ONLY GOLD Musical at MCC Begins October 5

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 8/9/22 at 4:35pm

Complete casting has been announced for the world premiere of Only Gold, which will begin previews at MCC Theater on October 5 ahead of an official opening night on November 7. Tickets are on sale through November 27.

With a score by Kate Nash (Glow) and a book by Andy Blankenbuehler (Hamilton) and Ted Malawer (Everything Beautiful Happens at Night), Only Gold is set in a mythical Paris around the disruptive arrival of a royal family.

Composer Kate Nash stars alongside Emmy Award and three-time Tony Award nominee Terrence Mann (Pippin), Tony Award nominee Karine Plantadit (Come Fly Away), Gaby Diaz (West Side Story), Hannah Cruz (Suffs), Ryan Steele (Carousel), and Ryan VanDenBoom (MJ).

The cast of 26 also features Haley Fish, Jennifer Florentino, Jacob Guzman, Tyler Hanes, Thayne Jasperson, Reed Luplau, Morgan Marcell, Ximone Rose, Ida Saki, Ahmad Simmons, DeAnne Stewart, Voltaire Wade-Greene, and Katie Webber. Swings and understudies for the production will include Jacob Burns, Phil Colgan, Bradley Dean, Victoria Fiore, Samantha Pollino, and Eleri Ward.

Blankenbuehler choreographs and directs a creative team that includes scenic designer David Korins, costume designer Anita Yavich, lighting designer Jeff Croiter, sound designer Nevin Steinberg, hair & wig designer by Tom Watson, and prop supervisor Samantha Shoffner.

Arrangements and orchestrations are by Cian McCarthy, vocal arrangements are by Tom Kitt, additional arrangements and orchestrations are by Alex Lacamoire, and music supervision is by Meg Zervoulis (The Prom). Music direction is by Cynthia Meng and music coordination is by Michael Aarons. Pat Sosnow is the production stage manager and Matthew Henao is the assistant stage manager.

[ashley0139]

Posted: 8/9/22 at 9:22pm

I had the pleasure of seeing Ximone Rose in Lempicka a couple weeks ago and she is PHENOMENAL. I may have to try to see this.

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 8/9/22 at 9:28pm

OMG this music team! I’m seeing stars. 

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 8/10/22 at 2:26am

I love Kate Nash. Zero interest in that one sentence description of the plot. Does anyone knowing anything more? The website calls it a dance musical.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 8/10/22 at 8:48am

Fantastic cast!

[smidge2]

Posted: 8/10/22 at 11:08am

Has Thayne left Hamilton already or does he have a scheduled final performance?

[jpbran]

Posted: 8/10/22 at 1:03pm

Got excited when I saw they had a Sunday Nov 6 evening performance as it’s the only slot on my trip not scheduled (and nobody else seems to be doing Sun evening shows). BUT it’s also the only sold-out performance. And can’t swing a $1500 donation to access held-back seats. 

(EDIT: just saw Taffy’s message that Sunday the 6th is opening night. Ahhh…makes sense)

Updated On: 8/10/22 at 01:03 PM

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 8/10/22 at 1:11pm

11/6 is opening night.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 8/10/22 at 2:48pm

smidge2 said: "Has Thayne left Hamilton already or does he have a scheduled final performance?"

I was wondering if he’s leaving permanently or just take a leave of absence to do this show.

[gibsons2]

Posted: 8/10/22 at 9:21pm

This musical wasn't on my radar until I saw that Hannah Cruz will be in it. She was my favorite in Suffs. I too find the description of the musical plot very vague, although I reread it several times. Hoping for positive reviews 

[gibsons2]

Posted: 9/6/22 at 1:31pm

Hope everyone grabbed the $39 tickets for first two previews! Can't wait to see this musical despite the very vague description 

[ilysespieces]

Posted: 9/6/22 at 1:40pm

Bought tickets for this as soon as I could today, my friend and I are big fans of Kate Nash and this seems right up our alley (even with the minimal description lol). I wish we could make the first couple of preview work, for that price damn.

We picked Row A, hopefully the stage isn't super high.

[ken8631]

Posted: 9/11/22 at 11:00am

Any reason that the rows further back are more expensive?  Strange shape of stage.  Was going to buy front row tickets but now I'm not sure that;s a good idea.  Anyone been in there?

[kidmanboy]

Posted: 9/11/22 at 5:31pm

I sat in the second row of this theater for Alice by Heart and the stage was VERY high - awkwardly so.  I would sit further back.

[hearthemsing22]

Posted: 9/12/22 at 4:11pm

Updated On: 9/12/22 at 04:11 PM

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 10/2/22 at 11:18pm

I've been checking MCC's Instagram regularly to see if they'd post any glimpses of David Korins' set, and this was in their stories today. Looks pretty spectacular:



 

 

 

 

 

Updated On: 10/2/22 at 11:18 PM

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 10/7/22 at 7:26pm

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/7/22 at 7:38pm

That's a gorgeous set!

[LexiGirl]

Posted: 10/7/22 at 8:41pm

Really interested in hearing people’s first impressions on this one. I won’t be back in NYC until December, but am keeping a slot open for this one. Tickets aren’t on sale past Nov. 27, but Kate Nash said in a TikTok that it would be running until Jan. 1, so it should extend until then, assuming it does well. They are also offering Thursday matinees, which is great.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 10/7/22 at 10:29pm

It looks like a Golden Globes ceremony set.

