Marie Christine — Page 2

When have the Tonys been about the best performance. It's all about buzz...often the 2 line up. But I mean Heather's work while great doesn't match Audra's OR Marin's that year (Kiss Me Kate). Heather was good and had buzz so she one.

It's funny people call Marie Christine an opera. My question is what makes it an opera?? It's not sung through by any means. There's some legit singing but a helluva lot of belting from SEVERAL people..including Audra actually. So what was? It was a complicated score that had great breadth? It was epic? To me that doesn't mean opera. Ya know I something Sondheim AND LaChiusa said makes sense to me. I think opera is about expectation (which is why it mightn't have done so well). There are operas with lines and there are sung through musicals. I think people weren't ready for this. It's clear by what won best school that year. I mean Aida is nice but an Elton John song has about 3 chords in it. That's what people are used to hearing these days. People aren't used to really listening anymore. Nothing's acoustic anymore. So something complicated that requires you to actually listen isn't going to be a hit right off. I'll admit Lachiusa's music is difficult and requires involvment.

I must say that this was 10 years ago. I think it's changing...again. It's all in cycles. Things like the Adding Machine and, Passing Strange and In the Heights that challenge audiences to REALLY listen are making there way. We always need a couple of these shows in a season. I'd shoot myself if ALL that was on Broadway was "bubble gum and cotton candy". No I'd just go see plays and go Off-Broadway.

Bettyboy: "Anthony Crivello came off much better on stage than on the recording and Mary Testa comes across much better on the recording than she did in the theatre where her performance became caricature by the tragic ending... which was conveyed solely by her REACTION to the reveal of the two bodies, which remain offstage ala Greek Theatre (although MC's brother was killed onstage (?))."

She doesn't have that much material (2 or 3 songs besides the Opening/Closing), but what she is has is most of the more "accessible" stuff like a brothel number ("Cincinatti") and a chilling plea to the increasingly crazed MC ("Prison In A Prison").

Its one of the most beautifully produced (and longest, about 79:45 which is the maximum allowed on CD) cast albums out there, with an excellent synopsis and complete lyrics/dialogue in the booklet as well.

It really should have been a 2 cd set with the expurgiated material, but we should be glad with what we have.

I look forward to opera companies continuing to produce it in the future and maybe a different directorial concept could work for a broader audience.

P

Updated On: 6/13/09 at 03:22 PM

Wikipedia lists a song called The Map of Your Heart which I know is sung by the brothers. Was that song cut during previews?

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I have the CD & have never even listened to it.

We saw the show but it was slow moving. We saw it mainly due to Audra being in it.

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Updated On: 8/14/09 at 06:42 PM

"The show flopped on Broadway. It ran 42 performances, mostly because of its impossible-to-penetrate-on-a-first-listen score, relentlessly dark subject matter, and dramatic inertness. "

This is what I don't get. Besides the fact it had a star performance, and a gorgeous staging by Daniele, I think the score (along with Wild Party) is LaChiusa's most instantly accessible. The second half of Act I in particular is strikingly melodic, instantly memorable, and dramatically strong. It's a spectacular piece of music (Act II is musically much harder to penetrate at first though I suppose this makes sense with the subject matter). I'm just shocked that some LaChiusa fans even find it his worse score.

"I still wish "Old Dante", The Wedding and the more surrealistic aspects of the show had been kept as it was almost too abstract by the time it opened. "

Can you say more about this? I didn't knwo about all the changes made. There's very little about MC out there even when ti comes to LaChiusa shows--absolutely no video on youtube (I didn't knwo Audra performed on Rosie O from it) no pics I can find except in the CD book, etc. I do think the reviews were vastly unfair--Brantley makes no secret for hating LaChiusa's work and I did find int he Times a nice followup review by someone else of the CD that seemed to indirectly be chastising Brantley.

But what always confuses me about people and critics when they dislike a LaChiusa show is how personallyt hey seem to take it. Fine, it doesn't speak to you but people almost act liek LaChiusa is being arrogant and take it personally.

Updated On: 9/7/09 at 08:13 PM

I remember watching it.

To be honest, who opens Marie Christine just before Christmas? It seemed like the worst time of the year to watch something like this. And it was also the end of the millennium Christmas, and I thought the timing for this show was bizarre.

I liked it, but after watching Kiss Me Kate the night before, I had a hard time sitting through it, but was amazed by Audra.

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Ok. I love this show. I've listened through the recording countless times, but admittedly - each time with a score in front of me. Unless the staging was absolutely captivating, I can not imagine myself surviving the show without being able to read through it as well. The chorus numbers are particularly complex. Can anyone explain the finale? Listening to it puts my mind into a spin! Such cacophony. It sounds like hell's boiled over...in a good way...

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There was an African drummer who sat in a perch at the left side of the stage, ten or twelve feet above the stage floor. He was in a cage of sorts with various African instruments which were utilized in an extended solo that began Act 2, and at certain moments throughout the show. He played wildly during Marie's spell/chants and I think was meant to be an aural manifestation of the evil energy, or magic, at Marie's disposal- tangible in the very air.

When I first saw the show in previews it may have been longer than it ended up being, but he played throughout the performance and at at least one performance received the biggest ovation of the night which gives you an idea of the type of reception the show often received from its audience, despite the best efforts of Audra, Anthony, Mary, Darius, etc.

Anyway, the drummer was a cool, appropriate and interesting element in a very dense and detailed show.

P