HARMONY previews- Page 5

[FranklinDickson2018]

Posted: 10/27/23 at 11:36pm

ardiem said: "Saw this last night and I mostly agree with BoringBoredBoard40 & bwayphreak234. There's a great story here, but as presented it wasn't done justice. One song's melody stuck with me, though, for the wrong reason - the duet between the wives seemed to be lifted verbatim from Chopin's Prelude Op.28 No.4."

Julie mentioned on social media that the duet was based on Chopin.  It was discussed back in May on Playbill.com as well.  It is a lovely melody. 

 

[quizking101]

Posted: 10/28/23 at 6:13am

Saw it tonight via TDF (Row B, dead center mezzanine) and to sum it up in a word…OY!

I want to preface this by saying I don’t fault any of the performers here, who really put in 110%, specifically Chip Zien and the Harmonists (the latter I wish would be part of a collective Tony nomination).

The show itself was a hot holy mess. The opening number and reprises of “Harmony” in the beginning felt like it went on for about 20 minutes and the rest of the songs ended up being utterly forgettable (though some were tuneful). The book and direction were the worst sins of all in that it there seemed to be absolutely no congruence as to what the tone of this show is supposed to be - throwing memory play, musical comedy, historical drama, and topicality into a blender and then pouring it down the audience’s throat by a fire hose. There were too many B and C plots for any real character development to occur (think New York, New York).

There we’re also quite a few sound issues with mics cutting in and out, and Chip had a few costume goofs, including one where he accidentally flipped his wig (as another character) off, and one where his Strauss mustache would stick on and the cast broke laughing. 

For a show that’s been gestating and in development nearly as long as I’ve been alive, I expected a LOT better in terms of quality. And also the entire rear Mezz was pretty much empty which is never a good sign.

Updated On: 10/28/23 at 06:13 AM

[BETTY22]

Posted: 10/28/23 at 8:08am

I saw the show again last night with a friend from out of town. They had an extra ticket. It keeps getting better and better.

There is no doubt why this show is a New York Times critics pix and also won the Drama Desk award for best book of a musical. 

Add to the superb material this amazing cast and you are in theatre heaven. 

***And don't get me started on how important this show is right now with all the horrors in this world. Truly a magical night of theater - and the audience was on FIRE. 

 

[raddersons]

Posted: 10/28/23 at 8:27am

Saw this last night. Stellar vocal performances from everyone. Cliche of course, but yeah, the titular Harmonies are fantastic. Sierra and Julie ain’t nothing to bark at either. And Chip Zien is all over that stage. It has some powerful and effective moments in Act 2, especially the puppet show number which thematically is the most interesting idea in the whole show. The female duet was also great. Act 1 also had a great song for young Rabbi. The rest…

Act 1 is full of “jokes” but the audience never laughed. I had no idea what the point was, particularly cared about any of the characters, or even knew where it was headed (well, other than “Nazi’s!&rdquo. I do not understand the choice to having Chip Zien play so many small characters other than just giving him more stuff to do, because thematically there was no thruline to them. While Act 2 was better because it’s emotional stakes were higher, the big climax is essentially

 

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Chip Zien opining a “if you could go back in time would you kill baby Hitler” scenario that left me rather confounded. Like… sorry, you think because you were on a train with Hitler once suddenly the weight of the whole world now rests on your shoulders? This isn’t a simple “what if I turned off the stove” decision… to even attempt to get close to the guy would leave Rabbi dead. Just insanely unrealistic and stupid. And it’s the climax!

There are more interesting themes here that were hinted at but then were not explored. Wish we went down one of those avenues instead of what we ended up with.

The highs are high and I think there are some really powerful and interesting moments in Act 2. But the lows are low and you have to sit thru drivel to get there. The most powerful moments didn’t even have a satisfying payoff.

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 10/28/23 at 8:37am

BETTY22 said:

"There is no doubt why this show is a New York Times critics pix and also won the Drama Desk award for best book of a musical."

Sorry to be pedantic, but it's New York Times CRITIC'S PICK, not "critics pix." "Pix" is a shortened form of "pictures," so using that word is incorrect, and makes zero sense.

 

Updated On: 10/28/23 at 08:37 AM

[quizking101]

Posted: 10/28/23 at 8:40am

BETTY22 said: "***And don't get me started on how important this show is right now with all the horrors in this world. Truly a magical night of theater - and the audience was on FIRE.

"

1) I just read “DON’T GET ME STARTED!” in Billy Crystal’s Buddy Young voice.

2) As for the audience, the four people to my left and the two on my right all left at intermission, never to return. From the mezzanine, the audience response appeared polite at best

Updated On: 10/28/23 at 08:40 AM

[BETTY22]

Posted: 10/28/23 at 10:10am

quizking101 said: "BETTY22 said: "***And don't get me started on how important this show is right now with all the horrors in this world. Truly a magical night of theater - and the audience was on FIRE.

"

1) I just read “DON’T GET ME STARTED!” in Billy Crystal’s Buddy Young voice.

**the slaughter of Jews and the beheading of children makes you think of a comedian?? Shame on you!! 

 

[raddersons]

Posted: 10/28/23 at 12:10pm

Oh please. Just because a show is about genocide doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be open to critique. 

