I Finally Saw "Bridges Of Madison County" — Page 4

Hey jdrye, I completely agree with you about Whitney. I too hope she's nominated but that would be a long shot. I can't wait to hear more from this woman.

Elena was incredible in the show last night! She didn't miss a beat, even with all the changes to the show since she played the role in Williamstown. Looking around, if anyone was initially disappointed that Kelli was out for the night, they weren't by the end of the first act, and the tears streaming down many faces by the end of the show solidified it. Elena can not only carry a Broadway show, but absolutely transform herself, leaving an audience heartbroken and in love at the same time. Her voice sounds better than ever, and her comedic timing is on point. The chemistry she has with Steven is palpable, it's like they've been playing opposite one another from the beginning of the show's run. I can't help but think that more tickets would be sold with Elena in this role permanently.

If you really are a "fan" you'd know that just because it was on TV, that was hardly her biggest role to date. I'm beginning to think that die hard fans of Kelli are just blinded by their devotion to her, and don't like to hear that someone could actually play a role as well as, if not better than she can. Maybe the shine is off this diamond. Time to make room for new talent.

I have never seen Kelli in anything else, so I think I went into “Bridges” with a fairly blank slate in regards to her, and found her performance to be absolutely wonderful. One of the most moving performances by an actress I have seen in a long time. I certainly don’t think that there is any “shine off this diamond.”

And, considering the rave reviews by both critics and audience members that Kelli has received, I don’t think it’s her performance that is keeping ticket sales low (in fact, I think it is likely the excellent word of mouth about her and Steven’s performances that are the reasons people are coming to the show). I am sure that Elena is great in the role, but I think it’s a little ridiculous to assert that she would boost ticket sales when someone with a bigger Broadway name is currently getting raves in the role. It’d be one thing if many were thinking the show would be good if it weren’t for its leading lady, but it’s actually quite the opposite: many feel that it’s O’Hara’s performance that elevates the show so much.

All I'm saying is, with the core group of leading ladies who have covered most of the leading roles on Broadway over the past 5-10 years, it would be nice to see some fresh faces dominating the stage. Not speculating on sales boosts, just a nice change of pace and talent.

I also went into the show never hearing Kelli O'Hara live andi downloaded her solo albums immediately after. Her voice is pure gold. That's not saying that no one is better, but not only is Kelli a leading lady, she actually has the vocal talent to back up her name.

For the record, I'm not trying to hate on Miss O'Hara in any way, I just think there are other equally talented performers out there who for whatever reason haven't had the exposure she has yet. Now look at these awesome pictures of slugs and have a great weekend.
http://www.boredpanda.com/snail-macro-photography-vyacheslav-mishchenko/

This was simply the best musical I've seen in years.

Heartbreaking, moving, and performed to absolute perfection. It's head and shoulder above EVERY other show this season IMO. And the score is just sublime. I just hope it survives longer.

I also saw it tonight and actually really hated it. The first act started well but once the lovers met it became song after song of vamping on the will they/won't they/we know they will theme. Another Life was the highlight of the show, but otherwise I was very bored. I can't account for my complete inability to warm up to the characters, but I just really didn't care what happened to them. Most likely because I'm not all that into romances. But it becomes incredibly tedious to watch them kiss and have sex and declare their love for one another for most of the middle of the show. And then when Francesca's family finally returned I just couldn't care about whether she chose to stay with them or not. To me, the catalyst for the family's big fight seemed incredibly shoehorned in, and I found myself rolling my eyes at "Dontchu sass me, boy."

I can see why people will have loved it - it's in the vein of The Light in the Piazza, which I enjoyed. In both cases I wasn't as blown away by the score as everyone else was, which I suppose speaks to my taste. All in all for me it was just a tremendously boring, irritating show.

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^You're not wrong. Some of the songs are folksy and Hunter Foster has a bit of a country twang, but like I said before it's not redneck country. They live in Iowa so of course some of them will have that accent. I'd say the values of family that come up are more southern than anything. The whole "You're Never Alone" song I feel like has a southern 'charm' to it, but never once did I hear pure country or even outright religious sounds from it.

I live in a country part of VA (unfortunately) and I 100% despise country music which is played here all the fricken time. This score doesn't turn me off at all. (:

The music is gorgeous. There are only a few songs with a bit of a country-feel to it, but it is not really country (having lived in Nashville for a few years). It's more operatic, if anything. I'm atheist, and I've never liked country music. I didn't have even the slightest problem with the music from Bridges; in fact, it is one of my favorite scores! I had more of a problem with the music from Violet - too country/gospel for me.

Hello gorgeous!

A friend who attended tonight's performance said Steven Pasquale performed this evening as usual and looked/sounded fine. She hadn't even known he'd been out this afternoon.