[Kad]

Posted: 10/8/22 at 9:53am

MCC has very clearly been hungry for a hit musical for years, but usually ends up with what is on paper flashy and enticing but in practice pretty hollow and unmemorable. I would be very surprised if this bucks that trend, considering its foundations seem to be similar to MCC’s previous attempts.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/8/22 at 10:18am

MCC’s problem with musicals is that they usually aren’t producing work by newcomers: They focus on established people who have had a hit. Alice (Sheik/Sater), Wrong Man (Kail’s first project post-Ham), and now this (Andy B’s highest-profile musical developed after Hamilton). But their track record with plays has always been spotty too. Generally things look good on paper but the actual results vary. Like a better version of New Group.

There are pros and cons to being only a part-time Artistic Director, and the development of new work is one of them. Even tho they have a vast staff there ft.

But also need to remember that most of their musicals have had commercial producers behind them and they came to MCC having done some development already. MCC is a glorified presenter, more so than some other nonprofits who accept enhancement money.

Updated On: 10/8/22 at 10:18 AM

[inception]

Posted: 10/8/22 at 11:31pm

With that set it seems like there is definitely some money behind this.  Will be interesting to read reports.

[GilmoreGirlO2]

Posted: 10/9/22 at 10:09am

I saw this last night and the best way for me to describe it is a beautiful mess.

First, the beautiful part: The dancing is the absolute star of this show. The choreography is beautiful and the talent of the dancers is thrilling to watch. I’m in awe of the pure athleticism of that cast, who are dancing for the majority of the show. I really loved the music and, paired with the choreography and lighting, each of the songs are pretty spectacular to watch (especially in the first act).

The cast is extremely talented – Hannah Cruz delivers a beautiful performance (with my favorite song in the show, “Change” – creatives, PLEASE allow a moment for the audience to applaud this song!), Gaby Diaz and Karine Plantadit’s dancing is spectacular, and Terrence Mann is solid as always. The ensemble, as mentioned above, are excellent dancers and we got to hear many of their beautiful voices, as well.

Now, the mess: The book is, well…a mess. It’s hard to know where to begin. There were many moments where I felt like the stakes were so low that I couldn’t understand why these characters were acting how they were. We don’t really get to know the majority of the characters beyond simply the actions we see them take throughout the show (with maybe a couple of exceptions), which made it hard to understand motivations. I was often wondering why one of the characters was so upset or doing something in particular. The dialogue itself is extremely clunky and, whether it was the direction, the script itself, or the actors, many of the line deliveries came off very stiff (I think it’s clear that casting went with stronger dancers than actors, but I then think they needed a director who could better help guide them through the book scenes). The majority of the second act is spent basically seeing the characters grapple with the same issues we saw them dealing with in the first act. I absolutely think this could be cut down to a 90-minute show (I didn’t look at the exact time, but I think it was a full 2 and a half hours).

There’s also a total lack of clarity in the simple storytelling aspect, which I boil down to 2 things: the songs and who is singing. Although I loved the score, the lyrics (which I sometimes also couldn’t understand) just didn’t always fit. I only knew a couple of Kate Nash songs going in, but she has used some of her pre-existing songs in this score and, despite sometimes changing some lyrics to be specific to the show, they don’t always work. “Mouthwash,” for example, which is one of her songs I knew going in, was absolutely beautiful to watch (hearing a full cast sing it with the gorgeous dancing), but the lyrics just didn’t make much sense for the moment (also referring to things like mouthwash and floss felt very outside of the world of the show). I sometimes felt at the end of a song that I had just watched an amazing performance on “So You Think You Can Dance” – moving, beautiful – but as part of a larger story it didn’t always work.

There also seemed to be no rhyme or reason as to who was singing at any given moment. Verses and lines would switch off between the leads, Kate Nash as the narrator, and members of the ensemble. I know this stems from much of the story being told through the dancing of the leads and therefore needing someone else to sing at those moments, but because the leads would sometimes sing (and it felt like there was no consistency to who would sing what and when), I would often find myself searching for where the voice was coming from. I actually think it would be better if they just never had the leads sing at all – fully commit to it being either the narrator or members of the ensemble singing while the leads tell their story through dance. I think this would allow the audience to truly focus on what they we should be focusing on at any given moment (that is one quibble I have with the choreography – it sometimes feels a bit too busy and chaotic).

I liked the first act significantly more than the second – I think I found myself more willing to excuse the mess of storytelling and just enjoy the beautiful music and dancing in the first act. But, so much of the second act feels like rehashing of what we already saw (and I think the songs aren’t as strong in act 2) that I became more frustrated with the story itself by the end of the show.

It feels like there are many small moments that could easily be changed (and cut!) to clarify things, but if they hope to have a further life with this show, I think it’s going to have to be majorly reworked. Walking out of the theatre, I felt frustrated with the show as a whole, but grateful that I saw it due to the beauty of many of the musical moments.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 10/9/22 at 10:39am

Thank you for reporting back! Would you describe it as a period piece or fantasy (out of time/not grounded in reality) or contemporary? What is the costuming like and does the dialogue reflect whatever setting/period they've chosen?

It's interesting to hear there are at least some recycled songs. How would you describe the genre of the music? With a song like Mouthwash is it arranged to fit a more musical theater or period style?

Why are these royals in Paris???