PARADISE SQUARE Chicago Pre-Broadway Tryout - Previews & Reviews- Page 5

[unclevictor]

Posted: 11/18/21 at 10:06am

https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/reviews/ct-ent-paradise-square-nederlander-chicago-review-20211118-4uttpkd7i5dx7nqufrxceakwme-story.html?outputType=amp

Here’s the review from the Chicago tribune. I say it’s pretty accurate. I think he could have just blatantly said: the show is ok and needs some major major major revisions (again) before it opens on Broadway. 
 

[Amy Archer]

Posted: 11/18/21 at 10:15am

unclevictor said: "https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/reviews/ct-ent-paradise-square-nederlander-chicago-review-20211118-4uttpkd7i5dx7nqufrxceakwme-story.html?outputType=amp

Here’s the review from the Chicago tribune. I say it’s pretty accurate. I think he could have just blatantly said: the show is ok and needs some major major major revisions (again) before it opens on Broadway.
"

Except he's saying a great deal more than that the show is 'ok.' He praises the cast (Joaquina Kalukango in particular, wanting even more of her), score, choreography, ambition and scale, while saying there is a loss of focus and narrative, particularly in the first half of Act 2. He is saying it's a show with exceptional promise that needs greater clarity. 

[coopsbiz]

Posted: 11/18/21 at 10:49am

A mixed review is a huge curse. There is no advance or demand. This will take millions to transfer to Broadway. The math and lack of interest dictates the eventual result.          

[coopsbiz]

Posted: 11/18/21 at 10:51am

good points Amy - but the show it is not selling. You can list 100 fixes per day - the public does not care about fix in the second act. All the advertising in the world will not help this show nor will a placid review           

[Amy Archer]

Posted: 11/18/21 at 11:14am

You call it mixed. i call it positive with qualifications. It read to me that he's clearly on the show's side and is offering the areas where he sees they could heighten the audience's engagement with it. It's a role that Chris Jones has played for years and is a smart reason to go to Chicago in the first place. 

Separately, your obsession with the show's business in Chicago seems monomaniacal. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 11/18/21 at 1:12pm

That review from Chris Jones is not a death knell. He notes that there is a lot of promise, and I read it as "the good outweighs the bad." He might be overstepping boundaries with his prescriptions. But my takeaway from his review is that the bones of the show are all there, it just needs to be honed. As I and others have noted: with Drabinsky's drive, change is more likely for this show than some others in development. And it has half the seats to fill in New York.

This is not a terrible place for a show to be in coming out of its OOT tryout. There's work to do, but hope shouldn't be lost. (If they don't make any real changes before NYC, then we should start getting concerned)

 

I suspect we'll see versions of these quotes from the Trib in New York a lot over the next few months:

"a substantial, new musical. An honorable, serious, talent-stacked show"

"a star turn from Joaquina Kalukango that will be formidable competition for anyone and everyone come Tony Awards time."

"The potential of the entire enterprise, directed by Moisés Kaufman, excitingly choreographed by Bill T. Jones and with an exceptionally promising score from the gifted, youthful Jason Howland, shines through in this Chicago tryout."

Updated On: 11/18/21 at 01:12 PM

[coopsbiz]

Posted: 11/18/21 at 3:07pm

Super great points ErmengardeStopSniveling, especially the newspaper quotes of the double page ads that will make the NYTimes rich - but sadly I don't agree the changes will work, it's like re-engineering a freight train; too big, too expensive and the creative team will start to  get annoyed and frustrated with Drabinsky meddling as they did on ragtime , it was only Hal Prince who had the courage to tell him to stay away.             

[Smaxie]

Posted: 11/18/21 at 3:09pm

Meanwhile...4/4 stars from the Chicago Sun-Times

Lush new musical ‘Paradise Square’ creates rich world drawn from many cultures

[coopsbiz]

Posted: 11/18/21 at 6:14pm

most articulate review to date: VARIETY 

 https://variety.com/2021/legit/reviews/pardise-square-review-musical-chicago-1235115343/

 

[BoringBoredBoard40]

Posted: 11/18/21 at 10:44pm

color me surprised at the mostly positive reviews, I still think this bombs on broadway but now I am certainly more interested

[dickg2]

Posted: 11/19/21 at 2:23am

I think Amy's synopsis is spot on: promising but needs more clarity and it's a show that most of us who have seen it, I think, want to see succeed which perhaps make the critiques more compelling.

[coopsbiz]

Posted: 11/19/21 at 9:13am

Re AMY: "promising" does not sell tickets, stimulate demand or transform a show into box office gold. Sadly, a great effort, but this will be poster on the wall of Joe Allen.       

[Amy Archer]

Posted: 11/19/21 at 10:43am

I'm sad for you, coops. You so clearly want this to be a Sousatzka-level disaster, and there's nothing in the reviews that would lead anyone to that conclusion. Quite the opposite. The critics see the show the creators are intending and are saying their vision is in reach. 

Your reaction reminds me of the great Tommy Tune quote, which I can't remember verbatim, but went something like this: "If you go for a 5 and achieve a 5, they praise you; but if you go for a 10 and achieve a 7, they tear you apart." The Paradise Square team seems to be going for a 10. Sensible people who care about the state of musical theatre and who want Broadway to be something more than Movie Franchise - The Musical! might be wise to do the same. 

Meanwhile coops, keep yelling at clouds. 

[coopsbiz]

Posted: 11/19/21 at 10:57am

Thanks Amy!!! It's not about hoping for a disaster at all. I don't think he hopeful passengers that boarded the Titanic anticipated an iceberg, they just hit. I am reminded of a quote by Tommy Tune - "Time is running out to permeate the piece" 

Cheers Amy!

