#1
Posted: 3/19/09 at 2:54am
I saw the last preview performance this evening (Wednesday March 18th) and I have to say I was disappointed. I figured I'd sum up my thoughts in a list format as I'm horrible at writing a review.
Complaints:
1. The Set. Awful. Laurents has been quoted saying he wanted to the show to have a darker, grittier feeling. Well, the first problem was the set. If you're trying to go for gritty realism, don't choose to do such a forced perspective. It works for shows like Legally Blonde, Hairspray, and All Shook Up because they were sort of whimsical and fun, but they absolutely do not work for this show. The Palace stage is quite large, and the sets were so dinky and purposeless. I mean, did we really need a door in Maria's room? Or did her room have to be at such a straight angle?
2. Casting. The casting is all wrong. Cavanaugh wasn't awful - his acting was pretty alright, but his vocals and "accent" are all wrong. I don't know if he's putting on an accent, or if he's got a stage voice, but he needs to drop it. It makes him sound way older than he probably is. Also, his vibrato is out of control. He sounded pretty on his falsetto notes, but when Tony and Maria sang together it just wasn't beautiful music. Cody Green was pretty awful as Riff in the acting department. I didn't any shred of "friendship" between him and Cavanaugh, so the fact that Tony would stab Riff's slayer just didn't seem justified. I can see why Green was cast - he's a great dancer - but his "Cool" was all wrong. He just get motioning the same gesture with his hands for a good 5 minutes. The rest of the cast was serviceable, or good. The two leading ladies were by far the standouts. Anita, of course, was wonderful. She just brought so much energy and passion to each scene. And Maria was pretty great - especially in her heavier acting scenes.
3. The direction. I just don't get the spanish. I mean, I understand why Laurents chose to do it, but I don't think it worked at all. Everyone around me was confused, and the scenes/songs didn't provoke much of a response. If you're going to have an extended scene done in a different dialect that 95% of the audience can't totally understand, then the actions the actors are doing - the blocking, their body language - should convey the scene. But most of the time the actors were just standing there, or sitting on a bed. It was just boring. I really want to hear "A Boy Like That" sung by Karen Olivio in English. She was giving it her all, but I had no clue what she was saying, so it didn't move me at all. Also, and this is a small qualm, but I hated that the police officer just entered Maria's apartment like that. Considering they are in her room, which must be up a few flights of stairs, it just doesn't make sense to me. One, why would this police officer just open a door and wander through Maria's apartment to get to her room. Wouldn't he knock? And two, why aren't Maria and/or Anita the least bit concerned that he just wandered through the apartment and randomly showed up in her room unannounced.
4. The Costumes. For the most part I thought the women's costumes were pretty spot on - they looked great and fitted great. But the Tony's costumes were awful. I felt like Cavanaugh just wandered in off the street. His long t-shirt and jeans did not fit with the rest of the characters. It just felt too jarringly modern compared to Maria's costumes. I mean, I understand the whole Urban Outfitters meets 50s wear, but his just didn't seem to gel with everyone else.
This isn't a qualm, per say, but more of a question. When the guy (I can't think of his name) comes out at the end and shoots Tony, is it normally that abrupt? Like, it just didn't make sense to me. Don't you think that the guy would have been like "Hey, who is this girl here in my line of sight. Oh wait, I know her" and paused for a second? It just seemed so staged. I wish they had staged it to where he could see Tony, but the guy shooting couldn't see Maria, then I would have bought that whole scene.
The whole show just lacked an emotional impact to me. I mean, sure, the story is awesome, and the choreography and the music are kick ass, but that's a given. I would expect that from any production of the show I saw. But the rest of the elements tossed into the mix just made it dull and lifeless. I wanted to see sparks and excitement, but it was just so one note. Even Action got on my nerves after awhile. Towards the end of the show I was more interested in Anybodys than any of the main characters.
That said. I think the Palace theater is gorgeous. It's so huge and vast and I wish they had extended the sets all the way up to the natural proscenium arch. It just would have made the show seem a lot bigger than it was. The show, in scale, was pretty tiny. Minimal sets, and lighting.
