Murder Ballad returns, first new preview

Caught the show tonight and thought it was in great shape. After previously seeing the show at MTC and having seen shows in the new theater's space I wasn't sure it would work here. However, they have done a great job adapting the show to the new space. I missed the booths along the back wall, but overall it works well.

Cassie Levy adapts to the role well, though she isn't quite there yet, but I am sure she will be after a few more performances. The sound was also pretty bad so hopefully that will improve too.

I would watch Rebecca Naomi Jones do anything. She is a wonder with a killer voice, and I love her in this role.

If you missed this last fall don't miss this here!

Cast recording is also in the theater.

Were any songs cut/new songs added? Changes to the text that you noticed?

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Does anyone know what role Jim Newman will be playing? At Backstage @ 54 Below last night he performed along with some of the other Hands on a Hardbody cast, and at the end he specifically plugged coming in to Murder Ballad (I think he said June 9th through the 28th, but could have those dates slightly off).

I hadn't seen anything about Will Swenson or John Ellison Conlee leaving this new run early...

Maybe he's just a vacation swing or something

I actually was surprisingly impressed with the sound. While it was hard to understand at times, overall it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd expect it to be, based on the setup and style

Jim Newman mentioned on Twitter that he'll be in Murder Ballad from July 7th-18th. Will is doing the Broadway Cruise around that time, so Jim will presumably be covering him.

Does anyone know anything about who will be covering Rebecca while she's doing Love's Labour's Lost in the park now that Murder Ballad will be running simultaneously? Are they just using the understudy (understudies?) or bringing in someone just for that time?

What's the Playbill look like?

That picture may be what the playbill looked like when the show was uptown. But, the artwork has changed now that it is at the Union Square theatre, and the playbill reflects that change.

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I doubt the Playbill has all those signatures on it.

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I was sitting at a table near the band, so the band may have been louder than at other places in the venue. I admit I find it hard to make out lyrics in general.

What is the run time for this show? I'm debating going to a 5pm Saturday show, but unsure how to plan for after the show. Is there an intermission?

I saw the show today and sadly, I didn't like it as much as I hoped I would.

The good: All the performers were professional. The staging was inventive and used the space well.

The bad: My main problem is that I had a hard time making out the lyrics, with the exception of John Ellison Conlee. I understood 100% of what he was singing. The others, maybe 50%. So I don't think it's the sound design or that the band is too loud.

With a sung-through show, of course, if you don't get the lyrics, you don't know what's going on, and that was the state in which I frequently found myself.


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For instance, after the narrator killed Tom with the baseball bat, I though, huh? What did she do that for? And my friend said that they had had a relationship. I missed that completely. Maybe I'm just dumb, I don't know. I remember that the narrator looked jealous at one point before that, I was puzzled by that too.


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Another weak spot for me was the score. I thought it was just okay. Nothing really stood out as distinctive, and the songs were all scored the same. Nothing left a lasting impression, or even a fleeting impression.

Updated On: 5/19/13 at 07:17 PM

I thought it was pretty obvious early on that... she was who she was.