PARADISE SQUARE reviews

[Dan6]

Posted: 4/3/22 at 4:05pm

Opening night is here! Based on the preview thread, I'm expecting a decidedly mixed response, but I really do hope this show succeeds...not only because I have tickets later this month, but because I fear the failure of a lavish original musical will likely consign us to an even more steady diet of revivals and jukebox retreads. Also, it's steady work for a lot of people, which is surely needed right now. Wishing a great opening to cast and crew! Anyone going tonight?   

[LucasIvy]

Posted: 4/3/22 at 4:24pm

So well said Dan6. The most important thing is to ensure that cast and crew keep working. This not about deep pocketed producers who will move on regardless of the outcome. The issue will be if the outcome is mixed reviews. Mixed reviews mean you have to spend a million bucks or more stimulating demand and twisting mixed reviews to appear positive. Not an easy task and does not work unless you have a show that fans already love. 

[JasonC3]

Posted: 4/3/22 at 4:35pm

"The most important thing is to ensure that cast and crew keep working."

No. It is not.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 4/3/22 at 4:54pm

It's their opinion. Feel free to have another. 

[JBroadway]

Posted: 4/3/22 at 4:58pm

I predict they won't have any trouble finding workable pull-quotes. Seems like even many of the dissenters agree that there are aspects of the show that work - the critics will likely praise those aspects, and the pull-quotes will pull themselves. 

[LucasIvy]

Posted: 4/3/22 at 5:13pm

JBroadway said: "I predict they won't have any trouble finding workable pull-quotes. Seems like even many of the dissenters agree that there are aspects of the show that work - the critics will likely praise those aspects, and the pull-quotes will pull themselves."

You can pull all day long, ticket buyers will decide this show's fate , not a publicist doing a deep dive for superlatives

[troynow]

Posted: 4/3/22 at 5:24pm

I personally do not hope the show continues on. It is a bad example for our community. I think of this show much like the  Will Smith  incident. It is not enough that Will has resigned he must formally be disciplined and never brought back to the Academy again. 

The same is true of the producer of this show. He must never come back here again.


Here is the HARD truth, even if these reviews make this show walk on WATER...It is still not going to be enough to put 3 million dollars in tickets sales in to the bank. 
They are opening with no reserves and time is up. 

Almost Famous is ready to move in! And I predict they will!

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 4/3/22 at 5:35pm

Then what takes the Broadhurst? 

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 4/3/22 at 7:17pm

Things could get reeeeeeeally interesting these next few hours... will we be reading actual reviews tonight, or will they just be multi-paragraph anti-Drab*nsky rants?



 

[LucasIvy]

Posted: 4/3/22 at 7:29pm

EDSOSLO858 said: "Things could get reeeeeeeally interesting these next few hours... will we be reading actual reviews tonight, or will they just be multi-paragraph anti-Drab*nsky rants?
 

the reviews will be exactly what the show deserves. If bad, Drabinsky will claim it's about him. If they are raves, he will glory grab. Either way, no demand, no word of mouth, no future


"

 

[troynow]

Posted: 4/3/22 at 7:47pm

Neil Diamond Musical

[Dan6]

Posted: 4/3/22 at 7:59pm

Three out of five stars from TimeOut:

https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/paradise-square-broadway-musical-review-joaquina-kalukango

Four out of four stars from NY Stage Review, with special praise for Kalukango and Jones:

http://nystagereview.com/2022/04/03/paradise-square-allies-and-rivals-in-song-and-dance/

Updated On: 4/3/22 at 07:59 PM

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 4/3/22 at 8:06pm

troynow said: "Neil Diamond Musical"

So should A Beautiful Noise take the Barrymore, is it wishful thinking to say that I hope & Juliet takes the Broadway after The Little Prince? Their Toronto tryout concludes the same day as Little Prince, and I see a potential move-in for a spring 2023 opening (or holiday season 2022).

& Juliet is a GIGANTIC show and would fit that monstrosity of a space, quite honestly.

