Guys and Dolls Sequence on the Tonys
Guys and Dolls Sequence on the Tonys
Ed_Mottershead
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/20/05
#1Guys and Dolls Sequence on the Tonys
Posted: 6/7/09 at 11:38pmI think they really blew this one. Mary Testa had a lot more to do in the show in that number -- and stopped the show in its tracks -- well, actually started the show -- and her contribution was short-changed.
BroadwayEd
RippedMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
#2re: Guys and Dolls Sequence on the Tonys
Posted: 6/7/09 at 11:45pm
I thought all of the performances were kind of "eh." I mean, I just expected them to blow the roof off the place, but two shows (Billy Elliot, West Side Story) picked numbers with little to no singing, and I was just disappointed.
I was really impressed with Titus though. I mean, he's on national television, and two seconds before he starts, he is told his mic isn't working and he's handed a new mic, and he wasn't thrown. He handled it like a pro.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#2re: Guys and Dolls Sequence on the Tonys
Posted: 6/7/09 at 11:46pmThat number was awful. It was like they were trying to keep people from buying tickets to Guys and Dolls. Was it by chance produced by Bialystock & Bloom?
#3re: Guys and Dolls Sequence on the Tonys
Posted: 6/7/09 at 11:49pm
I feel bad that Titus' mic wasn't working, really, the sound was awful all throughout, I was very disappointed by it.
Overall, it was lackluster, even if at the theater Mary makes it a really strong number. I didn't think it was bad at all, I just didn't think it played as well as it does in the theater. It's such an awful production that I don't think a Tony number would have done much for them.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
Trish2
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/20/06
#4re: Guys and Dolls Sequence on the Tonys
Posted: 6/7/09 at 11:55pm4 words: High School Level Staging.
#5re: Guys and Dolls Sequence on the Tonys
Posted: 6/7/09 at 11:57pmI'm going to agree here. I was so set to get last minute tickets for this on the 20th, despite what I have read here, but I think I might forget it all together. Sadly, Shrek looked better, and I dislike the movies. But, Christoper Sieber drew me in.
"I don't want the pretty lights to come and get me."-Homecoming 2005
"You can't pray away the gay."-Callie Torres on Grey's Anatomy.
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ggersten
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/11/06
#6re: Guys and Dolls Sequence on the Tonys
Posted: 6/8/09 at 12:01am
I enjoyed hearing the stage guy say "I'm on it..I'm on it" as he rushed the microphone out.
I thought the number was so-so, until Mary Testa started in, then it took off and our viewing crowd loved it.
#7re: Guys and Dolls Sequence on the Tonys
Posted: 6/8/09 at 12:03amI enjoyed the terrible tour performances more than that ****
RippedMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
#8re: Guys and Dolls Sequence on the Tonys
Posted: 6/8/09 at 12:07amMary Testa needs a one-woman off-Broadway spin-off show.
TalkinLoud
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/3/09
#9re: Guys and Dolls Sequence on the Tonys
Posted: 6/8/09 at 12:10am
I'll never understand what anyone likes about Mary Testa in this show.
I remember when I questioned this back when the show came out, another BWW poster described her performance as "vile." That's the perfect word to describe her in G&D.
fgreene1938
Leading Actor Joined: 10/25/06
#10re: Guys and Dolls Sequence on the Tonys
Posted: 6/8/09 at 8:43amI actually kind of liked the number. I wasn't expecting much and the mic situation seemed to cinch it, but then Titus Burgess sailed into the song without missing a beat. The number was slow to start but finished well, although I found Mary Testa to be her usual, hoggy / hammy self. She's so over the top even Yankee Stadium's roof is to low for her.
#11re: Guys and Dolls Sequence on the Tonys
Posted: 6/8/09 at 8:50am
I was looking forward to seeing more of Mary Testa.
BTW, does Titus always look so mad at the end? Or was that just a response to the moment?
Yankeefan007
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/20/04
#12re: Guys and Dolls Sequence on the Tonys
Posted: 6/8/09 at 9:14am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XE-vFyGKu0&feature=PlayList&p=C8E5A9F47702E0F0&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=8
The Tony performance of the same number from the 1992 production.
#13re: Guys and Dolls Sequence on the Tonys
Posted: 6/8/09 at 9:18amUsually they wouldn't have done the same number, but I think that they were desperate and that number is getting the best reviews of the show.
#14re: Guys and Dolls Sequence on the Tonys
Posted: 6/8/09 at 9:24amI've been on the fence about seeing G&D, but that number did absolutely nothing to make me more likely to see it.
"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg."
-- Thomas Jefferson
Trish2
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/20/06
#15re: Guys and Dolls Sequence on the Tonys
Posted: 6/8/09 at 9:35amThis is the problem when the choreographer of the show is dong two other projects at the same time.
philcrosby
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/17/04
#16re: Guys and Dolls Sequence on the Tonys
Posted: 6/8/09 at 9:37am
Why were they doing the Fosse's "Mein Herr" choreography during that number? 
Myron
Stand-by Joined: 8/20/04
#17re: Guys and Dolls Sequence on the Tonys
Posted: 6/8/09 at 10:02amCorrect. "Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat" was not one of the better songs in the production. Why didn't they feature a number with the entire cast (Nathan, Adelaide,etc)?
Stand-by Joined: 12/31/69
#18re: Guys and Dolls Sequence on the Tonys
Posted: 6/8/09 at 10:06amMade me want to see the show even less-if that was possible.
millie_dillmount
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/04
#19re: Guys and Dolls Sequence on the Tonys
Posted: 6/8/09 at 10:13amI would have liked to see more of "Luck Be a Lady," (yes, I know it was in the opening number) especially since "Sit Down..." was performed previously on the Tonys. But I give props to Tituss for doing a good job despite having microphone issues at the beginning.
"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611
JBSinger
Broadway Star Joined: 11/12/04
#20re: Guys and Dolls Sequence on the Tonys
Posted: 6/8/09 at 10:15amIt was crap. colorless and boring. This number should remind people of why they LOVE musicals. I was extremely underwhelmed.
#21re: Guys and Dolls Sequence on the Tonys
Posted: 6/8/09 at 11:18amThis is how the number should be done: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8i1Hzr6YJg
#22re: Guys and Dolls Sequence on the Tonys
Posted: 6/8/09 at 11:19amOr maybe this version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu1Bw7lfv7s
RippedMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
#23re: Guys and Dolls Sequence on the Tonys
Posted: 6/8/09 at 11:33amI really wish we had gotten the London production.
CurtainPullDowner
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
#24re: Guys and Dolls Sequence on the Tonys
Posted: 6/8/09 at 1:18pm
The number was really bad.
What the hey was Titus singing at the end?
It certainly didn't sound like Loesser.
And how could the choreographer ever justify what the men were doing with those chairs?
Has anyone ever been to a spiritual revival where they lifted chairs?
And why would Titus walk along them?
Just terrible.
Give me Stubby Kaye anyday.
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