#1
Posted: 5/6/17 at 12:06pm
Previews start tonight! Anyone heard anything about it? The movie is awesome so interested to see how it translates
#2
Posted: 5/6/17 at 1:52pm
We are seeing it in June! Hoping it is great because I have been looking forward to it for a long time and bought tickets for my family of four on the first day they were available to the public.
#3
Posted: 5/10/17 at 1:41pm
Saw this last night. Was so hoping it would be great (I actually really enjoyed Amelie at the rep!). But phew, it was so so bad. The people sitting next to me left at intermission. Kind of wish I had. And definitely wish I hadn't used my limited professional student budget on this.
It was lucky they make the last number a clap along and get up from your seat number because otherwise, even in today's standing ovation for everything environment, I don't think they would've gotten anyone to stand.
Positives: The actor that plays the groom however has a lovely baritone. And I enjoyed the comedy of the wedding organizer character. And there's also a whole number about the femaleorgasm which is progressive I guess. And I enjoyed two of the duets between the lovebird characters.
Anyone know if they are shooting for Broadway?
Updated On: 5/25/19 at 01:41 PM
#4
Posted: 5/10/17 at 2:33pm
de_lovely said: " which is progressive I guess."
What the heck? I don't find this progressive at all...I'm all for open conversation about such things, but for heaven's sake don't make a dance number out of it. That just feels like pure shock value.
https://newplayexchange.org/users/99643/amanda-delalla
Updated On: 5/25/19 at 02:33 PM
#5
Posted: 5/10/17 at 2:51pm
In previews for eight more performances as of this post and officially opens 5/19. I'm betting that they still have much work to do with the material.
My theatre group of 18 will be attending on 6/11.
#6
Posted: 5/22/17 at 12:27pm
#7
Posted: 5/22/17 at 1:52pm
Here are some reviews.
Variety. Sounds like the comments already posted here (negative). Hopefully they can make some drastic changes before I see it next month.
http://variety.com/2017/legit/reviews/monsoon-wedding-review-musical-1202438755/
SFGate review is positive. Lily Janiak really enjoyed it.
http://www.sfgate.com/performance/article/Feeling-pours-in-Monsoon-Wedding-11161268.php
SFist review is also positive.
http://sfist.com/2017/05/21/mira_nairs_monsoon_wedding_becomes.php
Updated On: 5/22/17 at 01:52 PM
#9
Posted: 5/22/17 at 3:19pm
Here's the review from Karen D'Souza, the San Jose Mercury News theater critic, the best critic in the Bay Area and one of the best in the country IMO. She enjoyed the ending but notes significant problems throughout the play and doesn't feel it's quite found its rhythm yet. I'd call it mixed to negative.
http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/05/20/review-swirling-monsoon-wedding-premieres-in-berkeley/
#10
Posted: 5/22/17 at 4:29pm
I have a feeling this will suffer from the same disease as AMELIE and BIG FISH...a splashy musical based on a beloved foreign film of the early 2000s with a large cast, adapted both well and badly for the stage...and having trouble getting butts in its seats. So to speak.
https://newplayexchange.org/users/99643/amanda-delalla
#11
Posted: 5/22/17 at 5:49pm
Maybe you could try to make an analogy between stage versions of ''Amelie'' and ''Monsoon Wedding'' - but ''Big Fish'' is NOT ''a beloved foreign film of the early 2000s.'' It's an American movie.
S.F. Chronicle's Robert Hurwitt raved about ''Amelie'' at Berkeley Rep, calling it a ''dream of a stage musical'' and ''a remarkable achievement.'' He also gave it the Little Man Jumping Out of His Chair rating. ... Charles McNulty at the L.A. Times gushed about this ''perfect holiday bauble'' and ''the delectable sweet lightness of this theatrical macaron that we savor most.''
New musicals need to be careful about believing their rave reviews.
Updated On: 10/18/18 at 05:49 PM
#12
Posted: 5/22/17 at 6:09pm
Like Amelie, I really had high hopes for Monsoon Wedding. So disheartening to read these reviews, especially with such potential in the source material. But then, the Mercury News review sounds supsiciously similar to reviews of Bombay Dreams, which I loved. Maybe the best I can hope for is for it to run long enough on Broadway to provide a window of opportunity to see it?
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#13
Posted: 5/22/17 at 9:34pm
ditto on lilly janiak not knowing her ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to musicals
#14
Posted: 5/23/17 at 2:06pm
My bad Wayman, I thought BIG FISH was a British movie.
https://newplayexchange.org/users/99643/amanda-delalla
#15
Posted: 5/23/17 at 5:35pm
im going next week and will report in
sounds like a typical prebroadway show with lots of promise that needs a lot of work to be a broadway hit.....
Updated On: 5/23/17 at 05:35 PM
#16
Posted: 5/23/17 at 5:43pm
I am rooting for this one just because of Vishal Bhardwaj. If you don't know his work, find the Omkara soundtrack on YouTube. Great stuff.
#17
Posted: 5/23/17 at 8:49pm
I saw Monsoon Wedding last weekend, and I really enjoyed it. The show has a lot of heart and a strong narrative with many unforgettable characters. I loved most of the performances, particularly the three main female characters and the wedding planner. I also appreciate that most of the creative team is Indian, which gave the show an authenticity and richness that transports the audience to urban India. Despite all of these positives, the show still needs some work before it goes to Broadway. Many of the songs don't land properly and either fizzle out or end abruptly. While they have pleasant melodies, they need more structure and lyrical heft. Also - they need a lyricist to find the right balance between authenticity and decoding some of the Indian vernacular for a non-Indian audience. I would say there were 3 or 4 songs that really worked, while the rest need overhauls. I really hope that they make the effort because the story is quite strong and very theatrical, and it's also important to have stories with different cultural perspectives represented on Broadway.
