Jason Robert Brown, Taylor Mac, Rob Ashford collaborating on MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL musical adaptation - Page 2

[KevinKlawitter]

Posted: 3/25/24 at 12:08pm

First casting announced: J. Harrison Ghee, Sierra Boggess, Tom Hewitt

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/25/24 at 12:33pm

Ghee is brilliant casting for this. I really can’t wait for August. 

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 3/25/24 at 8:21pm

What happened to Steven Pasquale? Tom Hewitt will be great, but that seems like quite a departure from the original casting of the lead.

[MichelleCraig]

Posted: 3/25/24 at 8:58pm

I’ve never seen the movie, but I couldn’t put the book down! It’s what they used to call a real page-turner… It’s well worth your time.

[ChiDoc]

Posted: 6/24/24 at 4:16pm

First preview is tomorrow night.  I'm looking forward to hearing others' reactions to this one!

[Robbie2]

Posted: 6/25/24 at 12:07am

 

https://www.goodmantheatre.org/show/midnight-in-the-garden-of-good-and-evil/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E-70oJR9fI

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil | Cast Interview | On Stage Jun 25 - Aug 4 | Goodman Theatre

[gleek4114]

Posted: 6/25/24 at 9:39am

Does anyone know if the Goodman has a stage door or reception area if actors choose to stop and sign/say hello? My friend I’m going with is a huge Sierra fan and really wanted to meet her if possible.

[WindyNewYorker]

Posted: 6/25/24 at 10:53am

Would very appreciate if anyone who attend the show could share what the orchestra made up in this thread. Thank you.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/25/24 at 11:42am

MichelleCraig said: "I’ve never seen the movie, but I couldn’t put the book down! It’s what they used to call a real page-turner… It’s well worth your time."

To my knowledge the novelist and the musical creative team all dislike the movie and want to distance themselves from it. (And technically it is only based on the book, not the movie.)

[Kad]

Posted: 6/25/24 at 11:46am

Very, very curious about this- the pairing of Taylor Mac and JRB is not an obvious one.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/25/24 at 11:50am

Kad said: "Very, very curious about this- the pairing of Taylor Mac and JRB is not an obvious one."

Yeah, and add to the mix Rob Ashford directing but not choreographing. It's kind of a shotgun marriage of a creative team, all with distinct styles. Hopefully that will work well and not be catastrophic!

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/25/24 at 11:56am

I think I'm going to go tomorrow night, so will report back.

[whatever2]

Posted: 6/25/24 at 12:26pm

extended one week, to August 11th

[theatreguy12]

Posted: 6/25/24 at 1:01pm

RippedMan said: "I think I'm going to go tomorrow night, so will report back."

Yes, please do!

I have been interested in this since hearing about it announced as an up and coming musical.

I always loved the book, and enjoyed the movie too.  Whenever it comes to a book being made into a movie, It will always be inevitably argued, movie or book (?) with the book usually being perceived as better than the movie in most cases.

But with this particular movie, it was so atmospheric, and I thought it shed some interesting light on the case, as well as the story behind it.   And definitely a picture postcard of love to the city of Savannah.  Even if not exactly a replica of the book, it brought the book to life in many ways.

And I did see an interview with Berendt, and he said he thought Eastwood did a good job with it and he really enjoyed the movie.  Maybe he has distanced himself from that opinion since then?

Either way, I'm looking forward to hearing reviews on this.  And if they're good, I might need to do a weekender to Chicago to see it.  

One thing I found interesting though is looking at the cast and the characters they are playing, it seems some major players in the book/movie have been left out.  Unless they've just been renamed.  Like the movie did with some of them.

Looking forward to hearing back on the reviews, and how Mercer's music is intertwined with the score.

 

Updated On: 6/25/24 at 01:01 PM

[bway1430]

Posted: 6/25/24 at 5:22pm

There are now no Mercer songs in the score. That was an intention some time ago but the show has been redeveloped with a brand new score from Jason Robert Brown. 

I look forward to hearing from those catching previews.

[BalconyClub]

Posted: 6/25/24 at 6:36pm

Tuesday night’s first preview is sold out. The Goodman has about 850 seats.

[Matt Legg]

Posted: 6/26/24 at 1:02am

I was there opening night in the front row.  The show begins kind of oddly with about 5-7 minutes of silence and characters slowly walking across the stage.  I suppose it was to set the mood, but it was rather long and awkward with audience members with the random cough, sneeze, etc.

