Ladies and Gentleman....Taye Diggs is your next Hedwig- Page 11

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 7/22/15 at 10:57pm

Tonight felt more like a first preview than the actual first preview with NPH. The show didn't get out until 10:15, which tells you how much a problem there was with pacing. Diggs brings something interesting to the part and vocally I liked what he did, but the book scenes rambled on and it felt like he wasn't comfortable with the flow of the narrative yet. There was a lot of repeating the beginning of stories, and Diggs attempted to play it off as if Hedwig was having trouble keeping track of where he was in his saga, and perhaps this was all a character choice, but often it felt like he was searching for a line.

He is an imposing figure and all those muscles make for a very sexually charged Hedwig. There was a fair amount of acknowledgement that he was indeed a black Hedwig, which was funny. There were some new bits for him and Rebecca, but with the length of the performance it was hard to appreciate any additional material. 

He didn't fall into the trap of making Hedwig to wild and manic; he definitely was going for something more low-key in the JCM/Michael C Hall vein.

There seemed to be a problem with his make up running and getting into his eyes. (He made a crack about them putting stuff for caucasians on his face, which got a laugh, but I think whatever was going on genuinely was irritating his eyes and that could account for some of the pacing problems.)

If you haven't bought your tickets yet, I would suggest waiting a week or two so he can settle into the role.

[skies]

Posted: 7/22/15 at 11:07pm

"Not for nothing, but houses are always full on opening nights. Friends, industry, paying patrons, papering, etc. 
!"

Which is why I said 'hopefully' it was a harbinger.  No need to think you have to give BW 101 to others..

 

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/22/15 at 11:09pm

"If you haven't bought your tickets yet, I would suggest waiting a week or two so he can settle into the role."

 Thanks. I will.

[VotePeron]

Posted: 7/22/15 at 11:10pm

Didn't see the show tonight, but heard from a friend he raced out of the (very crowded) stage door a few minutes ago saying he had somewhere to be, and didn't sign anything. 

[Jane2]

Posted: 7/22/15 at 11:19pm

"No need to think you have to give BW 101 to others.."

Oh dear, relax. It doesn't hurt to learn something new every day!

[ChiTheaterFan]

Posted: 7/22/15 at 11:23pm

OK so obviously if you've been seeing my posts today you know I'm a huge Taye Diggs fan, so take my comments with that in mind, but what a wonderfully different Hedwig he is.  There were some ways in which his take really surprised me.  Of all the Hedwigs, his seemed the most sorrowful--in comparison with Criss, whom I saw on Saturday, his relationship with Yitzhak was more gentle and less angry (although of course there are the required angry moments).  His Hedwig somehow has a tenderness that I didn't see in the others--almost maternal.  It felt to me like this part of the character was an intentional contrast to his raw physicality.  (Those guns!  Those thighs!  That man is pure muscle.)  At the same time, he is outwardly strong and crazy fierce.  But more than any of the other Hedwigs, I felt that part of the character was covering a real sorrow inside.  To me, I coul dfeel the attempts to cover the internal insecurity and pain.  (Some of that may be reflecting some real opening night jitters--more on that later--but for me it worked.) 

The jokes they've tailored for him are fantastic.  I don't want to spoil them here (if folks are interested I can start another thread with spoiler in the title) but they were probably my favorite jokes of the Hedwigs I have seen.  They did keep the Idina Menzel joke, which made the audience absolutely go wild.

His voice is much more soulful.  His Wicked Little Town is particularly unique and I really loved it.  He adds some riffs that really work.  I also loved midnight radio, although it's a very different midnight radio--again more riffs and less power.  However, I'm sure there will be people who do not care for the way they have changed the songs--particularly the harder rock songs.  They have definitely lowered it a bit to fit his voice and he sings it in a different way--he just doesn't have the upper range to do the same arrangement, but his lower range is really strong and quite beautiful.  I particularly noticed the changes in Exquisite Corpse which sounded completely different--I suspect some will not like it but to me, that song is just about raw anger so his performance was more important, and I enjoyed it.  I definitely felt the slower songs are where he really shines. 

