Gentlemans Guide @ Anmanson

Pure joy from start to nearly finish, saw it on Tuesday night, picked up a hot tix around 6.00 pm and seated row B in the orchestra. Was told that it might be restricted view and was a perfect seat .

Act one was brilliantly funny, with each murder being more over the top than the one before, Act two lost a little steam, but still a widely fun night. Cast where great, don't miss it!

Alrighty then! We have tickets for a week from Tuesday. I'll be happy to break the tie.

The friend who gave me her tickets swears it's the funniest musical she has ever seen. (And she said that before she had tix to give, so she wasn't selling me at the time.)

It's the funniest musical since The Drowsy Chaperone

Loved it! Great night at the theater.

My brother and I went last night. One of my best theater friends left during intermission, but I was still excited to see the show. We ended up leaving at intermission, and could not believe how bad a show it was. Now, when I say 'bad show' I am not referring to the actors [they were all fantastic]. The book, music and lyrics is where everything fell apart. I also think this show needs to be in a very small venue, maybe even theater in the round. The ahmanson ate up the entire show. Most of the time we couldn't make out what the actors were saying during the songs - therefore missing jokes. While we did laugh on occasion, the show was a snoozefest. We didn't care about one character, and thought the show was missing memorable tunes and story. Completely shocked this show won best musical, truth be told.

I thought the opposite, Smallville. I found the book, music and lyrics crisp and clever. (I mean, it is what it is. This show does not aspire to be HAMILTON. And that's okay.)

I found John Rapson (I think that's his name--sorry, I don't have a program near by) who played the Jefferson Mays role problematic. Rapson has a beautiful, trained baritone and is occasionally amusing, but his characterizations aren't distinct enough or funny enough to carry Act I. The night I saw it there were really no laughs until the door-slamming scene that accompanies "I've Decided to Marry You" in Act II.

In Act II the focus changes to Monty and the two women and becomes a more classic farce. In the version I saw, this was by far the better act. Even the understudy who was on for Phoebe was delightful!

Still, we appreciate the low-tech "special" effects in Act I. And I should add that we were in 4th row center. I can't imagine seeing the show from the back of the Ahmanson orchestra, much less upstairs.

Go see it, I really enjoyed it. If the price is right grab a ticket.

You'd probably like it, Macavity. You seem open to it.

My friend and I saw it on Broadway, but only because it had won the Tony.

Before hitting NY, we had already developed our "must see" list….and this show was not on there.

Then we watched the Tonys, saw it win, and thought, well maybe we should give it a try.

We did. We liked it. Not our favorite of all time….or even the favorite of our week in the city for that matter. But glad we saw it. We knew it would be different from what we usually like but were willing to give it a try.

If you see it and don't like it, just disregard everything I've said here.

The moment some commented on hating the show, I knew I would like it. And indeed I did. Some people can't appreciate theater unless it had a green witch in it.

¿Macavity? said: "Wow, mixed messages on this board... So should I or should I not see this show in Seattle this summer? I'm rather patient and I have a very wide sense of humor, would this show be good for me?



"

If you can easily afford tickets, then, yes, by all means go see it. Despite my reservations above, I was glad I had driven 3 hours to attend. (I live 110 miles from LA.)

If, on the other hand, a ticket is a strain on your budget, I would enjoy the recording and save the rest of my money for something else. Among musicals this year at the Ahmanson, I found BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY a far more substantial evening. (And I love farce, as a rule.)

(For the record, I love the recording, but I've never seen WICKED.)