Rocky Previews- Page 14

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 2/17/14 at 6:41pm

It's 27. Or was it 29? It's so hard to keep track of ages these days.

[SweetLips]

Posted: 2/17/14 at 6:50pm

OK-This is all about ME-I think the show was 5 Guys named Moe and at the end I went up on stage[with others] and danced as part of the finale--it was great fun telling my theatre friends back home that I had danced on stage on Broadway. I am sure what you might miss seeing from the audience at Rocky,the 'fun' of participating on stage-are you encouraged to yell/clap etc and not sit self-consciously?-would appeal to many.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 2/17/14 at 7:08pm

I love ClydeBarrow.

[SweetLips]

Posted: 2/17/14 at 7:56pm

LizaH--Who's Clyde Barrow-Is he in Rocky?

Edited---my 'ignorance' has been deleted as I have now been 'enlightened'.

Updated On: 2/18/14 at 07:56 PM

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 2/17/14 at 7:59pm

Not to be rude (since you already acknowledged your ignorance) but can you not read the post DIRECTLY ABOVE YOURS?

And thanks Headband. You know how to make a girl feel special.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 2/17/14 at 8:06pm

Does to the ring track in from the back of the stage, or is it lowered from the ceiling? Where is it stored during the show?

[SweetLips]

Posted: 2/17/14 at 8:08pm

OOps--Silly me-thanks for pointing out my ignorance for reading forward and not backwards-and of course not knowing WHO YOU ARE and you're a LEGEND [just learning from your example of how to make a point by using LARGE LETTERS].You learn something every day.PS Get over yourself.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 2/17/14 at 8:37pm

They're not called "LARGE LETTERS," they're called CAPS. You're welcome again for that knowledge bomb.

[KylePKJP]

Posted: 2/17/14 at 8:50pm

ClydeBarrow - Stop being such a cvnt.

It's just a message board and - SHOCKER - you aren't really a Broadway Legend.
Clearly SweetLips doesn't know all the sacred rules and rituals of this mean girls blog so chill the fvck out! Have a nice day sh!thead.

[dented146]

Posted: 2/17/14 at 9:09pm

Oh come on! This was just getting fun. It was starting to remind me of a Hepburn/Tracy romantic comedy where they end up in love. SweetLips and ClydeBarrow, the perfect match. Who is going to be upper case?

Sorry you're on the sideline Headband after all ready declaring your love.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 2/17/14 at 9:15pm

There's always room for a third, dented....

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 2/17/14 at 9:43pm

Blaxx, wait until you see King Kong later this year! Rocky sounds like a masterpiece compared to that mess of a show.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 2/17/14 at 9:57pm

Kyle, remember that time I actually paid attention to my status on a message board and thought I was actually a Broadway legend? Oh right, that has never happened. I also didn't realize that reading comprehension was a sacred rule. Lastly, something tells me you don't hope I have a nice day since you called me a cvnt and a sh!thead. I do hope you have a blessed evening. Love and light.

There is room for a third, Headband. I'm a little partial to Jordan being the third though. Hope that's ok with you.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 2/17/14 at 10:32pm

4th? (kidding)

But curious about where the ring comes from.

[blaxx]

Posted: 2/17/14 at 11:00pm

Blaxx, wait until you see King Kong later this year! Rocky sounds like a masterpiece compared to that mess of a show.

I wish they would revive In My Life, instead.

By the way, the ring is present throughout the show.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 2/17/14 at 11:03pm

How do they make room for a ring and the stairs? etc?

[blaxx]

Posted: 2/17/14 at 11:06pm

If you are talking about the final fight, the ring goes into the audience. It spins on place and it makes people on the side orchestra wish they would've gotten better tickets.

[blaxx]

Posted: 2/17/14 at 11:07pm

Updated On: 2/17/14 at 11:07 PM

[RippedMan]

Posted: 2/17/14 at 11:21pm

I realize that, but I'm saying the ring is always present throughout the show? I know there's a moment of him running up the stairs - as per the commercial. So i'm just saying the stage must be big to be able to accommodate all that.

[blaxx]

Posted: 2/17/14 at 11:28pm

The set pieces move. The ring is not that big.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 2/18/14 at 12:12am

Just got in from tonight's performance and I'm still trying to gather my thoughts, but here goes nothing.

This is a real conundrum of a musical. It's got its heart in the right place, but it doesn't work in the way I would imagine it wants to. Gah, where to start?

Okay, I love Ahrens & Flaherty, but this is not their strongest work. Musically, everything sounds pretty generic and none of the songs are rousing or exciting in the way I would have hoped. ROCKY isn't exactly something that screams out for a musicalization, and I did really like that they didn't make the musical numbers into big, awkwardly theatrical sequences. Mostly, the musical numbers are refreshingly grounded and intimate. They've also written well for each specific character, which is nice to hear. "Raining" and "Fight From The Heart" had some beautiful lyrics, but I'll be damned if I could remember the tunes. You'll walk out of the theater humming "Eye of the Tiger" and the theme from the movie, not any one of the original songs they've written for this version. I really just thought it mostly sounded banal and unoriginal. They've done a nice job of giving these characters voices, but musically, it's just not pleasing in the way I was hoping it would be.

