If/then Reviews- Page 7

[haterobics]

Posted: 3/31/14 at 1:38am

New York Magazine echoes my take on it, as well. I do question why people always say things like this, though: "Lucas, bisexual in college, is gay in one story but straight (and in love with Beth) in the other."

Err, why can't he be bisexual in both stories... Bisexuals don't become gay when they are with a same-sex pairing and straight when in an opposite-sex pairing. They are bisexual all the time.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 3/31/14 at 1:40am

I am not even reading the reviews for this. I thoroughly enjoyed this, and I thought it was one of the best new musicals I have seen in a long time.

[SweetLips]

Posted: 3/31/14 at 1:43am

Appreciate your detailed and informative reply haterobics.

[blaxx]

Posted: 3/31/14 at 1:46am

Now, on to why I consider "If/Then" a front runner is that Tony likes to honor the show that takes a risk.

Bwhahahaha. You are kidding, right?

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 3/31/14 at 1:56am

"Now, on to why I consider "If/Then" a front runner is that Tony likes to honor the show that takes a risk."

Like that time last year when they gave Matilda (the darker and more stylized show) the Tony... oh wait.

[mjohnson2]

Posted: 3/31/14 at 1:56am

These reviews are kind of crushing to me. Not to offend the BWW community, but I never seem to find a user on here that I agree with, and it is usually the critics that I end up sharing an opinion with (aside from Billy Elliot...ugh) so to see all these negative reviews for If/Then is rough. I have (had?) so much faith in Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey after turning that awful mess of a show at the 2ST into the amazing masterpiece that is N2N, but now I worry. Well, guess I'll have to see it myself.

[SweetLips]

Posted: 3/31/14 at 1:57am

Haterobics- your comment re bisexuals made me remember and laugh--in a male meet/meat column I read 'I am 41 years old and have been gay now for 5 months'-at least he seems no longer confused. Sorry-slight divergence.

[chrisampm2]

Posted: 3/31/14 at 2:05am

FutureDirector, the Tonys were generous to N2N: score, actress, orchestrations. And the number featured on the show itself was the best of the night. I doubt the run would have been much, or any, longer if it had gotten the big award.

[blaxx]

Posted: 3/31/14 at 2:09am

I doubt the run would have been much, or any, longer if it had gotten the big award.

Actually, it has been almost fifteen years where the Best Tony award guarantees the show becoming a hit.

Since the year 2000, only one Best Musical winner has closed a flop.

[chrisampm2]

Posted: 3/31/14 at 2:31am

Yes, and N2N closed a hit.

[binau]

Posted: 3/31/14 at 4:40am

"I am not even reading the reviews for this. I thoroughly enjoyed this, and I thought it was one of the best new musicals I have seen in a long time."

I agree.

I can see how the score is unmemorable, at least on first listen (let's see how it sounds with repeated listens when the cast recording is released - there was just too much music to remember. I remember when I first listened to N2N I wasn't hooked). I can see how it might be confusing (it's a complicated show), and I can see how it might be boring (there aren't really extreme emotions), but in the end I just loved the idea and execution of the show. I can't believe this show might lose a nomination to Aladdin (which to be clear I remember being one of the few here in previews that didn't think it was that bad) or Rocky.

[fingerlakessinger]

Posted: 3/31/14 at 4:54am

I think that is what makes me the most upset about this. I can't believe that ALADDIN might beat IF/THEN out for a nomination for Best Musical. Its all personal taste of course, but to me, ALADDIN is not comparable to IF/THEN.

[After Eight]

Posted: 3/31/14 at 5:49am

"I can't believe this show might lose a nomination to Aladdin (which to be clear I remember being one of the few here in previews that didn't think it was that bad) or Rocky. "

I found both Rocky and Aladdin far superior to this ---- and a hell of a lot more entertaining.

The slightest decisions we make can have far-reaching consequences, Tell us something we don't know, please, or better yet, something that's worth commenting on, much less presenting in a dull, muddled 2 1/2 hour musical.

[indytallguy]

Posted: 3/31/14 at 6:03am

@ljay889

"I though the first act would never end, it was so monotonous. I really wanted to like this show, but it was just OK."

This.

[brdway411]

Posted: 3/31/14 at 6:19am

Aladdin and If/Then are not comparable. Aladdin is a better show. Maybe if they had waited another year and really mixed this POS, things would be different.
As for the comments about it being confusing or too much music to remember. I had no problems following it, I just didn't care after about 30 minutes. Also, I walked out of N2N feeling exhausted, in a good way, humming the "Hey" melody. I left If/Then bored, and could not think of one song on the way out. Or even one song I wanted to hear again.