His movements on stage are much different too--he is clearly not nearly as flexible.  But they actually play on this a little, really hamming it up when Yitzhak takes the sheet music off his foot.  Again, I thought it worked with his Hedwig, and he is a good dancer--it's just different moves.  He does a cool robot type move and some others they've added that suit his talents very well.

I will admit that the show was definitely not perfect tonight.  His delivery was a little slow in some lines, especially in the beginning, and it sometimes seemed like he wasn't 100% sure of his lines in parts.  He flubbed a couple, including one where he said (in character) "I f---d up the joke, pretend you didn't hear that."  It actually worked out brilliantly because it was right before the drummer messes up the ba-dum-ching, and he said "even though I had to do it again you couldn't get it right--first I f----d up the joke and then you f--- it up again."  There were also a couple times the dancing felt a bit stiff and I think he was overthinking.  (Definitely seemed like some nerves.)  But it's his first night on broadway in like 12 years so I can't fault him, and I expect he'll shake off those jitters soon.

 

I really felt like this was a different show than the one I saw Saturday.  As with any Hedwig, there will be some who love his unique approach and others who hate it.  I am in the love camp.

The audience clearly loved him.  He got a standing ovation for his entrance, raucous cheers throughout the show, and a HUGE ovation and cheers during curtain call.  It was a very different audience, which was really cool to see.  Extremely diverse--I mean every age group, race, and walk of life seemed well represented.  One of the things I love about Hedwig is each Hedwig seems to draw a very different crowd--it's clear Taye's fan base is pretty broad and spans a lot of demographics, so I hope this is promising for a successful run.

I'll be seeing him again in September so I'm looking forward to seeing him again after he's settled in a bit more!  :)

Updated On: 7/22/15 at 11:23 PM

[ChiTheaterFan]

Posted: 7/22/15 at 11:29pm

"There seemed to be a problem with his make up running and getting into his eyes. (He made a crack about them putting stuff for caucasians on his face, which got a laugh, but I think whatever was going on genuinely was irritating his eyes and that could account for some of the pacing problems.)
If you haven't bought your tickets yet, I would suggest waiting a week or two so he can settle into the role."

 Yes, I forgot to mention the makeup, Whizzer.  I was in the front row, and I could see he had tears streaming down his face--and not as an acting choice but from whatever was going on with the makeup.  That was why he took off his eyelashes, but it clearly didn't fix the problem.  He appeared to really be in pain.  It was really unfortunate because I agree this contributed to the slow delivery.  I suspect this may be partly because man does he SWEAT--I mean literally had sweat flying everywhere, and I thnk it made the makeup run.  They're going to have to do something about it, though, because it's not like he's going to stop sweating.

 

I agree that this will be better to see in a few weeks for those who have the option to wait.  But for me I still tremendously enjoyed it and would recommend it for those who may only have a limited window.

[ChiTheaterFan]

Posted: 7/22/15 at 11:33pm

"Didn't see the show tonight, but heard from a friend he raced out of the (very crowded) stage door a few minutes ago saying he had somewhere to be, and didn't sign anything. "

 Glad I didn't stay.  I almost did, but I figured I'll be back in a few months and would wait until maybe it's not as crowded as opening night and I hear reports from how he is at the stage door.

[thespian geek]

Posted: 7/22/15 at 11:39pm

As far as I'm aware, the make up is designed to be sweat off/run the more the show progresses, but if it was that much of an issue for him then they definitely need to do something. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the glitter got in his eye or something and that was what was irritating him so badly.

Otherwise, I'm enjoying these early reports and I can't wait to hear how he settles into the role. Looking forward to seeing him at the end of September!

[ethan231h]

Posted: 7/22/15 at 11:43pm

I wonder if he had this same problem last night during his dress rehearsal.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 7/22/15 at 11:46pm

"There seemed to be a problem with his make up running and getting into his eyes. (He made a crack about them putting stuff for caucasians on his face, which got a laugh, but I think whatever was going on genuinely was irritating his eyes and that could account for some of the pacing problems.)
If you haven't bought your tickets yet, I would suggest waiting a week or two so he can settle into the role."

