Honeymoon In Vegas reviews?

[PlayItAgain]

Posted: 10/8/13 at 2:17am

Did any critics go in and review Honeymoon In Vegas at Papermill?

[LYLS3637]

Posted: 10/8/13 at 9:10am

BWW and NJ Today are both positive.

The NJ Star Ledger is less glowing but still positive.

[dreaming]

Posted: 10/8/13 at 9:36am

Did the Times send someone? I'd have thought they would. (I just checked the online edition and couldn't find a review.)

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/8/13 at 2:34pm

Amazing so many on this board are condemning it as they did Memphis.

Brantley will not like it as it is a show for the great unwashed masses & they will like it. What he likes is generally boring beyond belief.

I still say he reminds me of the Joker in the old Batman comics.

[Dessie]

Posted: 10/8/13 at 3:23pm

NYDN positive

[Dessie]

Posted: 10/8/13 at 3:24pm

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/honeymoon-vegas-musical-reviewed-article-1.1479640

[LYLS3637]

Posted: 10/11/13 at 3:27pm

Ben Brantley's review is pretty much a rave.

"Normally, I’m all for calling a moratorium on musicals based on movies. Then along comes “The Producers,” or “Once,” or “Honeymoon in Vegas.”

http://theater.nytimes.com/2013/10/12/theater/reviews/honeymoon-in-vegas-opens-at-the-paper-mill-playhouse.html?_r=0&pagewanted=1

[Patash]

Posted: 10/11/13 at 3:54pm

"Brantley will not like it as it is a show for the great unwashed masses & they will like it. What he likes is generally boring beyond belief."

I have a crow pie here, Mr. Roxy. Are you hungry?

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 10/11/13 at 4:51pm

"I never eat... crow."

- Count Roxula

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/11/13 at 4:54pm

This may be an anomaly . I will stand by my statement without more proof. His negative reviews far outweigh his positive ones by far.

[15minutecall]

Posted: 10/11/13 at 5:29pm

Mr Roxy, you stand by your statement that Brantley won't like it? I appreciate your steadfastness. And you are aware this isn't the first mainstream show he's liked. Book of Mormon, Jersey Boys, Pippin, Chicago, Hairspray, Once et al aren't exactly just for or the highbrows.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 10/11/13 at 5:33pm

You will stand by your statement that he will not like it?  After he liked it?

Yes.  Of course you will.  If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be you.

HONEYMOON IN VEGAS quelque chose, quelque chose

 

 

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 10/11/13 at 5:44pm

I had a lot of fun and enjoyed it. But that review shocks me.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 10/11/13 at 5:44pm

Not to say that a strong review isn't warranted. But I didn't expect Ben Brantley to be the one to write it.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/11/13 at 5:46pm

This may be an anomaly .

Except it isn't.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 10/11/13 at 5:54pm

I keep waiting for Jordan or Namo to pop in and quip, "You're an anomaly." (I say that with love, guys.)

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/11/13 at 6:03pm

I did not know he reviewed it and favorably no lease.

I will amend my comments but still do not agree with many of his pans.

[Hank]

Posted: 10/11/13 at 6:45pm

Mr Roxy, I'm as shocked as you are as to Brantley's rave. I'm just thinking WOW! This must be really good. I'll be there next Wednesday, can't wait, and will report back.

[Up In One]

Posted: 10/27/13 at 10:07pm

Caught the Friday night performance at The Paper Mill and I was surprisingly taken with the show. The idea of it didn't hold much promise but gosh it worked and the audience loved it. It will be interesting to see what work will be done on the show since its already gotten some major NYC Critics reviews. Will it be "don't fix it if its not broke" or will they make it even more successful. Here's an instance where the screenwriter worked out well as book writer as opposed to the botched opportunity at Big Fish. Honeymoon plays so breezy and the three leads are so charming and so good at this type of comedy that the two and half hours fly by.

If I were to register any disappointment it would be that this show is lead by the book rather than the music. They had to figure out how to get a cinematic piece with all of it scene cuts onto the stage and that they have done robustly. But aside from the opening number it felt like an exercise of "insert song here". I expected more from Jason Robert Brown but I do not begrudge him the commercial hit this will undoubtedly be. It reminded me a lot of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in its format and presentation. I think it could have used a director's concept to tie the whole thing together. But you cant argue with success and reviews in hand. If there were three things I would have them work on it would be.

1) Everything they gave David Josefsberf. His Vegas headliner and Elvis impersonator songs added nothing to the proceedings.
2) Give Nancy Opel a pay off in the second act Garden of... scene. Her initial appearance is so sock-o tht you are waiting for something major in the second act. The build up to the scene is froth with comic expectation but nothing happens.
3) The Finale, the final scenes, it should explode rather than just unwind the way it does. They should call in the Kinky Boots crew to doctor it up.

My three quibbles aside I really enjoyed Honeymoon In Vegas and would recommend it as a fun night out.

Updated On: 10/27/13 at 10:07 PM

[SNAFU]

Posted: 10/27/13 at 10:39pm

My quibble with it was the set design, never felt I was in Vegas except then the glitzy slot machines were rolled in. Felt more like I was in a folksy chapel in Woodstock most of the time. I have never been in a brown Vegas hotel room.

[JayG]

Posted: 10/27/13 at 11:19pm

The reviews for this show were WAY, WAY over the top. It's so-so at best. Hardly ready for prime time. And I wasn't the only one who was puzzled by its critical reaction on the night I saw it.