NEW YORK, NEW YORK On Broadway - Reviews Thread — Page 14

Mitch101 said: "Glad you enjoyed it so much, as did so many others. I'm going in the negative column. I felt the same way about "Almost Famous" this season. Everyone was crazy about it during previews, but I thought the show was a total dud. I don't think this is a dud, but it's no "Kimberly Akimbo." This is a musical using every possible plotline that's almost ever been used in musicals before. Someone posted that maybe the point is that there are millions of stories in New York so they are trying to capture that energy. I just found the whole thing muddled and in desperate need of cuts. There are so many obvious cuts that can be made immediately, but I worry their gorgeous sets and lighting will prevent them from being truly surgical, which it needs. It will certainly get shorter, scenes went on too long. But it needs more than scene trimming. We do get our money's worth when the title song is finally knocked out of the park by the lead. She's great, as is Colton. But I also felt they were really generic. Yes, the construction tap scene is amazing and will be performed on the Tony's when this probably fills the fifth slot for Best Musical. But I did not enjoy this as much as "Shucked," "Kimberly..." and "& Juliet." I would say this is on par with "Some Like it Hot" - incredibly polished and competent but lacking in originality. Those are the five musicals I believe are locked in now for the Tony Awards."

Do we have a fifth nominee even if there is no tie? I thought the norm would be four nominees with a fifth if there's a tie between the two last shows.

For me its Kimberly, SLIH, & Juliet and either Shucked or NYNY if there's only four.

bdn223 said: "I don’t think anyone is rooting for a disaster, I think the bar this season has simply set so high with 2 musicals this fall openings to near universal praise withKimberly AkimboandSome Like It Hot.& Julietopening in the Fall as well to relatively strong reviews, and the response to previews ofShucked beingoverwhelmingly positive as well, its just hard shocking to believe we have a 5th musical opening this season that is equally as strong. Typically we will get 2 great musicals a season and 3 if we are lucky, but to have 5 in one season just never happens. It also might mean critics might be much more nit-picky of New York New York because its the last to open in a season with so many other fantastic musicals. I have yet to see it, so I can’t speak to it, but I will say I am in the camp that I can’t believe we have 5 such strong new musicals opening in the same season, when was the last time that happened? 2008-2009, with Billy Elliot, Shrek, Next to Normal, Rock Of Ages, [Title of Show], and 9 to 5?"

This is a bit nonsensical no? You liked 4 other musicals that were released earlier, so therefore a 5th that you haven't seen can't work? If anything, if NYNY gets rave reviews it'll be the last show to open ahead of the Tonys, which puts them in prime position. If they take down Leading Actress, Score, Orchestratoins, Choreography, Scenic Design, Costume Design, Lighting Design, and Sound Design, all of which I think they're going to be at least nominated for (and probably in the lead for Actress, Orchestrations, Scenic Design and Costume Design), aren't those the core components of any musical? The weak part of the show is definitely the book. The strong point of Kimberly Akimbo is the book.. the weak part is everything else, at least relative to what a "Broadway Musical" quality would be set-wise, sound-wise, music-wise, choreography, acting-wise, etc... so why wouldn't KA just win best book and NYNY win best musical?

EAPEAPMO said: "bdn223 said: "I don’t think anyone is rooting for a disaster, I think the bar this season has simply set so high with 2 musicals this fall openings to near universal praise withKimberly AkimboandSome Like It Hot.& Julietopening in the Fall as well to relatively strong reviews, and the response to previews ofShucked beingoverwhelmingly positive as well, its just hard shocking to believe we have a 5th musical opening this season that is equally as strong. Typically we will get 2 great musicals a season and 3 if we are lucky, but to have 5 in one season just never happens. It also might mean critics might be much more nit-picky of New York New York because its the last to open in a season with so many other fantastic musicals. I have yet to see it, so I can’t speak to it, but I will say I am in the camp that I can’t believe we have 5 such strong new musicals opening in the same season, when was the last time that happened? 2008-2009, with Billy Elliot, Shrek, Next to Normal, Rock Of Ages, [Title of Show], and 9 to 5?"

This is a bit nonsensical no? You liked 4 other musicals that were released earlier, so therefore a 5th that you haven't seen can't work? If anything, if NYNY gets rave reviews it'll be the last show to open ahead of the Tonys, which puts them in prime position. If they take down Leading Actress, Score, Orchestratoins, Choreography, Scenic Design, Costume Design, Lighting Design, and Sound Design, all of which I think they're going to be at least nominated for (and probably in the lead for Actress, Orchestrations, Scenic Design and Costume Design), aren't those the core components of any musical? The weak part of the show is definitely the book. The strong point of Kimberly Akimbo is the book.. the weak part is everything else, at least relative to what a "Broadway Musical" quality would be set-wise, sound-wise, music-wise, choreography, acting-wise, etc... so why wouldn't KA just win best book and NYNY win best musical?"

