Lestat 4/3/06: The Crimson Kiss of Death- Page 2

[rocker05]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 8:51am

one other thing, when I went to the box office, the lady at the window warned another father with his child that the show could frighten him because of the darkness, strobe lights, and music. This show wouldn't even scare a mouse. It's just funny. The people at the box office should be warning people more about the subject matter than the scariness itself. This show was much more sexual than I thought, which left me feeling very uncomfortable considering how close I was to the stage.

[rocker05]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 9:07am

sorry i know that was supposed to be my last thing, but there are 2 more things to address that are really bugging me. The Morality Play and Marius' big entrance. CUT THE MORALITY PLAY! Even Origin Of The Species sounded better than this. This was just plain creepy and stupid. I felt like I was watching a show at some art museum or something. As for Marius's big entrance, was it supposed to be exciting or frightening? oooooooo...loud music! This looked exactly like that scene from Silence Of The Lambs (I know- random) with the police officer (those of you that have seen it, you know what I mean). Sitting in the front, I can see the device attached to him and their best way of covering it, is with a bunch of dry ice or fog. It was very lame.

[broadway4me]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 9:47am

rentboy - they said that the cast recording would be out before Memorial Day.

Just to add that I saw the show April 1, also, and really enjoyed it. I did not see people leaving after the first Act, (sitting in orch) and the audience responded quite enthusiastically to several of the numbers, both in Act I and Act II. In Act I, "The Thirst", "Right Before My Eyes" "Make Me As You Are" and "Crimson Kiss" were all well received. In Act II "I Want More", "Embrace It", and "Sail Me Away" all got a big applause. And the audience gave an enthusiastic standing ovation as well.

Yes, this show has its flaws, but the audience seemed to enjoy it overall...I know I did.

Oh, and I thought Drew Sarich was just wonderful!

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 9:55am

totally agree, rocker. Morality Play really really needs to be cut. It was god awful.

[WaltSummersPI]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 10:08am

What was so awful about it? I thought it did a good job explaining the mythology of Marius in a creative bit of theatre, and tied together the Theatre of the Vampires theme.

[rocker05]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 10:17am

There was a standing ovation, but it was completely undeserved, the only people who deserved one were Allison Fischer (brought life to the show), Carolee Carmello (powerful voice), and Drew Sarich. I didn't feel anything for Lestat at all during his final monologue. At this point, I don't know how they are going to change the show, they had more than a month to fix it. It seems as though most of the audience must have been tourists if they enjoyed it THAT much. A perfect example of a retarded tourist is, when I went to see Dracula two years ago, a woman asked if there was going to be a sequel. That was pretty depressing. It's a real shame Hugh Panaro and the rest of the cast don't have better material to work with, they really have great voices.

[WaltSummersPI]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 10:26am

rocker, while I think that Carole, Allison and Drew are all wonderful, I was astounded by the work Jim Stanek and Hugh Panaro do in this show Hugh is on stage almost the entire 2 hours and 45 minutes, and his voice is just THAT good. And Stanek commands so much attention in such an underwritten role. I was captivated by both actors.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 10:33am

Walt: I didn't understand that theater sequence at all (and neither did my companion). Maybe I need to read the Anne Rice novels and then see it again. Maybe that would clarify things a bit? I found the entire show very confusing.

[broadway4me]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 10:53am

"rocker" - to say that the standing ovation was "completely undeserved" is only your opinion. I've been to other shows that had no, or little standing ovation. So are you implying that this audience was just faking it? Mkay, that's just a little silly. You may have not liked the show (hey that's cool, you're entitled to your opinion) but to imply that the rest of the audience didn't (uh, did you poll them or something) is a bit arrogant, don't cha think?

And by the way, those "retarded tourist" that you seem to think you are so far above, poor a lot of money into the city. And no, I'm no tourist, but do have respect for them.

Updated On: 4/4/06 at 10:53 AM

[WaltSummersPI]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 10:54am

I still haven't read any of Anne Rice's stuff... eek, I am a bad fan. LOL. But I found the Morality Play very "new age performance art", and I find that stuff REALLY interesting, so I was cool with it.

[rocker05]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 10:54am

I agree with you Walt, Hugh and Jim do a great job with their undeveloped roles. Hugh is on stage practically the whole show which is amazing. My biggest problem with the show is the book itself. It's so badly written. You don't feel anything for the characters at all. One other problem with the show was Sail Me Away. The song is good, I like it, it's a nice ballad, but completely unexpected in the show. One minute Lestat is screaming "I can not die this way!" and a curtain comes down, and all of the sudden, he's on a boat. It made no sense. It was just very sudden. The sets and lighting were great, the music they played during the "sucking-blood" scenes was great. The show just suffers from bad writing, that's all. The performances were great, yet wasted on such bad material. Lestat was a major disappointment.