Then finally the set comes to life, and I will say the large moving set pieces and lavish costumes were a true highlight.

This is basically a one person show for Ghee. They live on the stage and the audience eats up every moment.  Part of me thought a bio-pic for The Lady Chablis might have been a better show.  Some great songs for Ghee, especially the opener of act 2 and the 11 o'clock number near the end.  Many genuinely funny lines for them... the truly excellent part of the show.

Sierra is so wasted as one of the five society women.  I loved seeing her on stage, but really there was nowhere for her character to go. She has a song (maybe two) but mostly just sings amongst the ensemble.  I had similar feelings when seeing the great Faith Prince in the background of Boop.

Without spoiling too much, the actual "crime" occurs at the very end of act 1.  The hearings/appeals are rushed in about 2 minutes via cue cards.  Everything about the crime and Tom's time on stage just feels like filler for the Lady Chablis show.

The Minerva role seems even smaller than it did in the movie.  There's more time devoted to a whole subplot with a girl becoming a debutante (she has a pretty decent song).

So overall a mixed bag.  The audience loved it.  I would have been just as happy with an evening of J Harrison Ghee.  Hopefully they will tinker with it to make it better.

And as a side note, the Goodman has never done so much inside the lobby for a show.  Trees, statues, Savannah neon, backdrops... I had a good time in the lobby! 

[Menken Fan]

Posted: 6/26/24 at 1:04am

Just saw the first preview, and while I think it's unfair to review something at this stage, I do have some thoughts to share.

Overall, I thought the show was frustratingly unfocused, both in plot and style. It's unclear what is the central story that we should care about and almost feels like just a character study of the various residents of Savannah. There is no reporter/writer character in this musical. Instead, a number of characters directly address the audience with lines like "oh, you must be that writer," but that conceit goes away after the first act. There are other moments of direct interaction with the audience, including sing-alongs.

Since the book and movie have been around for decades, I don't think it's a spoiler to say the murder is here, which you might assume is the main plot. However, the murder doesn't happen until just before the end of act one. Also, we don't ever see the actual killing, and there are only a couple scenes in act two that follow up on that. There is apparently a trial and conviction, but we don't really know how that happened. No discussion of any evidence for or against. And three appeals take place within one song, again with no details supporting their different outcomes.

That plot is significantly overshadowed by the presence of The Lady Chablis (J. Harrison Ghee), who is honestly the best thing about this show.  Such personality, talent, and humor, but it's not really clear what she has to do with anything. They have a big introductory number in the club, which echoed heavily of The Land of Lola. They have the most songs, all performance numbers, and the most entertaining scenes, but they are in a different show.  A different very entertaining show.  Every time Ghee wasn't onstage, I found myself anxiously waiting for their return. The Lady Chablis has a sidekick in this show, kind of her Sancho Panza or Elder Cunningham.

Tom Hewitt is fine as the lead, convincingly portraying a southern gentleman, but saddled with snoozer songs and scenes, including a love song to his house. Austin Colby as the victim is very appealing "eye candy", as one of the society ladies points out (in one of the many anachronistic pieces of dialogue). Sierra Boggess's character of the preservationist rival to the lead has not much to do and, again, nothing to do with the main story. Her group of southern ladies have even less to do, and one of them gets an entire random song. It is great however to see Jessica Molaskey and Chicago legend Mary Ernster though.

The voodoo princess starts the show, with another voodoo-y scene in act two, but doesn't do much either. The opening scene of the show is a silent scene of her in the cemetery with ghosts (?) of Savannah walking around. It goes on a little too uncomfortably long before anything happens.

There's a black debutante who somehow figures into the happenings, but I seriously don't remember how she fit in. She did have a song of her own too, something about clapping on the ones and threes.

The show ends with a group number about butterflies.

Finally, for now, the music didn't really excite me. Other than some of Ghee's numbers, the score seemed like a lot of mid-tempo jazzy numbers. I would never have guessed it was a Jason Robert Brown score, but since I do know that, I'd say it's closer to the style of Honeymoon in Vegas than his other works. 

I'll be going again toward the end of the Chicago run and will see if anything changes significantly during the run.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/26/24 at 1:37am

Oh dear, the complaints above give me flashbacks to the townsfolk in BRIDGES (which we all blamed on Sher and Marsha Norman but maybe JRB deserves a slap on the wrist for that too).

