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

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!

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.

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!

---

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

---

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.

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... :)

---

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.

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.

---

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!

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

---

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.

---

We get it. You worship the man.

---

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.