"Honeymoon in Vegas" Preview Thread — Page 8

I don't think it's knocking flying through Atlanta in anyway. It's just supposed to be funny because it's so far out of the way. How would it make any sense to go from Honolulu to Atlanta and then back to Vegas?
It's a sort of commentary on bizarre airline routes.

I think the heart of the humor of the song is the fact that Atlanta is the busiest airport hub in the US, and has been for a long time.

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Just got back from tonight's preview and oh boy do I have some thoughts.

First of all... Brynn O'Malley has GOT to go. I don't get the appeal of her at all - she's such an "adequate" performer. She's fine, she's okay... but I could list 20 other actresses that would be fantastic in the part. I hate being this cold toward performers but man I kept thinking "what a missed opportunity".

I have to agree with everyone else who has said that show is just "okay", because it is. It's not great, but it's not bad. But I'm having a hard time understanding how JRB went from Bridges to... this. I appreciate his versatility but I can't find his signature in this at all. It sounds like an attempt at Cy Coleman's style mixed with Shaiman and Wittman. It's easily accessible, completely commercial... but just somehow misses the mark at being great.

The show needs to be funnier somehow. All of the jokes got tepid laughter. Nancy Opel is working her ass off with her material but by the end it's just not funny anymore. Rob McClure is fantastic but deserves better, and Tony Danza is... fine. He was exactly what I expected.

"A Little Luck" needs to be rewritten or cut - the action flat out stops with this song when the show could really benefit from a push here. I loved Tony's tapping and it was a nice surprise, but it should either be placed somewhere else in the show or with a more upbeat song. The show could speed along excitedly into its ending if the song was gone but instead we get another midtempo one.

I thought the orchestra was fantastic and the set was nice, the projections didn't bother me except for the Flying Elvis's "landing".

Oh also, the singing at the end of the bows should be cut too. We had a sporadic standing o (maybe like half the orchestra stood up?) for when Rob and Brynn took their bows, but then the cast starting singing and it was that awkward moment where we could either clap along, or sit back down. Most of us sat back down.

I think the show really has potential - I feel like these are such easy fixes and hopefully they are working on them. I had a lot of fun tonight but I just keep thinking how much better the show could be.

Also, Gaelen Gilliland needs a raise. She's completely owns it as an ensemble performer and her singing in the "Airport Song" is a stand out.

Updated On: 12/3/14 at 11:48 PM

Caught last night's preview. Agree about Gilliland having a standout voice. I was pleasantly surprised by Danza's nimble feet. His singing may not be top drawer, but it fit his Tommy--a lounge lizard-like smoothie glossing over the darker parts of his character. Rob McClure is such a wonderful physical comedian; I enjoyed his panicky scenes, especially with Nancy Opel. And David Josefsburg steals every scene he's in with his multiple characters. I'm neutral on Brynn O'Malley.

But having never heard the score before, I felt a little let down, especially on the heels of the gorgeous BRIDGES score. A few times I thought a song was going to rise up there, only to peter out. As to "Out of the Sun," it's a mixed bag of shock and dark humor, but it changes the tone too much and should probably be jettisoned. Some songs were OK, but they didn't stay with me on a first hearing. When the only musical bit that truly stays with you is the Flying Elvises singing, "Jump, jump, jumpety jump" over and over again, there's something amiss. Still, often I grow to like a score more after repeated listenings, so I plan to see it again during late previews.

I'm hopeful it can be tinkered with enough to propel VEGAS (HIV would be an ill-advised acronym) from fairly OK to very entertaining.

Updated On: 12/4/14 at 09:11 AM

Possible SPOILER!!!!

I laughed so much during the performance I saw yesterday. This show feels like an homage to the shows from the 60's: light, breezy, fun score and you CARE about the characters. O'Malley touched me during Anywhere But Here and had me laughing when she beats up McClure with her shopping bags: very Roz Russell with an edge. Danza is a charmer and having not seen the movie, his scam was a total surprise in the second act: I audibly gasped! McClure is a neurotic riot and so wonderful and sooooo different than his Chaplin. Yes, the show is long, needs cutting in spots and it will take some time to tighten up I'm sure, but it is a delightful piece, highlighted by a surprising departure for Brown and his score and beautifully orchestrated: Those musicians are wonderful!!! I love the trumpet players in the overture and the violin riffs in the entre acte!!!

Updated On: 12/4/14 at 10:55 AM

In case anyone is interested - I rushed this show yesterday and got to the box office around 11:00am for the matinee and got G3 in the orchestra. Amazing seat. I don't think getting a full view orchestra seat close to the front is a common thing so I guess I just got lucky!

re: little_sally

I would say that "Anywhere But Here" is her big solo number and is also where we learn more about her motivation so that we care more about her by the time she sings "Betsy's Getting Married"

The show is not meant to be a deep character study into Betsy, it is a comedy based on an outrageous situation.

I would compare to Gentlman's Guide - do we get any better development of the female love interests in that show? I don't think we do - and it is fine because that is not important to what the show is trying to accomplish.

Updated On: 12/4/14 at 03:02 PM

To the poster above who asked if it bothered anyone else when the main character and one of the Elvises just stepped out of the "in-flight" plane to do some choreography and then stepped back in - Yes!!! - that was super-distracting! It made me start thinking about those Looney Tunes cartoons where Wile E Coyote steps off a cliff and doesn't start falling until he realizes that he has stepped off the cliff. All i could think about was how weird it was that in this Broadway play the staging invokes the "Cartoon Laws of Physics", and i completely stopped hearing the lyrics for a while after that due to the distraction. I hope that they fix that horrendous staging in the previews.

Updated On: 12/4/14 at 06:37 PM

"We eagerly await the cast album. "

It's out already.

Hey New

From your snotty tone, it sounds like you are rehearsing to play Scrooge in A Christmas Carol

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i love when people use the excuse "its not supposed to be high art so we will excuse all the bad plot points, songs in weird places, poor staging, and bad performances".

this is broadway. This is regarded as the height of professionalism in the art form. Even if its just "fun" like a kinky Boots or a Motown, or on the town, it should still be done with a sense of good acting, good singing, good direction, good transitions, great music and a good linear story line.

Just saying "its just stupid fun. enjoy it". doesn't fly when people are dropping 125.00 in tix prices.

Seeing it this afternoon. Got there at about 7 minutes to 12 and there were about 8 people ahead of me for rush tics (and the theater people were nice enough to let them wait inside because it's freezing). This couple had gotten there much earlier because they read on some site that the Box office opened earlier than 12 on Sunday - the site was wrong. Box office guy said he would report the error and get it corrected.

I got one tick mid-mezz, so it seems the rush seats are all over. I have been in the mid mezz of this theater before and I am sure it will be fine.

Totally disagree but everyone is entitled to their opinion.No matter what even a show universally praised will not be liked by some. Take Mormon. We hated it with a passion. Others would sell members of their own family for a ticket.

Hope it succeeds but I am jaded enough to realize it probably will not. A shame but life goes on. I used to care and feel bad when a show we liked closed.No more.

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