NEW YORK, NEW YORK On Broadway - Reviews Thread- Page 25

[Ricey2]

Posted: 4/27/23 at 1:06am

I would also give the fifth slot to KPOP. Or even Bad Cinderella at this point. 

[ChorusKitty]

Posted: 4/27/23 at 1:32am

PipingHotPiccolo said: "
(There are overall more forgiving than I expected them to be, and yet much harsher on the cast. Uzele's vocals arent "sophisticated" enough for Variety? Wow.)"

If he said, she hits the notes but doesn't really interpret the music dramatically (as someone essentially posted in an early preview report), that would be more insightful of a viewpoint.  But simply saying her vocals aren't "sophisticated," that's just lazy criticism. 

 

[WestEndGal]

Posted: 4/27/23 at 3:41am

For sure these reviews are a mixed bag, but overall they’re not the disaster some here are making them out to be, and reading through them there’s plenty of pull quotes to use in their marketing. But in a year of strong musicals this will definitely be a disappointment. 
 

Also, I’ve not seen the show but the reviewer dissing Colton Ryan for his Kermit the frog voice seems unnecessarily mean!

[Mark_E]

Posted: 4/27/23 at 3:55am

AKarp2013 said: "I say give the fifth slot to KPOP.

"

100% agree on this 

[ACL2006]

Posted: 4/27/23 at 5:17am

based on the fact that they've already announced a tour and that it'll [likely] sell very well on tour, maybe A BEAUTIFUL NOISE gets that 5th nomination?

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 4/27/23 at 5:57am

^If the out-of-town voters voted on nominations, I'd say yes. But they don't.

[MadsonMelo]

Posted: 4/27/23 at 9:26am

These reviews are way harsh than I expected, it's on the same level as ''A Beautiful Noise'' and even ''Almost Famous''... wow!

''Bad Cinderella'' still was the worst reviewed new musical of the season - maybe the worst reviewed play of the season, actually.

I really REALLY wish they didn't have to nominate a fifth Best Musical, it's stupid. Hoping that ''KPOP'' can somehow get that, but the pedigree of Kander and LMM will likely get this one the nom.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 4/27/23 at 11:30am

Just read someone opine that this show is "review-proof." Wait, what? With the star the brand-specific title and the co-star the catalog-compiled song stack by a beloved composing team, perhaps that will prove true. But filling the St. James 8 times a week remains a challenge. Especially in a now crowded (for post-shutdown) musical landscape. And that tally is brutal.   

[JSquared2]

Posted: 4/27/23 at 11:36am

BJR said: "Jesse did the feature on Kander, so he can't also review it."

 

Huh?  Where would you get an idea like that??

[MadsonMelo]

Posted: 4/27/23 at 11:39am

This show is for sure not a ''review-proof'' one.

[Ricey2]

Posted: 4/27/23 at 11:52am

Has anyone done the rush here yet? I’m front row aisle and I’m curious on how much I’ll miss. I don’t mind because of the price I paid, but it’d be a shame if it’s a lot.

[yyys]

Posted: 4/27/23 at 11:56am

https://seatplan.com/new-york/st-james-theatre/

 

Ricey2 said: "Has anyone done the rush here yet? I’m front row aisle and I’m curious on how much I’ll miss. I don’t mind because of the price I paid, but it’d be a shame if it’s a lot."

 

[bdn223]

Posted: 4/27/23 at 12:00pm

JSquared2 said: "BJR said: "Jesse did the feature on Kander, so he can't also review it."



Huh? Where would you get an idea like that??"

Its common knowledge and journalistic practice to make sure the review is as impartial and unbiased as possible. If a critic is writing a puff piece about the production where they learn the intricacies of how it was created they will know significantly more about it than the audience sitting in the theater. They also might be spend their time at the performance looking for some of those more minute details the wrote about during the performance they are reviewing instead of the production itself. Also theoretically if while writing the puff piece they interview a cast member or a creative who might not have the best attitude and interaction with the writer/critic, how does the outlet make sure that the interaction does not impact the critics review of the production as a whole?  While critics are professionals we all have our own biases we can't shake, and this is the editorial teams way of trying to make sure the review is as unbiased as possible. 

[bdn223]

Posted: 4/27/23 at 12:42pm

Ricey2 said: "Has anyone done the rush here yet? I’m front row aisle and I’m curious on how much I’ll miss. I don’t mind because of the price I paid, but it’d be a shame if it’s a lot."

I have heard most are heavily obstructed. One of the theatertokers I follow said they could only see half the stage. If you look at the seating chart on seat geek it looks like they are not selling the last 2 seats on the far right or left of the orchestra for any performance, which is what I am assuming what they offer for rush because of the horrible sightlines in the St. James.

