Harvey's a hit says bway.com

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 1/20/05 at 6:56pm

http://www.broadway.com/gen/Buzz_Story.aspx?ci=505532

[Phantom Chicken]

Posted: 1/20/05 at 6:59pm

::shoots self::

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/20/05 at 7:02pm

"Leveaux's staging remains intrusive, but Fierstein has added a hefty and very welcome dose of comic pizzazz. And not at the expense of the piece: He is just as convincing as a weary, loving dad as he was as a 300-pound housewife in Hairspray, and only very rarely does he slip into default imp mode. In fact, he gets better as Joseph Stein's marvelous book forces Tevye into increasingly wrenching parental choices. His chats with God are coy, wheedling, almost flirtatious; his scenes with his family crackle with warmth and, as the mood darkens, helpless anger. And while his inimitable croak won't ever pose any threat to John Raitt, he handles showpieces like "If I Were a Rich Man" and "Chavaleh" with a trouper's panache and plenty of heart."

I agree 100% (and that Cariani needs to be toned WAAAAAY down -- he seems to be in a different show than everyone else on the stage).

Updated On: 1/20/05 at 07:02 PM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 1/20/05 at 7:05pm

at least everyone who complained about Molina not being able to sing can have a just reason to complain now... but I saw Harvey on Letterman last night he wasn't THAT bad. of course I was still laughing at Paul for singing "Welcome to the 80s"...

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 1/20/05 at 7:05pm

dammit.... Updated On: 1/20/05 at 07:05 PM

[Phantom Chicken]

Posted: 1/20/05 at 7:06pm

Cariani i thought was great. After the show, someone asked him if that was his idea to be so crazy...he said Leveaux wanted it like that....

[Iris Chacon]

Posted: 1/20/05 at 7:48pm

Well i am thrilled. I thought he was wonderful . Bravo Harvey!

[MaTakeALookAtMe]

Posted: 1/20/05 at 8:10pm

Yay for both Harvey and Andrea! I would love to see the two of them together.

[Dolly_Levi]

Posted: 1/20/05 at 8:40pm

I've already added this production to my must-see list for the next few months.

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 1/20/05 at 9:29pm

I'm seeing Harvey in a few weeks (I suspect he'll stick around in it). I was supposed to go on Wendesday - even had a ticket- but an unavoidable work-related problem caused be to skip out on it, alas.

I should note this other review. I suspect this show is going to drive audiences right down the middle. Happily, it has generated a buzz about this show that was never there with Molina.

A friend liked him very much, said he has enormous charisma - so much so that when he leaves the stage you hungrily await his return. He crypitcally noted that "whatever your take on him, Harvey makes an unforgettable Tevye."
Talkin' Broadway's review of Harvey in Fiddler

Updated On: 1/20/05 at 09:29 PM

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 1/20/05 at 9:56pm

Gordon Cox thinks Harvey's a bit too fey, but Cox agrees that Harvey makes for a warmer Tevye. Brickbats for Cariani. Essentially a positive review!
NEWSDAY on Harvey

[wildcat]

Posted: 1/20/05 at 10:57pm

I'm so pleased that such an enormous risk has paid off. Bravo to all concerned.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 1/20/05 at 11:14pm

Did anyone see Harvey last night on the Late Show? He sang for a few seconds...wish I got to hear more of him!

[Razz77]

Posted: 1/20/05 at 11:31pm

Well those are two VERY different reviews...Broadway.com ate him up and talkin broadway tore him up...

Can't WAIT to see what the Times says. Is Brantley doing it?

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 1/20/05 at 11:45pm

You bet!

"Tevye must to some degree be an everyman, albeit in exaggerated, crowd-pleasing form. And Mr. Fierstein, bless him, shakes off any semblance of ordinariness as soon as he opens his mouth. Every phrase he speaks or sings, as he shifts uncannily among registers, becomes an event. And the effect is rather as if Ms. Channing were playing one of Rodgers and Hammerstein's simple, all-American heroines in "Oklahoma!" or "Carousel."

Brantley's last paragraph dovetails into pretty much what my friend stated.


Brantley on Harvey

Updated On: 1/20/05 at 11:45 PM

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/21/05 at 12:13am

Hmmmmmmmm ......

