Just got home from the gypsy run -- OH MAN, what a house! You could feel the excitement in the audience from the moment the lights went down, and it just didn't wane the entire show. Amazing. Most of the major players in the cast even got entrance applause. :)
To answer a few questions:
- No, they didn't stop for anything. The only glitches were the shoe thing that someone already mentioned, and a sound (mic?) problem during the beginning of "What You Want," with Elle's parents.
- "Ireland" does still end on the one-liner.
- "Positive" works great. It's largely similar to "Love and War" in terms of tune and even some lyrics (and I'm quite sure a lot of the "shake your junk" dance break music is the same), but what they were going for is a tone change, and in that they succeeded. This song has a very Avenue Q-esque combination of really happy-sounding music and somewhat dark lyrics, which is probably more appealing to a general audience than "Love and War"'s dark music/dark lyrics combination. If that makes sense.
Aside from some re-orchestrations of songs here and there, and the odd lyric change (and the one obvious song change), the show hasn't undergone any major surgery since SF. There is a little more emphasis on the love story between Elle and Emmett, as shown through some lyric changes in "Take it Like a Man" and the ballad version of the title song. (Oddly enough, the title song has gone back to being closer to a previous incarnation of itself, one that they used a couple of readings ago.)
Also new was the first time you see Orfeh and Andy as Paulette and Kyle, after she breaks his nose. Instead of the lights coming up on him in the chair after having just gotten a haircut from her, he now enters with a little stuffed squirrel in hand... and then having Rufus (the bulldog) follow him onstage to play with it! Such a cute moment -- and now Paulette, seeing he's a dog lover, has another reason to like him.
I can't wait to read about audience reactions to the first few previews, because obviously you can't judge the potency of a show based on a gypsy run reaction. But nevertheless, I predict good things in this show's future.
~JJJ
Dear Ken,
I'm in pieces. Why the cold shoulder?
Love,
Barbie
