#26
Posted: 7/28/11 at 10:19pm
Well, I liked Lupone in Gypsy and Verge, and I liked Patinkin in Compulsion, so maybe I'll just hang onto those live memories and not muck them up with something mediocre.
Patti and Mandy are headed to Broadway — Page 2
#27
Posted: 7/28/11 at 10:50pm
Vegas, if you go early in the run they're both sure to be having fun and happy to be back on Bway, and I bet all three of you will have a great time.
#28
Posted: 7/28/11 at 11:41pm
I love Patti LuPone and saw this show coming pretty close off of seeing her thrilling performance in Gypsy, and I maintain this was one of the worst things I have ever seen in a theatre. Patti looked like she was bored out of her mind, and her "Everything's Coming Up Roses" had perhaps 10% of the intensity it had when she sang it in Gypsy. They never, ever, talked to the audience, and only did random, strange songs for their type, tired versions of their standards, or extended sections from single shows, complete with in-character monologues. Patti as Nellie Forbush? I still giggle at the thought. And don't even get me started on the ridiculous 25-minute Carousel sequence. I hope this doesn't get to Broadway, ever.
"Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos."-Stephen Sondheim
#29
Posted: 7/29/11 at 1:26am
I saw this in February 10' and I am surprised that you all found this show to be boring. Maybe it was just the shows you we all attending but I found it to be a thrilling piece of theatre and a wonderful story.
I think most of you are missing the point of the piece when you say "they did not talk to the audience". It was not that kind of show, it was a story handwoven with some of the greatest love songs and relationships songs in the American Musical Songbook. it was about the journey of a couple and their trials and tribulations. At least that is how I saw it, and to see Patti sing "Don't Cry for me Argentina" live is something to behold.
Also that number with the office chairs choreographed by Ann Reinking was simply stunning and innovative.
These are just my two sense though.
I think most of you are missing the point of the piece when you say "they did not talk to the audience". It was not that kind of show, it was a story handwoven with some of the greatest love songs and relationships songs in the American Musical Songbook. it was about the journey of a couple and their trials and tribulations. At least that is how I saw it, and to see Patti sing "Don't Cry for me Argentina" live is something to behold.
Also that number with the office chairs choreographed by Ann Reinking was simply stunning and innovative.
These are just my two sense though.
"I think lying to children is really important, it sets them off on the right track" -Sherie Rene Scott-
#30
Posted: 7/29/11 at 8:02am
When I saw this thread, this time I was glad that I live 300 miles from Broadway. I love Patti, but I cannot take Mandy Patinkin. Bettyboy72 said it perfectly when she said,"He's an insufferable scenery chewing schmuck. Awful." I can' t improve on that.
"Madam Rose...and her daughter...Gypsy!"
#31
Posted: 7/29/11 at 8:27am
That picture is perfection. Patti's like, "that's right, folks. Eight shows a week with this schmuck."
Art has a double face, of expression and illusion.
#32
Posted: 7/29/11 at 9:08am
I think they should do an evening of songs from Sunset Blvd and then conclude with selections from the Off-Broadway bomb "The Knife"
#33
Posted: 7/29/11 at 9:33am
I agree with the New Yorker magazine critic who called Mandy a "force of nature." He may be over the top at times, but he has an amazing range and acts the hell out of every song. That's the reason he doesn't talk to the audience--he becomes the character who's singing, and that character is not performing; he's just "being." I thoroughly enjoyed his Mamaloschen and Sondheim/Hammerstein/Kidults-heavy concerts. I'm somewhat less fond of Patti but she has moments that absolutely thrill as well. I'm looking forward to this one.
#34
Posted: 7/29/11 at 9:39am
Mandy can be great when he has a good strong director who pulls in the reins and focuses him.
Problem is, Mandy doesn't think he needs a director.
Problem is, Mandy doesn't think he needs a director.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#35
Posted: 7/29/11 at 9:47am
All true.
Bottom line is it's two Broadway legends on the same stage, singing nonstop.
If you have the slightest inclination to go, you should. I definitely am.
Bottom line is it's two Broadway legends on the same stage, singing nonstop.
If you have the slightest inclination to go, you should. I definitely am.
#36
Posted: 7/29/11 at 10:45am
Well, for me - anytime I get to see Patti perform live, I don't consider it a waste. If I had the opportunity to see this show again, would I? Yes. Because I'm a Patti fan. I just would have perferred it be more of a concert, rather than trying to intertwine some weak story in there somewhere.