Did I say any of that no…I just said many including myself are simply cynical in believing we can have 5 solid new musicals in a single season. It’s not hostility that people don’t think New York, New York isn’t great, it’s shock as it’s historically unprecedented that we would have 5 solid new musicals open on Broadway in a single season. At this point in the year we are typically debating which flawed musical(s) will get a Best Musical nomination, not trying to decipher which of 5 solid musicals is the front runner for awards season.

bdn223 said: "I don’t think anyone is rooting for a disaster, I think the bar this season has simply set so high with 2 musicals this fall openings to near universal praise with Kimberly Akimbo, Some Like It Hot, & Juliet opening in the Fall as well to relatively strong reviews, and the response to previews of Shucked being overwhelmingly positive as well, its just hard shocking to believe we have a 5th musical opening this season that is equally as strong. Typically we will get 2 great musicals a season and 3 if we are lucky, but to have 5 in one season just never happens. It also might mean critics might be much more nit-picky of New York New York because its the last to open in a season with so many other fantastic musicals. I have yet to see it, so I can’t speak to it, but I will say I am in the camp that I can’t believe we have 5 such strong new musicals opening in the same season, when was the last time that happened? 2008-2009, with Billy Elliot, Shrek, Next to Normal, Rock Of Ages, [Title of Show], and 9 to 5?"

One could argue 2016-17 with Come From Away, Dear Evan Hansen, Groundhog Day, and The Great Comet.

leefowler said: "So...Anyone who likes a show is a good person, but anyone who dislikes a show is a bad person. Got it."

I mean a similar thing happens when the critics review a show. If someone agrees with the review, they're happy to talk about it. If they disagree, they dispute the very necessity of the critics themselves.

yyys said: "Is it better to sit in the orchestra or mezz for this one?"

Front mezzanine was incredible for this one.

Has anyone won the lotto for this? Interested to hear where the seats have been.

Also, after the initial 11am draw, I've been "Added to Waitlist" each day and there is a note that says multiple drawings throughout the day may take place with all winners finalized by 9pm. Just curious if anyone has won the lottery later in the day?

Will be curious to see what changes in previews. A friend went and said it could use some cutting, which is pretty standard.

What's the set like for this? Is it a "big" show in terms of physical design?

I went to first preview last week and tried to post my thoughts on this thread a million times, but was getting a weird spam error message for a few days. Let's see if it's working now...

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I had no idea what to expect from this, but I was thoroughly impressed. There are two stars in this: the physical production itself and Anna Uzele.

The scenic design is huge. Absolutely gorgeous and looks and feels like grand old glitzy Broadway. So does the choreography. There is some really successful, beautiful staging—in particular, one absolutely remarkable tap scene on top of city scaffolding in Act 1. That scene is probably the core visual I'll remember from this show. Snowballs in Central Park, the foyer of Grand Central, the alleyways under building fire escapes… it is visually just gorgeous and feels like a love letter to old New York City.

Anna Uzele is now officially in the running for a Tony nomination. I thought she was just stellar. She received a well-deserved standing ovation tonight after “But the World Goes Round.”

As for the flip side of things… they have a bit of work to do throughout previews. First, tonight was very long. It got out at almost 11:10pm. The first act was a full 90 minutes. And Act 2, while technically shorter, honestly felt longer to me because it's (1) more of a drama than Act 1, and (2) does reach a point when it’s just this musical number and then that musical number and you start to feel that, “okay, how much more?” moment. That said, they do fully redeem themselves by the very end when the title song is sung. I won’t spoil how the song starts, but there is an impressive set reveal that really got the crowd going. By the end of the song, it felt like a rock concert.

One spoiler about the ending:

I can see this getting mixed reviews mainly because I found the book to be only okay and the plot to be quite thin. There are a number of B-plots and several transition scenes throughout the show that create that great New York feeling, but it does take away from it having a really compelling central storyline. But for me, the compelling ambiance/atmosphere was enough to call this a really successful production of musical theatre.

I couldn’t help but think about Some Like It Hot across the street during this. After all, they’re both Golden Age era shows based off of iconic 20th century films and are each starring a former lead of Six. But to me, this totally blew Hot out of the water.

I’d love to go back at the end of previews to see how they’ve tightened it up because they’re starting from a really strong point already.

Updated On: 3/28/23 at 09:26 AM

TwentyThingamabobs said: "Any rush reports for this?"

I walked past this morning around 8:40AM and there was no one. Parade had a relatively substantial line probably about 8-10 people, Kimberly Akimbo had 2, and Bad Cinderella had 1 person waiting.

Jeffrey Karasarides said: "bdn223 said: "I don’t think anyone is rooting for a disaster, I think the bar this season has simply set so high with 2 musicals this fall openings to near universal praise withKimberly Akimbo,Some Like It Hot,& Julietopening in the Fall as well to relatively strong reviews, and the response to previews ofShucked being overwhelmingly positive as well, its just hard shocking to believe we have a 5th musical opening this season that is equally as strong. Typically we will get 2 great musicals a season and 3 if we are lucky, but to have 5 in one season just never happens. It also might mean critics might be much more nit-picky of New York New York because its the last to open in a season with so many other fantastic musicals. I have yet to see it, so I can’t speak to it, but I will say I am in the camp that I can’t believe we have 5 such strong new musicals opening in the same season, when was the last time that happened? 2008-2009, with Billy Elliot, Shrek, Next to Normal, Rock Of Ages, [Title of Show], and 9 to 5?"

One could argue 2016-17 with Come From Away, Dear Evan Hansen, Groundhog Day, and The Great Comet."

There was also 2005 with four phenomenal nominees (Spamalot, Light in the Piazza, Spelling Bee, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) as well as Little Women and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang which were also very good IMO.