Posted: 3/15/23 at 10:58pm
I don’t regret going on the first preview, but wow. It was LONG. I liked the set, the costumes, most of the music. I will say that I did not like the ending. I don’t know how to add spoilers on here so I won’t comment on it. I’m sure someone else will.
Posted: 3/15/23 at 11:04pm
I was there tonight. I feel like we need a support group. This was some of the most hateful white-phobic pieces of work i’ve seen. I’m not white but it was 3 hours of beating a dead horse. There is no way anyone else would get away with it if they were making these type of comments about African Americans or African American stereotypes. The white man in front of me left at intermission. It felt as people were uncomfortable.
With that aside Act 1 was good. They should have ended it there because act two was literally nonsensical insane.
Also felt like people in their late 30s were playing high school students. Which prepares me for Kimberly Akimbo tomorrow.
spoiler alert:
This show features 3 dildo’s.
Posted: 3/15/23 at 11:07pm
Before others comment, I do have to say that the show shines the hardest when it leans into the campy soap-opera/real housewives motif that is parodying. I really hope they keep as much as that as possible. A blackground character coming into an allwhite community is funny! They really had a lot of fun with it.
Posted: 3/15/23 at 11:16pm
certainly going to wait til after this opens...
Posted: 3/15/23 at 11:21pm
So when is this coming to Broadway? This show sounds like it’s a berserk, oddball musical that I think some people are going to eat up. And if A Strange Loop can hang with the big boys, so can White Girl in Danger.
How were Kayla Davion, Eric William Morris, and Morgan Siobhan Green?
Posted: 3/15/23 at 11:22pm
Like the posters above said it was LONG. During the first act I kept expecting the last few songs to be the act one finale. I agree with the poster who said it shines when it leans into the camp/soap opera aspects. The show has strong Heathers vibes. Audience seemed to enjoy it… some A LOT. Music was fine, one of the early songs has a very similar melody to “Exile in Gayville.” Probably need to cut an hour+ of material… would be better as a tight one act, but what wouldn’t most of the time?
Posted: 3/15/23 at 11:23pm
"This was some of the most hateful white-phobic pieces of work i’ve seen. I’m not white but it was 3 hours of beating a dead horse. There is no way anyone else would get away with it if they were making these type of comments about African Americans or African American stereotypes."
I love this comment because this is exactly the sort of nonsensical thinking MRJ is skewering. The show is indeed too long and all over the place, but it takes modern concepts of Black, White, and BIPOC fragility to task with flair and smarts. Won't be for everyone, certainly.
Posted: 3/15/23 at 11:33pm
Okay, so it was the first ever performance for a paying audience and Michael did say to some of us in the lobby that it was going to be everything and the kitchen sink. Ran about 3:15 with a 20 minute intermission. It was basically a racial soap opera set to the speed of EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE, ALL AT ONCE and THE TRUMAN SHOW.
It starts off well enough and seems like a straightforward premise, but then veers off the rails toward the end of Act I into sheer multiverse insanity. Act I gives a lot of sitcom/movie tropes - think Saved By The Bell, Degrassi, and older shows like 227 and Gimme A Break. There are quite a few great songs and some hilarious mile-a-minute jokes (including one about ingesting a particular bodily fluid). By the end of Act I, you feel like you’re reaching some sort of resolution after 95 minutes, only to just have reached intermission. And most of Act II until the end felt like every twist, turn, and trope was fair game until your head was spinning. I took issue with the sound design as some of it muddled the jokes and lyrics and contributed to the head-spinning madcap nature. The ending basically pulls the rug out from the madness and ends with a message urging people to write their own racial narratives. It DEFINITELY needs cutting and sorting out - but I’ll see how much changes (I can only imagine for the better) when I go back next month.
The performances are uniformly excellent. How any of them were still standing after was a miracle in itself. Tarra Connor Jones, playing a cipher of Nell Carter, was the biggest presence on that stage and showed the most progress in moving from “The Blackground” to a true leading lady.
