STEREOPHONIC Opening Night Critics’ Reviews- Page 6

[Zeppie2022]

Posted: 6/15/24 at 12:02am

"Just home from my fifth time seeing the show. If you were there tonight you got a TREAT - the cast was firing on all cylinders and gave the best performances I’ve ever seen them collectively give. It was amazing. "

Saw this show a few weeks ago and really liked it, posted my thoughts on the show in this thread. Glad the cast was on top of their game. As much as I liked this show, it IMO does not have wide appeal. I think you have to be like how I described myself in my post about the show. I was a complete "geek" in regards to the Beatle doc (Get Back) and loved the process of recording an album. Being a big Fleetwood Mac fan (especially Lindsey Buckingham), I enjoyed the obvious similarity to the Nicks-Buckingham relationship in this show. I hope it does well this Sunday and takes home a couple of awards.

[Zeppie2022]

Posted: 6/15/24 at 12:07am

Test

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 6/26/24 at 12:23am

The Freakonomics podcast did a two episode series featuring Stereophonic (the first one is more about the background of the play and the second is more about the economics). Interesting items of note: they mention they're going to have a London production as well as a first class national tour and "a lot of interest in the film" (though they don't mention what kind--the host Stephen Dubner brings up the film as if it's a done deal but based on the wording from producer John Johnson I'm not sure it's completely set yet). 

(Also I used to listen to Freakonomics a lot more but I had no clue Dubner was a Tony voter at some point)

https://freakonomics.com/podcast/how-to-make-the-coolest-show-on-broadway/

https://freakonomics.com/podcast/you-can-make-a-killing-but-not-a-living/

[CoffeeBreak]

Posted: 6/28/24 at 12:21am

The original Stereophonic cast has been in the show since the 1st preview at Playwrights Horizon. 

This evening, apparently, Tom Pecinka was out with a first understudy (Benjamin Anthony Anderson) on.

Anyone see it?  Another cast member is scheduled out later next week ... 

Updated On: 6/28/24 at 12:21 AM

[MezzA101]

Posted: 6/29/24 at 12:51pm

'Stereophonic' Tonys Winner Will Brill on Award Win & Learning Bass

https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/will-brill-stereophonic-tonys-speech-bass-1235720210/

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 7/5/24 at 9:07am

According to understudies.org, Will Brill will be out tonight, and Cornelius McMoyer will be making his debut as Reg.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 7/5/24 at 9:24am

Looks like the cast is finally taking some well-earned time off. Tom Pecinka and Juliana Canfield have also had understudies on in the last week. Would love to see other actors’ interpretations.

[yyys]

Posted: 7/5/24 at 9:46am

I saw Juliana Canfield's understudy on 6/29 and sad to say that she was as unintelligible as Juliana.  Not sure why three of them had to be British.

[dwwst12]

Posted: 7/5/24 at 11:23am

yyys said: "I saw Juliana Canfield's understudy on 6/29 and sad to say that she was as unintelligible as Juliana. Not sure why three of them had to be British."

The short answer is that despite the playwright's denials, this is straight-up 100% inspired by Fleetwood Mac, period. And that needs to be the breakdown in the band. "Christine" has to have been an original British member along with "Mick" and "John."

And before everybody gets all mad at me, I'm not calling the show a rip-off or anything else. I saw it on Tuesday and really enjoyed it! Been listening to the cast album since.

[DramaTeach]

Posted: 7/5/24 at 11:32am

I won’t call it a rip-off either, but I cannot comprehend the praise and awards that have been thrown its way like it’s some sort of innovative, profound piece. It’s not. It’s been done before. In real life and on the screen. Good performances? Sure. Earth-shattering? No! I feel like in time, we’ll look back and realize how overhyped this was.

[dwwst12]

Posted: 7/5/24 at 11:40am

Yeah. I think it might depend on your level of knowledge about FM. I have read a couple of books on the band/making of Rumours. If you have that level of knowledge going in, then it is very possible to both enjoy it very much AND wonder if it was a little overhyped. That's sort of where I landed.

This hasn't been done on Broadway before, but has been done in other media. For instance, the book "Daisy Jones and the Six" (which I also very much enjoyed) was in large part this play in book form. Though they made the detail more different -- whereas I'm still wondering how the band has not sued here, lol.

[Falsettolands]

Posted: 7/5/24 at 11:45am

What Stereophonic has going for it that I will continue to reiterate in my circles, regardless of any sort of "overhype" is that it is completely and utterly accessible.

I will always champion a play that even the most casual theatregoers can enjoy. Nothing overtly political, satirical, or absurdly theatrical. Overhyped or not, I can confidently bring folks to this whereas with Lehman, Leopoldstadt, and Ferryman (hell, even Cursed Child) was asking a lot that I didn't feel a casual audience member would feel worth their time and money.

[dwwst12]

Posted: 7/5/24 at 11:51am

As a public service to those who are curious (I've seen posts about it on Reddit), I was going to list all the similarities to Fleetwood Mac. But honestly, it would be easier to list things that aren't the same!

