Priest's NYC Trip Summary and Reviews of FOTR, TAM, WT, PO and LW

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 7:57pm

Overall, I had a fantastic time. The weather was delightful, as I love cold weather. I came with my two sisters, brother, mom, two older cousins, my other cousin and aunt.

The first day we got there, we got to the hotel, the Afinnia 50 on East 50th, and I hopped straight into a cab to go to the Minskoff to exchange the Fiddler tickets for the correct day. Once I got into the Theatre District I couldn't stop beaming. It felt amazing looking around and looking and seeing all the marquees again in almost a year.

I exchanged the tickets with no proble.
We ate at Sardi's that night. The food was okay, but just imagining all the people who had been there before was amazing.

Fiddler on the Roof (Sunday night)

I was pleasantly surprised by this production. I came in expecting mediocrity based on things I had heard, but found myself highly enjoying the entire show.

Leveaux's direction was top-notch. The set was gorgeously designed and was the star of the show. I loved minimalist approach, which I didn't think would work with Fiddler.

Leveaux's biggest problems in direction was the cynical nature of the direction, but they were only made evident at times. Two choices he made that were highly irregular and I felt weakened the integrity of the show were the animals in the dream sequence, but more importantly the sexuality of 'Matchmaker' was completely unnecessary.

Molina is not a vocalist, but his acting is so damn amazing, I didn't care at all. 'If I Were A Rich Man' was the showstopper it was meant to be and delivered with great heart and soul. Molina guided 'Tradition' into a rousing opening that got the audience enthusiastic.

Unfortuantely, the scene after 'Tradition' killed the energy, due to Graff and the daughters. All three daughters, with the excpetion of Tricia Paoluccio's Chava, were all-around below mediocre.

Graff sang the part of Golde well enough, but she kept slipping between having an accent and not having one. Her acting left something to be desired.

John Cariani's Motel had me laughing the whole show, but I felt ashamed for doing so after his first few scenes. Cariani's clown antics diminshed Motel's humanity. But his 'Miracle of Miracles' was far and away one the evening's highlights.

Robert Petkoff grew on me. At first very grating to me, he became the insecure yet confident man with pent up enthusiasm i have always thought of Perchik to be.

Nancy Opel was out as Yente, and Barbara Tirrel was very mediocre in her spot. Little to no comedic timing. 'Topsy Turvy' was a complete waste of time and there no need for it whatsoever.

Overall Grade: B+


After Fiddler I met Molina. Nice man. He belongs on stage.


Twelve Angry Men (Monday night)

A favorite of mine, this was the first production I have seen of Twelve, yet I have read it many times. An all-around superb production.

In a cast of some of the finest stage actors working today, there was not a weak link in the cast. Genuinely acted and magnificently directed.

The set was simple and highly effective. Especially when the focus would shift to the bathroom.

Boyd Gaines played the pivotal role of Juror Number 8 well, yet in perhaps the shows most difficult role merely because of the what I have always felt to be smugness in the character, he succeeds.

But in an ensemble show and production in which every actor deserves great acclaim, there were three standouts.

Tom Aldredge had one the smallest roles as Juror Number Nine. But his supreme prescence made every line he said ring out with astonishing deliverance. My first time to see this legend live, and my anticipation was well worth it. i just wish he had been on the side of the table facing the audience so I could have seen his every expression.

Larry Bryggman as Juror Number Eleven gave the most truthful performance. Truly heartfelt and from the soul, he had me mesmerized.

Juror Number Three is such a cliche character. To give this man heart and make you feel sorry for him while despising him at the same time takes an actor of great caliber and Phillip Bosco was well up to the task. Commanding the stage and the 'jury room', he gave one the finest performances I have seen on stage. I hated him the whole show, yet cried for him at the end. I belive Mr. Bosco should begin clearing off some shelf space.

Overall Grade: A


I met Tom Aldredge afterwards. Extremely nice and humble. We talked for a few minutes and he broke into a rendition of 'No More'. Quite a character. And very under-appreciated.