Agreed. I liked him a lot, and I think he really gets the character and where he wants to go -- but I felt for him as much as I liked him.

It was just at times really uncomfortable, but it also made it even funnier when he had to improvise. Mostly when he was falling off the car from sweating so much. I hadn't seen the show since about midway through Andrew Rannells' run, so I had to ask my more seasoned friends if that was a new thing. Nope!

[ChiTheaterFan]

Posted: 7/22/15 at 11:47pm

"As far as I'm aware, the make up is designed to be sweat off/run the more the show progresses, but if it was that much of an issue for him then they definitely need to do something. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the glitter got in his eye or something and that was what was irritating him so badly.
Otherwise, I'm enjoying these early reports and I can't wait to hear how he settles into the role. Looking forward to seeing him at the end of September!"

Oh, definitely, but this was not the normal run off.  This was right from the get go--basically it seemed to start during Tear Me Down when he got sweaty.

 

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 7/22/15 at 11:53pm

I disagree that the audience "clearly loved him." From where I was in the balcony I would say the reaction was fairly muted. On the whole, it was probably the most tepid I've seen the audience, especially during the book scenes, and I think it was largely due to the drawn out pacing and long runtime. Hedwig's story just can't justify 2hrs and 15min without a break. Hedwig needs to be a master storyteller for the show to work, and that just wasn't locked in place tonight. 

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 7/22/15 at 11:54pm

There was definitely a peak and a valley and another peak. The applause at the beginning felt like welcoming him back from Broadway. The applause at the end was appreciating that he got through it.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 7/22/15 at 11:55pm

Completely agree, Lizzie. 

[ChiTheaterFan]

Posted: 7/23/15 at 12:10am

I don't disagree it lagged in the book scenes. I am quite optimistic it will tighten up though.  I really do think the makeup was a major issue at the top of the show.  I've never seen someone's eyes water that much. It only stopped when all the makeup basically finally wore off (and not coincidentally the pace seemed to improve a bit at that point--although it still needed to be picked up). 

 

My comment re the audience was probably imprecise. The audience in the first few rows loved him, but that's always going to be a very enthusiastic crowd. The folks right behind me were screaming the whole time (and some were singing along but that's another story...) but I'm definitely not in a position to comment on what was going on in the rest of the house. I'm sure you had a better perspective on that. 

I think he brings a lot to the character and if they fix up the issues could really be great. I still loved it but definitely saw the issues tonight. And I'm biased because I just love him. :)

 

 

Hope to hear reports they've fixed those things in the coming days!

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 7/23/15 at 12:13am

I was in the back of the mezz and someone in the front of the mezz was clearly enjoying themselves a LOT because they were kind of waving their arms around before there was even the appropriate lyric.  

So I couldn't see the problem with the makeup, but I did see that he kept trying to get stuff out of his eyes. Which really does suck.

[oncemorewithfeeling2]

Posted: 7/23/15 at 12:14am

I'm settling in for the night with a cocktail, so it seems like this is a great time to run through things from tonight's performance...

It's been discussed on here many times, but Taye has a major presence on stage. I know other Hedwigs have been taller, but when you take Taye's build into consideration, he feels big and that he has presence and almost makes things him see imposing. His Hedwig was very different then that. The way he played her, like Whizzer and Chi have said, was not the wild, almost frantic Hedwig. His Hedwig felt a bit melancholy. When you combine it with some of the clearly nervous mistakes that happened (that Taye really did his best to stay in character with and I can appreciate that), you do feel that this a Hedwig where the inside is very different then what's being seen on the outside. The issues he had with the makeup actually didn't take away from things. It showed more of the breakdown Hedwig is having.

