ROCKY Reviews — Page 8

@bobs3 agree; while not Jerusalem or Godot, Rocky is a visceral theatrical experience that will find an audience. The folks behind Bronx Bombers and Magic / Bird should consider recruiting Alex!

I don't agree that the tenor of the ho-hum to negative reviews stems from the pre-opening hype. Seems to me, many become critics because they have a high opinion of their own opinion. Also, it's not as if Rocky has swept into town with gargantuan advance sales and acclaim. If anything, word has been that it's not been shaping up as a boffo audience pleaser which can do without critical hosannas.

My tweet on it is linked below. The long-form review is forthcoming. Here's the upshot:

Rocky has the '76 film's story, the song from III, & the soullessness of IV&V. As kinetic spectacle though, it's the season's main event.

The movie's strongest suit was Rocky's underdog status. As hard as he works and as well as he does, Andy Karl is a strapping hunk who doesn't read as someone whom everyone has written off. There's a parallel here between Rocky beating the odds to become a contender and Karl becoming a star. Like Rocky, he's still standing by the curtain call. But I wished I'd sensed the bruised soul that Stallone brought to the role.
rocky road to finale

My son asks to go to the theater all the time, he loves. We saw Rocky together. What does his sexuality have to do with it?

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Stories in the mainstream press that "regular guys" will want to see Rocky sort of build on that premise.

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Count me in with those who were rubbed the wrong way by BrerBear's joke. I'm sure he meant it innocently, but there are a million reasons a young man would respond to musical theatre other than "budding expression of homosexuality."

Saying that only gay teenage boys would want to see or do musicals, or that musicals are just FOR gay men, is reductionist, and probably more than a little offensive to gay AND straight men.

I apologize to those who I apparently greatly offended with my comment, which was meant in jest. I would never suggest that all teenage boys who enjoy musical theater are gay, and I know some who are not. Nonetheless, I have a hard time believing that, as bob3 suggested, there is a large market of teenage boys "demanding" to be taken to musical theater that is going to keep this show afloat. Certainly not in the same numbers as teenage girls.

If you want to argue that such a demographic exists, feel free. Which is why I asked if teenage boys were prevalent at the Rocky previews.

I kinda doubt that any 12-16 year old boys who beg their parents to take them to see musical theater are going to demand Rocky. At that point, their cover is already blown.

Wow. Probably one of the most narrow minded things I have read on here.

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"When you consider that THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, MAMMA MIA, and WICKED all received mixed-negative reviews from the Times and are still running I think ROCKY will settle down for a nice long run at the Winter Garden. If 12-16 year old girls are begging their Moms to take them to see WICKED you can bet that 12-16 year old boys will begging their Dads to take them to see ROCKY."

I think the difference between "Rocky" and the other musicals you mentioned was that they had much better music. I don't think I have read many posts where somebody said they were blown away by the music/lyrics in "Rocky". The only thing everyone seems to agree on in a positive way is that the fight scene is pretty terrific.

BrerBear, I'm gay and I wasn't offended by your comment. I'm no longer a teenager - far from it - but when I was growing up, I was one of the very few teenagers from my affluent suburban New Jersey neighborhood who was at all interested in attending the theater. I was "out" back then, which made me a rarity and often the focus of bullying.

A hundred years later, many of the other guys from my high school's theater club - all at the time closeted - have contacted me on Facebook. Guess what? They're all gay.

Perhaps, things are different now, and if so, I may be out of touch - although I have nephews and I don't thing so. I remember not being able to share my passion for show tunes and all things "theater" related as doing so only made the bullying worse.

I am sure that there are many young men interested in the theater who are not gay, nor will discover that they are gay as they become older. I am only saying that your "generalization" isn't so far fetched and I'm not quite sure why you were "attacked" for your comment.

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Updated On: 3/14/14 at 10:22 PM

None of the ads say it's a musical. They show no singing.

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This whole thing is one of the sociocultural bugbears I have always pondered. As a Hispanic very-liberal-Catholic heterosexual, I am three-for-three outside the central demographic of musical theatre.

Why is this entire art form so connected with "gay white Jews" that there are numerous jokes and even a song or two dedicated to that entire idea? The recent "Jewish Legacy" documentary really cleared up the Jewish side of the equation, but at what point did theatre become "gay," or did gay become "theatre?" Before Broadway, before musical theatre, was there a connection between the stage and homosexuality, or homosexuality and patronage of the stage?

Someday, they're going to have to make a sequel documentary, "Broadway: A Gay Legacy" and suss this one out too.

The only show my son begged to take him was BOM. He may enjoy Rocky but I think he would enjoy Newises more because of the dancing. I think a regular teenager would be bored to death by the final fighting scene. Yes I've seen the show.