After TAM I waited in the Gershwin for 45 minutes then went to the Gershwin stage door. It was freezing. And windy. By the time the show let out there were a good 50 people there, but by 11 there were at *least* 200 people waiting.

They all cheered and clapped when McIntire and JLT came out, but I was waiting for Mr. Hearn.

I was very nervous. Both at the prospect of meeting a man I so idolize, but also becuase the man at the stage door said he never sign. His guard just escorts him to his car.

When he came out, he saw me holding my Sweeney Todd libretto and smiled in such a sincere fashion, came over and signed it. Obviously freezing, I knew he wanted to get to his car, so I just told him that he and Mandy Patinkin were my absolute idols. He got tears in his eye, gave me a smile I'll never forget, patted me on the shoulder and winked.

It pissed me oof that no one else cared for him.
George Hearn versus Idina Menzel. Please.

I didn't even wait to see if Idina came out.
But everyone was wondering why I was giving up the best spot before she came out. Haha....i met who I wanted to meet.......bitches.

Wonderful Town (Tuesday night)

I am a big fan of the Murphy recording and was looking forward to the show. I was thouroughly and completely disappointed.

I could see how the production could have been great with Murphy and Westfeldt, but overall it was sloppy and poorly directed.

Coming in, I gave Shields the benfit of the doubt. I was too kind. A lousy actress with poor comedic timing who couldn't sing to save her life. One of the poorest performances I have ever seen, she has no right being on the B'way stage. Give the role to someone like Karen Ziemba, please. And they took the ending of '100 Easy Ways to Lose a Man' way down, which frustrated me.

Jennifer Hope Wills was passable. I believe that with a better Ruth she would have been very good, but in this particular production with Shields, every performance was weighed down. She had a nice soprano, if a bit pitchy at times.

I was so looking forward to seeing Gregg Edelman for the first time. Adore him on the 1776 Revival recording. But even he disappointed me. It seemed as if he didn't care for the show and wasn't giving 100%. Not even 60%. He was the best in the show, but could have been much, much better.

The choreography was the highlight of the show. Marshall deserved the 2004 Tony. But while she is a brilliant choreographer, this show showed that directing is not her strongest suit.

I think the book is the greatest weakness of the show.
Becuase I love the Cast Recording, but hated the proudction.

The set was okay. Average and cliche. Like most of the production.

Perhaps five people in the entire theatre gave the show a standing ovation. Morons.

Overall grade: D+


Pacific Overtures (Wednesday afternoon)

Not one of my favorite Sondheim shows. But now it is.

I don't know what to say.
Everything was brilliant.
The cast. The book. The score. The set. The direction.

I was in heaven the entire show.
The songs entranced me. The book mesmerised me.
The staging enthralled me. The cast amazed me.

B.D. Wong was slighly miscast, but he grew on me and had won me over by the end.

There was not a weak musical number.
'The Advantages of Floating in the Middle of the Sea' was brilliant. A perfect opening.
'Someone in a Tree' was the hghlight of the show to me. Right after 'A Little Priest', the most perfect theatrical song ever written.
'Pretty Lady' was the finest sung song. Gorgeous.
'A Bowler Hat' was magnificently staged.

It was so nice to see real singing, not screeching, on the B'way stage.

The greatest and most entertaing show I have ever seen on the Broadway stage.

Everyone else I saw it with didn't like it. Most hated it.
I was one of the only people who gave it the standing ovation it so richly deserved.

I don't get it. I really don't.

Overall Grade: A+


Little Women (Wednesday night)

I was expecting a fun night at the theatre with this one.
Nothing deep, just nice fun, like Hairspray.

I was very depressed with Little Women.

A very uneven book with a very cliche score and God-awful lyrics.
Corny jokes and have I said an uneven book.

Sutton Foster was great, but the material is so far beneath her. But everyone else in the theatre loved it and my group LOVED it.

