OFFICIAL "Chitty" Review Thread..- Page 3

[kec]

Posted: 4/29/05 at 3:53am

Thanks, that who I thought might have written it.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 4/29/05 at 3:55am

I'm falling asleep. I should just call it a night... maybe they'll be here when I wake up. I don't want to wait until next week for those three. Oh well.

[Broadway Matt]

Posted: 4/29/05 at 4:51am

Barnes and Winer are more negative on it than I'd thought they'd be, but they're both so amusing sometimes it doesn't matter which way they go in the review. they're always well-expressed and highly-quotable. I think CHITTY is overall getting pretty consistent comments with a balance of positive and negative sentiments. Only time will tell how this all expresses itself thru sales and awards.

The show went extremely well tonight, in my opinion. the cast had great energy and the audience couldn't have been more responsive. as commented on in every review, the Vulgarian characters were much beloved by the crowd's adult members. and that flying car was easily the most popular thing in the room everytime it took off.

[kec]

Posted: 4/29/05 at 5:04am

Just curious... was there any booing when the Child Catcher came out?

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 4/29/05 at 6:38am

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/304558p-260637c.html

[LaCageAuxFollesFan2]

Posted: 4/29/05 at 9:14am

Sounds to me like Howard Kissell is trying to say, get a little drunk and go be dazzled!

[LouW95]

Posted: 4/29/05 at 9:28am

Some critics have again demonstrated what I have said here many times. These critics clearly tell us that if a show isnt genius, "cutting edge" or for a few with the ability to tolerate 2 1/2 hrs of unsingable music, it should not be on Bway. I was not only at Chitty's opening night but saw the production in London at a regular performance, not too long after it opened. Both times, I observed most audience members, of all ages, having a wonderful time at the theater. That means they will come back and that means jobs. Shows like Passion, Frogs, Assassains and others touted by these same critics dont run simply because they dont sell tickets. These shows certainly do not create long term jobs for members of our community. I still believe many critics and members of our theater community are too elitist for the good of Bway. Bway should be for many tastes, even those who want to enjoy spectacle, clap along songs and a flying car.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 4/29/05 at 9:33am

I'm going to reiterate what I and someone else, after seeing the show, think some smart producers (hint, hint, Cameron!) should do: reverse leads when Mary Poppins roles into town, with the Julie Andrews-like Erin Dilly as Mary and Raul as Bert.
Would be a wonderfully marketable idea for the adults who were dragged to Chitty and might have actually been charmed by these two actors to drag their kids back to Poppins.

Oh, and I second and third and fourth the critical reception of the world's worst sound design. Ever.
I also heartily commend the bemoaning of how sad it is to waste the talents of Philip Bosco, Chip Zien and Robert Sella.

[QueenMuppet]

Posted: 4/29/05 at 9:46am

The reviews are a lot better than I had expected. I personally really didn't enjoy it and was very disappoitned after having loved it in London.
One of my main issues with the Broadway production was really pointed out by Barnes when he mentioned 'In London three years ago, these goodies found a rallying point around the charismatic charm of Michael Ball's Caractacus, but here with no such center in a miscast Esparza'

I'm not a Michael Ball fan (FAR from it) but unfortunately, Raul was missing the warmth and charm required for the part that Ball was able to pull off.

I saw the Broadway production in its second week of previews and found it very slow moving with its changes compared to the London production. I remember it took about 15 minutes before they performed the first number.

Good luck to the cast, I'm sure Chitty will be doing well anyway...

QM

Updated On: 4/29/05 at 09:46 AM

[Princeton78]

Posted: 4/29/05 at 9:57am

"I also heartily commend the bemoaning of how sad it is to waste the talents of Philip Bosco, Chip Zien and Robert Sella. "

I'd throw Raul into this category too. It's too bad that even Marc's talents are forced into what may be the best male role in this show...and that's not saying much.

[Princeton78]

Posted: 4/29/05 at 10:10am

NY Sun is up..but I can't read it as i'm not a subscriber....the headline says "Car Trouble on Broadway."

[Princeton78]

Posted: 4/29/05 at 10:19am

The Washington Post is mixed...again liking the villians.

"Actors often worry about appearing on stage with those perennial scene-stealers: children and dogs. In "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," which opened Thursday at Broadway's Hilton Theatre, even the show's kids and canines are upstaged by its title character, a flying red-and-gold motor car that gets the audience positively giddy with delight."

"Jeremy Sams' meandering book plods along with a minimum of laughs until those Vulgarians, portrayed by a hammily robust Marc Kudisch and a delightfully comic Jan Maxwell, make an extended appearance in Act 2. Their excesses are funny. Unlike the Childcatcher, a Nosferatu-like fellow who is genuinely scary (Kevin Cahoon in fine spectral form), you actually like these villains."

