ON THE TOWN Reviews

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 11/20/08 at 7:27pm

Variety is Very Positive:

The Bronx is still up and the Battery down, and "On the Town" remains a helluva show. That's the word just in from City Center, where Encores! has contributed to this fall's cornucopious Leonard Bernstein festival with the musical that first took the remarkable Lenny out of the concert hall and put him on the showbiz A-list.

The new-style comedy musical from twentysomethings Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Betty Comden and Adolph Green burst upon the scene in the final days of 1944. The very aspects that made it so startlingly refreshing -- all that high-quality Robbins dance set against the propulsive energy of wartime "New York, New York" -- have led to a problematic afterlife, with two full-scale Broadway revivals laying ostrich eggs. This Encores! rendition easily outclasses both of those attempts.

Bernstein's music is front and center -- literally so, with Todd Ellison's 30-piece orchestra planted firmly and prominently. Director John Rando has placed his scenes way downstage, relegating the dance component to an upstage platform. This is a fine solution for the material, with the added bonus of making the orchestra -- and the vibrant orchestrations -- more audible than usual. At the same time, one fears for the sightlines from the upper reaches of the cavernous house...

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117939082.html?categoryid=33&cs=1

Updated On: 11/21/08 at 07:27 PM

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 11/20/08 at 7:39pm

I saw the show last night, and while I enjoyed it overall as much as Steven Suskin seems to have, I completely disagree with his assessment of Leslie Kritzer. I found it quite refreshing how brilliantly she managed to make Hildy a very "real" character while still getting all of the laughs (and singing the crap out of it.)

Most actresses in the role tend to go so over the top that it becomes almost like watching a cartoon (a prime example being the funny but ingenuine performance of Lea DeLaria in the last revival,) but the fact that Kritzer went in such a different direction when the easiest choice was to do otherwise speaks volumes for her talent.

Besides, as Suskin says himself, Andrea Martin is chewing scenery so grandiosely that I almost feel it would be too much to have the actress playing Hildy doing the same thing.

Kritzer is a genius musical comedienne who isn't afraid to go overboard when necessary, but she's really doing something special here. I hope the rest of the critics recognize and applaud that (as I expect they will.)

Updated On: 11/20/08 at 07:39 PM

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 11/20/08 at 9:23pm

The Associated Press is a Very Positive:

Some Broadway melodies never get old. Consider the music Leonard Bernstein composed for "On the Town." It's among the musical theater's most youthful and exuberant.

So it's hard to believe the show reaches 65, senior citizen status, next year. Judging from the high-spirited concert revival on view at City Center, "On the Town" seems as fresh and inviting as it must have been in December 1944 when it introduced Bernstein, Betty Comden and Adolph Green as well as a budding choreographer named Jerome Robbins (already a theater and ballet dancer) to Broadway.

The composer and his lyricists (who also wrote the book) perfectly captured a specific time and place: wartime New York and the adventures of three sailors on a 24-hour shore leave.

What "Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert" has done is strip the show down to its essentials, primarily to showcase the glorious music by Bernstein, being celebrated now during what would have been his 90th birthday year...

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/21/arts/NA-US-Theater-Review-On-the-Town.php

Updated On: 11/21/08 at 09:23 PM

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 11/20/08 at 9:25pm

AM New York is Very Positive (3 out of 4 Stars):

Do not judge the groundbreaking 1944 Broadway musical “On the Town” by its lame 1949 MGM movie version starring Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra.

Though its plot about three sailors on 24-hour shore leave in Manhattan remained the same, the bulk of Leonard Bernstein’s symphonic score (with lyrics and book by Adolph Green and Betty Comden) was mercilessly ripped out of the film, including the timeless ballads “Lonely Town,” “Lucky To Be Me” and “Some Other Time.”

Luckily, “On the Town” has been restored to its full theatrical glory in City Center Encores’ handsome concert production, which runs through Sunday. As directed by John Rando, it is also superior to the show’s 1998 flop Broadway revival. As always, the 30-person Encores orchestra, playing Bernstein’s original orchestrations, is wonderful...

http://weblogs.amny.com/entertainment/stage/blog/2008/11/theater_review_of_on_the_town.html

Updated On: 11/21/08 at 09:25 PM

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 11/20/08 at 9:39pm

I love ON THE TOWN, and I'm unhappy that I don't have the opportunity (or desire, quite frankly) to see this production.

