Hot Feet Reviews — Page 2

Theatremania is Negative:

"You've heard the statement, "Cold feet, warm heart"? Allow me to introduce you to a new expression: "Hot Feet, old hat." Triteness is the biggest sin committed by this show, which was inspired by a much better property, The Red Shoes. The scrim that greets us as we enter the Hilton Theatre may well be symbolic in that there's nothing on it.
Maurice Hines has "conceived, directed, and choreographed" a show that's more boring than terrible. Throughout musical theater history, the best choreography has come from good, basic ideas. "Who's That Woman?" in Follies shows us how even the greatest beauties age; "We'll Take a Glass Together from Grand Hotel celebrates a stock market killing. In Hot Feet, the opening number is just the opening number, with people dancing for no big reason. It's all part of "Victor Serpentine's Fire Dance Experience," a revue that offers many handsome and able bodies. So, what kind of choreography has Hines created? Right arm up as left leg is raised, left arm up as right leg is raised. Repeat. Repeat again. To quote a Tony-winning musical of yesteryear, "The word I think I'd use is 'athletic.' "
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Someday soon, you'll find Hot Feet listed in the very back pages of a catalogue from a company that licenses stock and amateur rights. Note to Disney: Save some money and don't move The Lion King to the Minskoff. The Hilton will soon be free for Mary Poppins."

http://www.theatermania.com/content/news.cfm/story/8160

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NY Sun is Negative:

"Perhaps the strangest moment in "Hot Feet" - and choosing just one moment isn't easy - arrives when the curtain drops on Act I and the house lights come up.

Usually, the presence of an intermission is completely normal. But coming in the middle of more than two hours of largely plotless, mindless, and enormously revved-up dance routines set to the tunes of the 1970s funk-soul-pop-jazz collective Earth Wind & Fire, the 15-minute respite creates a jarring hall-of-mirrors sensation: "Hot Feet" is in essence the first halftime show to have its own halftime.

This misbegotten brainchild of journeyman choreographer Maurice Hines is the latest and possibly weirdest jukebox musical yet to reach Broadway. Conceived as a sort of Alvin Ailey-meets-"The Red Shoes" hybrid, it shows a far more earthbound set of influences, including Janet Jackson's "Rhythm Nation" video and any number of rhythmic gymnastics routines, albeit without the ribbons. But the most predominant is "Satan's Alley."Yes, the unforgettably garish, fog machine-happy Broadway musical featured in the "Saturday Night Fever" sequel "Stayin' Alive" has finally made it to Broadway, at least in spirit.
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And yet the cast plugs away at these uninvolving and sometimes embarrassing dances, doing everything they can to keep the audience diverted from the absurd plot flaws. It's almost as if the entire company is wearing red shoes, forced to dance with fright ening virtuosity until they have to be carried off the stage.

Watching the company's strenuous efforts, I found myself frequently wishing for another book scene, just to give these admirable young men and women a breather. But then another book scene finally arrived. And the central lesson of "Hot Feet" registered loud and clear: When dealing with the devil, be very, very careful what you wish for."


http://www.nysun.com/article/31863

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Go back to the first page.

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NY Post gives it One Star (out of Four):

"SOME feet are hot and some feet are not so hot. Maurice Hines' dance- ical "Hot Feet," which limped en thusiastically into the Hilton The atre last night, is barely lukewarm.

Conceived, choreographed and directed by Hines, with music and lyrics by Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire, and book by Heru Ptah, "Hot Feet" tries to embrace an unfortunate mingling of Goethe's "Faust," Hans Christian Andersen's "The Red Shoes" and perhaps even "Damn Yankees." Goethe loses.
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The music - using former hits from Earth, Wind & Fire such as "Boogie Wonderland" and "After the Love Has Gone" together with new material written by White - washes over and around the scene not at all unpleasantly. Indeed, despite a certain over-amplification, it's the evening's most acceptable aspect.

In what is fundamentally a dance show, the real liability is the dance and the dancers.
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But, surely, if you intend to do a Broadway show where dance is the prime stage ingredient, then you need to recruit dancers of the quality Twyla Tharp got together for her Billy Joel musical, "Movin' Out."

There is a lot of enthusiasm onstage, and this alone may win friends if not influence critics, but any wary theatergoer peeling off bucks for tickets should take note that they will need to be extraordinarily happy with repetitious dance routines that extend across the evening like a roll of paper towels. "



http://www.nypost.com/theatre/65351.htm

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Really a shame because I love Earth, Wind & Fire.

Bobby, after seeing the show in DC, it seems as if it should have closed after the run here.

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USA Today gave it Two Stars:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/theater/reviews/2006-04-30-hot-feet_x.htm

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tnks for posting margo.

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This show is hell on earth. GOOD VIBRATIONS is Pulitzer worthy, compared to this.

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