Review about Michael Ball's Patience?

[sanda]

Posted: 9/11/05 at 11:53am

Hello? Did anyone go?

I will watch the show in two weeks. How is his performance?

Thanks.

[sharon1]

Posted: 9/11/05 at 12:31pm

I posted on a earlier thread. Apparently very very well. With a number of curtain calls. For he and the entire cast. Laugh out loud fun and great voices.

[kec]

Posted: 9/11/05 at 2:20pm

I was there. It was an absolutely marvelous show. Patience has become my new favorite G&S work. The entire cast was outstanding, and Michael was absolutely brilliant. His facial expressions, his manner, the tone of his speaking voice -- very funny. He had warned some of the fans that the show is over the top -- and it is, VERY. But it was great fun and there were a lot of laughs coming from the audience.

As NYC Opera debuts go, Michael did himself proud!

[jo]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 6:19am

Excerpts from the New York Times review of PATIENCE --

'...The City Opera is fortunate in its two competing suitors: Michael Ball as Bunthorne and Kevin Burdette as Grosvenor. Both sing beautifully, both are comic athletes, and both are capable of evoking real people out of egregious exaggeration. Tonna Miller, in the title role, sings sweetly, but would have been more at home in a different and smaller theater. So would "Patience" itself, and while we are at it, so would almost any opera you can think of. Myrna Paris, as Lady Jane, gauges the size of her surroundings well and occupies the stage as fully as anyone around her.

The Pre-Raphaelites were identifiable for their physical and spiritual languors, their yearnings for ancient art and their elaborate melancholies. This production beats that notion into its onlookers with a baseball bat. As the curtain rises, the chorus of maidens animate, one by one and collectively, the poses familiar to us from the art of James McNeill Whistler and Edward Burne-Jones. The effect is so relentless and so profuse that even when, later on, these women are treated more subtly, the image of cartoon characters adheres.

And so the evening goes. The costumes by Merrily Murray-Walsh have a psychedelic splendor that carries us cheerfully past any recognizable world. We keep thinking, "Too much, too much," and then Mr. Ball and Mr. Burdette appear and charm the pants off us..."

[Lori]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 8:54am

I was there as well on Saturday. Michael was fantastic and he and Kevin brought the house down with the dance number in Act II. Side splittingly funny! They make a great comedy team.

I bet Michael's smiling at being referred to as a "comic athlete"...he's a genuinely funny guy and has always had a nice touch with light comedy (which he displayed both in Chitty and in parts of WIW.)

I'm pleased to see him well reviewed in the Times...he deserves every word of it for this performance.

[kec]

Posted: 9/13/05 at 2:56pm

The Star Ledger in New Jersey also has a glowing review for Michael and the rest of the cast:
For NYC Opera, Patience is a Virtue

[bwayfan215]

Posted: 9/19/05 at 1:40pm

I saw the show on Saturday and had a great time. Not much of a G&S fan, but Michael Ball was amazing - better than I thought he'd be.

I stood at the stage door and got his autograph. He was extremely gracious.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 9/19/05 at 2:40pm

Patience is second only to Iolanthe as the best, IMHO, G&S work.

[sharon1]

Posted: 9/19/05 at 2:56pm

I saw the show twice this past week. Saturdays performance was fantastic and Michael Ball was outstanding. His two duets, one with Lady Jane, and the other with Grovesnor were absolutely hilarious. He just dominated the stage. The audience loved it. What I think made it even more entertaining was the fact that you could actually understand everything that was being sung. I wonder though if the two little comedy ditties that MB sings with references to Les Mis and Cats will be changed near the end of the run to reference Love Changes Everything from Aspects of Loves. Just a thought

[sanda]

Posted: 9/20/05 at 11:21am

Thank you so much. I will see the show on this Friday. Will someone be there too?

[sharon1]

Posted: 9/20/05 at 11:39am

Sorry won't be back in NYC until the last shows. You will have a good time though

[kec]

Posted: 9/20/05 at 12:31pm

Bwayfan, good for you. The stage door on Saturday was very crowded, wasn't it. I was watching from the curb, and Michael tried to get as many people as possible.

It really is a fantastic show, and kudos to everyone in the cast for their fine performances. The chemistry between Michael and Kevin Burdette who plays Grosvenor is terrific. Their dance number in the second act is a real show-stopper.

[sharon1]

Posted: 9/20/05 at 1:06pm

I watched from afar also. Gosh what a crowd. Lovely cross section of people though. Fans, opera types, musical theatre people wanting to know what was going on. And even passerbys wondering what was going on. Talked to a few