Some people are stating it’s very anti-white and I feel like they are missing the point that it’s supposed to be a satire about how these soap opera shows focused primarily on the lives of white people forever and how the introduction of black lives corrupts their status quo existence. Plus, are you really expect MRJ to write geared toward white comfort?
And yes, there were three giant dildos used throughout the show.
Posted: 3/15/23 at 11:40pm
Yeah, that white-phobic comment makes me laugh. Not how I thought of it at all.
My issue was, and this is spoilers…
So the Allwhite Writer ended up being a self-insert for MRJ. Which was fine, but it made it a bit TOO meta. Explaining why you wrote this musical and what the musical meant didn’t really feel needed. It took me out of it. You already made a compelling piece of theater, why explain it?
Also, it reminded me of ASL since that was about his life as well. Plus his reasoning for making this musical can be seen already in “Inner White Girl.” I don’t know. I really felt like it didn’t add anything. It was powerful and that being added as a first preview only would feel special, but I didn’t like it as a part of the show.
Posted: 3/15/23 at 11:43pm
I think the sort of people who use terms like "white-phobic" probably do need a support group, just not necessarily in the way you think...
Posted: 3/16/23 at 12:11am
“And if A Strange Loop can hang with the big boys, so can White Girl in Danger.”
Oh, this is not that, not even close. ASL was making points and had a through line for most of the show. This waited two and a half hours before trying to explain what the supposed point was, which then made the last three hours of what we watched make even LESS sense.
In fact, I would love another hour of A Strange Loop - but this show needs at the very least, an hour and a half chopped. Maybe this could live up to ASL, after a dozen regional productions and a decade.
Posted: 3/16/23 at 12:16am
I want to preface review by saying I am a black girl, and I know there aren't many of us posting on here.
Now that I've said that, I'm so happy to have seen everything Michael had seriously considered, and written for the show. It was very long, but you don't often get to see all the ideas.
FIRST THINGS FIRST... if there's no Lortel Award for Tarra Conner Jones then I will burn every theater to the ground! Her performance as Nell Gibbs was sensational. As someone who was not around to see Nell Carter perform, but has scoured youtube and even bought a rare souvenir program for her performance of "Hello Dolly, I was in heaven. So, yes I'm biased, but she made Nell Gibbs her own while at the same time making you swear up and down Ms. Carter's ghost had risen for a command performance.
It's difficult to assess this show because it was everything and the kitchen sink. There are many storylines that seem to be partially developed or suddenly dropped. Because of that the book just seems ok at best. I hate to say that, because it will be changing drastically during previews. If they made what seem like the proper cuts, and focused strongly on a solid A and B plot, then the show would/should run about 2 hrs. It was 2h 45m.
This brings me back to the characters. In this performance you aren't sure who the lead is, because the second act changes the focus. The good songs really only belong to Nell, and Furthermore, I felt similar to when I was watching Bad Cinderella. I just wanted the character of Keesha to leave the stage. Her songs were bland, her writing was bland, and the actor playing the role gave a forgettable performance. It's not a good look because she's on stage 90% of the time. The character is not likeable at all. That's the biggest downfall of the show.
It was difficult to assess any other actor's performances as being anything other than "capable". It's a satire of soap operas but even soap operas have character development. There wasn't enough to really know performance quality.
Technically, there were sound mixing issues, as is common in previews. There were mic drops, and I couldnt decipher the lyrics during ensemble numbers unless they were screaming "Whire Girl in Danger"! Again, could not understand what the actress playing Keesha was saying in any song that was uptempo. She was really just given lackluster songs in general. Many times her voice was just an extra instrument added to the melody. There were a few lighting issues, too. An actor should never be walking the stage and then be completely lost during a song. That's inexcusable. Movement was also an eye sore, especially in ensemble numbers. Choreographing ensemble numbers that arebt focused on dance is EXTREMELY difficult, but this stood out. They definitely would do well to look at those moments very critically. In particular, I'm not sure why an actor singing lead over a chorus isn't centered, instead moving to the side of the stage, hidden periodically by other performers. There didn't seem to be a justifiable reason for it.
