Happiness-another take.
Happiness-another take.
twogaab2
Broadway Star Joined: 5/19/03
#1Happiness-another take.
Posted: 4/3/09 at 9:33am
OK here it is. This is my opinion and hopefully some others will take a chance and see this show. Good to Very Good score, excellent performances, imaginative direction and an intriguing book.
This show has taken a lot of inexplicable hits. If this is the type of reception a sincere attempt at a serious and entertaining new musical is given perhaps all the theater public deserves is an unending diet of revivals. (Don't get me wrong-I love the new serge of revivals-they show what the great American musical truly are). I however really feel we should start to examine the new talent or the musical form is going to fade out-and not write them off in the glib manner which this show has been given.
Just my opinion, I may be wrong.
TWOGAAB
"A Class Act" will never die!
#2re: Happiness-another take.
Posted: 4/3/09 at 9:52am
Well, your opinion can't be wrong.
And I happen to agree with you.
"Winning a Tony this year is like winning Best Attendance in third grade: no one will care but the winner and their mom."
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
Roscoe
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#2re: Happiness-another take.
Posted: 4/3/09 at 10:10am
See, I think the hits the show has taken are entirely explicable. The show sucks. Puerile story, forgettable score and cliche-ridden book. HAPPINESS didn't take hits because it was A NEW MUSICAL. It took hits because it is a BAD NEW MUSICAL. Shall we ignore the show's considerable and numerous failings just because it is bright shiny and new?
Just my opinion, of course. And opinions can't be wrong, can they?
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick
My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/
Updated On: 4/3/09 at 10:10 AM
#3re: Happiness-another take.
Posted: 4/3/09 at 10:18amI saw this last night and had a very different reaction. I thought it was excruciating and found myself thinking the reviews had actually been too kind. A stunning group of performers to be sure, but a total failure of imagination that was cliched and sporadically offensive. A Latino man killed while chasing a chicken intended for his uncle's cockfighting ring? The gay character was an interior designer whose best memory was from when his lover died of AIDS? I was really appalled.
twogaab2
Broadway Star Joined: 5/19/03
#4re: Happiness-another take.
Posted: 4/3/09 at 10:29amWhatever
TWOGAAB
"A Class Act" will never die!
#5re: Happiness-another take.
Posted: 4/3/09 at 10:40amI agree with twogaab2 as well. Looking forward to seeing this again on Sunday afternoon.
#6re: Happiness-another take.
Posted: 4/3/09 at 10:43am
Disliking Happiness doesn't mean that you automatically oppose all new musicals. I thought the cast was stellar and enjoyed some of the songs, but it was definitely no life changing theatre experience for me.
twogaab2
Broadway Star Joined: 5/19/03
#7re: Happiness-another take.
Posted: 4/3/09 at 11:00am
Change your life? That's a rather hight criterion for a show to reach isn't it?
TWOGAAB
"A Class Act" will never die!
WiCkEDrOcKS
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/13/04
#8re: Happiness-another take.
Posted: 4/3/09 at 11:06am
I really disliked HAPPINESS. My thoughts were mixed about it after I saw it, but the more I thought about it, the more I disliked it. Sure, the cast is strong and the direction is reliable but the book has some major problems and the music is very uneven.
I think it's great to support new musicals but I'm not going to say a show was great if it wasn't just because it's a new musical. It has major problems in its execution and that shouldn't be forgotten just because it's a new musical.
twogaab2
Broadway Star Joined: 5/19/03
#9re: Happiness-another take.
Posted: 4/3/09 at 11:17am
That isn't what I said-it is however what you implied from what I said.
Anyway, I repeat, whatever....
TWOGAAB
"A Class Act" will never die!
Roscoe
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#10re: Happiness-another take.
Posted: 4/3/09 at 11:27am
Well, twogaab, maybe you can clarify your point. It did seem that you were expecting us all to be more generous to HAPPINESS just because it is a new show, rather than because it was any good at all. It isn't glib to dismiss HAPPINESS as being, well, a glib piece of trivial cliched nonsense.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick
My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/
#11re: Happiness-another take.
Posted: 4/3/09 at 5:32pm
Change your life? That's a rather hight criterion for a show to reach isn't it?
It's called 'figuratively speaking'. But yes, as a matter of fact, some (new!) musicals have indeed had a big influence on my life. Happiness wasn't one of them.
AsburyBound
Swing Joined: 2/28/09
#12re: Happiness-another take.
Posted: 4/4/09 at 11:04am
I saw Happiness in it's Preview infancy stage and really enjoyed it, while seeing certain areas in need of improvement. I jumped at the chance to see it again when a friend had an extra ticket last night. I couldn't wait to see what was eliminated or enhanced. Again, I was truly touched by the message and performances. This group of actors, kids on up, were top-notch. These characters are not cliche... they are New York City!
Just a few observations: Nirvana (got better) and Boy Inside Your eyes (too long) seemed to have more clarity which I believe was by adding more to dialogue. I love Ball Park, but also tad long, while Tooth Fairy seemed shorter. Wish they had added Bronx PR Miguel-flavor with dance or musical beat. They didn't. Still thought it was charming and hilarious that his happy ending was happily ever after.
Maybe because it was my second take or the actors have settled in to their roles, but I understood the clever lyrics even more. Now I really want the CD!
I am always happy to see an original play or musical. Revivals are great and goodness knows that money always goes into a sure-bet. There has been vast differences of opinion of Happiness. I think if you buy into it from the beginning, you can enjoy the ride to the curtain call. I feel sorry for those who can't because I've been there with other shows and it really does feel like your stuck on a subway.
#14re: Happiness-another take.
Posted: 4/4/09 at 12:35pm
I saw it last night and was just shocked that this was the new work coming from the BRILLIANT composers of Grey Gardens.
Totally amateurish and puerile. I am so glad I didn't pay for my tickets. I would've left if there was an intermission. I was really disappointed in what I looked forward to being a good, new musical. Unfortunately, Happiness did not leave me happy.
Mundane and hackneyed music and lyrics with a weak, weak book. Too bad these great performers have such terrible material to work with.
...What happened next, was stranger still, a woman breathless and afraid, appeared out of the night, completely dressed in white. She had a secret she would tell, of one who had mistreated her. Her face and frightened gaze, my mind cannot erase...But then she ran from view. She looked so much like you...
#15re: Happiness-another take.
Posted: 4/4/09 at 2:01pm
I was there last night too and rather enjoyed most of it, but the last few numbers left something to be desired. My full review is in another thread.
How can I write a fanletter to Frankel and Korie? Even after this, I still have plety of praise for them. I suppose the stage door of the Newhouse is the best way, no?
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