The book scenes need to be tightened up. His pacing isn't quite there yet, but his jokes and wisecracks landed well and were well received by the audience. As others said, there's a few new jokes, and "updating" of a joke/comment used by other Hedwigs. Pretty good chemistry with Yitzhak, considering it's a first show. I can see him and Rebecca working well together.

There are some changes to the music. It's been brought down a few steps to emphasize his strength, which is his lower register. His voice, though, is still very pleasant and smooth. He sounded A-OK for someone who hasn't sung on stage in over a decade. Exquisite Corpse  has the most changes and I'm still mixed on it.

My favorite part of the show has always been the last 25 minutes or so where we hear the reprise of Wicked Little Town and then transition into Midnight Radio. Midnight Radio has been adjusted a bit, but I noticed the change in Rebecca's part more. I adore Rebecca, but this sounded much lower then she normally sings. 

This was my first time seeing RNJ as Yitzhak and I liked it. Nope, it's not Len Hall's Yitzhak but this works very well. I like the change to the costumes at the end...Lena's, with the ruffles and glitter and butterflies, seemed like it was Yitzhak emerging from the cocoon as a butterfly. Rebecca's was a little tougher and edgier...with the color choices and the winged sleeves, she seemed like the Phoenix rising out of the ashes.

All in all, Taye's doing alright. Like I said there's moments of clear nerves still, but a great beginning on other parts. Didn't seem to bother the crowds--they ate him up and will continue to do so. Very wide range of ages near me and that was nice. I think when he has a week or two under his belt, this will be a much better tighter show. It's clearly on the way. My schedule probably won't allow for another viewing of Taye's Hedwig, so I'm glad I saw it tonight.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 7/23/15 at 12:27am

He'll go back into rehearsal, get notes, revisit errors, and a week and a half from tonight be giving a very technically different performance. I think that will the the best opportunity to appraise his take and distinctions in characterization. Until the strictly physical/performance demands of the role -- craft wise -- are fully in his control, the rest is harder to evaluate, no?  The 2 hr 15 minute run time suggest that the next level of work will begin in earnest tomorrow. 

[ethan231h]

Posted: 7/23/15 at 12:29am

Seeing it next Saturday 8/1 will report back.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 7/23/15 at 12:30am

I definitely want to go back at some point, probably through lotto. Nothing about tonight turned me off; I'm just glad I live here and will have another chance.

Oh, and I just wanted to echo what someone said earlier -- that really was the most diverse crowd I've seen at Hedwig and probably anywhere on Broadway since Hamilton (I know, not that long ago, but still). I've "only" seen Hedwig 4 times at this point, but I enjoyed seeing the expanded demographics.

[haterobics]

Posted: 7/23/15 at 1:18am

"If you haven't bought your tickets yet, I would suggest waiting a week or two so he can settle into the role."

Thanks for the update. I'm going mid-August, so that should be enough time for him to settle in a bit...

[Phan2]

Posted: 7/23/15 at 1:29am

Thanks so much for the comments from everyone.  It sounds to me like there is a great deal of promise, but there is some work to be done.   I'm sure he'll get there.   It's interesting to hear about his take on Hedwig, as a very quietly sad, melancholy soul, which contrasts with his commanding physique.   So nice to hear about the diversity of the audience.  My sympathies to him for the pain he must have been in because of the make up in his eyes.  When I get something in my eye, I can barely speak for the few minutes until I can attend to it, much less try to perform on stage for hours.  Hopefully, as others have said, they figure out a way to amend that problem. 

Updated On: 7/23/15 at 01:29 AM

[quizking101]

Posted: 7/23/15 at 1:56am

I bought front row tickets for next Wednesday night (Go discounts!) for my mother for her birthday.

Here's hoping Taye will feel a little more comfortable in the role by then.

Thank you all for your commentary.

[RussT2]

Posted: 7/23/15 at 5:16am

"I wonder if he had this same problem last night during his dress rehearsal."

 

Yes. I was sitting in orchestra about 10 rows from the stage and you could see the sweat running and glistening and the makeup was less and less visible on his face. He sweats a lot. They might need to find a sealer or something to help with this.