And the office chair choreography was very cute.I agree with that. :)
And the office chair choreography was very cute.I agree with that. :)
#37
Posted: 7/29/11 at 10:55am
"... she's still Patti Friggin' LuPone."
that argument holds very little water for me. If you are playing a 3000 seat theatre and only addressing your stage mate, I don't care who you are. Even legends can s@#t the bed on stage.
"And the office chair choreography was very cute.I agree with that. :)"
Honestly, I thought Patti was just too lazy to dance so she said just fling me around in a chair.
that argument holds very little water for me. If you are playing a 3000 seat theatre and only addressing your stage mate, I don't care who you are. Even legends can s@#t the bed on stage.
"And the office chair choreography was very cute.I agree with that. :)"
Honestly, I thought Patti was just too lazy to dance so she said just fling me around in a chair.
"The sexual energy between the mother and son really concerns me!"-random woman behind me at Next to Normal
"I want to meet him after and bang him!"-random woman who exposed her breasts at Rock of Ages, referring to James Carpinello
#38
Posted: 8/1/11 at 2:07pm
They have the Barrymore, beginning November 16. 60 performances.
Confirmation
Confirmation
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#39
Posted: 8/1/11 at 2:22pm
Mandy was insufferable. He did way more than Patti did and I thought he was somehow over the top and boring at the same time. Patti was enjoyable throughout, even though she was pretty subdued. She could have had more material and they could have had better song choices. And Patti chose to do Don't Cry for Me Argentina whenever she wanted to, is what I'm led to believe. I think there were 2-3 performances in Chicago in which she performed it as the Act 1 closer, mine was not one of them.
#40
Posted: 8/1/11 at 2:52pm
My thoughts are with any future audience members who will sit through this crap.
#41
Posted: 8/1/11 at 3:08pm
I'll be in the city for the first preview! Hell, I'm excited. Maybe they'll raise the stakes for Broadway versus the tour.
"Broadway...I'll lick you yet!"
#42
Posted: 8/1/11 at 3:08pm
I'll be in the city for the first preview! Hell, I'm excited. Maybe they'll raise the stakes for Broadway versus the tour.
"Broadway...I'll lick you yet!"
#43
Posted: 8/1/11 at 4:52pm
I saw this when I came through Toronto. I was astonished by the whole show. I loved it. I can't really say that I have seen a show quite like it before. It was a night of theatre that I will never forget.
One of the weird pieces of the show, however, is the placement of some of the musical numbers. There is a story trying to be told here, but when Ms. LuPone comes out and sings "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina" you wonder how the hell that fits. The pieces from South Pacific and Carousel are really the only dialogue in the show, but I think that if you can get past that the dialogue is straight from those shows, and see it as text for THIS show, then it isn't as bad. My favourite parts are still their entrances at the top of the show.
I wish that they retool the show for Broadway, and take out the songs that don't fit into the story. Why can't the pair have a fight and sing "Waltz For Eva And Che"?
This show isn't Ibsen or Kiss Me Kate, but it was a magical chance for someone who can't really afford to make it to New York, to see two great theatre legends perform. I really loved the show, and I hope it does well at the Barrymore.
One of the weird pieces of the show, however, is the placement of some of the musical numbers. There is a story trying to be told here, but when Ms. LuPone comes out and sings "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina" you wonder how the hell that fits. The pieces from South Pacific and Carousel are really the only dialogue in the show, but I think that if you can get past that the dialogue is straight from those shows, and see it as text for THIS show, then it isn't as bad. My favourite parts are still their entrances at the top of the show.
I wish that they retool the show for Broadway, and take out the songs that don't fit into the story. Why can't the pair have a fight and sing "Waltz For Eva And Che"?
This show isn't Ibsen or Kiss Me Kate, but it was a magical chance for someone who can't really afford to make it to New York, to see two great theatre legends perform. I really loved the show, and I hope it does well at the Barrymore.
#44
Posted: 8/1/11 at 5:15pm
I'm guessing they took out "High Flying Adored," which is what opened the second act when I saw it in Philadelphia. Patti sang "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" after that, which gave it some more context, I think.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
#45
Posted: 8/1/11 at 5:25pm
It cracks me up when operating costs are referred to as "nut", but I digress.
And what gives with all the vitriol for Mr. Patinkin?
And what gives with all the vitriol for Mr. Patinkin?
#46
Posted: 8/1/11 at 5:45pm
Hm. This is tough. I LOVE her, but loathe him.
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