Good Vibrations Help!!!

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 2/1/07 at 12:54pm

Hey guys

Can someone give me some info about good vibrations

Ive got the show on a company dvd and watched it the other night and it left me thinking how it ever got to broadway.I think the beach boys music lends itself to a broadway show well and this could have been a fun sun drenched show,How did they get it so wrong?

Did this show do an out of town try-out?
What were the reviews like?
Did they actually change anything in between its try out and broadway debut?

any help would be much appreciated

[suzycat]

Posted: 2/1/07 at 4:37pm

The show workshopped at NY Stage & Film the summer before its Broadway opening. I saw it there and it was a lot of fun - it got pretty good reviews (I believe), but the audience didn't know that it intended to go to Broadway. This was also the first season that NYSF did musicals, so I think the audience was especially excited to see something as lively and fun as GV.

There were a few changes between the workshop & Bway... let me know if you want more specific details about that.

[myManCape]

Posted: 2/1/07 at 4:53pm

It opened to bad reviews. I think the best review it got was from the New Yorker with something to the effect of "Its Grease on Surfboards" It previewed for a very long time (Dec 21 - Feb 2 if I remember correctly). John Carrafa struggled with it, and I think there were a total of 5 chorographers who didn’t mesh so well. By opening night they had brought in two new assistant directors and a consultant to help Carrafa. The show went through 3 endings before opening night And a huge series of plot changes around Milena Govich as Rhonda. They canceled their 1st opening night and pushed it back a week. And if I remember correctly they canceled 2 or 3 previews to allow for set design changes. Another example of Dodger producers signing on to a project before they saw what would be the final material.
In the end the show was a lot of fun to watch and probably could have faired better but the production was a total mess and it was not ready for Broadway in any way.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 2/1/07 at 4:57pm

The show tryed out at Vassar the summer before it hit Broadway. Justin Guarini was the "featured" cast member, who left prior to Broadway. I didn't see it, so I can't speak for that production.

There were numerous, numerous problems with the Broadway version. They were in the process of doing rewrites and whatnot when I believe they got an ultimatum from the Beach Boys catelogue's rights holders, "produce the show by December ___ or lose the rights." (That could have been a rumor). The show started previews in early December of December in advance of a mid-January opening. It finally opened in early February, only to close in April.

The show was an absolute trainwreck. The voices and acting were subpar, with Jessica-Snow Wilson and Titus Burgess in strong supporting roles giving the most dynamic performances.

Many compared the show to a high school performance and I can't say they were wrong. Storylines were dropped throughout previews, characters were added and deleted (there was a bizarre day-long subplot about an alien landing). A show doctor was brought in (I forget whom) but it didn't help. There was too much that needed to be fixed.

There were a variety of endings (none of which worked), the final one being a giant sing along on surfboards and beachballs tossed into the audience. There were a variety of plotlines for the character of Rhonda (played by now Law and Order star Milena Govich), with her starting off as a car mechanic and ending as a waitress (I believe). John Carrafa couldn't direct wind, let alone direct AND choreograph a show like Good Vibrations.

Carrafa would greet preview audiences with "Please remember this is a work in progress, NOT the finished product, so if a trainwreck happens, we'll pause to fix things."

I guess he doesn't know what a trainwreck looks like.
Updated On: 2/1/07 at 04:57 PM

[suzycat]

Posted: 2/1/07 at 4:59pm

The Vassar production that Yankee mentioned was the one done by NYSF, just so there's no confusion. They were the same production.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 2/1/07 at 5:06pm

I just finished watching my "nootbeg" (you all know what it rhymes with) a few nights ago. What were they thinking? The dialogue is so cheesy. It is so cliched. It's just all about the beach.

Why do I get the feeling that if they had simply told the story of the Beach Boys, this would've been better?

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 2/1/07 at 5:11pm

Cause that's the reason why Jersey Boys succeeded. Good Vibes suffered from (at the very least) an extremely contrived story that nobody gave a crap about. 3 guys going on a road trip to California, playing upon all the traditional stereotypes: the jock guy who wants the nerd girl, the interracial relationship, and the guy who, in the middle of act 2, decides he's different than everyone else because he'd rather stare at a guy in a wetsuit than a bikini-clad girls.

The highlight of the show, for me, at least, were said bikini-clad girls.

I would rather have seen a guy poorly playing Brian Wilson sing a song about crapping in a sandbox (if you know Brian Wilson's biography, you'll get it) than have a guy poorly playing a moron surfer sing about having Fun, Fun, Fun! Updated On: 2/1/07 at 05:11 PM

[myManCape]

Posted: 2/1/07 at 6:24pm

If you caught the earlier previews the cast was fantastic. As previews dragged on I think they lost some of their drive, because its impossible to give a good performance when the material changes after every show and you have only one night to relearn it. I remember hearing (either from the cast directly or from a story) that there were rewrites up until the night before opening and that they spent the entire day of opening night in rehearsals with the new changes. Beach Boys songs and the cast they assembled could have made a very good, fun show. The problem was entirely in the creative team. The book was to simplistic, the set of 4 folding chairs with a screen behind them, to represent the car was ridiculous. The lack of direction left cast members standing around on stage with no real purpose. The 2nd act set of waves that were manually moved by stagehands throughout the act was juvenile. There was a band onstage at the start but they quickly vanished never to be seen again, and book/direction left the supporting characters such as Wilson and Burgess under used and uncared about. It seemed that the show was focused to tightly around several key jokes (such as the 19__ one ) that the rest lacked anything. The costumes were good and the cast all got gym membership out of it, but it was not a Broadway production. It needed a lot more work and a new creative team to have been a success.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 2/1/07 at 7:48pm

http://www.broadway.com/gen/Buzz_Video.aspx?ci=506301

The pre-opening night video. Some clips available.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 2/2/07 at 10:33am

Thank you soooo much guys that info was really helpfull,wow i diddnt realize it had such a troubled preview run.

I thought the cast worked hard with what they had,its a shame as the beach boys music could have made for an exciting show

Though my god how many songs did they put in,it seemed a bit cluttered

[FK7]

Posted: 2/2/07 at 5:44pm

I had friends in the show who said that David Warren (Director #2) was extremely wonderful, but just did not have time to fix everything that needed to be fixed.

I agree with everyone who says that there was an extremely talented cast....too bad it could not have worked out better for them.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 2/2/07 at 6:03pm

ehh... from watching that little video. I probably would have liked it. at least the musical numbers. sad...