Lindsey Buckingham's brother was even an Olympic swimmer! Which is a truly *insane* detail to include if you do not want to end up cutting a check to the Mac, lol.

[dwwst12]

Posted: 7/5/24 at 11:52am

Falsettolands said: "What Stereophonic has going for it that I will continue to reiterate in my circles, regardless of any sort of "overhype" is that it is completely and utterly accessible.

I will always champion a play that even the most casual theatregoers can enjoy. Nothing overtly political, satirical, or absurdly theatrical. Overhyped or not, I can confidently bring folks to this whereas withLehman, Leopoldstadt, and Ferryman (hell, even Cursed Child) was asking a lot that I didn't feel a casual audience memberwould feel worth their time and money."

Oh absolutely. I felt like I was in that studio, and I wanted to go back the next day to see what they were up to. That's a successful theatrical production.

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 12/31/99 at 7:00pm

TaffyDavenport said: "According to understudies.org, Will Brill will be out tonight, and Cornelius McMoyer will be making his debut as Reg."

FYI, understudies.org says that he'll be covering Will for both shows on Saturday, July 20, as well.

 

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 7/5/24 at 8:08pm

Posted above earlier this afternoon, and it looks like a glitch in the matrix sent the entire thread back to 12/31/99, which is why it's no longer listed on the first page. Hoping this post will zap it back where it belongs.

Edit: Success!

Updated On: 7/5/24 at 08:08 PM

[mshalo18]

Posted: 7/7/24 at 12:56pm

dwwst12 said: "As a public service to those who are curious (I've seen posts about it on Reddit), I was going to list all the similarities to Fleetwood Mac. But honestly, it would be easier to list things that aren't the same!

Lindsey Buckingham's brother was even an Olympic swimmer! Which is a truly *insane* detail to include if you do not want to end up cutting a check to the Mac, lol."

Even towards the end when they were discussing what to title their next album and Reg (I could be wrong) talked about a dream he had about a prehistoric animal on the album cover- and I immediately through “yes-Tusk”.- which was a double album (remember when they were trying to figure out what to cut and said Columbia didn’t want a double album?) 

[dwwst12]

Posted: 7/7/24 at 2:55pm

mshalo18 said:  Even towards the end when they were discussing what to title their next album and Reg (I could be wrong) talked about a dream he had about a prehistoric animal on the album cover- and I immediately through “yes-Tusk”.- which was a double album (remember when they were trying to figure out what to cut and said Columbia didn’t want a double album?)"

Right, I didn't put the dream part together, but I did notice the double-album reference.

Also towards the end when Peter was saying that Simon thought of himself as the "Daddy" of the band -- as in "Oh Daddy", which was written by Christine about Mick!

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 7/7/24 at 4:55pm

I finally got around to this last night, and I really hate to say this... but I absolutely abhorred this. I thought it was slow, tedious, and extremely repetitive. The characters felt ambiguous, very thinly drawn, and unrelatable. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I left absolutely baffled by the heaps of praise and awards this has received.

This clearly was not for me by a long shot, and I definitely realize that I am in the extreme vast minority with my opinion, but this was a really snoozer in my opinion.

[sppunk]

Posted: 8/5/24 at 2:00pm

Finally was able to be in town to catch this and I agree with the previous poster - this was an entertaining slog to me. It feels wayyyyyyy too long, like they could cut an hour out of this and it'd be much stronger. 

The cast is phenomenal but the material is just ... there. I felt no connection with the couples, Reg seemed like a hollow asshole, etc. Clearly I and my wife are in the minority, and am happy for its success, but I wouldn't' see this again I don't think. 

[RememberTheDay]

Posted: 10/11/24 at 11:28pm

I saw the new cast last night, October 10th. So, I understand lightning can only strike once usually in a production, but I was unfortunately pretty disappointed with the newbies. 

Rebecca Naomi Jones is terribly miscast as Holly. You can take the girl out of musical theatre, but you can't take the musical theatre out of the girl. Since that has been her training ground for the last several years, it comes as no surprise that her performance is shallow and surface level. She doesn't appear she has done any work on the depth to Holly's relationship with Reg, and her comedy doesn't land because she's still stuck in this hokey musical theatre trap.

Amy Forsyth has some good moments, but there is a whininess and difficulty in having any sympathy for her Diana that her predecessor didn't have (although I know Pidgeon set the bar very high). She does a very good job at conveying her insecurities when it comes to writing and playing instruments. Poor thing fell down the stairs too during Act IV, but recovered super well. I do think her performance will continue to improve in time. Jones isn't giving her any favors in helping us believe they are as close as the script requires them to be in order to buy the shock and disappointment that comes with Diana's Act V "announcement".

Benjamin Anthony Anderson hits a home run with his take on Peter. Truly, no notes. What he really does really well is convey just how truly difficult and impossible Peter is to work with. 