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 12:05am

'CBS Sunday Morning': Manilow Now a Broadway Composer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J8v26xqah8&t=1s

Updated On: 10/30/23 at 12:05 AM

[HugoP]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 8:17am

thanks for addressing one of the major problems with the show (it was in your spoiler).  This whole subplot was not in the show back in Atlanta, in a production that was much more streamlined and much more powerful.  The Older Rabbi character was not in it at all, so it was not a memory play in any real sense.  You were immersed in the story as it was happening, and there was no artificial raising the stakes (the stakes were high enough!).   

Anyway, I do like the show very much and hope it succeeds.  Some of the score is better than just "tuneful", it packs a wallop.   The final number is a stunner.   Audience I saw it with-- second preview-- seemed to love it.  The cast is hugely talented and the group performance numbers are very strong (the "puppet number" that is being referenced a lot is fantastic).

[HunterK]

Posted: 11/3/23 at 12:56pm

I saw it on Wednesday evening and just have a question about the bows. In earlier previews did they have the cast walk backwards, in between each other (criss cross), with most of the cast looking over their shoulder not to bump into each other? I just found this so odd for a company exit. My eyes were on Sierra and she looked like "What the hell are we doing and am I going to fall?" 

Is this new or has it always been there? 

[BalconyClub]

Posted: 11/3/23 at 10:24pm

From the mezzanine, the chaotic tape markings on the stage floor for placements of set pieces - in loud neon lime, or orange, or blue, and maybe other colors - makes for a hideous look.

I hope the production changes the tape colors to a more subtle color palette.

Updated On: 11/3/23 at 10:24 PM

[quizking101]

Posted: 11/3/23 at 11:36pm

BalconyClub said: "From the mezzanine, the chaotic tape markings on the stage floor for placements of set pieces - in loud neon lime, or orange, or blue, and maybe other colors - makes for a hideous look.

I hope the production changes the tape colors to a more subtle color palette."

OMG YES! I forgot all about that. The floor was a faint but distracting glowing neon during the entire show

[bwaylyric]

Posted: 11/4/23 at 12:21am

After seeing this tonight, I’m still wondering what made these six guys so famous. The show does a poor job of showcasing the Harmonists’ (the original group) talents leading to he height of their popularity.  The six actors were terrific, but I was expecting to see some vignettes or snippets of their famous performances.

During intermission, an older gentleman in front of me turned to his companion and said, “I thought this was gonna be like Jersey Boys.”  
I bet that’s what the marketing folks were going for with the key art.

Updated On: 11/4/23 at 12:21 AM

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 11/7/23 at 12:23am

I just came back from the show and had a great time and thought the show was absolutely thrilling and a must see. It took me back to the 1930's, very emotional. It was wonderful! Go see it, ignore the critics on this site. Remember to take opinions with a grain of salt, because opinions are like a$sholes, everyone has one.

[JSquared2]

Posted: 11/7/23 at 11:55am

muscle23ftl said: "I just came back from the show and had a great time and thought the show was absolutely thrilling and a must see. It took me back to the 1930's, very emotional. It was wonderful! Go see it, ignore the critics on this site. Remember to take opinions with a grain of salt, because opinions are like a$sholes, everyone has one."

 

And YOUR opinion is more valuable than the opinions of those of us who did not like the show why???

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 11/7/23 at 3:54pm

I didn't say my opinion was more important. But if you look at the thread, someone was saying that he/she/they bought tickets and was feeling bad about it after some people posted negative comments on this site.

All I'm saying is that after reading these opinions here, I wouldn't have seen Back to the Future, HK, Anuncia and Harmony...and I would have missed out on a great time, because I thoroughly LOVED them.

Summarizing: Don't listen to anyone's opinion. 

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 11/7/23 at 6:04pm

JSquared2 said: "And YOUR opinion is more valuable than the opinions of those of us who did not like the show why???"

He didn’t say that. 

[Leisie93]

Posted: 11/7/23 at 10:24pm

Dang, these grosses are low! I haven’t seen it so I don’t have an opinion on it, but they’d better start pulling in more money fast if they want to keep this going.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 11/7/23 at 10:51pm

The house looked sold out on Monday night. So I think numbers are going up.

[WldKingdomHM]

Posted: 11/8/23 at 1:44am

muscle23ftl said: "The house looked sold out on Monday night. So I think numbers are going up."

Comps comps comps 

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 11/8/23 at 12:45pm

I paid for my tickets, so that's all I can tell you. It was worth every penny.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 11/8/23 at 10:33pm

muscle23ftl said: "The house looked sold out on Monday night. So I think numbers are going up."

If you were in the orchestra, you go upstairs at intermission??  When I saw PV, the orchestra was full and the mezzanine was about 40% occupied.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 11/9/23 at 1:15am

Jarethan said: "muscle23ftl said: "The house looked sold out on Monday night. So I think numbers are going up."

If you were in the orchestra, you go upstairs at intermission?? When I saw PV, the orchestra was full and the mezzanine was about 40% occupied."

PV? Puerto Vallarta? What the h*** do you mean by that?

 

[Melissa25]

Posted: 11/9/23 at 6:54am

Sherie Rene Scott sighting

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CzamSLyuW1p/?igshid=YjVjNjZkNmFjNg==