[Heybeenfood]

Posted: 11/20/08 at 10:47pm

Isherwood's preview:

The fleet’s in this weekend, at least on 55th Street, where a radiant production of “On the Town” has docked at City Center through Sunday. Hop aboard the celestial subway train of Leonard Bernstein’s piping, pumping, altogether transporting music — this was the first of his handful of Broadway shows — and you’ll be whisked back to a time when New York, New York, was a wonderland of pleasure, romance and hot fun.


Could merit a transfer.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 11/20/08 at 11:06pm

I don't see the Bernstein estate ok'ing a transfer (or a producer with enough balls) after the Public's limp revival.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 11/20/08 at 11:41pm

LOVED it!

The music is just heaven, and I loved the staging and choreography.

Christian Borle has such stage presence, and Andrea Martin and Leslie Kritzer were fabulous.

The orchestra playing those fabulous tunes... loved it!

[shh282]

Posted: 11/20/08 at 11:55pm

Just got home

Loved it.

need to buy recording asap

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 12:05am

The New York Times is Positive:

The fleet’s in this weekend, at least on 55th Street, where a radiant production of “On the Town” has docked at City Center through Sunday. Hop aboard the celestial subway train of Leonard Bernstein’s piping, pumping, altogether transporting music — this was the first of his handful of Broadway shows — and you’ll be whisked back to a time when New York, New York, was a wonderland of pleasure, romance and hot fun. Especially if you were a sailor with 24 hours to fill and found comely company to join you.

What’s that? New York is still a wonderland of pleasure and hot fun? Maybe you haven’t been reading the headlines. A certain global financial crisis has folks looking for fire sales, not to mention anticipating the hard times and mean streets to come. Never mind that now. Let’s forget Wall Street and even Main Street for an evening, and spend a few hours on the Broadway of 1944 with a genial cast of singing sailors hitting the city like fireworks.

The Encores! production, directed by John Rando, is the contribution of this musicals-in-concert series to the citywide commemoration of Bernstein’s 90th birthday, spearheaded by Carnegie Hall and the New York Philharmonic. The Encores! mission has always been to celebrate Broadway with the utmost integrity, and in this case the company honors Bernstein by performing all of the music in the score...

http://theater2.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/theater/reviews/21town.html

Updated On: 11/21/08 at 12:05 AM

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 12:12am

TheaterMania is a Rave:

There was some grumbling locally when On the Town was announced as the kick-off production at the 2008-2009 Encores! series. After all, the 1944 Betty Comden-Adolph Green-Jerome Robbins-Bernstein classic had been revived in Central Park and on Broadway 10 years ago by the Public Theater. Yet, were every incarnation of On the Town as polished and charming as the glorified concert version director John Rando and choreographer Warren Carlyle have put forward audiences might very likely decide they'd be giddy with glee to see the piece not just every decade but every night of the week for the next whatever.

Rando and Carlyle -- reproducing the Robbins choreography for some numbers and on his fancy-free own for others -- have done no wrong. Nor has the cast assembled faltered while having great pleasure reproducing the innocent and hopeful attitude of a period when the country was fighting a supposed good war.

The show concerns Gabey (Tony Yazbeck), Chip (Justin Bohon), and Ozzie (Christian Borle) on a 24-hour shore leave during which they find love with, respectively, Ivy Smith (Jessica Lee Goldyn), Hildy Esterhazy (Leslie Kritzer), and Claire de Loone (Jennifer Laura Thompson). There isn't much more story than this, but there is hilarious compensation by eccentric characters like boozehound dance teacher Madame Maude P. Dilly (Andrea Martin), understanding upper-class fiancé: Judge Pitkin W. Bridgework (Michael Cumpsty), sneeze-a-minute Lucy Shmeeler (Julyana Soelistyo), and a parade of awful night-club singers (Rachel Coloff, repeatedly funny)...

http://www.theatermania.com/content/news.cfm/story/16334

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 12:13am

Wow, Tony Yazbeck seems to be getting wonderful reviews. They should probably send him to Studio 54 right after he is done with his run at City Center.

