STAGE TUBE: 'THE FIRST WIVES CLUB' Video Preview!- Page 4

[blaxx]

Posted: 7/25/09 at 1:30pm

Ha ha ha, how could I miss this?! It's addictive too!

[noahrp3]

Posted: 7/25/09 at 1:43pm

I personally cannot WAIT to see this. It looks horrendous.

[madophelia]

Posted: 7/25/09 at 2:05pm

There's been so much discussion about the "choreography" so it would seem this new article from the LA Times is quite timely.

I didn't realize the choreographer also did High School Musical 1 & 2
LA Times on First Wives

[dented146]

Posted: 7/25/09 at 2:14pm

Saw the show last night. In my opionion, I just doesn't quite have it. It is unfair to judge the show from a video but there are a number of weaknesses.

Sara Chase and Sam Harris were very good because they had the best material. The leads were OK but not good enough to overcome the somewhat stiff material. There were some very cute lines but they seemed to be interjected into a story that seemed too heavy handed and slow. Also, this very much a musical version of a chick flick. I could actually see the men around me feeling and looking dismayed. I don't know if that is good or bad but it is real.

The music was pretty forgettable. Sheryl Lee Ralph does a nice job belting out That Was Me Then This Is Me Now but the song is just OK.

The choreography is very ordinary, however, the very simple ballroom scenes were done with wonderful grace. I thought the choreography flowed better than the story which I guess I can lay on the direction.

It needs work. The first act especially needs to move faster and grab the audience better. And at 2 and a half hours, it is too long.

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/25/09 at 2:15pm

^ Do you think they can fix it enough for Broadway?

[dented146]

Posted: 7/25/09 at 3:03pm

That's a good question ljay. Musicals can change so much. I'm sure they can take it to Broadway but making it good enough to succeed is another matter. When I walked out I overheard a couple of women remark about how much they enjoyed it so I'm just one opinion.

I'm sure the reviews and the economy will play the biggest part.

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 7/25/09 at 3:16pm

I hope the other songs are fantastic, because those 2 songs were awful. Awful awful awful awful. If the rest of the songs are that terrible, the entire score would have to be redone to make people take this show seriously.

[dented146]

Posted: 7/25/09 at 4:19pm

Not all the songs are terrible. But are they good enough to advance the musical to a high enough level for success? Are they cute enough like Wicked or beautiful like Phantom or cool like In The Heights. No, or at least not yet.

But it always bothers me at this stage of developement to be too negative because starting a new musical is so complex and the people on stage and behind the scenes have worked incredibly hard. I choose to be patient and hopeful.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 7/25/09 at 11:55pm

There is something terribly addictive about this video....maybe it will be hit. That video is so bad and I cant stop rewatching it.

[blaxx]

Posted: 7/26/09 at 12:01am

I honestly think that all negative comments must stop.

We've said enough, and we must allow the creative team to have a chance before continuing this trend of bad vibes and unfair criticism.












Who am I kidding?! IT'S SO FREAKIN' BAD IT'S FUNNY, AND I CAN'T STOP WATCHING IT!

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 7/26/09 at 12:22am

Im not saying the show is bad, all Im saying is that promo video is a stinker and I cant stop watching it......

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/26/09 at 12:46am

The "Ready For a Change" clip is actually addicting to me. I wouldn't mind if the rest of the show was campy fun like that. But that second number....yikes.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 7/26/09 at 12:53am

I find it interesting that the producers say they "lent the rights" to the Old Globe. So it's not a pre-Broadway tryout. The Broadway production isn't going to feature the design and cast? Seems like an odd statement for what was always billed as an out-of-town tryout.

And I love that they're trying to make Walsh look fat by puting her in a big flannel shirt. She still looks like a hanger with a head.

Ralph is the only light amongst the three. Still, as said, she's stuck with the token sassy black woman part. Why is the character African-American again?

And Ziemba looks like she is doing her own choreography. What a hot mess. Don't see this getting the backing necessary.

[blaxx]

Posted: 7/26/09 at 1:04am

What I find the funniest is how the dancers look ("Why am I humiliating myself doing this in public?") and Sam Harris acting like he wanted to play one of the wives.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 7/26/09 at 1:15am

He's not one of the wives?

And you know a show's in trouble when it's stealing song titles from "The Goodbye Girl".

[blaxx]

Posted: 7/26/09 at 1:21am

True! Though I think Hamlisch's Jump for Joy was a lot better than this.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 7/26/09 at 1:35am

Well, yes.

Bernadette Peters would be fabulous in the Goldie Hawn part. You know, if they didn't find it necessary to be played by a sassy black woman.

I also find it odd that Gasteyer dropped out "due to injury" but managed to heal herself to do the very physically demanding Royal Family in September. I can't imagine the character dances much with what we've seen of the "choreography" and with Walsh now in the part.

Funny, the original character isn't sassy. I'd get if they stuck to the original concept but she just happened to be black but it seems they just wanted someone to sing their crappy Supremes-light songs.

I'm surprised the set isn't full of giant tampons and diaphragms with Zambello's past design choices.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 7/26/09 at 11:04am

Unlike another recent show about women's empowerment based on a movie -- that would be "9 to 5: The Musical," which premiered at the Ahmanson last year -- "First Wives Club" is not a period piece. While the musical "9 to 5" is set in the 1980 movie's pre-Internet era, "First Wives Club" is updated from the mid-'90s to 2009.

The novel's author, Goldsmith, died in 2004 at age 54 -- ironically, of complications from cosmetic surgery. And Holmes says he never considered contacting the movie's screenwriter for input. "I knew from the beginning we were going to make huge, fundamental changes in the story, including having Elyse be a black vocalist," he says.

"Huge fundamental changes"? Making a character a black vocalist? Not a period piece? So glad they are reinventing it.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/26/09 at 10:50pm

Also, it's not ironic that she died from cosmetic surgery.

[TheatreDork2]

Posted: 7/26/09 at 10:59pm

I also find it odd that Gasteyer dropped out "due to injury" but managed to heal herself to do the very physically demanding Royal Family in September. I can't imagine the character dances much with what we've seen of the "choreography" and with Walsh now in the part.

You forgot about Adrienne Lenox who dropped out for "health reasons"...

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/26/09 at 11:26pm

Well, now we all know that Walsh, Ralph, and Ziemba need money a lot more than Gasteyer and Lenox do.

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 7/26/09 at 11:30pm

You forgot about Adrienne Lenox who dropped out for "health reasons"...


If I were involved in this musical, I think my health would be destroyed.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/26/09 at 11:41pm

I just watched it again and it was better than I remembered. And by better I mean cause me to choke and squeal and even tear up a little bit from laughing so hard.

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 7/26/09 at 11:48pm

Does Karen Ziemba only have that ulgy blue dress? It was in two of those...songs? If you want to call them that.

[madophelia]

Posted: 7/26/09 at 11:48pm

I also find it odd that Gasteyer dropped out "due to injury" but managed to heal herself to do the very physically demanding Royal Family in September.

Only Lenox dropped out for health reasons. Gasteyer couldn't do San Diego during that period.

Somethingwicked gave more details in another thread, which I've linked below.
Cast changes