Many people know Michael R. Jackson speaks strongly about race in his theatrical pieces. We need that unapologetic language on stage, period. That being said, every other word being some form of white or black, got tiring. It's comedy, but there are limits. That's why it's called comedic timing.
There is a profound part of this show that delves into a very real part of the black experience. I don't want to give anything away, but I will say it is very difficult for me to watch shows centered around black women, that are not handcrafted by black women. The show tries to quickly tackle this specific sentiment, but I have to say it doesn't assuage my feelings. I know too many black women in this industry, and have been a part of shows developing by black women, and they do not get seen. It's a problem, but I also applaud Michael for doing his best to acknowledge this piece is coming from the mind of a black man.
I have many other thoughts that are still floating around my mind, but I have already written an extremely long review. I hope someone reads this and finds it helpful. :)
Posted: 3/16/23 at 12:37am
The cast really did a fantastic job, considering what they had to work with. I felt like every person was strong, but none of them evenly, and I kept thinking “I bet you are just a stand out in whatever you do after this”. I dare say almost any issues with the show come from its writing/creative team. Which I was worried about after the Works & Process panel.
Posted: 3/16/23 at 12:53am
Songofpurplesummer2 said: "I was there tonight. I feel like we need a support group. This was some of the most hateful white-phobic pieces of work i’ve seen. I’m not white but it was 3 hours of beating a dead horse. There is no way anyone else would get away with it if they were making these type of comments about African Americans or African American stereotypes.
Sure, Jan. Only a white person would write something like this.
Posted: 3/16/23 at 1:15am
Glad my tickets are for the end of April, gives MJ a lot of time to trim.
Then again, I once ran into Mamet on the way out of the Anarchist and asked him what he thought of the show that night (that many audience members had walked out of, and everyone was complaining about on the way out) since it was still in previews, and he said, "I thought it was wonderful, and both they did such a great job tonight." I remember thinking, oh no, he's not changing anything, he thinks he nailed it. 
Posted: 3/16/23 at 1:24am
One last thing before bed, as it really bothered me for half of the show - it’s incredibly tacky to have someone involved with the show take an open seat during intermission, begin obnoxiously laughing and reacting louder than everyone to every single thing (to make up for the audience not hearing or reacting to jokes/bits) and then forcibly going to everyone around them after, “that was SO funny, it was really funny right? I don’t know the last show that’s made me laugh this hard, I’m so glad I came!”
Their involvement was obvious the two times they laughed before the actor got to the punchline, sang along to beginnings of songs that have never been heard before, and gesturing with choreography as it’s being done for the first time in front of this audience. There were many moments of secondhand embarrassment tonight, but that takes the cake.
MRJ needs an editor, not a hype man.
Posted: 3/16/23 at 2:23am
GiantsInTheSky2 said: "One last thing before bed, as it really bothered me for half of the show - it’s incredibly tacky to have someone involved with the show take an open seat during intermission, begin obnoxiously laughing and reacting louder than everyone to every single thing (to make up for the audience not hearing or reacting to jokes/bits) and then forcibly going to everyone around them after, “that was SO funny, it was really funny right? I don’t know the last show that’s made me laugh this hard, I’m so glad I came!”
Their involvement was obvious the two times they laughed before the actor got to the punchline, sang along to beginnings of songs that have never been heard before, and gesturing with choreography as it’s being done for the first time in front of this audience. There were many moments of secondhand embarrassment tonight, but that takes the cake.
MRJ needs an editor, not a hype man."
Period! The second act in general was ridiculous. I absolutely hated the audience act 2, they were practically screaming at random times.
