#1
Posted: 2/19/05 at 1:03am
I know the other night I said that BROOKLYN was the worst musical I had ever seen...well, now I am eating my words - I spoke too soon. BROOKLYN looks like a masterpiece compared to GOOD VIBRATIONS - which is absolutely awful in every respect.
I thought if nothing else, I could sit back and enjoy the great music with hopefully some dancing - because although I'm not a fan of MAMMA MIA! as a show, it's definitely something I can watch and have fun. GOOD VIBRATIONS has no fun in it - atleast not for the audience. I never thought that ANYONE could make the Beach Boys' timeless music sound terrible - but alas. I'm not going to go into great detail because no one can say it better than Ben Brantley: it makes every other show on Broadway look good, and that is one of the truest things anybody has ever said.
This show has, without a doubt, the absolute worst choreography, sets, and direction. The story line never makes sense, the book is deplorable, the sets are hideously, unnecessarily ugly and pointless, and the direction is all over the place, unfocused, and really made me question why anyone would put money into this show. I was shocked by how pointless and gruesome the set was - Heidi Ettinger has done some brilliant work in the past, mainly with THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER, THE SECRET GARDEN, and BIG RIVER (winning a Tony for the last 2,) but here it were almost as if she tried to make the set laughable and terrible.
John Carrafa has not done his career any good by being attached to this show - especially because it's his directorial debut. His choreography is usually weak and tacky, but in the past it has worked marvelously in DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES and URINETOWN. It boggles my mind at how absolutely wretched the choreography is - there are even some repeat steps that appeared in DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES - maybe he thought people forgot. From typical, cliched, awful "movement" to mock waves and swimming - it is deplorable from top to bottom. It wasn't even as if I could laugh at it and enjoy it's badness - I was bored to tears.
The songs are all performed with terrible arrangements, you usually cannot comprehend the lyrics, but most of the voices are actually quite good. None of the songs make any sense with the plot, but then again, there really isn't a meritable plot so it doesn't matter in the end. The show ends with my favorite Beach Boys' song, "God Only Knows," and it actually sounded quite good - but it was an awful way to end the show, was staged terribly, and made absolutely no sense.
There's really no point in going any farther, because I'm having a hard time coming up with a way to effectively articulate just how completely, utterly horrid and painful this show is. I can't even critique any of the cast, because they don't act in this show - it was as if they were just running around playing, making fun of a really bad show. It is seriously mind boggling.
To anyone who consideres seeing this show: trust me, and do not waste your money - there isn't one reputable part of this show, and anyone who has seen it will back me up. You will leave the show feeling cheated and depressed. I'm not just trying to be negative for the sake of being negative - I'm a Broadway fan just as much as anyone else is - but for as long as this abominable, atrocious, painful, lamentable, miserable, pitiable, appalling, beastly, unfortunate, blameworthy, disastrous, disgraceful, rotten, sad, sickening, dishonorable, disreputable, horrifying, intolerable, dreadful, faulty, grievous, heartbreaking, tragic, unsatisfactory, wretched, pitiful piece of garbage is on Broadway, the future of American theatre and the future of Broadway musicals looks unbelievably dim and depressing. Thank GOD for new shows like DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS.
I thought if nothing else, I could sit back and enjoy the great music with hopefully some dancing - because although I'm not a fan of MAMMA MIA! as a show, it's definitely something I can watch and have fun. GOOD VIBRATIONS has no fun in it - atleast not for the audience. I never thought that ANYONE could make the Beach Boys' timeless music sound terrible - but alas. I'm not going to go into great detail because no one can say it better than Ben Brantley: it makes every other show on Broadway look good, and that is one of the truest things anybody has ever said.
This show has, without a doubt, the absolute worst choreography, sets, and direction. The story line never makes sense, the book is deplorable, the sets are hideously, unnecessarily ugly and pointless, and the direction is all over the place, unfocused, and really made me question why anyone would put money into this show. I was shocked by how pointless and gruesome the set was - Heidi Ettinger has done some brilliant work in the past, mainly with THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER, THE SECRET GARDEN, and BIG RIVER (winning a Tony for the last 2,) but here it were almost as if she tried to make the set laughable and terrible.
John Carrafa has not done his career any good by being attached to this show - especially because it's his directorial debut. His choreography is usually weak and tacky, but in the past it has worked marvelously in DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES and URINETOWN. It boggles my mind at how absolutely wretched the choreography is - there are even some repeat steps that appeared in DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES - maybe he thought people forgot. From typical, cliched, awful "movement" to mock waves and swimming - it is deplorable from top to bottom. It wasn't even as if I could laugh at it and enjoy it's badness - I was bored to tears.
The songs are all performed with terrible arrangements, you usually cannot comprehend the lyrics, but most of the voices are actually quite good. None of the songs make any sense with the plot, but then again, there really isn't a meritable plot so it doesn't matter in the end. The show ends with my favorite Beach Boys' song, "God Only Knows," and it actually sounded quite good - but it was an awful way to end the show, was staged terribly, and made absolutely no sense.
There's really no point in going any farther, because I'm having a hard time coming up with a way to effectively articulate just how completely, utterly horrid and painful this show is. I can't even critique any of the cast, because they don't act in this show - it was as if they were just running around playing, making fun of a really bad show. It is seriously mind boggling.
To anyone who consideres seeing this show: trust me, and do not waste your money - there isn't one reputable part of this show, and anyone who has seen it will back me up. You will leave the show feeling cheated and depressed. I'm not just trying to be negative for the sake of being negative - I'm a Broadway fan just as much as anyone else is - but for as long as this abominable, atrocious, painful, lamentable, miserable, pitiable, appalling, beastly, unfortunate, blameworthy, disastrous, disgraceful, rotten, sad, sickening, dishonorable, disreputable, horrifying, intolerable, dreadful, faulty, grievous, heartbreaking, tragic, unsatisfactory, wretched, pitiful piece of garbage is on Broadway, the future of American theatre and the future of Broadway musicals looks unbelievably dim and depressing. Thank GOD for new shows like DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS.
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy."
-Charlie Manson
Updated On: 2/19/05 at 01:03 AM
