NEW YORK, NEW YORK On Broadway - Reviews Thread- Page 17

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 4/6/23 at 8:17pm

DCDrama2 said: "This was, sadly but unquestionably, the worst thing I've ever seen on Broadway. It is dull, long, pointless, and celebratory of toxic relationships. It's over-choreographed in the transitions with no added value and yet the actual dance numbers are basic and underwhelming. A LOT of people were on their phones during the show, not just checking the time, but actively texting or just scrolling. The 11-year-old kid in front of me was so bored he crawled under his seat for a nap. People gave polite applause, sometimes, for the songs. Lots of people left at intermission (including some notable celebs) and during the finale number people began filing out QUICKLY.

The performers were all good. They gave it everything they had and are not what brings this show down. The writing, music, choreography, pacing, storytelling, and direction are criminally poor. This show is a mess with almost no redeemable value. I know they will cut a lot to tighten it up, but for me, they need to cut all but three songs and do a TOTAL rewrite of the rest.

I didn't just dislike this show, I hated it. The wasted potential had me angry leaving the theater tonight. The idea of this show could be really great, but instead, it meanders with disparate characters who range from forgettable to detestable. There is nothing to grab onto and root for or celebrate. It was painful to endure. I wanted to leave at (well, before) intermission but couldn't pull myself away from the trainwreck. I wish I had, as the second act takes the listless first act and drives it slowly into a vile romance story with more dreary music and pointless vignettes.

Run, don't walk, away from this show and do anything else. I'd rather spend my evening at the Times Square Olive Garden."

This “review” seems highly suspect to me. 
And who are all these multiple celebrities who fled during intermission? Please be specific. 

[DCDrama2]

Posted: 4/6/23 at 8:32pm

Not sure what you find suspect about it. As for notable people who left, I don't want to list names. But, as it was a Monday evening performance there were a lot of recognizable people currently on Broadway, and the conversations around me were largely between people in shows now or in the industry. One notable exchange between someone leaving at intermission while his companion stayed:

"Come back once they've worked it all out."

"No, no I don't think I will."

[EAPEAPMO]

Posted: 4/6/23 at 9:30pm

DCDrama2 said: "Not sure what you find suspect about it. As for notable people who left, I don't want to list names. But, as it was a Monday evening performance there were a lot of recognizable people currently on Broadway, and the conversations around me were largely between people in shows now or in the industry. One notable exchange between someone leaving at intermission while his companion stayed:

"Come back once they've worked it all out."

"No, no I don't think I will.""

 

I mean this is worse than fan fiction lol, what a ridiculous review and claimed 'overhear' of 'notable' people. The set, choreography, costumes, and music is all stunning and the fact that you missed the point that the main character is New York City discredits your creative opinion. It's a mosaic of New York, it's not made to have deep characters or deep plots, it's made to show how people all get by in different ways, with different, stories, while making the city something for them. If that went over your head that's on you, not on the show. 

Updated On: 4/6/23 at 09:30 PM

[JSquared2]

Posted: 4/6/23 at 9:45pm

EAPEAPMO said: "DCDrama2 said: "Not sure what you find suspect about it. As for notable people who left, I don't want to list names. But, as it was a Monday evening performance there were a lot of recognizable people currently on Broadway, and the conversations around me were largely between people in shows now or in the industry. One notable exchange between someone leaving at intermission while his companion stayed:

"Come back once they've worked it all out."

"No, no I don't think I will.""



I mean this is worse than fan fiction lol, what a ridiculous review and claimed 'overhear' of 'notable' people The set, choreography, costumes, and music is all stunning and the fact that you missed the point that the main character is New York City discredits your creative opinion. It's a mosaic of New York, it's not made to have deep characters or deep plots, it's made to show how people all get by in different ways, with different, stories, while making the city something for them. If that went over your head that's on you, not on the show."


Exactly. This DCDrama guy is straight out of the old Rudin playbook. Have anonymous underlings post fake negative reviews all over social badmouthing the competition. 

[WillyTheSalesman]

Posted: 4/6/23 at 10:29pm

Haha that’s such a great take. Totally fair to judge a show - but I think we can all agree no one is walking out of NYNY critiquing the sets or staging. Competing shows must be angry if they are sending people to message boards. Is that a thing?