The book fares better I suppose, but why oh why is every scene in the first act 90 seconds long?! Way too many quick scenes; I barely got a second to get my bearings as to what I was watching happen onstage before the scenery changed. Again, though, it's refreshingly grounded and the love story is handled with care and lots of heart.

The direction is good, though we've seen Alex Timbers do so much more with so much less. The best sequences in the show, for me, were the training sequences. They were well-staged, genuinely exciting, and underscored with that undeniably great music from the film. The sets and lights are very impressive but so incredibly cumbersome and brash. It was almost overwhelming. Frankly, I thought the final sequence was a bit of a mess. I will be the first person to say that I'm sure they will need more than a handful of previews to work out the kinks for the final fight, but tonight it really felt unsettled and uncomfortable. Everyone is raving about how thrilling the finale was but I was underwhelmed. There is absolutely no need for the ring to go out into the audience; it's kind of a poorly-employed gimmick if you ask me. And it took about four minutes for all of the audience members to go on the stage, which completely took me out of the show and ruined the buildup for me. I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but that's honestly how I felt about it. I would be more than willing to chalk it up to the need for more previews though. Also, regarding the finale, I agree 100% with Sauja and Kad that the resolution of the fight is extremely wonky and fuzzy. They need to do some work on clarifying how the fight (and the show) ends, even though 99% of the audience knows the outcome before the show even starts.

The cast is very fine, particularly the two leads who, for me, were the best part of the show. Andy Karl is giving a star-making performance. I truly, truly cannot emphasize it any more intensely. It is so incredibly exciting to me to see someone like him finally get a big break and knock it out of the park. His Rocky is so beautifully-realized. Without a performance like his, I truly don't know if the show would work at all. Margo Seibert (making her Broadway debut!) is wonderful as well. She's got great chemistry with Karl, and her voice is stunning. It's a shame that her 11:00 number feels completely unearned and rings false. She sells it well though.

I had a really rough time gathering my thoughts together for this one. I usually agree with most of the posters who were bowled over by it, but unfortunately, I wasn't. I didn't despise it and I was mostly entertained throughout, but it just didn't gel for me in the way I hoped it would. I do want to see it again further into the preview period though. I'm sure it'll be running so much smoother, even by the end of the month. Right now, it's pretty disjointed.

I couldn't agree more with those who have said that the show is striving to be a BILLY ELLIOT-esque piece. Unfortunately, it's nowhere near that good. As Whizzer said, you'd be hard-pressed to find a "Solidarity"-esque number in the show, and in my opinion, it just doesn't have the strong emotional through-line BILLY did. BILLY is a much more cohesive piece in every way.

There's just something about ROCKY that didn't click for me. It's all admirably-presented, it moves at a fast clip, and it's got a good cast, but it never soared or thrilled me as consistently as I had hoped. If my thoughts seem disjointed, it's because they are. Maybe by tomorrow I'll have formed a more clear opinion on it all, but for now, the messiness above is where I stand. Mainly, I guess, because I thought the show was a bit of a mess.

----
SIDENOTES: About 40% of the audience had their phones out during the fight. And no one did anything. And I have to admit, the seats in the mezzanine are VERY small. The woman next to me seemed to have 87 coats with her and was pouring over into my seat, making for a very uncomfortable experience at the theater. So, full disclosure, that may have attributed to my ability to really sit back and enjoy the show.

No stops tonight, and we got a speech from an assistant director beforehand, saying that we were the first audience to see "this version" of ROCKY, so clearly they're making changes and alterations here and there. We did get an overly long intermission, though. I was on the street at about 10:42.

The sound design needs some major work, especially whenever the ensemble sings. The entire opening sequence was lost on me. And I'm not exaggerating. I didn't catch a single lyric.
Updated On: 2/22/14 at 12:12 AM

[dented146]

Posted: 2/18/14 at 12:30am

A very good review. Thank you.

[ARTc3]

Posted: 2/18/14 at 1:09am

^ ditto... WiCkEDrOcKS what a thoughtful review. I am going to have an issue with the audience taking out their cell phones.

[SweetLips]

Posted: 2/18/14 at 1:27am

You are sweet Kyle,coming to a Maidens[Old Maids]rescue,like a Knight on a white charger slaying all in his path.A dear departed friend used to say to me whenever he saw that my feathers were ruffled---Settle Princess---and I always laughed,and did.

[Kad]

Posted: 2/18/14 at 2:17am

RippedMan:

In the first scene, the ring is on the stage for a fight. Then, for much of act one, the ring is suspended above the the stage to become the ceiling of Rocky's apartment or other interiors. It's flown out for a lot of act two and reappears again, on its side, to be a surface for archival type footage of Apollo Creed.