"Except for the airborne antics of that flying car, which director Adrian Noble cagily restricts to the first and second-act finales, "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" remains resolutely sugarcoated and earthbound."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/28/AR2005042802039.html?sub=new

[robbiej]

Posted: 4/29/05 at 10:25am

I don't always agree with La Brantley, but his Mondo Cane reference made me LOL at my desk!

[Plum]

Posted: 4/29/05 at 10:28am

Lou, you're wrong, but since I'm quite honestly sick and tired of making the same points about critics every time a new show comes out, I'll save everyone the pain of hearing them again.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 4/29/05 at 11:50am

ha! I saw "sexy" as I was reading the NY Daily News one and prayed to everything that they were talking about Raúl. I can't believe they called the car sexy!

The cast is amazing, and I only hope they're being paid enough that when their yearlong contracts are fulfilled, they can afford to do work worthy of their talents.

This applies especially to Raúl Esparza, one of our gutsiest actors. Nothing he does can make Caractacus anything but a standard hero. The material doesn't give him a fighting chance.

*sigh*. Fight, Raúl.

Updated On: 4/29/05 at 11:50 AM

[Princeton78]

Posted: 4/29/05 at 11:55am

I'll admit...I was a bit surprised at Raul's casting. I don't usually lump Raul and Michael Ball in the same category. But I think they are both outstanding..just different. Both deserve better than this role. I'm crossing my fingers that Michael will open "The Woman In White" here next year.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 4/29/05 at 11:58am

I don't know much about Michael Ball, save for his voice, but it sounds like he may have been slightly better casting in the role... that he just was able to embrace the camp a little bit more easily. When I heard they cast Raúl, my reaction was probably one of even more shock than when I heard Adam got Cabaret. I knew he *could* do it, and I hold to that even after seeing him, but I was afraid the result was going to be less-than astounding. It is, but he's still a pleasure to see up there, which is probably because I make excuses for him. I wish he'd gotten something better, but... I digress. I've tried to figure out why he did it enough times. Now I just have to sit back and enjoy the very odd choice, I guess!

Updated On: 4/29/05 at 11:58 AM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 4/29/05 at 12:05pm

Absolutley is. And he just seems so thrilled.... I'm really happy for him. I think after the premature closures of both of his projects last year, he needed something fun (and honestly, something that will outlast him).

YAY RAUL!

Updated On: 4/29/05 at 12:05 PM

[kec]

Posted: 4/29/05 at 1:02pm

"I'm crossing my fingers that Michael will open "The Woman In White" here next year. "

From your message to the eyes of the American producers, Princeton.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 4/29/05 at 3:29pm

How many stars did the Post give it?

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 4/29/05 at 5:53pm

Anyone??

[JO125]

Posted: 4/29/05 at 6:36pm

I think the Post gave it two and a half stars, at least according to my mom.

[NYC_or_Bust]

Posted: 4/29/05 at 7:14pm

This makes me pretty upset.....I think that reviewers were going to the show with intentions to come out with some kind of deep message (a la GYPSY)....what's wrong with just purely being entertained? I mean, think of how many shows are just for ENTERTAINMENT!!!!! it's called the Entertainment Industry, not the WOW, I REALLY LEARNED THINGS ABOUT MYSELF THROUGH THIS MEDIUM INDUSTRY

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 4/29/05 at 8:18pm

I guess we're still waiting on a few more that'll be out within the next few days, but all in all, congrats, Chitty. You didn't do so badly after all.

[Princeton78]

Posted: 4/30/05 at 10:45am

Wow...The Dallas Star is a rave...

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/entertainment/overnight/stories/043005dnovechitty.5e3cddfd.html

"The whole show, which opened on Thursday at the renamed Hilton Theatre (formerly the Ford Center), is the snazziest piece of family entertainment to hit the Great White Way since The Lion King. Actually, the Sherman Brothers' songs are superior, and these performers, top Broadway talent up and down the line, get many more opportunities to charm."
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" Insiders have considered Mr. Esparza to be Broadway's best young leading man for years. Now maybe the wider world will catch on. Mr. Kudisch and Ms. Maxwell have a string of great credits behind them. Here they are having the times of their lives playing broad comic villains without ever going over the top. They even get to look like a manic Fred and Ginger leading the climactic production number, "The Bombie Samba."'
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" Take heart, though, grown-ups. You don't need a kid as an excuse to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. This show is so smart and so beautifully produced that it's worth a special trip to New York by all ages.."