Eli Gelb continues to be a standout and I'm still incredibly surprised he lost the Tony to Brill. Also, Cornelius McMoyler was on for Reg last night and did a fine job. I still just don't understand how that's a Tony Award winning role.

[TheatreMonkey]

Posted: 10/12/24 at 4:19am

RememberTheDay said: "....

Rebecca Naomi Jones is terribly miscast as Holly. You can take the girl out of musical theatre, but you can't take the musical theatre out of the girl. Since that has been her training ground for the last several years, it comes as no surprise that her performance is shallow and surface level. She doesn't appear she has done any work on the depth to Holly's relationship with Reg, and her comedy doesn't land because she's still stuck in this hokey musical theatre trap....."

Sooo...just to be entirely clear...you don't think it's possible for a "musical theatre" performer -- any such performer -- to ever rise above "shallow and surface level" acting? I think that's a helluva generalization to make, just because it's not Shakespeare, Ibsen, or Chekov they're building their career on. (And Passing Strange featured some amazing performances -- even from Rebecca Naomi Jones. Who, for the record, has done more than "just" musical theatre -- Shakespeare included.)

If you didn't care for her in this production, that's fine -- your opinion! But that is quite the hot take in your reasoning. 

Updated On: 10/12/24 at 04:19 AM

[Piparoo]

Posted: 10/12/24 at 7:31am

RememberTheDay said: "I saw the new cast last night, October 10th. So, I understand lightning can only strike once usually in a production, but I was unfortunately pretty disappointed with the newbies.

Rebecca Naomi Jones is terribly miscast as Holly. You can take the girl out of musical theatre, but you can't take the musical theatre out of the girl. Since that has been her training ground for the last several years, it comes as no surprise that her performance is shallow and surface level. She doesn't appear she has done any work on the depth to Holly's relationship with Reg, and her comedy doesn't land because she's still stuck in this hokey musical theatre trap.

Amy Forsyth has some good moments, but there is a whininess and difficulty in having any sympathy for her Diana that her predecessor didn't have (although I know Pidgeon set the bar very high). She does a very good job at conveying her insecurities when it comes to writing and playing instruments. Poor thing fell down the stairs too during Act IV, but recovered super well. I do think her performance will continue to improve in time. Jones isn't giving her any favors in helping us believe they are as close as the script requires them to be in order to buy the shock and disappointment that comes with Diana's Act V "announcement".

Benjamin Anthony Anderson hits a home run with his take on Peter. Truly, no notes. What he really does really well is convey just how truly difficult and impossible Peter is to work with.

Eli Gelb continues to be a standout and I'm still incredibly surprised he lost the Tony to Brill. Also, Cornelius McMoyler was on for Reg last night and did a fine job. I still just don't understand how that's a Tony Award winning role."

We were at the same performance and, having not seen the complete original cast, largely agree with these comments. We left the theatre thinking that the play’s writing is solid but the actors working together didn’t do enough with their performances to earn what was clearly set up to be a powerful denouement. I was excited to see this show and disappointed that half the OG cast moving on left the show seemingly sloppy and rudderless. Or perhaps I wouldn’t have loved it either way.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 10/12/24 at 10:43am

I saw the new cast their second performance and thought the energy was off largely because it was a Wednesday matinee, but I’m sad to read others experiencing a lot of the same problems I did.

I thought Rebecca Naomi Jones was off the mark in her portrayal of Holly as well. A lot of her interactions with Diana come off as cold and unfriendly, seemingly by choice, so their final interaction doesn’t land at all. She seems like she barely wants to be around Diana most of the time, so why should she be offended or upset Diana wants to strike off on her own?

I liked Amy Forsyth more than the other folks who’ve commented, but agree she portrays Diana as whinier, which results in you kind of not really rooting for her in the end. That said, her voice is pretty spectacular. It sounds like a mixture of Sinéad O’Connor and Stevie Nicks. I hate to compare, but Sarah and Juliana really crafted two characters and a dynamic that felt electric and I don’t know if it’s the time they spent developing it together, but it missing kind of muddles the play as a whole.

Also agree that Benjamin Anthony Anderson is excellent. His Peter is a bit more difficult to work with, but he also displays a lot more raw vulnerability in his private moments with Diana and Grover toward the end. His final scene with Diana, in particular, felt devastatingly sad and very different than Tom Pecinka’s portrayal.

Overall, the play is still solidly written, but I do wonder how much the “lightning in a bottle” casting of that original group at Playwrights accounted for the ecstatic response. Chemistry really is everything sometimes.

Updated On: 10/12/24 at 10:43 AM

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 10/12/24 at 10:40pm

Perfectly plausible that Jones is miscast in this role, that all the chemistry is off, etc. 

but the idea that shes too "musical theater" for a straight play is yikes. Significant Other, Fire in Dreamland, Marie and Rosetta, Describe the Night-  those are just off the top of my head some of the straight plays shes done (and received acclaim for). Silly.