I hate to say this, but as much as I love Kathleen Marshall, I blame her for this amateur production. The choreography was HORRIBLE...nothing original, nothing difficult, nothing even fun to watch...I absolutely adored her choreography in The Pajama Game, but this was a total disappointment...and her direction was so bland as well.
Laura was fine as Sandy (though I thought I would enjoy her performance more than I did). I loved her "Hopelessly Devoted To You" and a few more of her solos, but some of her line deliveries need serious work. And yes, she did have surprisingly little stage time.
Max, in my eyes, is not a Danny Zuko. He doesn't have the look, the attitude, the voice, the acting chops. He wasn't a complete disgrace, but I think the part should have gone to someone else.
Jenny Powers stole the show. I loved her Rizzo. Definitely the most professional actor up on that stage. Congrats to her.
Also nice to see Allison Fischer (Lestat), Kristen Wyatt (High Fidelity) and Jeb Brown (High Fidelity, Ring of Fire, Bring Back Birdie) up there. The ensemble, as a whole though, was bland too.
To sum up, there is really one person to blame for this show (and it pains me to say this) and that person is Kathleen Marshall. I expected a lot more from her.
The stage door was a complete mob scene with little girls pushing and shoving their way in front. There were barricades, but they weren't set up properly and it was pretty much a huge mosh pit. I did manage to get out quickly enough to get in the front, but it was still one of the worst stage door experiences I've had. The cast was extremely nice and they were glad that the audience reacted so positively to their first preview (the audience as a whole loved it). Also, a bunch of professional photographers were there, and this guy from USA Today snapped a picture of Max signing my program and he asked me for my name, so if any of you get USA Today and you see my picture in it, please scan it and post it on the board. Thanks!
Updated On: 7/25/07 at 12:00 AM
