Uh oh, Jrb__actor will dump on me again, and I've already ticked him off this week... I posted a couple of times on this, but the show just isn't all that funny. I missed Roz Russell's way with Ruth big time. Only Ken Mandlebaum has come out and talked about how Murphy simply isn't the comic tornado the role requires. Accomplished, charming, a better singer (especially in act two) to be sure. But is she really screamingly funny? The Carol Burnette sketch material in Edelman's office? It's pretty tepid stuff, heavy-handed at times. And Edleman ... for my hundred bucks, a man who needs the 101st reason to be lost. I just don't get him, in a romantic context. He and Donna are about as exciting ... well, as they look in that tv commercial. There's nothing wrong with this revival -- but other than the orchestra on stage (the REAL star), blasting Bernstein's music (and often seriously crowding the actors, requiring "Conga" to be crammed on the apron, when it should explode and fill a stage), what's worth the money? Or thrilling enough to justify its existence? If all of you adore it, great. It's pleasures are legit, but it's still summer stock -- no, Encores -- thrown on a big stage for big prices.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
Updated On: 2/19/04 at 10:06 PM