"A master of droll comic melodramas in fringe theater long before he became a Broadway star with his "Torch Song Trilogy" in 1982, Mr. Fierstein inflects every line with at least a touch of the grandeur of old Hollywood movies, whether he's being husky with sentimentality, smoky with regret or growly with displeasure.

This can be quite a bit of fun. Tevye's first solo, "If I Were a Rich Man," takes on a fascinating new life, as Mr. Fierstein slides and rasps through its wordless connecting phrases. But it is sometimes hard to credit this exotic spirit as that of a tradition-bound father who has trouble making the adjustment to changing times.

**********************************

As for the show's new Tevye, it would seem that this "Fiddler" has gone from having too little of a personality at its center to having too much of one.

Still, as Tevye himself might argue, better an overspiced feast than a famine."



So, I guess that means he likes Harvey? Sort of? Mostly?
I swear, with Brantley, I can never tell ......

[midtowngym]

Posted: 1/21/05 at 12:18am

He kinda likes him. It's a mixed review. TalkingBroadway gave a scathing review--

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/world/Fiddler2.html

[Corine2]

Posted: 1/21/05 at 12:21am

I loved Harvey. Listen to me folks.
Harvey plays the role with heart and soul. The man is one of the most passionate actors around.
If only he was warm and fuzzy. Updated On: 1/21/05 at 12:21 AM

[Phantom Chicken]

Posted: 1/21/05 at 12:23am

Corine...were you even there?

HE was completey BLAH....He had the comedy, that's all! NOT EVEN THE FATHERLY (or motherly) LOVE!

(CAPS for distress)

[Corine2]

Posted: 1/21/05 at 12:26am

I was not there tonight. I was there a few weeks ago.
I WAS MOVED.

[Phantom Chicken]

Posted: 1/21/05 at 12:28am

I was there last thursday.

I was more moved when my dog cried for more food.

I seriously expected more from him (maybe therein lies the rub)...but still, Molina did a much better job...

But to each his (or her) own...no?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/21/05 at 12:34am

Theatremania raves:

"I don't have the genealogical charts handy, but isn't it possible that Edna Turnblad is a direct descendant of Tevye? Both the hero of Fiddler on the Roof and the heroine of Hairspray are doting parents, protective of their adolescent daughters and suspicious of outside forces -- be they new dances, music, or ideas -- that might shake up the family unit. Tevye and Edna are both in long, solid marriages. They have large appetites for food and for life, and they don't like surprises. When confronted with the unexpected, their core values are tested; they're forced to learn about forces in the world that are bigger than their own small universes, and the audience eats it up.

All of which is to say that Harvey Fierstein's previous musical theater assignment and his present one, replacing Alfred Molina in David Leveaux's revival of Fiddler, may not be as far apart as they appear. Taking on considerably more distinguished material (not that there's anything wrong with Hairspray) and stepping into peasant clothes and tzitzith formerly donned by Zero Mostel and a host of other estimable actors, Fierstein seems at home. Aided by a superb new stage spouse, Andrea Martin's Golde, he centers the somewhat fragmented energy of Leveaux's revival, focusing our attention where it belongs: on a paterfamilias whipsawed by change, questioning of his creator and not always satisfied by the answers. Fierstein doesn't entirely negate the miscalculations of this prettied-up production, but he does invest it with humor and tenderness that were decidedly lacking in the earnest Molina. Having also seen Mostel (at the end of his unruly final tour, giving an unruly performance that turned Fiddler into Hellzapoppin'), Paul Lipson (proficient but boring), Herschel Bernardi (excellent), and Molina, I can say that Fierstein's Tevye is one of the most personal and touching.

***********************************************

Those who perceived Fierstein's presence here as stunt casting will have to eat their words. Though his is not be the most vocally secure Tevye, Fierstein has performed a valuable service to this revival: He has relocated, and even fortified, Fiddler's potentially boundless heart."

http://www.theatermania.com/content/news.cfm/story/5558

[Phantom Chicken]

Posted: 1/21/05 at 12:35am

I must be going crazy!

No one wants to give him a bad review, huh?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/21/05 at 12:37am

Sorry, babe.

[midtowngym]

Posted: 1/21/05 at 12:37am

sweetie... page up to my TalkingBroadway link