Complaints:
1. The Set. Awful. Laurents has been quoted saying he wanted to the show to have a darker, grittier feeling. Well, the first problem was the set. If you're trying to go for gritty realism, don't choose to do such a forced perspective. It works for shows like Legally Blonde, Hairspray, and All Shook Up because they were sort of whimsical and fun, but they absolutely do not work for this show. The Palace stage is quite large, and the sets were so dinky and purposeless. I mean, did we really need a door in Maria's room? Or did her room have to be at such a straight angle?
2. Casting. The casting is all wrong. Cavanaugh wasn't awful - his acting was pretty alright, but his vocals and "accent" are all wrong. I don't know if he's putting on an accent, or if he's got a stage voice, but he needs to drop it. It makes him sound way older than he probably is. Also, his vibrato is out of control. He sounded pretty on his falsetto notes, but when Tony and Maria sang together it just wasn't beautiful music. Cody Green was pretty awful as Riff in the acting department. I didn't any shred of "friendship" between him and Cavanaugh, so the fact that Tony would stab Riff's slayer just didn't seem justified. I can see why Green was cast - he's a great dancer - but his "Cool" was all wrong. He just get motioning the same gesture with his hands for a good 5 minutes. The rest of the cast was serviceable, or good. The two leading ladies were by far the standouts. Anita, of course, was wonderful. She just brought so much energy and passion to each scene. And Maria was pretty great - especially in her heavier acting scenes.
3. The direction. I just don't get the spanish. I mean, I understand why Laurents chose to do it, but I don't think it worked at all. Everyone around me was confused, and the scenes/songs didn't provoke much of a response. If you're going to have an extended scene done in a different dialect that 95% of the audience can't totally understand, then the actions the actors are doing - the blocking, their body language - should convey the scene. But most of the time the actors were just standing there, or sitting on a bed. It was just boring. I really want to hear "A Boy Like That" sung by Karen Olivio in English. She was giving it her all, but I had no clue what she was saying, so it didn't move me at all. Also, and this is a small qualm, but I hated that the police officer just entered Maria's apartment like that. Considering they are in her room, which must be up a few flights of stairs, it just doesn't make sense to me. One, why would this police officer just open a door and wander through Maria's apartment to get to her room. Wouldn't he knock? And two, why aren't Maria and/or Anita the least bit concerned that he just wandered through the apartment and randomly showed up in her room unannounced.
4. The Costumes. For the most part I thought the women's costumes were pretty spot on - they looked great and fitted great. But the Tony's costumes were awful. I felt like Cavanaugh just wandered in off the street. His long t-shirt and jeans did not fit with the rest of the characters. It just felt too jarringly modern compared to Maria's costumes. I mean, I understand the whole Urban Outfitters meets 50s wear, but his just didn't seem to gel with everyone else.
This isn't a qualm, per say, but more of a question. When the guy (I can't think of his name) comes out at the end and shoots Tony, is it normally that abrupt? Like, it just didn't make sense to me. Don't you think that the guy would have been like "Hey, who is this girl here in my line of sight. Oh wait, I know her" and paused for a second? It just seemed so staged. I wish they had staged it to where he could see Tony, but the guy shooting couldn't see Maria, then I would have bought that whole scene.
The whole show just lacked an emotional impact to me. I mean, sure, the story is awesome, and the choreography and the music are kick ass, but that's a given. I would expect that from any production of the show I saw. But the rest of the elements tossed into the mix just made it dull and lifeless. I wanted to see sparks and excitement, but it was just so one note. Even Action got on my nerves after awhile. Towards the end of the show I was more interested in Anybodys than any of the main characters.
That said. I think the Palace theater is gorgeous. It's so huge and vast and I wish they had extended the sets all the way up to the natural proscenium arch. It just would have made the show seem a lot bigger than it was. The show, in scale, was pretty tiny. Minimal sets, and lighting.
