I thought the set got the job done, but wasn't anything special. It may also have been that the staging didn't always use the set to its full potential (aside from the two chase scenes). It DID fill that huge stage well though, which can be a problem at the Broadway. Promises, Promises sometimes looked like it was being performed on a football field because of all the empty space.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
Variety is up...
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117945047?refCatId=33
Updated On: 4/20/11 at 09:49 PM
Wow, every review so far seems to say the same thing: the storyline doesn't work as well with Goldberg at the helm. Sutton may very well be winning that Tony....
Anxious to see what Mr. Brantley has to say...
Times seems mixed and a bit dismissive, although he does offer a few good pull-quotes. It's Isherwood. Odd.
Review
Updated On: 4/20/11 at 10:11 PM
Featured Actor Joined: 9/13/08
"Matthew Murray needs to get laid"
HA!
Have you seen that face? Ain't gonna happen anytime soon!
Updated On: 4/20/11 at 10:11 PM
I'm surprised that there hasn't been any outright raves for Patina Miller.
The Times was pretty much a rave for Patina Miller.
Newsday calls it "breathlessly...relentlessly cheerful" and says it has "more glitz than credibility."
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/theater/sister-act-not-exactly-habit-forming-1.2828991
Updated On: 4/20/11 at 10:22 PM
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/07
Extremley positive review from USA Today. (***½out of four stars)
This season's two most winning new musicals to date both put faith in the forefront with a mixture of satire and sweetness that can be embraced by the pious and non-believers alike.
The latest entry, Sister Act: A Divine Musical Comedy may be less giddily profane, and thought-provoking, than "The Book of Mormon," but it has its own distinct and surprising charms.
Composer Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater provide original tunes that nod cheekily, but with genuine affection, to that pop era while also propelling the story with a style and exuberance specific to well-crafted musical theater.
Librettists Cheri and Bill Steinkellner, enlisting additional material from Douglas Carter Beane, adapt the screenplay with disarming wryness. It helps that the nimble veteran Jerry Zaks directs, and that his cast includes such reliable entertainers as Victoria Clark, pitch-perfect as the prickly but warmhearted Mother Superior, and Fred Applegate, as the more funk-friendly monsignor.
Patina Miller is a credible, endearing leading lady, giving this Deloris the right mix of sugar and spice. Chester Gregory is similarly likable as the police officer who becomes her love interest, while Sarah Bolt and Marla Mindelle lend more goofy humor and pluck as the habited Deloris' sisters in arms.
'Sister Act': Most entertaining nuns, bar none
Updated On: 4/20/11 at 10:23 PM
oh dear.
Ending the Times review with a tangent on sequins was odd... but I'd say it was mixed-to-postive.
Aw I honestly thought Patina would be getting better reviews for her performance. I guess they might as well engrave the Tony with Sutton's name.
Congratulations Sutton! Welcome to 2 Tonyville!
Why "oh dear"?
These are the level of reviews most people on the board expected the show to get. There's a plethora of pull-quotes to choose from. This show's gonna be a huge, huge hit. I absolutely cannot wait to see it in two weeks!
ETA: DidHeLikeIt.com is classifying the review as "negative." Huh..?
Updated On: 4/20/11 at 10:29 PM
Broadway Star Joined: 6/5/03
Patina didn't get raves because she's not a comic actress and its a comic role. She was chosen for her voice, and its an amazing one.
TheaterMania says "there's a lot of fun to be had at Sister Act," although he's not crazy about the book, and says it could have used an extra revision, and thinks the tone of the show is a bit off.
Review
Understudy Joined: 8/12/06
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but didn't Sutton get worse reviews for Millie and still win the Tony? Especially from Brantley? Kristin Chenoweth and Tonya Pinkins got better reviews and lost to Idina Menzel. And what about LaChanze's reviews as compared to Sutton's, Patti LuPone's, and Kelli O'Hara's? I don't know why people are saying it's a done deal that Sutton's going to get the Tony based on reviews. Critics don't make up all of the voters, and it seems to me that, in a lot of cases, they like rewarding the "break-out, star-making role." Sutton could very well win, but I guess I just don't understand why everyone is counting out Patina so early.
The USA today is a very nice review!!
Donna Murphy also got raves in 2004 and still lost to Idina.
Oh you mean the award that rightfully belongs to a Miss Tonya Pinkins.
Fantastic reviews from the Associated Press: "this is a musical that hits all the right spots, achieving something close to Broadway grace."
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=13423631
Bloomberg News: "Nothing unexpected happens in “Sister Act,” a fairy tale we already know. But it’s delivered with exceptional glee and polish. Three stars out of four."
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-21/whoopi-goldberg-s-swinging-nuns-rock-rousing-sister-act-jeremy-gerard.html
and (for what it's worth) The Philadelphia Inquirer: "Dear Lord, what is that joyful noise rising to heaven from the spirited, snazzily habited stage-nuns at the Broadway Theatre?"
http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/howard_shapiro/120294379.html#ixzz1K7eIYGJf
Not so much from The Village Voice: "And you watch a lot of the show smiling despite yourself. A work of art? No, it isn't even Priscilla. But you could have way less fun with religious people."
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/dailymusto/2011/04/sister_act.php
Updated On: 4/20/11 at 10:48 PM
definitly three positives already with the AP, USA Today & Philadephia Inquirer. with the rest either mixed or mixed-positive.
"Oh you mean the award that rightfully belongs to a Miss Tonya Pinkins."
Yes, Jordan that one. Ugh, now I can't sleep. Tonya was robbed! Lot's Wife, anyone? Anyone? Anyone?
Sixteen feet below sea level. Robbed of my Tony by that stupid green bitch.
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