"On the Town" Preview Thread — Page 5

K.

Ricky doesn't join for a while because of the tour.

Pal Joey,

You're worse than any of the newcomers who are excoriated mercilesssly here as shills.

Maybe you should see the thing on Broadway before bellyaching constantly about other people's kvetching. They know what they're talking about. Would that the same could be said for you.

I love "hep-cat" Chip in the song actually (there's a clip of them putting it together for Barrington as well.) It's unfair to say, but certainly it works better for me than the two other pro clips I found on youtube--Lea Delaria and Jessie Tyler F in the last revival come off like a brother who is just amused at how crazy his sister is (and then she sings to the audience,) - this is not a comment on the stars' real life sexuality, btw, but the staging has zero sex. And Caroline O'Connor's excellent performance in the Paris Chatelet clip of the song is hamered by her making it literally all about food spending most of the song tossing different food pieces to Chip or up in the air.

Also want to add that I loved both of Alysha's numbers - as did the very enthusiastic audience. And Jackie Hoffman is a riot. She's clearly trying new things, but isn't that what all great comedians do?

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Wait - so in this post-Jersey Shore version of a relatively sweet, innocent, and cartoon-y show like On The Town, Chip and Ozzie copulate with Hildy and Claire mere hours, perhaps minutes, after meeting them?

Despite how "real" that may have been at the time, it strikes me as a little crass (if that is indeed the situation).

"Wait - so in this post-Jersey Shore version of a relatively sweet, innocent, and cartoon-y show like On The Town, Chip and Ozzie copulate with Hildy and Claire mere hours, perhaps minutes, after meeting them? "

That's right. Delightful, isn't it?

"Despite how "real" that may have been at the time, it strikes me as a little crass (if that is indeed the situation)."

More than a little.

I saw it last night and have mixed feelings.

The orchestra is the real star of the show.

I thought the production was 'nice'. That's the only word I could use to describe it. It wasn't groundbreaking or anything more than a nice glimpse into post WWII America, particularly New York. I thought the dance numbers dragged on (the show clocked in at 2:45 last night and I thought it was about 15 minutes too long).

That said, the dancing was beautiful (just too much of it). As mentioned before, Jackie Hoffman was very funny, I thought Allison Guinn was very good. The leads were all fine. Alysha Umphress was very good.

I think the production is well done and will likely get great reviews. I can't echo the effusive praise. I think maybe I just don't like the actual show so much. I am glad I saw it and may go back after it opens as it is still in previews. I'm hoping that it gets tightened more.

Updated On: 9/24/14 at 08:36 AM

Yes, the orchestra and dancing are fantastic, and I can't put into words how happy I was to see Tony Yazbek lead this show. Otherwise I thought the whole thing feels very 2-D. The projections don't help at all. They looked like they were made on KidPix by a 6th grader.

Honestly, I was nervous going in about this and felt like my fears were confirmed: I think people nowadays are very rarely capable of pulling off the style necessary for some shows of the 30's, 40's and even 50's to even land. They seem to always throw this contemporary feel to it rather than let it stand on it's own. It makes me sad.

I am unable to advise you as to whether "Fortress of Solitude" might be a good choice as I won't be seeing that until right after you come, but it sounds good and I'm looking forward to it.

"Wait - so in this post-Jersey Shore version of a relatively sweet, innocent, and cartoon-y show like On The Town, Chip and Ozzie copulate with Hildy and Claire mere hours, perhaps minutes, after meeting them? "

Newintown, to be fair that implication has always been pretty strong (though it sounds like there's no denying that it's played up here.) The script has a blackout before the encore and directions that they should like "disheveled." I suppose it was just meant to be a lot of heavy petting...

Nancy Walker is brilliant in the Army newsreel (how I wish they didn't go into a song not related to the show,) and isn't exactly just trying to grab Chip to show off her quiche... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sqFcwXjcC0 In comparison, the clip online of the same song from the last revival on the other hand does have Lea in the role barely touching him in the cab.

That baguette joke sounds horrible, however.

For the record, here's the French/ENO staging of Cook Too with a great Caroline O'Connor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_2IScUE718&index=11&list=UUE_uwtUkf2oGPVNlcufM8oA with the great Adam Garcia.

Updated On: 9/24/14 at 01:13 PM

Basically it sounds like what would happen if "On the Town" was staged by the fictional creative team from Smash.

Thanks everyone for the recommendations! I'll check out Cabaret maybe.