They were mad at me for not liking it. But I coudln't get past the amateurness of the material.

Aunt March's and Jo's early Act I song, 'Could You', pulled out every lyrical and musical cliche in the book.

The performances were overall very good, despite the worthless material they had to work with.

It amazed me that Foster gave the performance she did despite what she had to work with. However, I didn't like how her big Act I Finale 'Astonishing' had to rely on the high screeching.

Jenny Powers as Meg and Megan McGinnis as Beth were the standouts of the show. Both give low-key yet heartfelt performances.

The only great song in the show, 'Some Things Are Meant To Be', is a duet magnificently sung by Foster and McGinnis.

Maureen McGovern can't act very well, but she can sing the heck out of any song, so it is too bad her two big solos seem like filler. Her Act I solo 'Here Alone' seems to be written merely to give her an Act I solo.

Danny Gurwin as Laurie and Amy McAlexander as Amy are so annoying and over-the-top obnoxious. Both have voices better suited to clearing pigeons from a roof. Gurwin has the right enthusiasm, but it is focused in the wrong places and comes off as aggravating.

One would wish that Foster would have better material in her return to Broadway.

This show seems as if Allan Knee (Book-writer) and Howland and Dickstein (Composer and Lyricist) were trying to pull the story in different directions and the result was a very askew show.

Unless they fix it up before opening i expect the critics to rip it apart and for it to close in the next few months.

Then perhaps Foster can find a show worthy of her talent and stage prescence.

And I do believe I was the only person in the Virginia Theatre who refused to give a standing ovation at curtain call. And I got many glares.

Everyone loved Foster's high belting. They eqaute that with good singing.

My twenty-six year old cousin told me that the Pacific Overture lyrics were crap compare to this, that she felt anyone could have written the PO music and that it really wasn't music to her, and that Foster was the best singer we had heard because she wa so loud.

What a world. What a world.

Overall Grade: C+

Updated On: 12/30/04 at 07:57 PM

[maybethistime]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:01pm

great reviews, priest. i cant agree more about hearn. he is AMAZING- im so jelous & ur so LUCKY!!!

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:02pm

I love Maureen McGovern. LOVED HER in Little Women. I really want to hear Pacific Overatures but no one around me sells it. Same with A Little Night Music. Grrrrr..... But, glad you are having a great time living out my fantasy.

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:03pm

OH, I totally agree about Pacific Overtures...it was completely brilliant. The only thing is the story doesn't scream out to my interest, lol. But I cannot tell you how many times I sat there just thinking "Wow, this is just brilliant" especially when it came to the score. Beautifully written and staged.

NOw I haven't seen Little Women yet, but I'd like to think it's continually improving. But, Priest, Sutton IS a good singer...a fantastic singer for that matter. I think one of the best around on the Broadway scene right now. Easily.

Oh BTW: Glad to see you met Hearn. :) Updated On: 12/30/04 at 08:03 PM

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:05pm

ooo, i would love to meet george hearn - unfortunately i am seeing the show (well, not unfortunately) so hopefully can get out in time to get a good spot...

where were you that you were able to stop mr, hearn?

[GovernorSlaton]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:08pm

Sounds like you're having a great time out there. That Hearn story still brings a smile to my face.
You have La Cage next, correct?

[MyNameInLights]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:09pm

Beautiful, well-written reviews. And I am SO SO happy for you and your meeting George Hearn. Congratulations!

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:10pm

BG107, I was not dismissing Sutton's singing abilites at all. she is fantsaitc and her performance kept the show from being comkplete crap.

But I did not enjoy her need to screech in 'Astonishing'
and I don't equate loud with good.
But Sutton gave a great performance in a crappy show.


And BsoBW2,I was right at the spot where they walk out of the stage door, so I had the best spot since I got there early.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:12pm

No, Gov.

