PEOPLE IN THE PICTURE first previe — Page 4

I was at the show tonight as well and I have to say I agree with the rest of you, it was really terrible. My parents were with me and they compared it to Rags (which they saw in previews), though they said Rags has a much better score which I totally agree with. The biggest problem is that there is really no conflict until late in the second act when the big "revelation" with Nicole Parker's character happens. [spoiler ahead] The end death scene was also seriously the longest death scene I have ever seen onstage, I was sitting there wondering when she was going to die and also why in the world she was singing a 5-minute song about it. [/end spoiler] The score is pretty generic Klezmer-y sounding music, which works in some spots but doesn't work when basically every song (except the ones that aren't orchestrated yet) is orchestrated that way. The lyrics are also embarrassingly bad (the lyric about them "putting the foreskin back on"...seriously?), and the book had some similarly cringe-worthy moments. The whole thing was just so stereotypical and the themes they were trying to explore have been explored a million times over, and much much better and more intelligently than they were here.

Donna Murphy is doing some remarkable physical work with the constant transformations from an old woman to a young one and back again, but other than that her talents are really underused which is a shame. I was really hoping that this would be good because I absolutely adore her, but it's just...not. The rest of the cast was pretty unremarkable because the parts were pretty indistinct. I was wondering afterwards though why on earth Louis Hobson took that doctor role...he has about six lines and the character is totally inconsequential and he doesn't even get to sing at all which is a shame.

Anyway, to sum up, big disappointment all around.

saw it last night. Mostly agree with everyone here... but I THINK IT'S FIXABLE... SPOILER ALERT!!!!

1. the suspension of disbelief from the beginning is that the musical numbers happen when Raisel is telling her stories to her granddaughter - and her daughter won't accept those stories or the characters from them so it feels so wrong when the daughter sings.. Cut her two songs they aren't needed, everything about the songs is explained in the scenes before them. She should only sing at the end when she sees the people in the picture.

2. Restructure the story so that the end of act 1 is Raisel being taken away to the concentration camps. When she's giving her baby away to the nanny the stakes should be higher, NOT "my baby is hungry." It should be "The Nazi's are coming behind us please take the baby we have to run." Then when her husband goes after the nanny to give the doll we should immediately see him get shot. When Raisel runs after his body... she gets caught. End of act 1

3. The "noises" number should happen at the camps.... instead of the number being stopped by the news of her husband's death... it would be stopped by news of Cheyesel's death, which we should witness... we've seen every other character die... why rob us of her death???? The script builds us like we're going to watch every person in the picture die at the hands of the Nazi's... except for Raisel... so why rob us of that?

4. Show us how she survives the holocaust... the play sort of skips that entire part of her life.... and even makes us wonder if she ever went? Where was she those five years the Nanny had her child????? Tell us!!!!

5. Show us the traumatic scene with the Nanny and husband a bit earlier in act 2 so we know that IT IS THE MAIN POINT OF THE SHOW..... don't show us the resolution early.... just that it was a big deal... show us Raisel missing her daughter at the camps, on the streets... etc.

6. The journals??? All the hiding of the journals... what was the point? It was interesting and I thought it was going to be a big part of the plot.... so why wasn't it??? Incorporate it into the story, or cut it.

7. At the beginning Red tells us that Raisel embellishes history, or changes it to fit what she wants... to me that meant that there was going to be a big "stomach hit the floor" reveal about a lie Raisel was telling about the past.... but Raisel only told the truth... so there was no point in mentioning it... it led me down the wrong path and made me feel cheated. Cut that line or add a twist at the end.

8. Show us that Raisel finds out what her husband is doing... the Blue movie scene.... it had me wondering if he was making blue movies... if he wasn't... what was the point of that scene?

9. Need a scene between Rasiel and Red ... I didn't cry at the end because I didn't feel like they'd worked out their differences just by her giving Red the address... does Red ever realize what her mother sacrificed... it left me feeling cold... and I didn't cry... and I sooooooooooooooo wanted to cry....

10. Staging/Choreography ... needs a bit of work... it felt a bit flat, and repetitive...

- Other than that I think the show has potential.. I actually really enjoyed the score. REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE, and BREAD AND THEATRE were great songs. I would love to see it turned into a MOVIE with Barbra Streisand playing old Raisel, and Lea Michelle playing young Raisel, but I'd want it to be a lot more dramatic so those girls could get Oscar Noms... know what I mean?


What do you think?

Agh, nooo. Haven't gotten to see Donna Murphy before and was incredibly excited for this. Can't give up now, pretty much have to see it.
Would you guys say it's worth it to see the preview at all or to just wait to see until the show's fine tuned through more performances?

Madonna, your changes would turn this already too-long show into an interminable one. And the best songs in the show are Red's, I'd hope they don't cut them.

I saw the show this afternoon and had lowered my expectations because of this thread. I pretty much agree with what Pippin posted. I enjoyed the second act more than the first, which dragged for me. I wanted to get more involved with the story and get emotional at the end, but the plot is a little too predictable and generic for me to care that much. I want something to move me. I did hear a lot of sniffles from the audience though. The songs were forgettable, even the couple of ballads I enjoyed. I actually preferred the piano playing for the ballads instead of the entire orchestra. Donna Murphy is a genius. I loved Nicole Parker. Chip Zien is severely underused. The show isn’t GREAT obviously, but I wouldn’t call it boring. It could use a lot of work, yet I don’t think it’s a huge mess like people are making it out to be.

YES!!!!!!!!!
I was going to post last night that walking out of the theatre and all night long I had La Cage in my head!

SO glad to hear someone say its not DOA..
lets hope it gets better.

No curtain, just the deadly-looking frame hanging out over the audience. At intermission a more traditional red curtain came down over the center of the stage, with the sides blocked off by black flats.

I don't have anything to say about it that hasn't already been said. Head-scratcher of a first act, with the second act much more coherent and (frankly) tolerable. I did find it distracting that five full songs in the second act were piano-only, though. That must be because they haven't orchestrated it yet, right? It seemed too haphazard to be a conscious choice.

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"anyone see this show today?
any better?
is ANYONE enjoying it?"

I did. I think people are judging this show far too harshly, and I think it's ridiculous to decide not to see a show that you already have tickets for based on anyone else's opinion. The show is definitely flawed, and a little too long, but it's absolutely fixable. IMO, it's far from the disaster many are claiming it to be.

I agree with almost everything Madonna has said, and to expound a little on what Michael Bennett said, Yiddish theater plays a large part in this. The complaints that the humor is cliched, or broad, or corny...well, that's Yiddish theater. The "putting the foreskin back on" joke? Very Yiddish theater. When Yossa said the baby didn't have a schmeckle, he was making a joke. Possibly this show has too narrow an audience.

There are some amazing performances on that stage. Sure, it needs tweaking, but they have nearly a month to fix it. I know they can. I hope they will.

So glad to hear some "semi" positive things....
You're right, we should be glad there are some NEW, ORIGINAL musicals

I'm torn as to whether I should bother with this one or not. I've noticed that no one has said anything in particular about Lewis J. Stadlin -- is it a minuscule role or didn't he make any kind of impression one way or the other? I've always liked his work -- in fact, have often found him to be the only redeemable feature of otherwise poor shows. Any comment from those of you have seen it?

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Is Nicole Parker upset over cut song and reduced role?


The People in the Picture

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