Jujamcyn really needs to take the theater offline for a year and gut the auditorium once and for all. The orchestra is simultaneously too shallow and too wide for productions to sell many full priced and premium tickets, and then the balcony is so far away form the stage you might as well be sitting across the street. The first row of the balcony is so deep back that if I am reading the seating charts are correct its overhang begins at the last row of the orchestra, and then add to that you are 6 stories above the orchestra.  If I had my way I would first blow out the theaters bar area and expand the orchestra by an additional 5-7 rows, while also removing seats from the side orchestra where the sightlines are more often then not obstructed. Then I would either remove or lower the balcony a story or 2 and shift it forward at least 10 feet. The fact that every other theater with a balcony and a mezzanine the balcony overhangs at most 4 rows back, but the balcony at the St James is 9 rows back shows that it is structurally possible to fix the St James's balcony. Then also don't get me started on the fact that the only water fountain in the theater is on the balcony level. Seriously Jujamcyn needs to learn from what the Shubert's did to the Cort, now the Jones, and do the same to the St James. 

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/27/23 at 1:09pm

It's probably more accurate to say Green couldn't review the show because he has a personal relationship with John Kander going back several decades, as acknowledged in the feature, so didn't want to appear biased, or couldn't be impartial.

That relationship is why he wrote/what gave him access for the feature piece.

It's not that writing the piece is what precluded him from writing the review.

 

Updated On: 4/27/23 at 01:09 PM

[hak5]

Posted: 4/27/23 at 3:26pm

had a cast recording been announced yet?

[heybaby]

Posted: 4/27/23 at 3:29pm

Mark_E said: "AKarp2013 said: "I say give the fifth slot to KPOP.

"

100% agree on this"

 

LOLOLOLOLOLOL

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 4/27/23 at 3:39pm

hak5 said: "had a cast recording been announced yet?"

No, but this team pretty much guarantees that they make an album. I'm sure Atlantic or any of the Broadway labels will prostrate themselves for Lin & Kander. Unless some of the songs are somehow tied up in a weird rights issue.

As we know, an album is also vital for licensing (tho this show's licensing future might not be as rosy as some others, as it has racially-specific characters, meaning certain community/school groups might have a harder time properly casting the show, as opposed to something like Shucked or Almost Famous).

[bk]

Posted: 4/27/23 at 4:34pm

If Miranda convinces a major to do it, that's the only way a major label picks this up. The independent labels will not pay for it, the producers will pay for it - of course, the producers could pay for it and then just give it to a major, so that could happen, too. 

[Voter]

Posted: 4/27/23 at 4:39pm

This showed up on TDF this afternoon

[yyys]

Posted: 4/27/23 at 6:13pm

Washington Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/theater-dance/2023/04/26/new-york-musical-kander-broadway/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWJpZCI6IjIxOTUxMzgiLCJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNjgyNDgxNjAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNjgzNzc3NTk5LCJpYXQiOjE2ODI0ODE2MDAsImp0aSI6ImVhYWE4MDc5LTUyM2QtNDUxZi1iMDU3LTEzYjVjYjAwOGJlYyIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS90aGVhdGVyLWRhbmNlLzIwMjMvMDQvMjYvbmV3LXlvcmstbXVzaWNhbC1rYW5kZXItYnJvYWR3YXkvIn0.qMbUWqrStBt4TlNj5E4bOzF_XRnIkZCokpUb1rOc3l0

[BETTY22]

Posted: 4/27/23 at 7:09pm

I wonder if the power of LMM will make these review less painful.

He has a massive fanbase. 

[inception]

Posted: 4/27/23 at 7:32pm

BETTY22 said: "I wonder if the power of LMM will make these review less painful.

He has a massive fanbase."

But he isn't in the show.  It isn't a rap based show like his own two previous shows.

As much as I love so many Kander & Ebb songs, they have had plenty of shows that bombed - eg 70 Girls 70.

Their best shows depended on an authoritative director taking the reigns - Harold Prince with Cabaret, Bob Fosse with Chicago. 

Fosse's caricature of them in All That Jazz is particularly scathing.

It has been somewhat depressing to read the reviews of this show, since on paper it sounded like it so much potential.  But, once I read the early reports about how they weren't even making good use of Emily Skinner...well I lost any interest. 

In my dreams I can write any number of incomprehensible, hallucinatory musicals for her to star in - the one where Amazon warriors descended to help the Union Army defeat Grant at Gettysburg was particularly grand, stealing parts of Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries." She was absolutely ravishing.

 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 4/27/23 at 7:46pm

Seems like the nyc Tourism board should really rally around this one. 

[DCS]

Posted: 4/27/23 at 9:06pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "hak5 said: "had a cast recording been announced yet?"

No, but this team pretty much guarantees that they make an album. I'm sure Atlantic or any of the Broadway labels will prostrate themselves for Lin & Kander.Unless some of the songs are somehow tied up in a weird rights issue.

As we know, an album is also vital for licensing (tho this show's licensing future might not be as rosy as some others, as it has racially-specific characters, meaning certain community/school groups might have a harder time properly casting the show, as opposed to something like Shucked or Almost Famous)."

I've heard some rumblings today that the producers indeed will be paying for the recording (after all, it will likely be John Kander's final Broadway show and it includes LMM), but doesn't look like it's going to one of the major labels, which isn't that odd these days. Many of the big musicals end up on Ghostlight or Broadway Records or Concord....look at Camelot, Kimberly Akimbo and Some Like It Hot.  I would expect it to be Concord since they are one of the producers of the show and both Miranda and Kander have their publishing deals with them.