Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in Concert - my review

Saw "Blondes" last night. Well... other than the fact that the sound system was iffy (there were times when the men's chorus totally outdid the performers), it was a wonderful evening. Faith Prince was excellent. She totally owned the stage. And I was quite impressed with Lucy Lawless. The chemistry the two of them have on-stage is quite magical. You can totally tell they are having a blast. It took a little to get used to seeing them enter and exit and move like in a regular show yet hold the scripts. But I got over it pretty quick. (a lot of audience members were mumbling at intermission, wondering why they had to read their parts...) It's an interesting concept to have a concert with staging... a lot more than I expected.

The entire supporting cast was great. I wish there had been more for Pat Cashman to do, I feel he was underused. The scene stealer of the show has to be Jane Lanier. Her "Mamie is Mimi" was spectacular (especially for a concert), and I just realized she choreographed it herself. Wow, is all I can say.

"Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" started quite slow and a bit underwhelming... but she brought it home at the end.

The one song that I didn't see the point at all for was "Homesick". It seemed to bring the show to a halt. It went nowhere, and I didn't care for the song.

This is my first time seeing the Men's Chorus, and they are a fun bunch. They did a great job, clever "choreography".

Overall... it was a very enjoyable evening. Very glad we get to experience an event like this. I would hate to have you trek over here and not like it, demitri, but I personally would think it worth the ferry ride.

Afterwards my friends and I went for drinks to Palomino... and the entire cast (or most of them) showed up a bit later. I tried to be "non chalant", but as we were leaving we saw Ms. Prince leaving and I HAD to shake her hand and gush for a bit, and then we went over to Ms. Lanier as well.

Phew... I didn't think I'd write this much. I can't wait to hear what you all think...

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Ah, THANKS SO MUCH Daydreamer! Excellent review and much appreciated...:))) The only version I'd ever seen of the show on stage was "Lorelei" with Channing which was a rescrambling of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" which allowed an older Channing/Lorelei to step back into the role via flashbacks. Jule Styne wrote some new songs for this version (a great Act One finale for Channing called "Men") and omitted a few from the original. If you don't have "Lorelei", you may want to check it out. It's a lot more fun than the 1995 DRG revival recording of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" (and of course there's the '49 OBC CD). I notice though the remaining shows are pretty well sold. Hopefully I'll get some decent last minute cancellation tickets. Thanks again for your immediate response. Much Appreciated.

Glad you had fun...wanted to go, but a little broke right now. And that crappy Fifth Avenue space makes my colon itch.

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I too saw “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” on opening night. You might have seen me. I was the only person, in the theater, sitting with a person of the opposite sex.

Don’t get to down on Mike, the sound engineer at the 5th Avenue, this was the first time they had gotten totally through the show. He was making it up as he went along.

I agree that Faith owned the stage. We saw her in “Noises Off” on Broadway. Happy we finally got to hear her sing, live. Lucy was good, too, but I wish she had belted her songs out a little more.

I agree the audience did not understand what they were viewing. It seems many were expecting a complete musical with sets, costumes and all. This production was performed very much like the concert productions at the City Center in NY and those I’ve seen on PBS. I’m sure Faith and Lucy had very little time to put their parts together. David Armstrong, the artistic director, could have said a little more about this being a concert version during his speech at the beginning.

Like many of the other concert productions I’ve seen, the story line suffered from the form. The entire section of Faith buying the Tierra and then the French authorities trying to get it back got lost on me.

I also agree that Pat Cashman and John Curly were wasted in their roles. I’m sure they were put in the production so that they would talk about the show on their TV and radio show. This is a good way to boost attendance.

I hope the 5th Avenue does more of these concert shows. They give us a chance to see and hear shows that would not normally fill the house for a two or three week run. I’ve been working on David, for the past few years, to mount a production of “Floyd Collins”. A concert version of this show would be fantastic.

I'm now glad we didn't wait at the stage door... we had better luck at Palomino!

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