Updated On: 4/3/22 at 08:06 PM

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 4/3/22 at 8:07pm

Jesse Green loved the dancing and Joaquina, but not much else:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/03/theater/paradise-square-review.html

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/3/22 at 8:09pm

Deadline:

‘Paradise Square’ Broadway Review: History Eludes Musical’s Big Reach

https://deadline.com/2022/04/paradise-square-broadway-review-garth-drabinsky-1234993076/

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/3/22 at 8:10pm

NY Daily News is mixed (but says it's been improved since Chicago):

REVIEW: Fraught with America’s strife, the new Broadway musical ‘Paradise Square’ gives its all

https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/broadway/ny-broadway-paradise-square-review-20220404-x45i42a355cebh7sphgimy22nu-story.html

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/3/22 at 8:12pm

The Globe and Mail is mixed:

Garth Drabinsky’s new Broadway musical Paradise Square shows an old producer can learn new tricks

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/theatre-and-performance/reviews/article-paradise-square-broadway-review-drabinsky/

 

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 4/3/22 at 8:15pm

Megamusicals have rarely, if ever, gotten great reviews from the jump, and I suspect this one will be no different. Is this the next Phantom or Les Miserables? No, but as far as these things go, it’s a pretty excellent example of the form: a rousing throwback to old-fashioned American entertainment, cobbled together from strange, disparate sources but somehow, somehow still going.

https://www.theatrely.com/post/an-unsteady-home-in-paradise-square-review

[Auggie27]

Posted: 4/3/22 at 8:30pm

Quite an astute point in the Daily News, missing in the discussion on this board:

"But a consequence is that the show cannot decide whether Nelly’s bar (Nelly is married to an Irish solider, played by Matt Bogart) is paradise or not. Is the villain Uptown or the notion of American exceptionalism as embodied in “Ragtime?” Thus a kind of dramaturgical whiplash haunts the material, especially when a young impoverished Irishman, Owen Duigan (the sweet-footed A.J. Shively) fights a tour-de-force dance contest with Washington Henry (Sidney DuPont), an escaped slave on the run and a man trying to reunite with his lover Angelina (Gabrielle McClinton). The audience does not know for whom to cheer or even if they should be clapping their hands at all."

[Lumiere2]

Posted: 4/3/22 at 8:34pm

TheatreMania gives it a thumbs down: the most positive parts are Kalukango and the dancing, but otherwise they say the show "over promises and under delivers" and it "feels more packed than a Cow Bay flophouse."

https://www.theatermania.com/broadway/reviews/review-broadway-paradise-square-five-points_93598.html

[jkcohen626]

Posted: 4/3/22 at 8:39pm

TaffyDavenport said: "Jesse Green loved the dancing and Joaquina, but not much else:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/03/theater/paradise-square-review.html"

And I have a feeling that's where a lot of people will land. Even if they did like the other stuff, Joaquina and the dancing are the major standouts for sure. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 4/3/22 at 8:44pm

These reviews will sell no tickets. Indifference is deadly.

In the hands of a team that actually knew how to advertise a show –– and had the budget to do so –– there are enough isolated pull-quotes to sell tickets. But I think its fate is set in stone now. The core audience which reads the NYT is unlikely to view one actor's performance as reason enough to attend.

I guess the big question now is if it has enough money in the bank to limp through to the Tony nominations (one month from today) or if it will close before then. Being that the show is unlikely to get a Best Musical nomination (the only real money category), its smattering of lesser noms like Actress, Choreography, and possibly Score will not make a dent, financially speaking.

Updated On: 4/3/22 at 08:44 PM

[Auggie27]

Posted: 4/3/22 at 8:48pm

Worth noting, too: the posts here landed on about 90% of the review content. This isn't some shocking, unexpected thud, but more in keeping with the Chicago reviews and again, thoughtful social media critique.  

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 4/3/22 at 8:55pm

Auggie27 said: "Worth noting, too: the posts here landed on about 90% of the review content. This isn't some shocking, unexpected thud, but more in keeping with the Chicago reviews and again, thoughtful social media critique."

Correct.

I do wonder if 6-9 months between the Chicago and Broadway runs would have made a big difference. Broadway rehearsals began about 2 months after they closed in Chicago, and considering a number of songs were replaced, who knows what could have been done with more time (and, of course...more money). It was probably never going to hit the heights of RAGTIME, but it might have been an opportunity to reexamine the ad campaign and other promotional strategies in addition to the onstage material. C'est la vie.

[Robbie2]

Posted: 4/3/22 at 9:05pm

Joaquina Kalukango secured her spot for a TONY nom for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical