Nick Jonas & Michael Urie in HOW TO SUCCEED... Thoughts?- Page 4

[jsg03jd]

Posted: 1/5/12 at 9:35pm

There are some challenging parts to H2$ singing-wise. "I Believe In You" is deceptively simple but range and acting-wise, it's not an easy number in my view.

I seem to recall someone here posting that Darren Criss did not study musical theatre at U of Mich. So based on that in addition to everything I've seen and heard of him from "Glee" - especially during the "West Side Story" arc - and various YouTube clips, it seems to me he's had no or only very little vocal training. That may be not be a good thing for him even if he's only doing a 3-week engagement.

As a side note, I'm impressed that Daniel Radcliffe did not miss a single performance during his run!

[DAME]

Posted: 1/5/12 at 9:41pm

I don't get the comparison between this book musical and Hugh's show . And no one is arguing the validity of this show itself. Just saying that what is on display on that stage right now is beneath good standards of professional theater.

[SondheimFan5]

Posted: 1/5/12 at 10:13pm

As for the lines, I know many stars like to come in completely off-book, but I think contractually they are in no way obligated to do so. It's a shame when you've only got 2 weeks of rehearsal because nobody - I don't care who you are - can start really acting until they have the book out of their hand and they know the part 100%. But this is not the first time this kind of thing that's happened, and I'm sure Bridges is not the worst replacement ever.

[bpstar]

Posted: 1/5/12 at 10:47pm

It's obvious that no matter the talent level of Criss, he was cast to actually keep the revival running. The choice of three weeks was made to accomodate with Glee and to keep tickets selling. Now when Nick Jonas comes, it will be a brand new story. Jonas was popular one or two years ago but I don't know how many fans will come flocking to see him but we'll see.

Also, I heard that Radcliffe did miss one or two performances.

[beyonddizzy31]

Posted: 1/5/12 at 11:26pm

Wow, its been a while since I've posted here...

I don't know why everyone is being so harsh on Darren Criss. I saw the show tonight and thought he was great. I may be a Gleek but I'm an actor and theater-lover first, and I did my absolute best to not view the show with my Gleek-Goggles on.

I loved his energy, his comedic timing, and everyone else in the show was superb. Except Bridges. Just... make that stop.

Bottom line is this: Darren was brought in to keep ticket sales afloat during the cold, slow part of the season that is January. He comes with two loyal built-in fan-bases (Gleeks and Starkids) who will flock to see him, myself included. He seems like a wonderful, humble person, he has boundless energy and is really fun to watch on stage (I was so surprised by his dancing!!). Is he the definitive Finch? Not by a long shot. But I certainly enjoyed the show tonight and joined the rest of the audience in the standing ovation everyone on that stage deserved.

Except Bridges. Please, for the love of God, recast!

[80sbrokemyheart]

Posted: 1/5/12 at 11:32pm

I have to say, I'm never quite as critical as other people seem to be on these boards, but as someone who froze her ass off in the cold from five to ten this morning, I enjoyed myself in the audience tonight, and I'm not a Gleek by any means, or a huge Darren Criss fan. I've always thought he had a nice charisma and presence to him and was curious to see what he would do with the role, and so I went.

That said, I went to the theater this evening and I had FUN. I genuinely had a blast, and none of the Gleeks around me got rude or crazy, though it was a little nuts getting out of the theater. I saw Dan do this back in April and I'd say both performers gave separate performances that were very different, but I liked both.

As a note to anyone who's planning to rush, I got there at five today and was the sixth in line. I think you probably could have gotten there at seven and been fine, I just couldn't sleep anyway. I would buy some foot warmers to put in your boots when your toes start to freeze; some woman in line today went and bought a bunch of the foot and hand warmers for our section and she was a SAINT for doing so.

[DAME]

Posted: 1/5/12 at 11:37pm

I think the review below is way too generous. But one gets the idea. It happens to be the performance I saw. Glad whoever likes this kind of thing is enjoying it. Bring back Melanie Griffith in Chicago for all I care. You deserve it.
Ew

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 1/6/12 at 1:06am

"I don't get the comparison between this book musical and Hugh's show ."

It was a lame attempt to say that the adult women Hugh-fans are just as lame as any Darren fangirls who shout out at him during the show... But yes, it's a stupid argument partly because they are completely different kinds of shows in nearly every respect (one's a one man concert essentially where he interacts with the audience, the other a fully staged musical, but moreso because the argument was that Hugh's fans were annoying because they laughed at his jokes (!) and applauded *loudly* after *every* number (!!)

[sorano916]

Posted: 1/6/12 at 3:31am

No, Daniel didn't miss a show. Believe me, if he did, my friends & I would have dropped everything & run to the theatre for his understudy.

John missed a couple but Daniel definitely did his entire run.

Back to Darren, I definitely took in consideration that his approach to the character will be different than Daniel, there was the main essence of the character that I thought he just didn't grasp. And as others mentioned, he did lack enough charm to make certain scenes work.

BTW, my reason for first seeing the show was not Daniel or John. Mary Faber was one of my favorites from "American Idiot" and knowing that "How To..." was her new project & I wanted to see it because she was in it & she said that it was a fun show.

[jayinchelsea]

Posted: 1/6/12 at 8:26am

Okay, let's start with the premise that "How to Succeed" is a brilliant show, not the overly broad, not very good piece we've been getting over the past 20-odd years.

Neither the Des McAnuff show with a very weak Matthew Broderick (all jazzed up with needless projections), not the current Rob Ashford event (when will he stop being hired and ruining shows like this and "Promises" with bad old-TV choreography and staging?) presents the show particularly well. It now seems like a pseudo-comic "Mad Men" wannabe, and trust me, it's way better than that. "How to Succeed" won the Pulitzer Prize and every other award in its day (50 years ago) and the original production with the incomparable Robert Morse is still one of the great shows in musical theatre history.

And while Daniel Radcliffe was surprisingly good in "Equus," he is not a born musical comedy performer. Give him an A+ for effort, though, particularly in this badly directed production. And while I will be attending the show again to see Darren Criss, my expectations are low, not because of Darren, but because I already know what this production is like.

And did anyone else cringe a bit at the Rob Ashford "choreography" during Patti's great "Come Rain or Come Shine" at the KC Honors? Will someone explain his "success" to me??

[rKrispyt]

Posted: 1/6/12 at 11:38am

Criss was not a Musical Theatre major at U of M, he was a theatre performance major though, grew up doing musicals in San Fran since he was a child, is a songwriter as well as a composer lyricist with 5 musicals under his belt, and plays about 8 instruments that he grew up being trained on. So I wouldn't say that 'singing' is at all a new thing to him or something that he can't grasp or isn't at all trained on. Considering how much musical learning was a part of his youth, I would be surprised if he hadn't studied voice at some point. (Also, there are many folks who are musically successful who were only Theatre majors rather than MTs at U of M that I know - it was always my understanding that if you got into U of M, you went, even if you didn't get into the MT program cause it was still amazing and you could still take dance, etc.) I mean...Dylan Saunders was also a Theatre Major rather than and he has an astounding, obviously trained, voice.

And I never realized how many people dislike Rob Ashford, lol. As a choreographer especially I've always really liked his work (in terms of choreo) that I've seen, and I really love it in this revival as well. I must be smokin' something... :)

[snl89]

Posted: 1/6/12 at 1:40pm

I mean...Dylan Saunders was also a Theatre Major rather than and he has an astounding, obviously trained, voice.

For the record, though, most of the other Starkids don't. Dylan and Jaime Lyn Beatty have very strong voices, but actually I'd argue Darren is probably the next strongest after them... or at least it's a tie between he and Joey Richter (I personally prefer Darren's tone to Joey's). Most of the others, while they're wonderful and extremely funny actors, their voices aren't that particularly strong. They can all carry tunes, but most of them it's very clear are actors first and foremost

This doesn't really have all that much to do with anything, except just to say Darren is indeed on a similar level to most of the Starkids in terms of vocal ability (Dylan and Jaime are the notably strong singers- especially Dylan) :) And in fact, the recent New York Times article said that prior to the Starkid stuff he'd never done any musicals. He grew up doing straight plays and he's been singing all his life, for sure, but it's been much more in a pop/indie/singer/songwriter vein.

Updated On: 1/6/12 at 01:40 PM

[sorano916]

Posted: 1/6/12 at 2:26pm

I personally just think Darren doesn't have the voice for this kind of show. John Gallagher Jr. has a similiar background to Darren's minus the college training and "Spring Awakening" was his first musical. He has stuck to that genre and his voice works in it. I would be surprised if he did a more traditional musical. Darren had auditioned for "American Idiot" and that show would have been more appropriate for how he sings.

[sorano916]

Posted: 1/6/12 at 2:29pm

Sorry. Double post. Updated On: 1/6/12 at 02:29 PM

[rKrispyt]

Posted: 1/6/12 at 3:40pm

snl, I'm POSITIVE that Darren grew up doing musicals - I've seen interviews where he talks about it. There's also this lengthly list of credits pre-college (unless one doesn't consider Fanny, Do I Hear A Waltz?, Babes In Arms, Music Man, or Fiddler on the Roof to be musicals):

"Criss made his professional stage debut at the age of ten in 42nd Street Moon's 1997 production of Fanny, in the role of Cesario. The next year, Criss played Mauro in the same company's production of the Richard Rodgers and Stephen Sondheim musical Do I Hear a Waltz?, followed by Babes in Arms in 1999, in which he played Beauregard Calhoun.

During his formative years, Criss attended the Young Conservatory (YC) program of the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.), based in San Francisco. He appeared in a number of A.C.T.'s plays, notably A Christmas Carol, A Midsummer Nights Dream, and The Voysey Inheritance. Criss continued to hone his craft at St. Ignatius College Preparatory, taking on roles in classics such as The Music Man, The Diary of Anne Frank, and Fiddler on the Roof."

Also, Jaime Lynn Beatty DID study voice through high school; the point I was trying to make was that, just because you aren't an MT major at college it doesn't automatically equate to not having trained vocally.

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 1/6/12 at 3:50pm

New interview of Darren and he discusses his theatre past, "How to Succeed", "Glee", among other things including his singing and how he knows he doesn't have the Broadway voice he wishes he had.

http://www.broadway.com/shows/how-succeed-business-without-really-trying/buzz/159238/how-to-succeed-star-darren-criss-on-growing-up-a-theater-geek-missing-the-big-hair-and-breaking-hearts-on-glee/

[egghumor]

Posted: 1/6/12 at 3:53pm

I'm with jayinchelsea (and several others around here), Rob Ashford has the anti-Midas Touch. Why anyone would hire him to direct and choreograph a show (assuming they've seen his work before) is beyond my comprehension. The worst!

[rorschach37]

Posted: 1/6/12 at 4:11pm

I don't think BWW would be happy with me posting the link, but there's audio of Darren singing "Brotherhood of Man" up on youtube. It sounds like they've reverted the number back to it's original key and Darren sounds incredibly nervous. You can also hear Beau stumbling over his lines.

[blaxx]

Posted: 1/6/12 at 4:17pm

These Crisstenites sure are defensive, but not as bad as Claymates - some of those were really intense!

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 1/6/12 at 4:43pm

Is Ms. Aiken taking over when Jonas leaves?

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 1/6/12 at 4:44pm

The cynic in me wonders if the defenders of the faith would be quite as generous if they had paid full price instead of rush. Radcliffe was decent in the role, but IMHO even he knew he was out of his element. From what I'm reading of Criss... well, there we are.

Just wondering.

[snl89]

Posted: 1/6/12 at 6:35pm

Yeah, I stand corrected on the no musicals thing! In my defense though, it did say that in the NY Times article haha. I was surprised by it myself since I wondered how someone who was involved in theater his whole life never did any musicals, so yeah, that does make sense that it was a misunderstanding on the writer's part (which he explained in the new interview posted above).

But anyway, yeah, Darren has acknowledged lots and lots of times that even he didn't think he'd be able to do Broadway because he doesn't have that kind of voice. And of course I'm sure that's true- I certainly wouldn't expect him to be able to pull off really booming classic scores that really need lots of vibrato and power. But having heard the audios from how to succeed, I do personally think he makes it work with a score like this. I just love the tone of his voice, and while Dan was great and yes, he probably had more power to his voice, I have to say I find something more pretty and naturally melodic about Darren's voice. There's more texture to it or something I feel like. But again, just my opinion. I can understand if others find it weak. Darren says the same thing himself since he's also used to those really powerful, flawless Broadway kinds of voices in musical theater.

Updated On: 1/6/12 at 06:35 PM

[blaxx]

Posted: 1/6/12 at 6:45pm

We get it. You worship the man.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 1/6/12 at 6:59pm

Darren sounds fine to me in the youtube clip. His voice is a little light and breathy, but that's to be expected since it's not really the style of music he's used to singing. If he hasn't already it might help him to get in a few hours of vocal classes from someone who can help him find a little more confidence with the material.

[willep]

Posted: 1/6/12 at 8:17pm

Blech. Way to much of a "pop" sound for me. Between his spoken lines and singing, he just sounds to me like he should be in a community theatre production at most. I much prefer DanRad's performance to Criss' based solely on that audio clip. Interested to hear more of Bridges, but I'd be willing to bet there are no Beau Bridges fanboys/girls that are going to be recording his songs and posting them.