[EAPEAPMO]

Posted: 4/6/23 at 10:35pm

WillyTheSalesman said: "Haha that’s such a great take. Totally fair to judge a show - but I think we can all agree no one is walking out of NYNY critiquing the sets or staging. Competing shows must be angry if they are sending people to message boards. Is that a thing?"

I mean, given the push on Reddit and here for Kimberly Akimbo to not only win 26 Tonys this year, but to also win an Emmy and a James Beard Award while they're at it, I don't see why that wouldn't be a thing too. 

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 4/6/23 at 10:48pm

DCDrama2 said: "Not sure what you find suspect about it. As for notable people who left, I don't want to list names. But, as it was a Monday evening performance there were a lot of recognizable people currently on Broadway, and the conversations around me were largely between people in shows now or in the industry. One notable exchange between someone leaving at intermission while his companion stayed:

"Come back once they've worked it all out."

"No, no I don't think I will.""

As others have noted, this is completely ridiculous. If you would like to mention the supposed celebrities who walked out, that would be fun, but I am not holding my breath. . 

[Robbie2]

Posted: 4/7/23 at 12:08am

DCDrama2 said: "This was, sadly but unquestionably, the worst thing I've ever seen on Broadway. It is dull, long, pointless, and celebratory of toxic relationships. It's over-choreographed in the transitions with no added value and yet the actual dance numbers are basic and underwhelming. A LOT of people were on their phones during the show, not just checking the time, but actively texting or just scrolling. The 11-year-old kid in front of me was so bored he crawled under his seat for a nap. People gave polite applause, sometimes, for the songs. Lots of people left at intermission (including some notable celebs) and during the finale number people began filing out QUICKLY.

The performers were all good. They gave it everything they had and are not what brings this show down. The writing, music, choreography, pacing, storytelling, and direction are criminally poor. This show is a mess with almost no redeemable value. I know they will cut a lot to tighten it up, but for me, they need to cut all but three songs and do a TOTAL rewrite of the rest.

I didn't just dislike this show, I hated it. The wasted potential had me angry leaving the theater tonight. The idea of this show could be really great, but instead, it meanders with disparate characters who range from forgettable to detestable. There is nothing to grab onto and root for or celebrate. It was painful to endure. I wanted to leave at (well, before) intermission but couldn't pull myself away from the trainwreck. I wish I had, as the second act takes the listless first act and drives it slowly into a vile romance story with more dreary music and pointless vignettes.

Run, don't walk, away from this show and do anything else. I'd rather spend my evening at the Times Square Olive Garden."

LOL OOOOOOOOOOk whatever you say! Anthing else?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/7/23 at 1:00am

I saw the show again tonight and Liza Minnelli was in the audience and stood up halfway through act one and said she could do it better and started to sing as she walked out and the entire audience got up and followed her out and down 8th Ave like she was leading a parade and then the cast of Parade actually stopped their show and came outside to join us on our March down to the Statue of Liberty where Susan Stroman was waiting for us and apologized for her show and asked what she could do to make things better and we all sat down in the glow of Lady Liberty and rewrote the show together but then realized we just had the script to “Ragtime” so we swam home. 

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 4/7/23 at 1:10am

Jordan Catalano said: "I saw the show again tonight and Liza Minnelli was in the audience and stood up halfway through act one and said she could do it better and started to sing as she walked out and the entire audience got up and followed her out and down 8th Ave like she was leading a parade and then the cast of Parade actually stopped their show and came outside to join us on our March down to the Statue of Liberty where Susan Stroman was waiting for us and apologized for her show and asked what she could do to make things better and we all sat down in the glow of Lady Liberty and rewrote the show together but then realized we just had the script to “Ragtime” so we swam home."

You win the best post of the night, Jakey. 

