Hands on a Hardbody previews thread — Page 3

The rules are this: If you post something nice, you're a shill, and if you post something critical, you're Satan.

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Ah, thanks. Now I understand.

Awww...After Eight, I enjoy reading your posts as well! They're not completely contra-suggestive, but I think I generally like stuff more than you do...perhaps because I live so far from NYC that once I've made the trip, I have to try to put a good face on it! However, I am going to post something kind of negative about the new Annie Baker play on this board, can't sugarcoat that one. Be well

Though phish has a huge cult following, they are hardly the type of people to go to a broadway show.

And knowing it was the writer from phish might have actually worked in a negative way for them, they aren't a well respected band. It's not like John Lennon came back from the dead and wrote a musical, it's phish.

Either way can't wait to see it!

I think it's a mistake to assume that a show will sell significantly merely because one of the writers has a (non-theatre) following. American Idiot hyped the Green Day connection to the exclusion of anything else and it ran for only a year. Nine To Five, by the beloved Dolly Parton, couldn't tank fast enough (and you'd think hers would be the kind of fans with the cash and inclination to go to the theatre).

I guess Marketing Ploy can be a fun game, but it's usually the quality of a show that matters, not the pop star affiliated with it.

Could someone post a list of the musical numbers please?

Thanks! I'd love to know which characters sing them, too, if it's not too much trouble.

I know some Phish fans and they are loyal. 2 of my best friends are and went nuts when I told them about the show and almost died when I told them Trey was at the sneak peek I attended. I think putting his name out there will help and the subject matter, in my opinion, would not be a turn-off to his fans. JMO

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What is the running time?

BTW the audience was full of Broadway actors; I think the entire cast of Kinky Boots was in attendance.

Presumably all comped. Not exactly a good sign, though obviously it's still so early.

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I saw the second preview tonight and while I didn't hate it, I didn't love it. Here are some of my rambling thoughts. It drags, especially in the second act. They should cut ten or fifteen minutes. I was sitting in the mezzanine and the sound was a little off, I am sure it will get fixed. The score is pretty good, much better than other scores I have heard from last year.

The main problem is with the book. I didn't care a whiff about any of the characters. I wasn't emotionally invested into any of them. I couldn't care less who won the truck. The performances were very good. The actors are limited to what they can do because they are holding onto the truck. I think they should let go more of the truck during their solo numbers.

Saw the Monday night preview and found myself crawling out of my skin for the first 30 minutes until the songs "I'm Gone" & "Joy of the Lord". Even then it only got interesting because the songs, performance and staging came together for something entertaining, not because the musical took flight.

The biggest disappointment for me was the book. Doug Wright of "I Am My own Wife", "Quills" and to a lesser extent "Grey Gardens" and an even lesser extent " The Little Mermaid" has written a book whose major story-line is the incompetent (read ridiculously unbelievable)management of a car dealership. I could have done without those two characters all together. In its place the show could have traveled further down the stylized staging route it teases with. There are way too many contestants vying for book time to develop anything beyond a passing interest in their stories - while we waste precious minutes on the salesman's wife's kitchen marble choices. All of the book scenes are squandered as bridges to the songs which are essentially pop songs (country western?) with a bit of a social conscious.

While Trey can write a tune the show needed a music & lyrics dramaturg to grow the songs into something more interesting dramatically. They are all essentially cabaret or pop songs in format. The staging is so static it reinforces the idea that we are watching a five day marathon, that might never end. You don't have to check your program for the musical numbers to figure out when it will end. You just watch each contestant loose until there was none. Nothing on stage changes except for the car which gets pushed around the stage so much one starts to grow concerned for the actors safety. It takes on a bit of a cirque du soleil thrill ride during "Hunt with the Big Dogs".

A big thrill of the evening was realizing who cast member Dale Souls was. Her renditions of "Lion Tamer" and "West End Avenue" were the highlight of Stephen Schwartz "The Magic Show". She puts in a solid performance here. We will probably be remembering Keala Settle's performance in this show 38 years from now the same way I remember Dale Souls' in "The Magic Show". A great performance which could have been amazing if the material were better.

It looks like the best supporting actress race is going to a tuff one with Keala, Andrea Martin in Pippin and Annaleigh Ashford in Kinky Boots - I saw Boots in Chicago and Annaleigh is phenomenal, she also has the best material of the the three women I just mentioned. After tonight's performance and having seen Kinky and listened to Matilda's CD I think Cyndy Lauper should start writing her acceptance speeches for best score.

The audience reception was friendly but quiet most of the night with sections of the audience reacting to some of the obvious politics in the piece. The numbers I mentioned plus the first and second act closers received very enthusiastic responses. We lost a few people in my section of the mezz at the intermission. Show clocked in at 2 hours and 45 minutes with intermission. Way too long for what it is. The second act opener could be done away with and something needs to be done to the first half hour - crickets could be heard. The soldiers return in Act II which inspires a second number in a row for Hunter Foster seems unnecessary and too rushed from a development perspective. I think this show would have played better at New World Stages. It did not hit me as a Broadway show. Better yet Branson Mo. I think Neil Pepe might not have had enough musical experience to helm this.

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When I saw the show Saturday night, it was about 2 hours 35 minutes. The show started about five minutes late, and intermission was 25 minutes.

There is room for cutting, as others have stated. If I were to trim characters (because there are too many on the truck to get to know), I'd cut the love story ones. That story didn't gel to me because there simply wasn't time to get to know them. They flirted, then were madly devoted to each other 15 minutes later. I felt like that was a plot line that could be dropped to allow more time to other characters' development.