Harvey's a hit says bway.com- Page 2

[Phantom Chicken]

Posted: 1/21/05 at 12:38am

Don't ask so much of me!

Well, I gave him a bad review here...but I don't remember where..

[Sheri]

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

I enjoyed Harvey's portrayal of Tevye - it was charming and extremely touching. I really enjoyed the show (more than I thought I would) and Harvey's heartfelt performance had a lot to do with it.

[Dawg]

Posted: 1/21/05 at 2:05am

I think that Harvey is great in the role. He brings back the humor that Fred was lacking. It's a musical, we don't need someone doing television acting in a role originally portrayed by Zero Mostel.

As for Cariani-he's fantastic, and he's the only one who is consistently in character. As far as him appearing to be in a different show, I somewhat agree, but I can't blame him for that-that is entirely on Leveaux's head.

Anyway...I read the negative review on talkinbroadway, but really...who reads that other than the 17 people who post there?

Posted: 1/21/05 at 2:18am

im glad hes getting good reviews, I didnt see the show tonight (i was over at La Cage) but I stopped by the stage door to say hi to Harvey and he was all smiles and teased me for being away from Hairspray.

[eslgr8]

Posted: 1/21/05 at 3:41am

I had ZERO desire to see the revival when I was in NY last year, but with Harvey and Andrea in the leads... Sounds like a winner!

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 1/21/05 at 6:50am

The consensus gathered here is that Harvey makes up in warmth and star-oomph what he lacks in vocal beauty. And if he shticks it up here and there too much, you forgive him because he is so winning.

Talkin' Broadways review is really the only all-out-negative one. And I think Brantley was just hedging his bets with his finger to the wind.
Fiddler reviews

[sanda]

Posted: 1/21/05 at 10:32am

This review makes me sick.

[robbiej]

Posted: 1/21/05 at 10:45am

I saw the show last night.

I also saw it back when it was opening.

The first time I saw it, I left at intermission.

Last night, I stayed.

All because of Harvey.

Look, people are going to have very different feelings about his casting (which is the way it should be...you're doing something wrong if at least 2 people don't hate you). People are going to be upset with his vocal abilities (though I must tell you, he surprised me with how musical he really was). Others may find him a bit fey.

But in the end, Harvey has burrowed into the heart of this character and of this production. His love for his family and for his home is palpable from the second he steps on stage. It also is the most subversive evening of theatre in New York right now.

Cariani should be felled with a tranquilizer dart. Why would Sally Murphy want to marry him??? And the entire production still doesn't completely work for me. I'm all for pretty, abstract design, but I think it fails here. I'm not a literalist, but it's hard to care whether they're kicked out of their home when there's no home to be kicked from. The sense of community is lacking, because we don't acutally believe they live anywhere other than Chekhov's cherry orchard.

OH...one MAJOR improvement. The Frumah Sara. I seem to remember the one I saw the first time round was legit and not funny. Last night, she was a belty hoot!

[sanda]

Posted: 1/21/05 at 11:01am

I agree with Ben Brantly. Even his negative opinion toward Molina makes me unhappy,at least he has the same critisized attitude to both actors instead some double standard SOB.

"It is Mr. Fierstein's greatest asset as a performer, that unmistakable voice, that perversely shatters this illusion. Theatergoers who saw - or more to the point heard - this actor in "Hairspray" will require at least 10 minutes to banish echoes of Edna. But even audience members unfamiliar with Mr. Fierstein may find him a slightly jarring presence.

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."

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.
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