KINKY BOOTS Reviews — Page 5

But there's a larger issue, Matt. I mean, kudos to these folk like Lauper for coming to the theatre district and writing some nice little songs. But where are the writers and composers that we should be nuturing? I"m sorry, but I dont see where we're going to find the next Sondheim or the next R&H or the next Cole Porter: people whose career choice was composing for the theatre, not using it as a busman's holiday.

And I'm gonna state that I love pop music. I think Adele and Will.i.am and even the "Call Me Maybe" just-add-water-instant-"star" are all great. But is this Broadway musical theatre stuff? It may sound elitist, but then again I prefer to think of it as comparing a bicycle with a sedan. Both get you where you want to go, but they do it in very different ways. And when most of these songwriters have trouble writing endings, let alone sufficient lyrics so they dont have to resort to 24 bars of "ooo oooo oooo"... well, it just compounds the problem.

And let's face it: there's a lot of very talented people out there getting passed over because they're not Cyndi Lauper, who's sufficiently a name that this score, as nice as it is (based on the extended clips I've seen on YouTube), can get produced despite its slight leanings towards mediocrity. This is a score no one will care about inside of five years. OKLAHOMA was written by a couple of then relatively unknowns, and it's still produced seventy years later. Are we encouraging anything with that kind of staying power? At current ticket prices, I damn sure hope so, because if anything, ticket prices are not gonna go down, and it'd be nice to feel we're giving the audience its money's worth.

Just my 0.02.

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Updated On: 4/5/13 at 09:07 PM

Off the topic, sort of, but I'm having a hell of a time getting a Lucky Guy ticket at the full published box office price ($152.00), not considering premium, which I can't afford. Do you think I might have some luck by chancing it at the last moment? Anyone? Oh, I'm limited to weekends, making the problem even worse. Thanks for any suggestions.

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"Just my 0.02."

My sentiments as well.

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Hi, Clyde. The reason I said "off topic" was because it didn't pertain to Kinky Boots, per se. But I realize a lot of the posters here have a lot more experience re: ticket availability than I, so I just threw it in. Mea culpa.

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Bunch of snobs. Many standards were "pop tunes" at one time.

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OT-Re, Lucky Guy

Ed,

Lucky Guy does sell standing room tickets, if you're interested. They go on sale at 6:00 for eves. Don't know what time for mats. You'd probably have to get there way in advance to stand on line for them, as the number of tickets is limited.

I havent been to one of the festivals in probably seven or eight years, so I doubt I could recall the specific names. But I do remember some really excellent pieces of work that are now probably shoved off in a drawer somewhere. And that's pretty sad.

And I havent heard anything from Korie and Frankel since GREY GARDENS, so I cant really comment on them. Their listings on Wikipedia and IBDB brought up shows I've never heard of.

And I agree that hiring pop composers isnt the main problem, but it's certainly a contributing one.

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Dude, please. No, they werent utter unknowns (yes, I"m aware of those little things written with Lorenz Hart), but they were unknowns as a team. And what they walked into the Theatre Guild with was very much untied material that went pretty far afield from what was then standard Broadway fare.

My point is that these two raised the creative bar, and raised it pretty high. Anyone these days doing that?

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I've seen the extended clips on YouTube, which producers place there as a sample of the best of the score's moments.

Sorry, but it's nice. It's not a classic, but it's okay. To be honest I expected something a bit more from Lauper, and the thin orchestrations arent helping her much. Sorry if that bothers you in the face of all the raves she's receiving from critics who, this season, havent seen or heard a lot of good scores... let alone original ones.

>> a healthy theater industry creates more opportunity for young talent

Then there's another issue, isnt it. Broadway may be going gangbusters financially, but this has been a borderline meh season creatively. Is this how you define healthy? Canned goods as theatre?

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Updated On: 4/6/13 at 08:21 AM

Dude, let's make it simple, since obviously that's what it takes.

What the producers put up there is a commercial, ostensibly designed to feature the best aspects of the product in question. If the commercial aint selling me, I aint gonna see it. And what this commercial is tell me is that it's a nice, acceptable, not terribly challenging show... for which I am expected to shell out about a hundred bucks to see.

Now, maybe you see nothing wrong with that, but I do. KB is the kind of show that, two decades ago, would have found a nice little home off-Broadway and probably would have enjoyed a healthy run. The fact that something that appears so mediocre the way the producers are showcasing it on social media tells me that the Great White Way has been reduced to just a bunch of theatrical theme park rides.

That's not for your drama professor. It's for your marketing professor.

And in case you're missing the message here: it's marketing that's doing its game level best to ruin Broadway.

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Time will tell.

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Let's be fair

There have been pop writers who have done well on Broadway:
Bachrach and David to name a pair. The Promises score is wonderful. Elton John is hit or miss on his scores.
Can you name some other successful popovers?


There have been pop writers who should be banished from Broadway:
Bono for Spiderman; whoever wrote that insipid score to Ghost;

There is an art to write for the Broadway musical which usually (not always) these pop writers do not have. I don't think Lauper's score is that good; its kind of repetitive actually and
relies on the repetition of the work "Yea, Yea, Yea." Kind of like the Beatles. Not exactly inspired lyrics but catchy in a "Shout" kind of way.