High Fidelity 9/30
High Fidelity 9/30
High Fidelity 9/30#0
Posted: 10/2/06 at 6:41pmI was looking at colleges that I won't get into this weekend in Boston and decided to see High Fidelity in previews. To sum it up, I was really pleasantly surprised. I'm really not up to writing a review, but if anybody has questions about the show/performers/sets/what-didn't-work/etc...just ask me.
re: High Fidelity 9/30#1
Posted: 10/2/06 at 6:43pmHow was Will Chase? What didn't work? God, I really have to be evil, don't I?
LizzieCurry: No, you're more memorable
re: High Fidelity 9/30#2
Posted: 10/2/06 at 6:54pm
Re: Sondheim Geek
Well I'll start with the bad: what didn't work.
Being as spoiler-free as possible, the last number just didn't work. I really liked almost all of the songs up till the end, many of them were totally unexpected and hillarious, but the last one doesn't work. By the way, the Playbill didn't list the songs, I guess they're still fiddling around with them, so I can't really get too specific, unfortunately.
The last song is meant to be simply funny, which it is, but it is not right for a final number. It actively involves very few cast members and we don't actually find out what happens to most of the characters at the end. It also didn't have any memorable lyrics and was a forgettable tune, I am straining to remember anything of it two days later! I hope they work this one out.
Will Chase, like most of the cast, was very good! This was my first time seeing him in anything. He was very likable as Rob and he can sing well and got a lot of laughs.
By the way, I'd just right now like to say that this cast has three men who I think will be extremely, extremely popular when the show gets to Broadway:
Jay Klaitz (Barry)
Christian Anderson (Dick)
Jeb Brown (Ian). He got the best audience reaction of anyone in the show, for good reason. We don't find out what happens to his character in the end, which pissed me off a bit. He sort of just stops showing up.
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/04
re: High Fidelity 9/30#3
Posted: 10/2/06 at 8:23pmI really want to see this but am still skeptical about how much I'll enjoy it.
re: High Fidelity 9/30#4
Posted: 10/2/06 at 9:02pm
I thought I wouldn't be crazy about it, but I loved it. If you like laughing at all, you can't have a bad time. The music is not that amazing, but some of the songs are catchy and the lyrics are funny.
Also, one thing I didn't mention, it was nice to see a show with an actual set after living off minimalistic theater for a year or so. There are a lot of impressive set pieces that glide in and out. The transitions are very graceful. They actually use the same bedroom set for two different bedrooms (in the same scene!) It just morphs back and forth. Pretty cool.
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/20/06
re: High Fidelity 9/30#5
Posted: 10/2/06 at 9:27pmWhy hasnt anyone written a cohesive reiveiw of this show ? Most just list the songs, mention that Will is funny, and that the set is great. If this is all anyone has to offer I wonder about the show as a fully fledged musical. Nothing about the direction, chroeography, costumes, how well the story is told and unfolds , etc. Do the songs everyone has mentioned drive the plot forward, etc. Anyone??
re: High Fidelity 9/30#6
Posted: 10/2/06 at 9:30pm
Costumes are mainly punk rock style, or modern day east village clothes.
Choreography? There was choreography?
Story needs work, many people have said that. Ditto on the songs.
re: High Fidelity 9/30#7
Posted: 10/2/06 at 9:59pm
The story worked great, I think, when I saw it. I think they've been making small changes. It would really be helpful if they had a song list in the playbill.
There really wasn't much choreography worth mentioning, but the staging of the songs was fine, I didn't feel like anything was missing. The song with the coolest staging was one in which Rob's ex, Laura, comes back in a nightmare to get into his "Top 5 Break-Ups" list. It was really effective. Funny, but actually quite scary at the same time.
Updated On: 10/2/06 at 09:59 PM
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/20/06
re: High Fidelity 9/30#8
Posted: 10/2/06 at 11:41pmThats too bad about the choreography. I was hoping Christopher Gattelli would finally get to do a big dance musical, after his success's with Altar Boyz, and Martin Short.
re: High Fidelity 9/30#9
Posted: 10/2/06 at 11:49pm
Jeb Brown (Ian). He got the best audience reaction of anyone in the show, for good reason. We don't find out what happens to his character in the end, which pissed me off a bit. He sort of just stops showing up.
In the book, Ian isn't even remotely a main character, so he was never given an ending, or a backstory, besides him living upstairs. Do they make him a bigger character in the show?
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
re: High Fidelity 9/30#10
Posted: 10/2/06 at 11:50pm
Chris's staging was totally ghosted for Martin Short.
I loved his staging for ALTER BOYS.
Who did the costumes for "HIGH"?
is there any nudity or partial nudity involved?
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/20/06
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/1/04
re: High Fidelity 9/30#13
Posted: 10/3/06 at 12:55am
I am interested in the set as well. Could you try and describe it?
Akiva
re: High Fidelity 9/30#14
Posted: 10/3/06 at 8:51am
I am enjoying this 
I hope it does well. I really like the CD sampler and I adore Will and Matt, so... 
Spoilers are OK, I guess...at least for me I'd love to hear all that I can about it.
re: High Fidelity 9/30#15
Posted: 10/3/06 at 10:12ami'm down front next week for it. i'll see if i can sneak my camera in :)
re: High Fidelity 9/30#16
Posted: 10/3/06 at 7:18pm
CurtainPullDowner
"Who did the costumes for "HIGH"?
is there any nudity or partial nudity involved?"
Theresa Squire designed the costumes.
There was no nudity in the show.
WesternSky2:
"In the book, Ian isn't even remotely a main character, so he was never given an ending, or a backstory, besides him living upstairs. Do they make him a bigger character in the show?"
Well, I haven't seen the movie or read the book, but he has a pretty sizeable supporting role in the musical. He was a great, great character. Book writer David Lindsay-Abaire said in an interview that the parts of Ian and Laura were very beefed up.
Link Larkin Wanabe :
"I am interested in the set as well. Could you try and describe it?"
There were so many sets this is hard to describe!
There are two main ones; the bedroom and the record store. The bedroom serves as both Rob and Ian's bedroom with some minor changes. The walls of Rob's bedroom filled with records become the back walls of the record store. The record store itself looks very real to me. Basically just shelves with records, a cash register (all of it looks nice and aged), a store front in the back with a the backdrop of the city behind it.
There is a simple grocery store set, just a backdrop and some shelves of groceries and carts.
There's a bar. Like everything else in this show, it's just that. It looks just like what it is.
There are a few scenes in another part of Rob's apartment, it's basically the same as the bedroom except without the bed.
In several scenes, memorably in Rob's nightmare, the bed tilts and revolves.
Um...what else...there's the exterior of a funeral home, and I'm sure there's others I am forgetting.
There were a whole lot of sets in the show, it was very fun to watch. The set pieces glide in and out quickly and quietly.
Leading Actor Joined: 1/25/05
re: High Fidelity 9/30#17
Posted: 10/4/06 at 12:24amThis one needs some work, but in a good way.
Understudy Joined: 8/4/04
re: High Fidelity 9/30#18
Posted: 10/4/06 at 12:41amI too saw it Sunday. Then I heard that they fired the girl playing Liz that very same day. Not too good considering the show opens in Boston in three days. I thought that Katy Mixon was extremely talented and that the part was just poorly written. Too bad they had to fire her. They should have maybe just written an actual ROLE for someone to play.
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