Gone with the Wind Review 4.10.08 — Page 2

"Jill Paice "our Broadway Darling"????
WTF?"


I wrote that to ward off the "this does not belong on the Broadway board" comments.

In the '72 version, the overture is pressed at the wrong speed. The string section sounds like Kazoos.

Oh boy, this smells like a great big turkey feast, complete with all the fixin's.

Y'know, in retrospect, it would have been better to musicalize "The Wind's Done Gone."

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Cherchez la femme, Mr. Roxy

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allofmylife im so glad you noticed that about the overture, it makes me giggle

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3 hours and 30 minutes (not including the 15 interval).

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Yeah... It reminded me a lot of "Little Women." Especially when the big "Oh my God! Our daughter just died!" duet was titled... "Alone."

Really generic, sappy music with forced, obvious lyrics.

Don't get me wrong. There were moments they got right. They just were buried and forgotten with the other 2 hours and 30 minutes of the show.

For instance, there's a scene all of the ensemble members are standing over Scarlett, on the roof of Tara (narrating... I know I know). They're telling the audience "She ran until she couldn't run anymore! She ran! She didn't know where she was going! The wind howled! The rains screamed!" and you saw Jill Paice scurrying across the stage, with the lighting and the sounds giving the most spooky effects. Think of Kelli O'Hara in "Hysteria" of "Light in the Piazza." And finally, there's just a light on Mrs. O'Hara and she tells us that Scarlett found herself back at Tara and that's when she knew her heart belonged to one man the entire time. Rhett.

It was a good moment, theatrically.

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here's another take:

http://westendwhingers.wordpress.com/2008/04/10/review-gone-with-the-wind-the-musical-act-1-at-the-new-london-theatre/

pretty clever ...

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Bill, I totally agree. I love that you mentioned her climbing over all the dead soldiers. The most ludicrous moment for me was when (one of the) narrators said, "Scarlett crawled over the bodies of the dead soldiers." Then they changed positions, and she repeated. I was saying in my head "Then Scarlett crawled over the bodies of the dead soldiers, AGAIN."

It was endless.

BillFinn... On the numbers where the audience didn't clap, was there a pause in the show as if applause was expected? Since you say it was awkward, it sounds like that's the case.

I thought, given the length of the show, that they might have had the show continue without pauses to speed things up. The first time I saw Mamma Mia it was at a matinee on a 2-performance day and there were almost no opportunities to applaud except at the ends of the acts.

I wonder then if they just left the KING LEAR ceilling in.

Aw, I'm glad people like my review. At my university, they hate my reviews. Haha. Iroooooonic.

Yeah, when the audience didn't clap for the other 90% of the musical numbers? That was awkward. There were LOTS of awkward pauses. For instance, after the big production numbers (if you can call them that?), "Reconstruction Planning" and "Come Join the Troops," the ensemble expected us to clap for their cliche' cheerleading/baton-throwing skills and snaps. But we didn't. And the scenes progressed accordingly.

We clapped and hollered when Mammy belted "Every Child Wants to be Loved" and Prissy yanked her heart out for, "I'm Gonna Find My Own." Seriously, their performances stole Act II for me. No choreography or flashy lighting was involved either. The most underused actresses and they OWNED IT!

"The Wings of A Dove" should be shot though. It was a great spiritual, sure. But we saw it coming and it was like they were tryyyyyying to be "The Gods Love Nubia." The lyrics were so generic and obvious. Earlier, they had already sung "Born to Be Free." Enough was enough. We already connected to Mammy and Prissy, when they sung from the HEART. It wasn't even worth Walmart Bran-flakes.

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Updated On: 4/16/08 at 02:13 PM

In the musical, Prissy isn't annoying at all. She represents the youngest generation of the slaves. Therefore, she's the character who always talks about CHANGE! and FREEDOM! Mammy and Polk shrug their shoulders and they say stuff like "Maybe I don't want to stop being a slave! I been workin' for Miss O'Hara all my life! They treat me nice! They take care of us!" Prissy says, "No. No! You have your own land now! You can work on your OWN homes! Be your own boss!"

That's when Prissy comes out, "I'm Gonna Find My Own." She's an inspiration to her people. Very different from the book and movie's interpretation. Much like Emmie in "Caroline, or Change" with 'I Hate the Bus'

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Updated On: 4/16/08 at 05:00 PM