#1
Posted: 4/25/08 at 3:11am
Mr. Bleamire and Mr. Gardiner must either have powerful friends or very rich parents...because no where in my right mind can I understand how this show ever made it to broadway. I am used to a quality when I spend 100 on a ticket for a broadway show. Even if it doesnt have spectacle, I want polish.
Point blank the show is all-around amateurish. The set is non-existent and looks like they pulled it off of the street when SPELLING BEE closed and threw its stuff out. The lighting and costumes are so plain that I wonder if they even hired a designer for either of them. But the worst offenders are the lyrics and the direction. There is nothing worse then knowing that the lyricist didn't know what to write for a phrase of music. Several times I cringed over an awful rhyme or a topical reference that had nothing to do with the progression of the song. There is also only so much left and right and up and down movement that you can take. By the end of the show I wanted someone to fall just to break up the monotony of the awful blocking they had. I mean what kind of direction did he give them? Oh and the 'surprisingly moving' thing that everyone keeps talking about is nothing more than one of the friends coming out, and the aftermath and reconciliation of the event. It's 2008, and thats not really shocking anymore. I don't care at all that one of the characters is gay. So what?
The music was not that bad, but it also wasn't that good. It all kinda sounded the same and I actually had to ask myself towards the end of the show if I was hearing a reprise of an earlier song. It's all the same chord progression and the same rhythm but just in different keys. The harmonies were tight and sounded great at first, but you can tell that bleamire is a fan of boy bands because that's the harmony sound he tried to emulate. Unfortunately this vocal style doesn't necessarily fit his overall style of music. Honestly, and I may be way way off base here, but it kinda sounds like one person wrote the vocal arrangements and melody, and another wrote the underscoring, because several places they just consistently didn't mesh.
The actors were all forgettable with little charisma or charm. No one really outstanding or showstopping. They did their best with what the material and direction gave them, so it's not really their fault. I don't feel I can truly judge the actors overall because they definitely were not utilizing 100% of what they are capable of. I could tell they were holding back as performers--not quite sure of what to do and if it was right or wrong--again a directorial issue. Andrew Call was the exception though and made an absolute fool of himself on stage. His character was so overbearing it made my head hurt.
I kinda had high hopes when I heard that a few 23 year olds were bucking the trend and had a show coming in. We need things that are fresh and new and exhilarating. Unfortunately we also need some quality control here. GLORY DAYS might have passed for an off (off) broadway show, or even a concert or something, but never in my 20 years of seeing broadway theatre have I ever seen anything like this on the great white way.
Point blank the show is all-around amateurish. The set is non-existent and looks like they pulled it off of the street when SPELLING BEE closed and threw its stuff out. The lighting and costumes are so plain that I wonder if they even hired a designer for either of them. But the worst offenders are the lyrics and the direction. There is nothing worse then knowing that the lyricist didn't know what to write for a phrase of music. Several times I cringed over an awful rhyme or a topical reference that had nothing to do with the progression of the song. There is also only so much left and right and up and down movement that you can take. By the end of the show I wanted someone to fall just to break up the monotony of the awful blocking they had. I mean what kind of direction did he give them? Oh and the 'surprisingly moving' thing that everyone keeps talking about is nothing more than one of the friends coming out, and the aftermath and reconciliation of the event. It's 2008, and thats not really shocking anymore. I don't care at all that one of the characters is gay. So what?
The music was not that bad, but it also wasn't that good. It all kinda sounded the same and I actually had to ask myself towards the end of the show if I was hearing a reprise of an earlier song. It's all the same chord progression and the same rhythm but just in different keys. The harmonies were tight and sounded great at first, but you can tell that bleamire is a fan of boy bands because that's the harmony sound he tried to emulate. Unfortunately this vocal style doesn't necessarily fit his overall style of music. Honestly, and I may be way way off base here, but it kinda sounds like one person wrote the vocal arrangements and melody, and another wrote the underscoring, because several places they just consistently didn't mesh.
The actors were all forgettable with little charisma or charm. No one really outstanding or showstopping. They did their best with what the material and direction gave them, so it's not really their fault. I don't feel I can truly judge the actors overall because they definitely were not utilizing 100% of what they are capable of. I could tell they were holding back as performers--not quite sure of what to do and if it was right or wrong--again a directorial issue. Andrew Call was the exception though and made an absolute fool of himself on stage. His character was so overbearing it made my head hurt.
I kinda had high hopes when I heard that a few 23 year olds were bucking the trend and had a show coming in. We need things that are fresh and new and exhilarating. Unfortunately we also need some quality control here. GLORY DAYS might have passed for an off (off) broadway show, or even a concert or something, but never in my 20 years of seeing broadway theatre have I ever seen anything like this on the great white way.