[Matt Legg]

Posted: 6/26/24 at 1:54am

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Oh dear, the complaints abovegive me flashbacks to the townsfolk in BRIDGES (which we all blamed on Sher and Marsha Norman but maybe JRB deserves a slap on the wrist for that too)."

A totally valid observation!  Sierra and the other four walked in a group of 5 for pretty much the entire show, not really adding anything to the plot or story.  At least the church ladies in Color Purple have tea to spill.

There were songs listed in the Playbill, though I am not sure they were all performed.  Minerva is listed as a singer on the Act 1 finale, though I don't remember her up there.  She also has a song listed at the end which I don't recall.  As MenkenFan mentioned, "This Old House" was a low point in the songs... a spoken word ballad with no tune or melody about a house. 

 

[theatreguy12]

Posted: 6/26/24 at 2:17am

I suppose this shouldn’t come as a total surprise regarding the characters, and those questions surrounding what this character or that character had to do with what’s going on. As I recall, the movie made it seem like there were more people from the town who were involved in the proceedings, but very few actually were. Including Chablis.
You had this murder and scandal at the crux of this story…but then you just had these quirky Savannah residents coming in and out of the story with minor ties (if any at all) to the goings on. 
What drove the movie was linear storytelling that made it seem like all the characters were involved with the case, or at least were close enough to provide their knowledgeable input into what was happening. 
I remember the book being more focused on vignettes about the different quirky people in the town, with the court case being the most compelling part around which these vignettes were told. And Lavella, who apparently has a song (?), was not even a fleshed-out character in the movie or book. Chablis just mentions her in passing at the Black Debutantes Ball. 
This is why it’s interesting to hear which route they took in telling this story as a musical. 
Thanks for sharing.

Updated On: 6/26/24 at 02:17 AM

[BalconyClub]

Posted: 6/26/24 at 8:16am

To answer some of the questions upthread, several gracious cast signed Playbills and posed for photos at the stage door Tuesday night. The stage door is IN the main lobby south of the ticket windows.

Conductor Thomas Murray led an orchestra of 12.

1 - piano, keyboard, electric guitar

2 - keyboard, percussion

3 - acoustic and electric bass

4 - drum set, percussion

5 - acoustic and electric guitar

6 - violin

7 - cello

8 - woodwinds

9  - trumpet

10 - trombone, euphonium

11 - trombone 

12 - bass trombone, tuba

 

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 6/26/24 at 8:38am

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Oh dear, the complaints abovegive me flashbacks to the townsfolk in BRIDGES (which we all blamed on Sher and Marsha Norman but maybe JRB deserves a slap on the wrist for that too)."

JRB said that he always envisioned that show as an octet, and the ensemble was added by Sher, so I think he gets a pass.

[BalconyClub]

Posted: 6/26/24 at 8:43am

Act One Numbers

Bonaventure

Mercer House

The Shed Shack

Let There Be Light

Savannah is Restored

Since My Mama Died

Jim and Danny

Lift Her Up

The Empress of Savannah

Finale Act 1

Act Two Numbers

True Crime

Sad House

What a Ride

Reasonable Doubt

Clap On One and Three

It Takes Your Breath Away

Restoration

More Room (not listed in program - Ghee’s 11 o’clock number)

Rotten to the Core

Butterflies
 

 

Updated On: 6/26/24 at 08:43 AM

[ChiDoc]

Posted: 6/26/24 at 11:44am

In its current state, this is a mixed bag.  Most notably, it is currently unfocused and too scattershot.  I think the second act is stronger and gives a clearer picture of what story they're trying to tell and how it could cohere.  The rest of my party thought it was much more of a mess than I did (especially my friend who read the book, as he said it had an entirely different narrative focus), but I think this can turn into an effective show about community and how to renovate the system to allow for inclusion.

Musically, I think there are a lot of nice numbers, but there's not necessarily a stand-out banger in the way most JRB shows have.  My boyfriend noted that it didn't sound like any of JRB's other scores to him, but for me, it's closest in line with the gospel and jazz numbers from his two solo albums.  There is a hint of Southern Gothic in the occasional Voodoo sequences, but I think that should recur more frequently if the show is going to start with those four minutes of silence (which, it also shouldn't; that silence is brutal and not in tone with the show that follows).

This is the J Harrison show, and I think there's a way to make everything else work more around them.  Fortunately, unlike some Chicago tryouts (*cough Devil Wears Prada and Paradise Square cough*), it sounds like they are already in the process of revising (renovating? restoring?) the show.  I will check back in in a couple weeks on opening night to see how it changes!