Jordan, that is what gets me about all of this. It is not like a few people are saying negative things about this show, a lot of people are. Had I been part of the production, after it went into previews, I would have looked to boards like this to see what people were saying especially knowing the word of mouth was not good. I don't know anyone involved personally but it seems that egos are getting in the way to some degree. When that happens, usually everyone else (outside) can see the problems clearly and those involved don't. Just my random thoughts.
For those who thought NEXT TO NORMAL wouldn't have a life outside Broadway, well it's now playing in 4 cities, 9 different countries and has been translated into 6 languages.
i think alot of the revisions ideas are good - i would like to see the boxing scene re-imagined, i personally dont care for it...why does such a central part of spidey's myth have to be taymor's most laughably inept imagination on the stage?
gads.
poor girl.
ot, i saw GIGI last night at the REPRISE series here in la la land, it is a thing they do at the UCLA Freud Playhouse, they present productions of classics - they are always extremely well done with excellents casts and directors and a live orchestra playing first rate orchestrations of the score - last night the orchestra was 25 players - pretty damn big.
the set was fairly minimal, so it pulled the attention away from the big romance of paris to the acting and the score and the book and the choreography.
it was absolutely thrilling. people broke into sustained spontaneous applause for peggy hickey's choreography at one point.
it was at that point i realized that i was more thrilled at that moment by the movement on stage than at any time during spider man totd, with all its machinations.
and the book! the characters! five lead characters whose portraits are so amazing, the way the songs propel the book along,
Yea, but they only run two weeks which is why they never spend money on a set.
"TheatreDiva90016 - another good reason to frequent these boards less."<<>>
“I hesitate to give this line of discussion the validation it so desperately craves by perpetuating it, but the light from logic is getting further and further away with your every successive post.” <<>>
-whatever2
I really want this to resolve itself, one way or another. Either open and have a run or close and disappear - I'm sick of hearing about it. It all comes off as pure manipulation at this point, and I'd rather hear about any of the other forms of art/entertainment that are getting ignored while everyone slobbers over this nonsense.
Yeah, but I don't think these "stories" are really doing anything positive for the show at this point whether they put them out or not. It was said that it was thought people wanted to see it for the accidents. I think that has even, for lack of a better term, gotten old at this point. JMO
Well, by invoking the image of a 'circus', anything that continues to make it look like a drama-filled 'accident-waiting-to-happen' (*ahem*) stokes the fires of curiosity, I think.
It's got to be for publicity sakes, just to keep the show in the press. I'm baffled as to why people continue to go see this, I'm sure the audience must be made up more of unsuspecting public rather than the theatre savvy now. All the money that has been thrown at this production could have been channelled into something good. I'm all for new musicals but, urgh, make a decision, open it or close it!
I dig your Alanis reference, there, Jordan Catalano.
I agree with what somebody earlier said about the beauty of a small show. Julie Taymor IS a genius (The Lion King is proof). But she just bit off more than any human being could chew for SpiderMan TOTD. I'm really disappointed in her for putting a bunch of really hardworking artists through this for the sake of her vision.
I still have a little faith that she will pull it together. But more and more slips away everyday.
You know what? I don't think she's a genius. She's visionary. But not a genius. Great visions, rather often. But just as often, she lacks the capacity to back them up.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."