GLORY DAYS First Preview - REVIEWS- Page 2

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 12:20am

I should confess that I really enjoyed "MY NEXT STORY" and "GENERATION APATHY" musically.

Not going to lie, these two guys have talent. They just aren't ready for Broadway.

And thanks, ChildOfDestiny - I realized I should've said that and decided I better edit it in.

[ChildofDestiny]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 12:23am

TooDarnHot, you're really confused as to why there would be people who like this?

I find that to be a pretty narrow-minded thought, but I can suggest a few reasons, at least for me personally:

- I enjoy modern musical theater songs.
- I graduated from a suburban high school not recently, but not too many years ago.
- I appreciate a clever book.
- I'm a sucker for male belting.
- I have a brother who is very close to these guys' ages and the dialogue felt very familiar and realistic.
- I go into theater with an open mind with no predispositions about what it should or shouldn't be.

I don't have a hard time believing that there will be people on every end of the spectrum about this show. It's realistic and therefore will be polarizing. My point is that throwing out words like "lame" without letting us know anything about yourself isn't doing anyone any favors.
Updated On: 4/23/08 at 12:23 AM

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 12:24am

Adam, thanks for your review. I think it would have been a more compelling show (from the sound of it) if they "reveal" was handeled better. It seems a little "cliche" to have the jock be the suprised one. Why not lead the audience to believe that one of the characters is very open-minded, and free, and then have him be the one who is caught off guard. I think that would be more telling, and more interesting than the typical "homophobic jock" storyline.

By the by, does anyone know the last note hit at the end of "My Next Story" ? I know it's rather high...

[adamgreer]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 12:30am

It is rather cliche that he is the one with a problem with it, but the way characters are written, it wouldn't make sense for either of the other two to have a problem with it.

[TooDarnHot]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 12:31am

Destiny...

I enjoy modern musical theatre songs too.

I graduated from a suburban high school as well (but NOT recently)

I appreciate a clever book. But that's nowhere to be found in "Glory Days" (although it is so much better than the score, as a whole)

I'm a sucker for young good-looking men who can belt, as well. Except for Andrew Call's stereotypical one dimension performance, I was extremely impressed by the guys. Especially Steven Booth! But these young men can't save a show with this type of material.

I have a brother too! He just doesn't understand theatre though...

I go into theatre with an open mind too. That's what I did for the Signature run and I came out with a mind filled full of disconnected bland music, lack of storyline depth, a $10 set, and one dimensional stereotype characters (the book is mostly responsible for this).

everything was SO predictable and failed to move me. and the lyrics??? don't even get me started, dear.

[shesamarshmallow]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 12:43am

If vicious word of mouth closes this show before the understudies get to go on, I swear to god I will cut each and every one of you.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 12:47am

How charming.

[shh282]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 12:48am

Crimeny.

even if it did close - could they do ATP?

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 12:54am

shesa, that is just a bit extreme, no? I don't want anyone to lose their jobs - but I didn't like the show. Period.

[shesamarshmallow]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 12:55am

Probably not, since they have shows on Sunday & Monday nights.

I was exaggerating for comic effect. A little.

eta: Just realized if the show was closed it doesn't matter when their shows are....

Updated On: 4/23/08 at 12:55 AM

[shh282]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 12:56am

well if the show closed- doesn't ATP do understudies of recently closed shows as well? because Jason Dula was there when I went and his thing was closed he said

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 6:53am

So is this the kind of show that, if the reviews are largely negative, would close on opening night?

[shesamarshmallow]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 7:06am

I doubt it. It's a unit set with four actors (and two understudies) - the running costs must be TINY.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 7:53am

I doubt it would close on opening night. It will probably limp along for a month or so. The house was less than half full last night, and I assume much of it was comped. Yet, it still has not been on TDF.

It's a shame, because as I indicated in my review, there is potential there. However, for whatever reason, someone rushed this in to Broadway and felt the need to open it this season. It's not ready for Broadway, but could be eventually, if there is extensive work done to it.
Updated On: 4/23/08 at 07:53 AM

[evic]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 7:55am

OY DAYS! This dreck should have stayed in Virginia- another tuneless, charm free, obnoxious flop. How do these actors learn these "songs"? 2 scrawny boys are supposed to be football players? Are the lights on the back wall supposed to be headlights?, LP'S? They haven't seen each other in a year and when they meet, it was like they just saw each other 5 minutes ago. Horrible direction. They should have passed out the beer to the audience to numb the pain of watching this. One performance- if it lasts that long.-Garbage. Though the guys did have nice voices.

[morosco]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 8:13am

I am shocked that this got rave reviews in Virginia...

The director Eric Schaeffer is a bit of "critic's darling" in the D.C. area. I found most of the productions at Signature to be good but not great.

[Steve2]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 8:26am

Let's face it kids, do you really think someone who doesn't know you reads this board to find out what you liked or disliked, or is the point really to try and piece together what they might think to see if it's up their alley?

Actually, many people here look forward to other poster's reviews. I just have to learn who to trust and who not to. There is one poster here (who shall remain nameless) who hates most everything I liked and likes most everything I hated, go figure.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 8:50am

grr they should have just brought Witches Of Eastwick form there instead

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 8:50am

When that "secret" is revealed, the tension is kicked up a notch, and it sort of becomes an interesting character study of these peoples' reactions to the big reveal. This is when the show is interesting and actually engaging.

What, that one of the characters is (gasp) a HOMO? What a shocker! How new and adventurous...IF THIS WAS 1972!

[adamgreer]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 9:01am

I didn't say it was new or adventurous, I just said it was one of the only times the show really went anywhere.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 9:05am

I didn't mean to imply I was quoting you, it just seems that those who are defending this show seem to have that attitude.

When the big secret in a MUSICAL about SCHOOLBOYS is that one of them is GAY, well, it is just SHOCKING!!

[acrocksyo]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 10:46am

Updated review . . .

granted it's a bunch of thoughts running through my head that I just tried to get down, I will probably go back and edit it later . . .


Other Human Beings

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 11:30am

Steve2, I understand how you feel. The board sometimes does make me jaded to certain shows. It took me FOREVER to see "The Seafarer" cause so many people here were divided on it. When I saw it, I LOVED it.

I don't usually do big reviews like this, but WAT encouraged me and he was right to do so. I had strong opinions on the show - strong opinions I should share, you know?

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 11:42am

Well I'm glad you shared. I was dying to hear something about the show. I just wish they had made some technical changes to the show at least, I'm not sure what they could have done, but I'm sure a creative set designer and director could have done something a little less obvious with the set.

[NJgirl]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 1:13pm

Shesamarshmallow - Who's understudying, anyway?