Listener said: "I did. I don't think you'll have trouble.
Also: I'm not trashing anything for fun or money. It's silly and insulting to claim a fair negative review was bought.
someone else asked why did they stage the show like that for the end... are you kidding me? People jump out of their seats for the ending!
That was me. The stage was bare. Big finale time...and no big dance number? Huh?? Weird. They didn't even expand the title song or anything, add a dance break, nothing. It's the thing this whole project is based around. But they do nothing inventive with it.
Also, they're giving away tickets to schools, that's why there are dozens of screaming teens. Found that out after the show.
They're trying to buy applause and word of mouth with free tickets. Kinda sad, honestly."
Its not uncommon for shows to paper during previews and give away free tickets to help build word of mouth. Everyone is praising Shucked for doing that, but now we are going to fault New York, New York for doing the same thing?
Don't misunderstand me, I finally saw it on Thursday and I wholeheartedly agree with the consensus that this show needed an out of town tryout, because there are the trappings of a great show, it gets lost in the messiness of the book. I will would put this in a similar category I did Beetlejuice in that Stroman shows that good direction and spectacle can overcome some inherent structural flaws.
There are too many plot lines without anything really tying them together and a lack of development in each. I can understand the creatives vision of wanting this to be seen as just a year in NYC where anything can happen, but that is not clear from the shows book. This is very evident from the shows score, which feels outside of maybe 2 songs is set up like a Jukebox musical. The jukebox musical feel of the score would be perfect though if the idea of this just being presented as a series of vignettes were clear to the audience. To do this properly the show/book needs some sort of framing device and not just the playbill song list that says "Summer 1945, Fall 1945, Winter 1946, Spring 1946, and Summer 1946." That or we don't have the ongoing plots of the tertiary characters interspersed with Frankie and Jimmy central plot, but instead these characters are only given the spotlight after directly interacting with Frankie and Jimmy, then disappear back into the background.
And yet while I have problems and can be nit picky with the shows book and use of its score, Stroman keeps the stage to busy and dazzling that you can easily look past those flaws and focus on the beauty on stage. Anna also has a spark that causes her to radiate on stage, I just wish the show's book actually gave her material to work with. Colton was making strong choices adding to his character that while not all worked for me without them even more of the flaws in the shows book would become apparent.
But back to the show needing an out of town tryout, I was told the main reason the show didn't have an out of town tryout was not because of the talent involved, but because of the set and technical elements. I was told that the set was so big and dynamic it had to be built directly inside the St James from the ground up, which was why Into the Woods couldn't extend into early February. Note this was before sales for Into the Woods took a nose dive and there were still feelers out there for a new winter cast. Having seen the show finally, I just don't understand that argument. Everything is either flown or slid in from the wings. I am not saying the scenic design isn't beautiful, but I think I was expecting more especially from the much hypes about tap number on a skyscraper construction sight number. I was expecting set to be erected from the floor creating a thrilling moment of stagecraft alla the candelabras in Phantom or the ice shards in Frozen, but instead it was swung in from the sides and flew in from above with projections. Then to add to that the tap number was very generic and downright bland if you are comparing it to Some Like It Hot which is playing just across the street and also opened this season.
I know this feels like I am bashing the show, but its fine. Its more so with all of the talent involved it the curse of high expectations and seeing all the glimpses of brilliance that make me wonder how great the show could of been.
At this point though its lucky that there are going to be 5 nomination slots for best musical because I would have a tough time picking between it, Shucked, and & Juliet for the final 2 slots. As it would be picking between 2 musicals that while not to everyone's tastes still perfectly accomplish what they are trying to do, and a musical with glimpses of brilliance that's total is less than the sum of its parts.
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