LEMPICKA Reviews — Page 8

Something Rotten is the only show to do that kind of advertising well

MemorableUserName said: "And where is it from? In his Williamstown review he does refer to Gould's "often stirring, richly polyphonic music" but "blockbuster" is only used in reference to Evita ("Full points if you answered “Evita.” That’s the late-1970s blockbuster about Eva Perón," ). He doesn't say "a stirring blockbuster" anywhere, and a Google search didn't come up with a quote with that term either."

Actually Green didn't write the quote attributed to him in his review either. He said, "the condensing, rejiggering and flat-out fudging of the plot create a contextual blur" and "the musical is overeager to make her unconventionality palatable." Both "quotes" in the ad are random words cherry-picked from the reviews and put together.

they forgot to put "Closing May 5th" at the bottom.

This social post doesn’t feel clever to me at all, particularly because Brantley was describing an entirely different production that truly felt like a very, very different show than what is currently on Broadway. If they wanted to use this kind of marketing, at least take (real) quotes that are describing the same production.

To me, all this tells me is that they had a better show back in 2018 and made it worse (which, to me, is 100% true).

yyys said: "they forgot to put "Closing May 5th" at the bottom."

Once the Tony noms are announced on the 30th the reality will hit them and then the closing notice.

KevinKlawitter said: "gotta appreciate the chutzpah"

You know what? I admire the swing even if it's not going to sell a single seat.

What I don't admire is the lead producer posting BS like this on the Musk platform, especially on the day that he announces stars in a play!!!

Updated On: 4/16/24 at 10:56 PM

ErmengardeStopSniveling said:
What I don't admire is the lead producer posting BS like this on the Musk platform, especially on the day that he announcesstars in a play!!!"

Did he delete it? I'm not seeing anything. Or does anyone have a screenshot?

eta: Never mind. I don't know why it wasn't coming up but I tried it in another browser and it did.

Updated On: 4/16/24 at 11:23 PM

Greg Nobile

Thank God Adam is here to tell us what art is “not-great” so we can make room for things he personally deems more artful! Like adaptions and stars in plays!

Quote



Adam Feldman

@FeldmanAdam

·

Apr 15

Counterpoint: Time, money and Broadway theaters are not in unlimited supply. It is not the responsibility of audiences—including critics—to like and support everything artists create. Every not-great work of art is taking space and resources from other, potentially better ones.



This will turn off the TONY nominating community!

“Adaptations”, Greg.

I had to look up who Greg Nubile is. A producer on Enemy of the People and last year’s Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window is dunking on stars in plays? What?

And Michael Schulman for the win. He’s funny AND correct.

I just came in from tonight's performance. The orchestra was full (I was sitting in the rear, so I didn't see into the mezzanine). Before the show started, an announcement was made thanking the audience for "supporting new theater," which meet with whoops and applause from many of the audience members. The delivery of the announcement seemed odd because it sounded as if it was trying to defend new musicals as "good musicals." It was obvious (to me) that the show was heavily papered and many in the audience were friends and supporters of the cast and others associated with the show. When the spotlight shone on Eden on the park bench in the opening scene, again there was much whooping and applause, with some people giving her a standing O. People were screaming, whooping, and applauding after every number and Eden was enjoying a lot of audience support (despite my cringing during some of her songs). There was a lot of cheering and applause for the lesbian scenes (the first kiss, first bedroom scene, the opening of the Monocle). There was a large contingent of women sitting behind me wearing shirts identifying their advocacy for the LGBTQIA+ community who were particularly vocal during those particular scenes. I found the whole audience experience interesting, but I doubt the producers can sustain that type of audience for very long.

Personally, I don't think the critics were wrong, although some were unnecessarily harsher than others. I thought there was potential for a good show and that the story would be a lot more compelling had there been a less convoluted way to tell it. I didn't find the music to be anything more than serviceable, if that, and the choreography distracted me in many of the numbers. I got the impression that not everyone on the creative team shared the same vision, and they tried to appease everyone's ideas, detracting from the final product. I'm still trying to process what I saw tonight, and I really wanted to like it. It's certainly not the worst show I've ever seen. All I can think at this moment is that this show as musical theater is an art form trying to find its art (no pun intended given the subject). Again, just my opinion. I found the audience to be more interesting than the show.

Sigh. I know every show has to do what they can to stay in the conversation but this show choosing to become a self-appointed "martyr" for quality, underseen shows is just such a stretch and so obnoxious.

but this will close in early May and we'll all forget about it except for an occasional "remember when the Internet got weird about Lempicka" anecdote

"Putting out the message that an already struggling show is not for certain people may rally your core audience, but it's also explicitly telling a lot of other people not to come."

And message received, at least by me. Had thought of giving this a shot but the righteous indignation that a critic dared to not like their wonderful show in an attempt to rally the public to their side is a complete turn off for me and quite frankly a technique that I can't actually recall ever working.