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 12:22am

I saw the show tonight and absolutely adored it! Great music and really fabulous dancing. Tony Yazbeck has a great stage presence & a phenomenal voice (and of course can dance up a storm as he showed in GYPSY.) Hmmm, just the kind of performance that was missing when I saw PAL JOEY the other day...

The strangest thing was after the show walking behind some guy who was ranting and bitching on his cell phone about how much he hated the show. He was behaving like it was the absolute worst thing he had ever seen on a Broadway stage! Was quite at odds with all the positivity I'd heard from most other people.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 12:24am

REVIEW ROUND UP (SO FAR):

Rave
TheaterMania

Very Positive
Variety
The Associated Press
AM New York

Positive
The New York Times

[mywonderwa11]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 12:53am

I saw the show last night and LOOOOVED it!

I must say, I'm not a Christian Borle fan, but I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that I really enjoyed him in this show. And Tony Yazbek...what a voice! He was fantastic to watch. Andrea Martin...went for every laugh she could get and succeeded every time. I loved her! Although...I wasn't the biggest fan of Leslie. I liked her, but I just didn't LOVE her. Jennifer Laura Thompson, though, can do no wrong in my eyes.

The choreography was sensational! The way he used some of Jerome Robin's original choreography and re-staged the rest was simply beautiful.

And the orchestra sounded amazing!

Very glad I went to this production. It was quite sensational if you ask me.

[LuPonatic]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 12:57am

I really wish I could see this. I have been starting to wonder lately if critics have anything nice to say anymore, but with this and Billy Elliot, I'm feeling better about the whole process. :O)

[being.jeremiah]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 1:43am

I hope everyone gets a chance to see this wonderful (and my favorite fall/spring Encores! show) production!

Maybe MTC can include this next season?

Posted: 11/21/08 at 2:04am

"I love ON THE TOWN, and I'm unhappy that I don't have the opportunity (or desire, quite frankly) to see this production. "

How bizarre. It's definetly my fave 1940s musical, and I'd love to see the concert staging--I'm most curious about the choreography and comparing the Robbins with the new stuff.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 2:07am

Doesn't seem like MTC material to me.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 2:11am

The last two revivals were monumental flops, I really don't see the show transferring, nor do I think it should. The greatness of Encores! is that they get to revive the kind of show that would not have a full blown mounting, they can get a brilliant cast, put on a good show, and give people the chance to see it for a weekend or whatnot.
If something like NO NO NANETTE didn't transfer, I don't see why this show would.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 2:13am

I adore Encores! but loathe the inevitable (and often unrealistic) transfer talk that proceeds every decently reviewed production.

Posted: 11/21/08 at 2:36am

I agree, I'm not convinced a transfer would make much sense. That said it seems this concert production already has overpassed a problem of the last two revivals--where the choreography of such a dance heavy show was deemed disappointing.

Maybe I should start a new thread, but besides the brilliant 1960 recording, are there any cast recordings that are worth adding? I know JAY did one fo their complete recordings for it, but I'm not sure how much more music is left (though I know it's a music heavy show) and if it suffers from the weaknesses of many JAY complete recordings with ponderous tempos and acting.

[shesamarshmallow]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 3:27am

I'm not into ideas of a transfer, but I've long lamented the lack of a decent recording of this show... so I'm rooting (probably in vain) for that.

Posted: 11/21/08 at 3:47am

You don't think the 1960 recording is (at least) decent? *shock*

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 9:38am

The New York Post is very positive with three and a half out of four stars:

"It may be 64 years old, but 1944's "On the Town," now enjoying a brief revival at Encores!, still bursts with the freshness and vitality of youth.
...
The strong-voiced Christian Borle, Justin Bohon and Tony Yazbeck are charming as the sailors, as are Leslie Kritzer as the man-crazy cabbie Hildy; Jennifer Laura Thompson as the anthropologist Claire de Loone who gets "Carried Away"; and Jessica Lee Goldyn as the elusive "Miss Turnstiles." Andrea Martin pulls out the comedic stops as the drunken voice coach Maude P. Dilly.

LINK Updated On: 11/21/08 at 09:38 AM