Iwas going to catch a matinee of wither LA CAGE or GEM, but I had there performance schedules mixed up. I thought one of them had a Tuesday matinee.

I just got back to Dallas.

But I am going back to Ny with my advisory the second week in Feb.

I belong in New York, dammit.

[Ellie3]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:13pm

It's sad you were the only George fan at the Gershwin. Surely at least some others asked for his sig, delighted at meeting 'The Wizard'?

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:13pm

I WANT TO GO! WAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! **Cries hysterically**

[GovernorSlaton]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:13pm

Does that mean you were unable to meet up with Margo?

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:14pm

I've never heard Sutton come close to screeching in my life. She has a very clean high register...even when loud.

Anyway...very well-written reviews, by the way.

[Ellie3]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:16pm

Yes, thanks for taking the time to share your NYC experience!

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:16pm

Gov:
As I was with 8 family members, and with at least one at most times, I knew it would distress them if I met up with a random person I met on the internet.

But I am going to try to in February, becuase he took the time to make those tapes for me and i feel like a ****for not being able to get them.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:17pm

BG107: she wasn't really screeching. It's just i am not a fan of loud overdone high G's, especially when I am in the first row.

She didn't screech. Wrong term.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:19pm

Very nice, Priest! I trust your opinion on LITTLE WOMEN - I haven't seen it yet but I plan on it.

I am so happy with your remarks about FIDDLER - finally someone feels the exact way I do about that show. I thought most of the females were lacking and awful, but Molina was brilliant. I would have voted for him over Hugh Jackman last year - his performance touched me so much. What did you feel about the lack of accents? It was the first time I had seen the show without an accent, and I think it worked beautifully. Were you able to see off stage right with the leaf-covered hill? It's such a beautiful production, just like everything Leveaux does.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:25pm

The lack of accents borught more humanity to the roles, especially Molina's Tevye.

But some very odd accent kept appearing among the women, especially the older women.
I didn't see the hill as I was sitting in the second row, balcony, stage right side.

I forgot to add how much I LOVED (LOVED!) the use of the bright light everytime the Gentiles came on. Brilliant!

Updated On: 12/30/04 at 08:25 PM

[magruder]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:35pm

Priest, you mentioned you were offended by the animal figures in the Dream Sequence. Leveaux is specifically referencing the work of artist Marc Chagall in that sequence, with the suspended bride and groom, the ladder, and animal figures intermingling with humans. The original production's design by scenic Boris Aronson also evoked Chagall, for most of its design (even in the original logo and the show's title were influenced by Chagall), but it's really the only time in Leveaux's production that he evokes Chagall's imagery. I think because Chagall's work is so surreal and dreamlike and Leveaux was generally taking a more naturalistic approach, he brought in the Chagall images for the show's one surreal, strange piece of writing. Here are some Chagall images that illustrate what Leveaux was going after...

Updated On: 12/30/04 at 08:35 PM

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:39pm

Very interesting, magruder.
I wasn't aware.


But I still thought it strayed so much from the minimalist approach of the the rest of the production.
It was one of the few directoral choices I didn't like.

But the 'Dream Sequence' was beuatifully staged and sung.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:39pm

wonderful commentary young priest.

[magruder]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:42pm

I think he lays on the fantasy and the Chagall imagery at that point, because it is the only sequence that is not based in any reality, so he wanted to separate it from the naturalistic style of the rest of the material.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:44pm

I see his wanting to do that and the reason behind it.

But if that is the case, I felt he should have gone even further with the surreal approach at that point.

It was kind of only half-way.

[magruder]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:49pm

Well, there is so much happening in that sequence and you still have to understand the elaborate web that Tevye is weaving. And Grandma Tzeitel and Fruma Sarah have a LOT of words. Any more busyness in the staging, and I think you'd lose the set-up and payoff.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:50pm

awww... you met George Hearn! How wonderful! What a great story to tell too. I bet he'll remember you if you're ever to meet him again in the future. What a wonderful man...