Posted: 3/16/23 at 7:33am
EDSOSLO858 said: "So when is this coming to Broadway? This show sounds like it’s a berserk, oddball musical that I think some people are going to eat up.And ifA Strange Loopcan hang with the big boys, so canWhite Girl in Danger.
How were Kayla Davion, Eric William Morris, and Morgan Siobhan Green?"
No…. I don’t think this will end up on Broadway. A Strange Loop didn’t make any money (maybe it will do better in London?) and this sounds pretty dividing, heavy handed, and obvious although the premise sounds interesting. I don’t see this being a show tourists would flock to. Not sure everything needs to end up on Broadway to deem It worthy.
Again, y’all love a pile on…. Sheesh
Updated On: 3/16/23 at 07:33 AM
Posted: 3/16/23 at 9:18am
Sutton Ross said: "Songofpurplesummer2 said: "I was there tonight. I feel like we need a support group. This was some of the most hateful white-phobic pieces of work i’ve seen. I’m not white but it was 3 hours of beating a dead horse. There is no way anyone else would get away with it if they were making these type of comments about African Americans or African American stereotypes.
Sure, Jan.Only a white person would write something like this.
"
Actually, I’m middle eastern Sutton. So I pick up on hate and aggressions and 3 hours of it no matter what race, was way too much. The double standard with the stereotypes etc is unbelievable but easier to sweep under the rug coming from a creative of power and off-Broadway by the time it opens people hopefully will see a gentler version because last night was hard to justify.
Posted: 3/16/23 at 11:35am
It was the very first preview of a brand new work with a warning from Micheal beforehand. You saw everything in his brain last night regarding this show. It will be a lot different when it opens. Perhaps people assuming this is a failure or won't make it to Broadway should keep that in mind?
Updated On: 3/16/23 at 11:35 AM
Posted: 3/16/23 at 11:42am
Sutton Ross said: "It was the very first preview of a brand new work with a warning from Micheal beforehand. You saw everything in his brain last night regarding this show. It will be a lot different when it opens. Perhaps people assuming this is a failure or won't make it to Broadway should keep that in mind?"
Very much this. I went in fully aware that this was what I was getting into and my review is indicative of what I saw so I hope people will take that into account. With pruning and trimming, it could be the next great satirical musical. Lord knows that A STRANGE LOOP certainly did not start itself as the Pulitzer Prize winning version we all now know and love.
Posted: 3/16/23 at 11:47am
I'm asking this out of curiosity and without judgment, to what degree is what people saw last night less developed/polished than what we normally see at a first preview?
Posted: 3/16/23 at 11:47am
I want to echo that claim too. I have no doubt that this will shape into something beautiful too. I think everyone should see it. Now before they make the changes and after. The song about being “basic” and the song they did at the stereotypical party were both satirically hilarious.
Posted: 3/16/23 at 11:49am
quizking101 said: "Very much this. I went in fully aware that this was what I was getting into and my review is indicative of what I saw so I hope people will take that into account. With pruning and trimming, it could be the next great satirical musical. Lord knows that A STRANGE LOOP certainly did not start itself as the Pulitzer Prize winning version we all now know and love.
Here we go again!
P.S. Not "everyone" loved it...
Posted: 3/16/23 at 11:56am
JSquared2 said: "quizking101 said: "Very much this. I went in fully aware that this was what I was getting into and my review is indicative of what I saw so I hope people will take that into account. With pruning and trimming, it could be the next great satirical musical. Lord knows that A STRANGE LOOP certainly did not start itself as the Pulitzer Prize winning version we all now know and love.
Here we go again!
P.S. Not "everyone" loved it...
"
The point being that the version of ASL we can appreciate and consume now (personal opinions notwithstanding) is definitely NOT the version it started as - even in it's first production at Playwrights.
That being said, go drop some chocolate soft-serve in the aisle at the Shubert and let people have their joy.
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