        

[Amy Archer]

Posted: 11/19/21 at 11:06am

Coops, with another disaster metaphor invoked and the fact that you last graced these boards during the production of Sousatzka, your agenda is as clear as can be. I suggest you work out your Garth issues in therapy. 

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 11/19/21 at 11:35am

From the Variety review

"The songs by Howland, often taking off from a base of a Stephen Foster original, are filled with rich harmonies and elegant crescendos, and the lyrics from Nathan Tysen and Masi Asare are a bit less rich but generally functional. The problem is that the songs don’t tend to propel the action, even if they do attempt to let us into the character’s inner lives.

In fact, the leads tend to be primarily reactive throughout. Instead, two other characters catalyze the action. First, there’s Frederic Tiggens (John Dossett), the most purely symbolic character of the bunch, a walking-and-talking villain dressed by designer Toni Leslie-Jones to look like a Monopoly figure.  He’s both an evil capitalist (and therefore anti-abolition) and a corrupt politician, and one can only wonder why he wasn’t also made the owner of a newspaper. He’s a tornado of terrible-ness, and pretty much everything is his fault.  He uses his power to fine Nelly huge sums, so much that she arranges a dance competition — a feish in Gaelic, pronounced “fesh” — to raise the money.

The other catalyst is Lucky Mike (Kevin Dennis), who comes back injured from the war and can’t find work. Tiggens whispers in his ear that he should blame African-Americans for taking his job, and the resentment begins to boil. When the draft is announced, and Blacks can’t serve because they aren’t citizens and the wealthy can buy their way out, Lucky Mike recruits the likable but terrified Owen to activism.

White resentment channeled to conspiracy, violence and ultimately targeted against minorities with even less political power — Sound familiar? It’s a fair connection, reminding us that as a country we’ve been repeating ourselves for centuries. But “Paradise Square” does carefully leave out more seething racism as a driving force, which leaves a big gap in explaining exactly why the riots turn away from the wealthy. It’s a gargantuan narrative hole that strips the ending of force, making it feel abstract."

Was the "owner of a newspaper" part a reference to Newsies? I do think that show manages to use individuals to make a systemic argument which seems like the opposite of what's happening here with the two villain structure. I hope they can somehow fix the "songs don’t tend to propel the action" problem.

[coopsbiz]

Posted: 11/19/21 at 3:05pm

VARIETY REVIEW - KEY QUOTES LEFT OUT OF THE PREVIOUS POSTING: 

 

Yet it must, as a whole, currently be considered unsettled at best.

The show’s genesis and history say a lot about its challenges. . It’s the fusion of influences — an assertion of American-ness — that the show wants to be throughout but achieves only here.And that makes the joy of the high notes merely a fleeting moment, followed by a more lasting sense of puzzlement.

[uncamark]

Posted: 11/20/21 at 1:10am

For the record, Broadway in Chicago has sent out an Email that looks like it could be the Sunday paper ad, with the Sun-Times rave on top, followed by a "Don't miss it!" from a host of a show on Comcast's local origination channels, the pull quotes from Jones' review, the critic for a suburban newspaper ("the next big Tony Award-winning musical", the morning news anchor of the ABC station ("blown away" and from the Newcity alt-monthly, a publication that before the pandemic was known for very woke critics who tended to pan commercial shows and the big not-for-profit companies, but now has the mag's editor saying "the most important musical of our time." Here's the ad:

https://links.engage.ticketmaster.com/servlet/MailView?ms=NzYyMzkzMgS2&r=MjQ2NDMwNDcxOTc5S0&j=MTM4MDc3MDQ4MQS2&mt=1&rt=0

[Smaxie]

Posted: 11/20/21 at 8:21am

Excellent reviews in the Chicago Reader and from Hedy Weiss at WTTW.

Chicago Reader: Footwork tells the story best in Paradise Square

WTTW: ‘Paradise Square’ Does a Fierce and Timely Dance Into a Civil War Era Racial Uprising

[coopsbiz]

Posted: 11/20/21 at 9:24am

Hedy Weiss??? LOL - search her history, she loves everything, not  a real critic.      

[coopsbiz]

Posted: 11/20/21 at 9:28am

SPIN, SPIN, SPIN. All the ads in the world do NOT sell tickets  when there is no demand. Simply research Candide, Taboo, Civil War, Into the Light, A Broadway Musical            

[Smaxie]

Posted: 11/20/21 at 9:52am

coopsbiz said: "Hedy Weiss??? LOL - search her history, she loves everything, not a real critic."

I know her history quite well. Weiss has been a critic in Chicago for 37 years, most of that time with the Sun-Times - so "not a real critic" is completely dismissive of a four-decade career in covering Chicago theatre. She has had pretty fierce opinions over the years, some of which have gotten her in hot water. Still, I'd value her opinion over yours. 

 

[HogansHero]

Posted: 11/20/21 at 10:03am

@coops Maybe time to give it a rest? The more you say, the less impressive what you say becomes. I think we all get that Garth stubbed your toe in some way at some time. (Don't worry: he stubbed a lot of toes, mine included. Should he be rotting in jail? Yep, but that's beside the point.) Regarding the show and your posts, it is well to remember that there are no rules. 

[coopsbiz]

Posted: 11/20/21 at 10:03am

Thanks Smaxie! Given that reviews no longer determine a show's  trajectory and that the changing times from pandemic to netflix and colossal demographic shifts coupled with a history lesson that seems of little interest to ticket buyers, Hedy will likely have no impact. But good point nonetheless!            

[Smaxie]

Posted: 11/20/21 at 10:33am

Yeah sure - absolutely nothing positive about the show matters because you say so. Talk about "spin spin spin..."