#1
Posted: 4/9/05 at 11:50pm
First off, thank God there is finally a comprehensible score this season! Adam Guettel's score is rich, glorious, and absolutely beautiful - as are his orchestrations. I was very surprised at how gorgeous and GREAT the score is - it's very solid.
Unfortunately, that's really my only rave about the show. The cast, from top to bottom, is undoubtedly strong. Despite all the strong cast members, no one really amazed me - even Victoria Clark, who I had been hearing so much about. She is, no doubt, fantastic. But a lock on the Tony? Absolutely not. She has some nice moments but it's not the tour-de-force performance I was expecting.
Kelli O'Hara was good - her voice kept changing too much for my taste, as did her accent. One minute she was southern, the next minute she sounded like a New Yorker - it was inconsistent and it bothered me, but other than that she was generally fine.
Matthew Morrison REALLY surprised me - how adorable and cute! He's perfect as Fabrizio, although (in my opinion,) his voice didn't always do the score justice. He was struggling at many points and it came off very forced and not real.
The rest of the supporting cast - Berresse, Berry, Harelik, and Cohenour were all good as well.
I truly didn't understand the point of having Franca sing that terrible song to Clara about men finding other girls....it's the worst song in the show and, in my opinion, totally unnecessary. Franca really has nothing to do with the plot - and her random outburst with kissing Fabrizio (and the subsequent argument) was, in my mind, completely unjustified and totally random. It happened, then nothing happend FROM THERE - it just ended. I found the plot completely lacking and disinteresting. To be honest, I really didn't care whether Fabrizio married Carla or not - there is nothing in the show that makes me care about either of them or their pending happiness.
As far as Carla's "secret," I found it very unbelievable. I'm not saying that can't happen, but once the secret got out there, NOTHING happened with it - it was just THERE. IT didn't even matter in the final moments of the show - the show just stopped. And what about time? This takes place over a summer, I understand that, but I never for one second believed that Fabrizio and Carla were in love - there was no transformation from their unexpected meeting to them falling head over heels in love - it just flowed one into the other, as if marriage were just a small, minute detail of their lives.
I found all of the scenes with the Naccarelli family and in the Naccarelli's house to be completely boring and slow. And that was very disappointing to me because the cast is insanely talented, the sets are stunning, the lighting gorgeous, and the score amazing - but the basic story is just not there. There's not much of a story to tell - let alone stretch it into a 2.5 hour piece that could be a one act.
I truly truly wanted to love this show, and now after having seen it, I feel very indifferent about it. I don't like it, I don't dislike it. I wouldn't recommend it, but I wouldn't tell someone not to see it. I do, however, COMPLETELY admire the score and am crossing my fingers for a recording soon.
I can't believe that I'm the only one on the boards that wasn't impressed with this show - I've read nothing but great things, so it makes me wonder. As far as reviews, I see this show getting VERY mixed reviews. As much as people on here are plugging Clark for the Tony win, she didn't do it for me. I much prefer Sutton Foster and Sherie Renee Scott. In my opinion, Victoria has nothing in this show that makes you say "Wow - she needs a Tony for this."
In closing, I feel that all the parts are very underwritten and lacking in development - especially Clara. Let me know what you all think - at first I thought I must have just been missing something but the more I think about it, the more flaws I come across and I remain unmoved by this show. Let me know what you think!!
Thanks!
Unfortunately, that's really my only rave about the show. The cast, from top to bottom, is undoubtedly strong. Despite all the strong cast members, no one really amazed me - even Victoria Clark, who I had been hearing so much about. She is, no doubt, fantastic. But a lock on the Tony? Absolutely not. She has some nice moments but it's not the tour-de-force performance I was expecting.
Kelli O'Hara was good - her voice kept changing too much for my taste, as did her accent. One minute she was southern, the next minute she sounded like a New Yorker - it was inconsistent and it bothered me, but other than that she was generally fine.
Matthew Morrison REALLY surprised me - how adorable and cute! He's perfect as Fabrizio, although (in my opinion,) his voice didn't always do the score justice. He was struggling at many points and it came off very forced and not real.
The rest of the supporting cast - Berresse, Berry, Harelik, and Cohenour were all good as well.
I truly didn't understand the point of having Franca sing that terrible song to Clara about men finding other girls....it's the worst song in the show and, in my opinion, totally unnecessary. Franca really has nothing to do with the plot - and her random outburst with kissing Fabrizio (and the subsequent argument) was, in my mind, completely unjustified and totally random. It happened, then nothing happend FROM THERE - it just ended. I found the plot completely lacking and disinteresting. To be honest, I really didn't care whether Fabrizio married Carla or not - there is nothing in the show that makes me care about either of them or their pending happiness.
As far as Carla's "secret," I found it very unbelievable. I'm not saying that can't happen, but once the secret got out there, NOTHING happened with it - it was just THERE. IT didn't even matter in the final moments of the show - the show just stopped. And what about time? This takes place over a summer, I understand that, but I never for one second believed that Fabrizio and Carla were in love - there was no transformation from their unexpected meeting to them falling head over heels in love - it just flowed one into the other, as if marriage were just a small, minute detail of their lives.
I found all of the scenes with the Naccarelli family and in the Naccarelli's house to be completely boring and slow. And that was very disappointing to me because the cast is insanely talented, the sets are stunning, the lighting gorgeous, and the score amazing - but the basic story is just not there. There's not much of a story to tell - let alone stretch it into a 2.5 hour piece that could be a one act.
I truly truly wanted to love this show, and now after having seen it, I feel very indifferent about it. I don't like it, I don't dislike it. I wouldn't recommend it, but I wouldn't tell someone not to see it. I do, however, COMPLETELY admire the score and am crossing my fingers for a recording soon.
I can't believe that I'm the only one on the boards that wasn't impressed with this show - I've read nothing but great things, so it makes me wonder. As far as reviews, I see this show getting VERY mixed reviews. As much as people on here are plugging Clark for the Tony win, she didn't do it for me. I much prefer Sutton Foster and Sherie Renee Scott. In my opinion, Victoria has nothing in this show that makes you say "Wow - she needs a Tony for this."
In closing, I feel that all the parts are very underwritten and lacking in development - especially Clara. Let me know what you all think - at first I thought I must have just been missing something but the more I think about it, the more flaws I come across and I remain unmoved by this show. Let me know what you think!!
Thanks!
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy."
-Charlie Manson
And Matt. 
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