"On the Town" Preview Thread- Page 5

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 2:40pm

All I can say is that the staging and characterizations were enchanting, endearing and exhilarating. Hildy awakens something in this Chip that he has never known in himself before, and Alysha gives Hildy's comic love-at-first-sight reaction, which Betty and Adolph wrote into the script, a sweetness and vulnerability that is charming.

The number worked, as they used to say, like gangbusters.

[HorseTears]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 2:48pm

K.

[cglaid]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 2:59pm

How is Ricky Ubeda. Did they give him a nice featured dancing part? Can't wait to see this.

[Blockhead24]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 3:13pm

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

[pennydreadful]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 4:21pm

I saw this last night, courtesy of my TDF membership. We were up in the Dress Circle, I noticed the boxes were empty. I enjoyed it a lot, especially Jackie Hoffman, who was hitting way more than she missed. I also loved Allison Guinn as Lucy.

[After Eight]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 11:50pm

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.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 12:02am

Wouldn't if I could, as Dorothy Loudon sang, shouldn't if I would.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 12:19am

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.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 12:22am

Saw it tonight. Started crying about 5 seconds in. The orchestra is stunning and to finally hear one of my favorite scores live? It was a little emotional overwhleming. Tony Yazbeck's stunning "Lonely Town" also really got me teary.

I didn't mind the sets at all. Sure, they're cheap. But it's the dancing and the score I came for. I'm thrilled they saved money on the set so they could splurge on the rest!

The cast is magnificent. Alysha Umphress is a hoot and sings the crap out of everything. It's a joy to watch her perform. But Tony Yazbeck's gorgeous performance - and that dancing - is the real treat here.

Tony was injured during the Imaginary Coney Island/Lover Displays section while dancing with Ivy. I noticed the blood trickling down his face but somehow convinced myself it was "a choice". Sure enough, later found out he was injured.

He did not miss a beat. Carried through like a true professional. You would never have known he'd been hurt that badly judging by how beautifully he danced.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 12:26am

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?

[After Eight]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 7:23am

"I love "hep-cat" Chip in the song actually"

It's the worst number in the show.


****SPOILERS*****


As an example of the director's sense of "humor," he has Chip walk around hugging a grocery bag to his belly with a huge baguette protruding firmly out of it. Hilarious, no?

Then, in the "I Can Cook Too" number (totally ruined), the actor emerges from his roll in the hay to dance about like an idiot clad only in a pair of red, white, and blue undershorts. What a laugh riot!

All the while, the lyrics to the song are swallowed up like mush.

To all future directors of revivals, on behalf of theatregoers everywhere: Do the damn thing right, or don't do it at all.



Updated On: 9/24/14 at 07:23 AM

[newintown]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 8:02am

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).

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 8:05am

No, it's not crass at all.

[After Eight]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 8:21am

"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.

[newintown]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 8:33am

Well - now I'm looking forward to relevant updated revivals of Oklahoma (in which Jud put his hand under Laurey's skirt and fingers her while inviting her to the box social - get it? "Box?") and My Fair Lady (in which Eliza masturbates during "I Could Have Danced All night").

[dreaming]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 8:36am

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

[lovebwy]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 11:07am

Hmmm yeah suggesting that actual sex does take place during the course of the show would run counter to the original intentions of the book, I think.

That said, I'm going in 13 days and I'm looking forward to some sumptuous orchestrations of a brilliant score, and some wondaful dancing. Can't wait.

Can anyone suggest another show I might see while in town?

[broadwayworldreader]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 11:18am

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.

[mjohnson2]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 11:19am

Well, not too much good stuff is playing right now, but I would go with YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU, CABARET, or A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER on Broadway or THE WAYSIDE MOTOR INN off-Broadway

[dreaming]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 11:26am

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.

[After Eight]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 11:32am

"They seem to always throw this contemporary feel to it rather than let it stand on it's own. It makes me sad."

Me too. But that's the way of the world nowadays, or at least, that which deems itself the "artistic" world. The opera scene has been poisoned by such "artistry" for decades now. Now it's the unlucky turn of our musicals to receive the same sorry (mis)treatment.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 1:13pm

"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

[newintown]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 1:22pm

I've always thought petting was the furthest they went, considering other comic plays/films from the same period. And as for Claire and Ozzie- do they even have any significant time alone before being interrupted by Pitkin?

[lovebwy]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 1:29pm

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.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 1:41pm

I admit Claire and Ozzie makes less sense to me (do they run off to the Museum's restroom for a quickie?) I'm not sure, the humour on stage (as oppose to film) by the mid 1940s often very clearly implied sex.