Updated On: 4/7/23 at 01:10 AM

[Sho-Tunes-R-Us]

Posted: 4/7/23 at 1:41am

EDSOSLO858 said: "Jordan Catalano said: "I saw the show again tonight and Liza Minnelli was in the audience and stood up halfway through act one and said she could do it better and started to sing as she walked out and the entire audience got up and followed her out and down 8th Ave like she was leading a parade and then the cast of Parade actually stopped their show and came outside to join us on our March down to the Statue of Liberty where Susan Stroman was waiting for us and apologized for her show and asked what she could do to make things better and we all sat down in the glow of Lady Liberty and rewrote the show together but then realized we just had the script to “Ragtime” so we swam home."

You win the best post of the night, Jakey."

Thank you George Santos!   lol

[perfectpenguin]

Posted: 4/8/23 at 3:41pm

I’m at the matinee and it’s currently intermission. Is the show perfect? No, it definitely needs work. It wants to be too many things but it can’t. 

OH! Is Colton Ryan’s character a mobster? Cause that’s what I’m seeing is his character is a mobster..

Additional…. 
-Some guy in the balcony at intermission said “what is the plot with this show” and several people agreed. I thought the plot was pretty clear. 


-If I was in charge of cleaning this show up, I’d get rid of the Mann audition storyline. I think the other struggling storylines are enough, we don’t need an extra. 

-I thought Act 2 was a lot better than Act 1. Act 1 felt long. But I felt the same way with Shucked’s act 1 so maybe it’s just me. 

-Highlight/stand out is Anna Uzele. I missed her in Six but saw her plenty in OOTI. Love her voice - But The World Goes Round and title song New York, New York were absolutely perfection. 
 

-Ushers in the balcony were on it today. So many phones recording and those users were having fun flash lighting people. Overall audience was ok. Not too many crinkly bags and not a lot of talking. Just a lot of phones going. 

-Would I see this again? I don’t know. Maybe? If I do, it will be a last minute decisión  

 

Updated On: 4/8/23 at 03:41 PM

[FLarnhill]

Posted: 4/10/23 at 9:18am

Said it before, I'll say it again: Mike Faist would have been perfect for the De Niro role. Go watch West Side Story.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 4/10/23 at 11:57am

Wow, just wow! We saw 5 musicals Easter weekend (including KA and SLIH), and NY NY stood proudly heads and shoulders above the rest. This is the full musical play package with spectacular sets, gorgeous staging, evocative and varied score, bang-up performances across the board, and a tale that’s so much bigger than just one boy-meets-girl love story, or one saga of scrappy-newcomer-makes it big. We left with a similar glow to the one we felt coming out of An American in Paris years ago. 

Sure, the first 20 minutes still need to be edited down to focus on the key stories with more clarity. And the unconventional structure will take many by surprise. (Act 2 starts with a wave of happy endings that the rest of the act has to somehow upend.) But oh, the parade of brilliant sequences starts with that stunning girder tap-dance, moves on to a gorgeous City-in-the-rain ballet, and ends with a series of coups-de-theatre that we just have not seen on Bway in way too long. 

Applause for the cast, for the designers, for Kander and Miranda, and for the brilliant Stro who is back where she belongs in top form. I can’t wait to see the show again on my return trip to New York. 
 

Updated On: 4/10/23 at 11:57 AM

[Candice Malkin]

Posted: 4/10/23 at 12:29pm

me too!  NYNY was a fantastic feel good musical. I had seen slih on my last trip here and was soooo disappointed. I did also love Shucked and Doll House too. 

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 4:25pm

The company will perform from the show on Good Morning America tomorrow. 

[quizking101]

Posted: 4/13/23 at 11:56pm

Oh wow. That was…tragic.

TL;DR - With a shifty story all the narrative thrust of stop/go traffic at rush hour, you do NOT want to be a part of it. I’d go see Bad Cinderella again before you could convince me to return.

I am actually at a loss for words at how insipidly bad this show is. It seems to want to expand the world of the movie (of which there is very little referenced) by adding characters for side plots. However, nearly all of them come out horrifically underbaked and left me and the ladies around me at intermission questioning why do we not care about any of these characters. 

The show did not need a Latino character added for what is tantamount to a “My parents misunderstand me because I want to be artistic.” storyline With some HEAVY queer coding I might add - the scarf dance and the use of the words “feminino” and “Maricon” - both homophobic insults. On top of that, adding the Latin flavored music to the score makes it pretty obvious where LMM inserted himself and didn’t mesh with everything else.