[binau]

Posted: 3/31/14 at 6:25am

"Hey" is repeated at least three times in NEXT TO NORMAL, lol. Of course you are going to remember it.

[brdway411]

Posted: 3/31/14 at 6:34am

I am glad you brought that up, yes it was. But, the next thing I was humming was Super Boy and the Invisible Girl. I could not wait to get the cast recording. I don't care who sings the cast recording of If/Then, there was nothing there to make me want to hear it again.

[haterobics]

Posted: 3/31/14 at 6:38am

It is so strange to hear you say you didn't like the show... again... and again... and again.

For something that was so awful and unmemorable, you seem like you keep wanting to relive the torture it put you through.

You might want to get treated for PTSD if these symptoms persist.

[brdway411]

Posted: 3/31/14 at 6:42am

If they were smart, after the DC run and reviews, they should have come back to NYC and done another couple of work shops and really fixed it. Instead they patched over some of the problems and ended up with a crappy show and reviews. Like anyone involved in the show had anything better to do for the next year. They could and should have waited until it was ready.

Updated On: 3/31/14 at 06:42 AM

[brdway411]

Posted: 3/31/14 at 6:45am

I am disappointed more than anything else. I wanted to like it. Loved N2N, but this just was not even close to that caliber of musical. There was no wit, no charm.

[Theater'sBestFriend]

Posted: 3/31/14 at 7:17am

"I do question why people always say things like this, though: 'Lucas, bisexual in college, is gay in one story but straight (and in love with Beth) in the other.' "

Presumably it's because they're saying he's a bisexual person whose feelings and behavior differ in each story. The difference between behavior and identity is obvious. The context makes which they're referring to clear. You are right, though, they might have said he has a same-sex relationship in one story, but not the other.

Updated On: 3/31/14 at 07:17 AM

[haterobics]

Posted: 3/31/14 at 7:20am

So you wanted to like it, but didn't? That's art. That's life. Maybe you'll like their next show?

I just don't see why you feel so mortally wounded by this. That they tried to inflict a labor of love on you before you feel it was ready. Maybe this is the exact show they wanted to make? That is for them to decide. "Ready" is determined by the creative team, not the audience. And, most artists will admit that nothing is ever ready, it is merely done.

I think it was Stephen King who said he never finished a book, but he's published many.

As for hummable, here is what Sondheim had to say on that oft-used, but equally useless critique: "Everything is hummable. When they say my music is not, they're really saying it is not reminiscent of something else. Hummable is a meaningless word, and so is melodic. If a tune is heard often enough, it becomes hummable. The hits from shows are the tunes that are played four or five times during the course of the evening. The reprises. Well, I don't like to use reprises, because the emotional situations themselves do not recur. I've always thought reprises were fake."

So, yeah, you can leave Phantom and Les Miz with a tune in your head, since they drive it in there all night... other shows don't. N2N also repeated its music more, so yes, it was more memorable. Clearly the team is capable of doing that sort of thing, if they want to, which can only mean they chose to not do it this time. They could have subtly planted Always Starting Over in our head all night, so that when Idina finally sang it at the end, we were almost ready to hum along like it's a song we knew all along.

They could have, but they didn't.

Neither is better, just different.

Updated On: 3/31/14 at 07:20 AM

[haterobics]

Posted: 3/31/14 at 7:25am

"Presumably it's because they're saying he's a bisexual person whose feelings and behavior differ in each story. The difference between behavior and identity is obvious. The context makes which they're referring to clear."

If you said the character is bisexual and he ends up dating a woman in one story and a man in the other, what context is lost?

I don't want to get into a whole queer theory debate over bisexual invisibility, so I'll let you read its Wiki page instead.
Bisexual erasure/invisibility Wikipedia page

[Theater'sBestFriend]

Posted: 3/31/14 at 7:27am

"Like that time last year when they gave Matilda (the darker and more stylized show) the Tony..."

Uh, like that time last year when they gave Kinky Boots (a big budget Broadway musical about a serious genderqueer drag queen protagonist) the Tony.

[jayinchelsea]

Posted: 3/31/14 at 7:32am

Agree with earlier comments that this show will run as long as Idina wants to do it (anyone know how long her contract is for?) Without her, the show will be gone. With her, there are enough young women (and women in general) and gay men to fill up the theatre for some time to come.