Little Women at the Virginia — Page 2

pop, I know quite a few people who have booked this show and even they haven't heard most of it. The "little women" themselves only met eachother last week at Maureen McGovern's cabaret act (pics are on broadway.com).

Frankly, I care just as little if runs as I do about Amneris' podiatrist's nephew's gardner's lover's opinion of some undefined CD.

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No that's not what killed it. My ex-lover's therapist's lover's favorite waiter's boyfriend heard the CD and it sucked.

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Then you'll fit right in.

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spoken like a true theatre queen... LOL.

Folks, if any show or any medium or any story is so fragile that one comment about it before it's in mint condition will kill it dead than there's no point in putting it up there in the first place.

Theater isn't nearly as fragile as the egos making it and 'loving' it, it seems.

And I'm saying that it doesn't matter at all to anyone except for people who decide to get wound up about it.

If you're looking for shiny, happy people holding hands, go see R.E.M.

Don't worry, Phanty's panties are not in a twist. It's nice to know that some people have so much free time to post things that, as you say, "doesn't matter."

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before you continue to dig my LITTLE WOMAN grave, ya might wanna read what "the others" are saying about GOOD VIBRATIONS.. i bet now once the BEACH BOYS read THAT thread they will regret EVER starting a band..

>You can cut a knife through the negativity around here. I'm just sayin'!<

Well, those who want nothing but positive feedback can go start a fanzine for the show. Those who value debate and difference of opinion appreciate the diversity on this message board.

If the producers of Little Women don't want any feedback on their songs, then they shouldn't put clips on their website for all to hear in the hopes of promoting the show. It works both ways.

I listened to the clips - it's impossible to judge the worth of a score from tiny pieces, but I wasn't deeply impressed by what I heard. Despite the lack of orchestration, the score seemed neither period, nor modern - more in the line of the slightly poppy, slightly art-song Jane Eyre/Anna Karenina musicals - the music is often pretty but not very memorable (although one can't tell from a tiny clip, so the point is moot) - but it's the literalness of the lyrics that got on my nerves - characters planting their feet and making declarative statements about themselves. Is anyone really that self-knowing? Whatever happened to dramatic irony - the idea that the character may be unaware of their true feelings or unwittingly self-serving?

I know that self-contained pop songs have to tell a story in a short period of time, so they have to be somewhat literal. But what works in a four minute song on the radio doesn't always work within the context of a drama - a song in a musical has to be crafted differently for maximum impact - it needs to demonstrate an awareness of what came before and after it and that's what leads to dramatic irony. Context is everything and literal lyrics don't lend themselves as readily to a dramatic build (not to be confused with the build of a song as it key changes upwards into the stratosphere - a sorry substitute for real dramatic tension.) The audience needs to discover some things for themselves - things that the character cannot see because they are not outside of the drama.

I hope I'm wrong and when the songs of Little Women are heard in context, they'll reveal subtext and depth. But after looking at much of the stuff playing on Broadway right now, I fear for the worst.

Arthur Mervyn- In all due respect, you clearly did not read the thread from the beginning. You really need to look at the entire picture here. I'd love to know how someone knows all about what other producers are saying. It's people like that who give producers a bad name. Again, I will never understand how someone can comment about a show in a negative way before it even hits the stage. That's really upsetting to the people who work hard on any show whether they are producer, director, actor, etc., don't you think? It's just like people who don't like liver. Have they ever tried it or is it that someone told them it wouldn't be good?

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PS Sutton- Remember which board members to invite to the opening night party and which ones not to. HAHA

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"if people only knew what OTHER producers say about shows before they pass on them..you'd be shocked we even have a bway still"

just commenting on Amneris's earlier comment JP.

Oh, come on.

Producers don't like other producers' shows? Kill me now, god, if that's the world I'm going to live in!!! They're not all shiny, happy people working together to bring more theater to the masses? Say it isn't so!!

What next, you're going to tell me producers are out to make money instead of trying to illuminate society?

What a world ... what a world, indeed.