MR. SATURDAY NIGHT Previews — Page 3

This is an addendum to my earlier review but it does contain a SPOILER (as well as some interesting pop culture context)

Updated On: 4/1/22 at 07:31 PM

kurtal said: "veronicamae said: "DramaTeach said: "I thought the actor who plays his brother (his name escapes me) seems like this may be too much for him."

This made me laugh because David Paymer (the actor whose name escaped you) was nominated for an Oscar and Golden Globe for playing the same role in the movie.

(But your opinion is valid.)"

That was 30 years ago, though."

Yes, thank you, I'm aware, hence my saying their opinion was valid.

Going to preface this with that I am not the intended audience for the show (20s, gentile) but have fond memories of watching Billy host the Oscars when I was younger. Won the lottery for last night’s performance and was in a full view seat in row J Orchestra Left.

I think that Billy Crystal is great and I laughed quite a bit but do not understand why this is a musical. I found myself dreading the musical numbers, which is never a good thing in a musical. I actually think that Billy and Randy have voices that have a nice tone, but JRB did them no favors with the score. The songs were hard to sing for them and seemed to set them up for failure. At least change the keys or give them something in their range. I kept thinking “this would be a great movie” and then stupidly remind myself. I just think this would work much better as a play.

Not all of the humor worked for me but was entertaining enough. When the humor sort of stops in the second half of act 2, the show really loses it for me. It feels like a slog to get through those last numbers and scenes. And I do disagree with Jordan that the character being unlikeable is entirely fixed, I kept thinking “wow this guy is kind of an asshole”. Standouts are obviously Billy, Randy, and Shoshana (criminally underutilized but feels like the beating heart of the show). Set was underwhelming. Was expecting something a bit more lavish and not just the band standing at the back of the stage with cords and things visible on the floor. A mixed bag for me but think there are plenty of people who will love this.

Updated On: 4/2/22 at 10:52 AM

Alessio2 said: "Anyone try the lottery for this yet? Curious what time they announce winners and what the seat location is...TIA!!"

I won the lottery for this past Saturday’s matinee. Seat was in the rear mezz - Row L 101. The notification that I won arrived Friday evening at 4:00 pm and I got the digital ticket on Saturday at 12:04 p.m.

Alessio2 said: "Anyone try the lottery for this yet? Curious what time they announce winners and what the seat location is...TIA!!"

I saw the show Friday via the lottery. Seats were Orchestra Row D 5 and 7.

There are things to admire in MR. SATURDAY NIGHT, but overall this may be the most frustratingly bad musical of the season.

thoughts:

– Billy Crystal is good in it!!!! He is a great star who’d be even better with good material! I’m the target audience in terms of humor, and even I wasn’t laughing that much. TOOTSIE is a much much funnier musical (and better source material).

– The score is by far the worst of JRB’s career. Not helped by a minuscule orchestration (not even a single reed or string instrument so ballads aren’t being accompanied by brass???) I've concluded that JRB does not know how to write a musical. He can write songs for musicals. But Alfred Uhry and Hal Prince shaped PARADE, and everything else he’s written beyond the song cycles (yes, Last 5 Years is a song cycle) is a narrative mess.

– Say what you want about Jerry Zaks, but he knows how to build a show around a star to let them shine. John Rando has not done that here. Yes, Billy IS the show, but it almost feels like the show is dragging him down. Billy alone onstage explaining the plot of MR. SATURDAY NIGHT for 2 hours and doing bits would be better. The design, direction, choreography, and overall calibration of the show are weak.

– The show desperately needed a co-bookwriter who knows how to structure a musical (a Meehan or Fierstein type) and a director who can challenge the star AND find more creative ways to incorporate music into the show (a Stroman or Zaks type), who can challenge the star and push them AND find more creative ways to incorporate music into the show.

– This is the rare show where Act 2 is better than Act 1. Act 2 has actual stakes (Buddy gets an audition at the end of act 1, which sets up all the action for act 2) and better songs. I liked Billy’s 11 o’clock number.

– The trio playing all the bit parts is VERY fun and hard-working (Mylinda Hull especially). The cast is uniformly good. The 3 women in Buddy’s life are irritating because they’re mostly underwritten or don’t have great material (Chasten and Shoshana especially, tho JRB tries with Shoshana).



If I had a note on how to proceed forward, I guess it would be just add as many gags and jokes as possible and do whatever you can to make Billy shine. And stop playing jazz standards before the show: it is a sad reminder that nothing in this show could ever be as good as those songs.

I’ve seen it twice now. I just love it.

How is David Paymer? He was Oscar nominated for the original movie, yet I haven’t seen him singled out much on this board.

What's the run time been lately?

Do you feel better after that tantrum?

In answer to the above, my own view is that Paymer was excellent, along with just about the whole cast. I thought it was great how, even though Billy Crystal was obviously (and rightly) the main attraction, the show told a well-balanced story -- it wasn't a mere star vehicle. I did tend to find the songs a bit bland, but I definitely enjoyed it overall.