[rocker05]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 11:02am

Broadway4me: I'm sorry for the rude comment about the "retarded tourists", i shouldn't have used the word retarded, because they do give a lot of money to the city, and it's also just plain rude, because without them, most shows would not last. (In my opinion) Lestat didn't deserve the standing ovation it got (I did not take a poll!) Most of the orchestra and mezz did enjoy it, but they might not be regular theatregoers. This isn't great musical theatre by any means, but for some it could be an enjoyable night at the theatre, just not for me.

[jimnysf]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 11:19am

"...when I went to the box office, the lady at the window warned another father with his child that the show could frighten him because of the darkness, strobe lights, and music.".

She should be warning people not to waste money on this crap!

[rocker05]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 11:30am

i completely agree!

[WaltSummersPI]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 11:36am

rocker, how can you say in the same thread that Lestat is a "piece of crap" (or agree that it is) and still say that there were performances that deserved standing ovations?

And obviously the comment about the box office staff warning people about the show is crap, but I think everyone should walk into Lestat with an open mind. I was prepared to HATE the show, and there are so many wonderful things about it.

[jimnysf]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 11:41am

What wonderful things are you referring to? I saw nothing wonderful. Many, many awful things: Most of the songs, the acting (High's sing-song delivery of his lines was very annoying), the script, the sets, but certainly nothing wonderful. Judging from the majority of posts on this board and ATC, most people hated this show.

[rocker05]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 11:46am

i know that is a bit wrong to say because that would make me a hypocrite but i'm just in a huge state of disappointment. All of the hype actually made the show look great, and the pictures from SF actually looked good. Then, when the show came here everything was different, the sets (some of them), the musical arrangements (not a bad change), and the book (BAD CHANGES!). I was also very mislead by the commercial (trailer). The performers try so hard to put some life into the show (Hugh especially), but the writing is so bad, that they really can't. I actually found myself laughing right after the curtain came up on Hugh kneeling over the dead wolf. In my opinion, this show was a disappointment.

[WaltSummersPI]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 11:46am

Again, I highly doubt that MOST of the 9,217 people who saw Lestat last week hated the show. The internet is a very small world, and the same 20 of us seem to post our opinions over and over and over so it seems as if one dominant opinion is the general consensus of the world. It is not.

Things that I thought were GREAT about Lestat: ALL of the acting, Hugh's voice, Carolee's voice, Allison's voice, every moment that Jim Stanek and Drew Sarich are on stage (they just command attention), several of the songs (I can't get "I Want More" or "To Kill Your Kind" out of my head), the sets, the costumes (for the most part), the general atmosphere, the storytelling (NOT the book, but the storytelling), and parts of the script.

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 11:53am

I agree with Walt. There is a lot to love in this show, minus the problems.


And yes there are many people who don't like the show; but there are many people who also loved the show. Don't forget.

[DG]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 3:03pm

I wouldn't even attempt a review of this. I wouldn't know where to lay the blame first. I will say that the only moment of audience connection they reached with me was when I simply had to laugh out loud at the stage at the end of both acts - and gave those around me the permission they apparently needed to laugh along with me. As if what had gone on already wasn't enough, the ends of both acts were so stupifyingly moronic as to induce anger and disbelief. I can't decide if this is more the result of non-caring or complete lack of awareness. Whatever the case, it was insulting to have paid Broadway prices to have this presented. Not only should they not garner praise, they should be ashamed.

[jimnysf]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 4:04pm

"...it was insulting to have paid Broadway prices to have this presented. Not only should they not garner praise, they should be ashamed.".

I agree 100%. This was the worst show I have ever seen and I have seen many, many shows in my lifetime.

[WaltSummersPI]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 4:07pm

jimnysf,

How many posts exactly have you written, saying the same thing? What's the point? You don't like Lestat. We get it.

[jimnysf]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 4:28pm

Dear Walt,

I might ask you the same thing. How many times have you posted defending this garbage?

[WaltSummersPI]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 4:30pm

I don't think it's garbage, but at least most of my posts have substance as to why I like the show.

[jimnysf]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 4:35pm

Yes, Walt, but your substance as to why you like it has been posted many times. I guess I will have to restate my reasons for hating this show. I didn't like it. It had bad acting, bad songs, bad sets, bad script. It was dull and boring. Lestat spoke in a very annoying "sing song" voice. Each song sounded like the one before it. It was a snoozefest. Only "I Want More" woke the audience up from a sound sleep and when that was over, boredom returned. A waste of almost three hours.