Some of the other subplots could be fantastic musicals in themselves, but all seem like they just distract from the fact that this stage version has defanged the main plot into a toothless mess. The direction and choreography are also ridiculously overindulgent, even by Stroman standards - a lot of random dancing vignettes as scene transitions further grind pacing to a halt.

Anna Uzele sings fines and knocks her big numbers out of the park, but I wish there was more depth to her dealing with racism rather than a few casual references to “what I live with everyday”. Colton Ryan was ABSOLUTELY WRONG for this role. I agree with the poster who said this needed a Mike Faist. Colton played this sleazy lost soul with all the charm of a high schooler in their first “serious” role. I felt no chemistry, no real love, nothing. 

People were eating most of it up, but there seemed to be just as many people who were wholly dissatisfied and/or confused. There is no fixing this to any meaningful extent.

[quizking101]

Posted: 4/14/23 at 12:06am

Also, is there any show this season that doesn’t have an unnecessarily bloated first act? Tonight clocked in at 1:37

[Skip23]

Posted: 4/14/23 at 1:55am

I saw this last night.

 

Agree with quizking.  And I really didn't feel anything for anyone.  And the lead woman was charmless. 

 

And any show that wastes Emily Skinner and Ben Davis is just criminal.  

 

Colton is soo wrong.  And where's the big splashy New York number that Stroman should have created?  

 

Just reminded me so much of THOU SHALT NOT.  Spinning around and around and not signifying much.

 

 

[Fordham2015]

Posted: 4/14/23 at 7:47am

quizking101 said: "Also, is there any show this season that doesn’t have an unnecessarily bloated first act?"

Kimberly Akimbo

 

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 4/14/23 at 8:33am

I thoroughly agree with Quizking's assesment. The whole thing feels and looks cheap from top to bottom in every area. It's just a REALLY weak show/production.

[pablitonizer]

Posted: 4/14/23 at 8:47am

The show did not need a Latino character added for what is tantamount to a “My parents misunderstand me because I want to be artistic.” storyline With some HEAVY queer coding I might add - the scarf dance and the use of the words “feminino” and “Maricon” - both homophobic insults. On top of that, adding the Latin flavored music to the score makes it pretty obvious where LMM inserted himself and didn’t mesh with everything else.


Wait what? I have not seen NEW YORK, NEW YORK yet, but do they really use the word 'maricón' on stage? Like WTH? It's one of the most homophobic expressions ever in Spanish. How can they use that? That's just a big NO!!!

 

 

[quizking101]

Posted: 4/14/23 at 9:20am

pablitonizer said: "

The show did not need a Latino character added for what is tantamount to a “My parents misunderstand me because I want to be artistic.” storyline With some HEAVY queer coding I might add - the scarf dance and the use of the words “feminino” and “Maricon” - both homophobic insults. On top of that, adding the Latin flavored music to the score makes it pretty obvious where LMM inserted himself and didn’t mesh with everything else.


Wait what? I have not seen NEW YORK, NEW YORK yet, but do they really use the word 'maricón' on stage? Like WTH? It's one of the most homophobic expressions ever in Spanish. How can they use that? That's just a big NO!!!



"

Oh, but they did and I think that might have been a way to express the father’s alleged homophobic attitude (through Mateo’s perspective) without explicitly using the English equivalent that would certainly sting the audience.

I’m white with Hispanic background (Puerto Rico) and I picked up on that word immediately since I had a visceral reaction to its use - having heard relatives use it quite a few times in my life

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 4/14/23 at 9:27am

It’s the word that drives the protagonist of Champion at the Met to beat his opponent to death in the boxing ring, a real-life occurrence. So I guess two productions currently running in NYC use this slur. 

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 4/14/23 at 10:42am

I'm on the fence about seeing this and sort of weirded out by the hot and cold reactions. Haha. That said... what was that performance on GMA? I normally think Colton Ryan is a sight to behold... with lots of talent and charisma... but that performance was completely dead eyed? Sounded good to me... but completely devoid of... anything worth watching? Bizarre.