Agree Gideon is wonderfully cast. Disagree about Blanchard's take on the role, which I found to be unique and refreshing. Her voice isn't the strongest, though she was also crying before Suddenly Seymour, which is never good for the voice.
Boyle is indeed a comic genius. He's having a blast up there and it shows. Hell, they all are.
I will say, despite the mixed opinions on Blanchard's interpretation of the role (I rather liked it; Green was never really that strong a singer, but she made up for it in a truly unique characterization) this is the first time I've ever seen someone take the line "learn how to be more the girl that's inside me" so literally. Like, that was a flip switch moment for her Audrey and it propelled her in a different direction for the rest of the show. An interesting take.
I saw Groff last month. Very professional, locked down performance, which means he was good if rather robotic. And then there was all the spitting, which is absolutely ridiculous.
Last night, I saw Gideon Glick, who did not spit and whose Seymour was fresh and every moment felt like it was happening for the first time. His long, lean physicality is definitely a major advantage. Entire jokes were told simply by how he positioned his body. Not a drop of his performance emulated Groff’s outside of blocking, and I spent the entire evening caring about Seymour.
Groff’s take on it is sweet guy gradually becomes evil the deeper into this he gets. He ultimately regains his goodness again but it’s far too late, and there’s a lot of darkness in that performance. And you know what? That worked great. What also works is being on Seymour’s side throughout the show, without question, and that’s the interpretation Gideon has provided. With his geektastic adorability factor and rubbery frame, Gideon LOOKS like Seymour. And his singing was by no means a choir of angels but it was honest and beautifully acted.
While I found there to be no chemistry between Groff and Tammy, Gideon and Tammy have it in abundance and their moments together are bursting with energy. It’s obvious they’re having an absolute blast together, and this element made the show so much more effective.
I have no idea why people aren’t understanding that Tammy’s Audrey is beaten down, world weary, with a tough exterior and she’s exhausted. She doesn’t appear to be on drugs or drunk. She appears exhausted. She’s literally getting beaten up every night. That’s not even my interpretation. It’s made clear in the book several times that she’s literally getting beaten up every night. Ellen Greene, God love her, made the abuse whimsical. Tammy is making it real. She’s giving the production a much needed anchor and it’s beautiful, heartbreaking, and she acts the hell out of those songs.
Different Seymours, different shows. Grateful I got to see both.
I saw it last night as well and agree Gideon is near perfect. He was able to be so sincere yet so funny while still playing a completely broken person. For the first time in my long life in listening to and seeing this show (and movie) I understood what the song "Skid Row" is about. I've always seen it as a mood song, funnily setting the scene of the show, but Gideon's singing it (and I think it's at a slower tempo than usual) really dug into me how badly he wants out. How he'll do anything to escape. I got serious chills I didn't get with Groff's "nice guy" portrayal.
I agree he has more chemistry with Blanchard, but she's 100% playing drunk mixed with the weariness you're saying. I think Mayer is trying to say something about the powers of addiction in all forms, drugs, abuse, and fame. Gideon's Seymore is the product of being essentially abused by Mushnik for years and years and it mirrors Audrey's abuse at the hands of men for years.
This also isn't in the actual production so don't misread but there were moments in Gideon's performance where I realized this plant's talking might not even be real and is just a figment of Seymore's abused brain thinking this is what he has to do to get out of his situation. He's killing people standing in HIS way of getting out of Skid Row. Again, this isn't in Mayer's production directly but I definitely thought this more than once because of Gideon's almost sinister looks sometimes. He's definitely more emotionally unstable than any Seymore I've seen before.
nasty_khakis said: "I agree he has more chemistry with Blanchard, but she's 100% playing drunk mixed with the weariness you're saying. I think Mayer is trying to say something about the powers of addiction in all forms, drugs, abuse, and fame. Gideon's Seymore is the product of being essentially abused by Mushnik for years and years and it mirrors Audrey's abuse at the hands of men for years.”
I saw the Sat 11/17 evening show. I've only seen a production of LSOH once prior which made me fall in love with the musical and it was such a treat to see a production with this caliber of talent. Gideon really fit the role of Seymour from his nerdy but adorable demeanor to his lanky frame. One of my top moments of his was in Feed Me. I've always associated Gideon to have a soft angelic/innocent leaning voice, so it was a very pleasant surprise to see another side when he let it rip for the first time in Seymour's soulful break in Feed Me. The second was that his dancing was so awkward yet entertaining it just fit in perfectly. I don't know if his dance skills are just that bad/nerdy looking in real life but it worked really well for Seymour. Regardless, you could tell he was letting loose, dancing unabashedly full out that you almost forgot how ridiculous/smile-through-your-teeth cringeworthy it felt which was pretty effective for the character.
As much I enjoyed his musical performance in LSOH, his acting was so much more captivating over his vocals (relatively speaking), it left me almost wishing we could trade out songs in exchange to get treated more stage time with his spoken dialogue. I'm grateful to have seen his portrayal of Seymour (along with Dill in TKAM) and look forward to following his career and hope for another role soon.
Just saw this and even after reading everyone's opinions and views, I went in with open eyes, heart, and mind. What I saw was a mix matched cast that seems to somewhat be in all of their own shows? Borle was great a genius at musical theater comedy and has a wonderfully entertaining and fresh take on the Dentist and 'other' characters.
Tammy's Audrey was simply unusual and maybe a little unsettling - it became a little one note in a way and was she drunk or on drugs or both? I get people are saying that she is beaten down and weary but even with the hope of being with Seymour or moving away there is no hope in her. I found it hard to believe these two falling for each other as well -even tho there seems to be slim pickings on Skid Row.
The most distracting part of the show I thought were the 3 Urchins, their voices are amazing but every scene they were in, they seemed to try and upstage everyone - for example, they were talking so loud on the stoop that we couldn't even hear the main scene going on, the one started tap dancing while she is waiting for a reported to come out and pay her, one of them made a big deal about getting one of the dollars back from the audience, all of their actions and expressions were usually angry. Characters are there to enhance the scene and environment when they aren't the main focus not steal the focus.
Mushnik was fine had a great arc with his character.
Gideon was a great Seymour, his awkwardness enhances his charm and though he is small and meek, he showed a side of Seymour that wasn't all weak - But maybe if they directed Tammy to be so 'real and raw' it might have been interesting to see a more 'real and raw; Seymour and not so 'cute'
The Plant is the real star and had a knock out performance.
I guess I just wanted to fall in love with this production from all the hype and was left with questioning more then I wanted to.
That has to be ultimate review of the show now. I thought I was the only one who noticed the Urchins were trying to upstage everyone. My 2 cents to add would be I thought Groff and Borle had some great chemistry, but none with Tammy. Glick had that chemistry with her better. This production would just be perfection if Tammy was not acting drunk or like she was on drugs.
I felt like one of the urchins with the very short hair didn't want to be there at all. She was so quiet during all their songs I had no clue what she was saying.
I agree about Tammy being drugged up, but it worked for me. I did feel like she would of knocked the dentist down with her tough Audrey, but it was enjoyable.
I noticed that with the urchins as well! Very distracting, and they looked bored occasionally. I'm glad other people have noticed it. I just assumed Tammy's Audrey is on drugs, so it worked for me.