#18
Posted: 5/23/17 at 10:21pm
Hm. I don't see this doing well. I mean, is there any "wow" moment? I feel like in today's market you need a hook. This doesn't seem to quite have a hook.
#19
Posted: 6/25/17 at 3:31pm
I saw this with my husband, 18 year-old and 15 year-old on 6/11 at 2:00 PM. Bought our seats long ago in November when I started hearing about it, so had a great view from rows E and F, center. The opening music was too loud for my 18 year-old (sensory issues), so both she and my husband had to leave about 5 minutes in to the show. They watched it from the coffee bar that shows it on a screen for latecomers. It was loud, I admit, but my son and I got used to it. Loved the costumes and energy, and the cast is very talented. None of us had seen the movie, so we didn't know anything about it. I thought that it was okay, kind of slow. The costumes and cast energy stand out and made the show lively and fun to watch. The audience seemed enthusiastic.
As for the storyline, it didn't hold my interest and was predictable. They second Act seemed to resolve the issues in Act One too quickly and without enough drama. The music was pretty, songs were okay. I can't remember any of them at them moment except one that I didn't care for. My son liked the show and thought it was very good. He recapped the show for my husband who had eventually stopped watching it in the coffee bar. I had just taken my son to see Hamilton in SF a couple of weeks earlier, and I can see how he is enjoying the more professional productions (as opposed to the youth shows with performers ages 8-18 he had been seeing)
The cast is working so hard. Saw most of them leave after the show was over, and they were all taking time to sign programs and take photos with fans. Cast, costumes, dancing, the monsoon staging--all excellent and fun. I hope they make some changes to the pacing and songs before opening on Broadway.
#20
Posted: 6/25/17 at 4:50pm
Last Friday, Mira Nair and her ''Monsoon Wedding'' cast held a Q&A with the audience after the show. They were buoyed by an enthusiastic, soldout house, and the news that they were being extended a third time. Nair also was aware that more work needed to be done, and touched on certain moments in the show that she felt weren't landing as well as they could.
I imagine there's been a sharp learning curve. Other than ''Bombay Dreams'' (2004), there haven't been any other Indian musicals on Broadway. There's no real template. Nair's never directed a Broadway musical, let alone built one, and the composer (Vishal Bhardwaj) has never written a Broadway score either. Culturally, too, there's the challenge of adapting Nair's way of Indian storytelling to a Western artform. Fortunately, I imagine Nair is getting some advice from Margo Lion (''Hairspray'' ), one of the show's award-winning producers. But as we know, even experience only takes you so far; we can all cite Tony-winners who've wound up with flops.
To me, it's still refreshing to catch a new musical whose principal creators are artists of color, and rarer still to see such a showcase for the South Asian acting community. You can't imagine what ''Monsoon Wedding'' means to them. Michael Maliakel, who plays the groom in ''Monsoon Wedding,'' told me that he's been performing since he was a kid, and this is the first time this Indian-American actor has ever gotten to play an Indian-American role in his life. Or performed with an all South Asian cast. He's so proud.
That's how rare this opportunity is for them (and for South Asian audiences to see faces that look like theirs reflected on a mainstream stage). Only time will tell if they can translate this musical into a Broadway success, but you gotta start somewhere. Without risks, the Great White Way remains the great white way.
https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/BWW-Interview-Michael-Maliakel-Hopes-Berkeley-Monsoon-Takes-Broadway-by-Storm-20170619
Updated On: 6/25/17 at 04:50 PM
#21
Posted: 1/9/18 at 2:28am
Mira Nair tweeted a few weeks ago that this musical will be "coming soon to birth in its own country". Interesting. The US production didn't get the best reviews; I wonder if it will be substantially revised for the Indian production. Perhaps they'll adapt it 'back' into being a more Indian audience-friendly (rather than US audience-friendly) piece.
https://twitter.com/MiraPagliNair/status/941493250849771521
I couldn't find more about this new production online, but I did find a video of a recent Indian arts awards show which includes a performance of a song from the musical, at about 15:34:
https://www.ndtv.com/video/art/ndtv-specials/first-ever-art-spectrum-awards-south-asia-2017-475929
#22
Posted: 10/17/18 at 2:56am
...actually, now it's going to Qatar for a short run:
http://www.soundboxindia.com/index.php/mira-nair-plans-bring-musical-adaptation-monsoon-wedding-qatar
#23
Posted: 5/24/19 at 1:25am
This show is opening in London in 2020, as noticed by our friends on UK's TheatreBoard. Mentioned briefly in this article:
https://www.screendaily.com/news/mira-nair-readies-bbc-series-a-suitable-boy-/5139547.article
Incidentally, while I'm not hugely hopeful about the quality of the musical at this point, I do really like this logo from a recent production, or workshop, or similar.
https://twitter.com/masiasare/status/1086008199013007360
#24
Posted: 5/26/19 at 3:43am
It's hard for me to imagine this excellent movie on stage. A lot of the appeal of the film was that it was an early 2000s look at a rapidly booming India. For all the great music in the film, it's really a snapshot of intertwining family members with their own issues and storylines going on during a typical Indian wedding for a family that has the means to do that sort of wedding. It's actually a pretty intimate story that the camera and film editing can capture perfectly. The female orgasm number sounds interesting, but in the film it was just like less than half a minute. That's a main issue I have with film to stage adaptations. They take funny takeaway scenes that work in small doses and turn them into huge ass numbers eliminating the appeal.
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