L5Y — Page 2

i've seen two productions. i saw the california premiere at laguna playhouse with kim huber and rick cornette, which was absolutely incredible. i didn't expect to be too impressed simply because I've got Norbert and Sheri so engrained in my head as those parts, but Kim and Rick really made the roles their own. i also saw the speakeasy stage production with dramafreak (who I haven't seen since the Tony's by the way!) and was less impressed by the talent. mainly i thought the actors in boston played it rather safely and seemed unsure of their voices' ability to handle the difficult score. in both productions the set was very simplistic, which it has to be unless you want the actors lugging stuff around during the 2-second transitions between every song.

i wouldn't quite call the show a "sing-through" as long as its staged and acted properly. true, there isn't much more than what is on the CD but a good production brings out the theatricality written into the score.

dramafreak, call me! we need to go see Ragtime!

---

I saw the show in Philadelphia at Philadelphia Theatre Company.
It was amazing.
The set was minimal and the show had a ton of dark sea blue lighting very much like a van gogh painting.
The thing I LOVED was that they used projections in color and black and white of pictures of Jamie and Cathy...like of things that would have been going on in their life during each song. and they were just normal pics...like ones you would take of your boyfriend or girlfriend around the house...and cathy's headshot for certain things and during the "next ten minutes" sequence when its all " i do" and they're getting married and such the stage and back drop EVERYTHING was all wedding pics...and the projections hit the actors as well...it was this warm sun light lighting and they were just holding eachother and the wedding pictures were projecting and filling the room...it was something i will never forget.