/urbanite-1.812039/theater-review-first-date-2-stars-1.5859300

[uncageg]

Posted: 8/8/13 at 9:01pm

I Iike to read the Curtain Up reviews and he gave it a positive review. Not a rave. Unfortunately I can't link it on my tablet.

[loliveve]

Posted: 8/8/13 at 9:41pm

^ Here is the Curtain Up review:
by Simon Saltzman

[justincharacter]

Posted: 8/8/13 at 10:06pm

http://theater.nytimes.com/2013/08/09/theater/reviews/first-date-a-musical-opens-on-broadway.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 New York Times

[RW3]

Posted: 8/8/13 at 10:13pm

So, can me start saying that First Date got mixed but mostly positive reviews? Would that be a fair assessment?

[jnb9872]

Posted: 8/8/13 at 10:13pm

Well, that's a Negative review from Isherwood, for sure.

[justincharacter]

Posted: 8/8/13 at 10:16pm

@RW3 All the reviews haven't be released yet. For one, New York Times gave it a bad review.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 8/8/13 at 10:27pm

It would kill the Times to give a good review unless a show was terminally boring.

[DeeKDee]

Posted: 8/8/13 at 10:32pm

I didn't see anyone post this one from Newsday:

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/theater/first-date-review-no-second-necessary-1.5848744

"BOTTOM LINE Structurally clever, emotionally banal"

[justincharacter]

Posted: 8/8/13 at 10:34pm

Summary of the reviews of First Date: https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Review-Roundup-FIRST-DATE-Opens-on-Broadway-Updating-LIVE-20130808

[SNAFU]

Posted: 8/8/13 at 10:38pm

Just from reading the Positive reviews I don't think I will be seeing this.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/8/13 at 11:22pm

I actually enjoy bad reviews from the Times. That's how I know I'll like a show.

[broadwaybabe1234]

Posted: 8/9/13 at 12:18am

woof. i think thats a worse review than scandalous got from the times.

[jawjuhh]

Posted: 8/9/13 at 12:56am

>I Iike to read the Curtain Up reviews and he gave it a positive review. Not a rave. Unfortunately I can't link it on my tablet.

"The composers peak with "I'd Order Love," a show-stopper written for the waiter who has dreams of being a Broadway star. As played by pudgy, dimpled and disarming Hammond, this song is a wonderful pastiche of old time musical comedy and reminiscent of the once obligatory eleven o'clock number"

Wow, I honestly am shocked that anyone even mildly enjoyed this number. One of the most boring and hard to sit through numbers I've ever seen- and I've seen Wonderland.

[NewYorkTheater]

Posted: 8/9/13 at 1:09am

“First Date” is much more about the rituals and rigors of dating than it is about these particular two characters....while we do discover some specifics about their backgrounds and their motivations, the characters serve largely as generic vehicles; we learn far less about them as people than we do about the “Friend Zone” (when a date says she wants to be your “friend”) and “The Awkward Pause” and the dilemma of who picks up “The Check” — all lively songs.
First Date Review: ‘Chuck’ Nerd Woos ‘Smash’ Sizzler on Broadway

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/9/13 at 4:24am

But then the Gay Best Friend comes back a second time, and a third, singing reprises of the same damn song, and your nerves start to fray.

It sounds like this is the next IN THE LIFE and we should all go immediately so that we can say we were there.

Updated On: 8/9/13 at 04:24 AM

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 8/9/13 at 6:05am

Vulture is mixed to positive
http://www.vulture.com/m/2013/08/theater-review-first-date.html

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 8/9/13 at 6:09am

Variety - positive
http://variety.com/2013/legit/reviews/broadway-review-first-date-1200575934/