SUNSET BLVD. Reviews - Page 13

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 11/2/24 at 12:48am

Strange Lupone said: "TotallyEffed said: "Strange Lupone said: "Patti will, at last, be giving a performance at the St. James."



She won a Tony at that theatre!"




For a terrible performance. No nuance, no humor, no pathos, no understanding of the character. Just a steamroller going at 300 MPH.”

 

Traitor!

[dan94]

Posted: 11/2/24 at 1:19am

But enough about Imelda Staunton, what did you think of LuPone?

[binau]

Posted: 11/2/24 at 5:47am

Because I became obsessed and listened/watched so many different recordings of Patti and Bernadette I think I've given up trying to defend either because to be honest all the criticism can be true as they didn't always give the same performance. However, I will say that at Patti's peak/best I don't think it's true that she had no nuance, humour or pathos at all. No one brought joy to 'Some People' like she did (which was very different than say Bernadette who ironically tried to be more of a steam roller during the song), she had incredible humour with Boyd Gains (e.g. the scene where they are both on the floor), of course there was pathos for example her line readings before "Everything's Coming Up Roses". For some reason, she decided to throw a lot of it away at the final performance and scream the whole time (e.g. I think the Rose's Turn in particular was horrible). But when she was good, Patti really earned that Tony award in my opinion. 

[JasonC3]

Posted: 11/2/24 at 7:47am

^.
Did you mean to post this is the Gypsy thread since that is the only show you reference?

[Strange Lupone]

Posted: 11/2/24 at 7:59am

TotallyEffed said: "Strange Lupone said: "TotallyEffed said: "Strange Lupone said: "Patti will, at last, be giving a performance at the St. James."



She won a Tony at that theatre!"




For a terrible performance. No nuance, no humor, no pathos, no understanding of the character. Just a steamroller going at 300 MPH.”



Traitor!"

 

Or, as she might say, “TRTR!!!!”

 

 

 

 

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 11/2/24 at 10:05am

JasonC3 said: "^.
Did you mean to post this is the Gypsy thread since that is the only show you reference?"

Their post makes sense following the ones preceding it.

- People were discussing Patti attending the show.
- Strange Lupone said she "will at last be giving a performance at the St. James."
- TotallyEffed pointed out Lupone won a Tony for a performance in that very theater (in..."Gypsy").
- Strange Lupone backtracked that she gave a performance at the St. James after all, just a terrible one (in "Gypsy").
- Binau defended Patti's performance in "Gypsy."

And here we are.

It may be off-topic, but at least it's a break from anyone demanding that people who enjoyed this production explain why and provide citations. That will likely resume soon enough.

[BETTY22]

Posted: 11/2/24 at 11:00am

This show is thrilling.......THRILLING. 

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 11/2/24 at 11:50am

dan94 said: "The string synth is obliterating the other 17/18 instruments. It's twice as loud as the rest, and makes the score sound unnecessarily tinny."

Interesting. I did find the score curiously high-pitched when I saw it but I couldn't identify why.

[dan94]

Posted: 11/2/24 at 2:29pm

That's exactly it. To paraphrase: nothing's wrong with 19, unless you're acting like it's 40.

[Strange Lupone]

Posted: 11/2/24 at 4:55pm

MemorableUserName said: "JasonC3 said: "^.
Did you mean to post this is the Gypsy thread since that is the only show you reference?"

Their post makes sense following the ones preceding it.

- People were discussing Patti attending the show.
- Strange Lupone said she "will at last be giving a performance at the St. James."
- TotallyEffed pointed out Lupone won a Tony for a performance in that very theater (in..."Gypsy").
- Strange Lupone backtracked that she gave a performance at the St. James after all, just a terrible one (in "Gypsy").
- Binau defended Patti's performance in "Gypsy."

And here we are.

It may be off-topic, but at least it's a break from anyone demanding that people who enjoyed this production explain why and provide citations. That will likely resume soon enough."


 

If I gave the impression I was backtracking, forgive me. I stand by my post suggesting that, at last, Patti will be giving a performance in that theater.

 

 

[CreatureKitchen]

Posted: 11/2/24 at 6:09pm

I don't get why people are taking the absolute worst-faith interpretation of her words here. She was asked questions by an interviewer because they wanted entertaining sound bites, and they knew exactly the answers she would give (she has referred to the musical as lumbering before). Her distaste for ALW shows is a running gag at this point and she was doing her job by playing into what the interviewer wanted.

Also, she seems genuinely interested and curious about this production. Her negative comments were about the show itself, which were also echoed by a lot of critics. Also, Sondheim himself criticized megamusicals like Sunset for being "lumbering spectacles," so it's not like her criticisms are shocking or unique. And what do you even mean by "giving a performance"? Patti's opinion on disruptive audience members is abundantly clear, so I don't think she's going there to cause a scene.

Also, in her memoir, she does say her performance got better after the lukewarm reviews came out, but I've never seen her make the claim she was the best in the role. In fact, she ultimately said that "getting fired was the best thing that could have happened to her". She buried the hatchet with Glenn and went out for drinks with her a while back, and has not publicly trashed other actors who have taken on the role.

[binau]

Posted: 11/2/24 at 6:26pm

I just had a fantasy of Patti LuPone guest starring in this production of Sunset as the alternative or a once-off fundraiser or something. I could imagine Jamie Lloyd tweaking to make LuPone’s norma kind of like beau is afraid mother or something - creepy, desperate, unhinged. The ending and LuPone covered in blood gives me chills!! 

[CreatureKitchen]

Posted: 11/2/24 at 6:46pm

In a different universe, I would’ve loved to see Patti take on the role like a decade later than she did. I just think she gained a lot of gravity and maturity as a performer when she was closer to her Gypsy era, and could have done a lot more with the role then.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 11/3/24 at 12:00am

I wonder how the cast deals with the bright lights in their eyes and continues to sing and act. Don’t they have halos after the lights are gone. Can’t that type of intense light damage their eyes?

[Strange Lupone]

Posted: 11/3/24 at 12:00am

Has tg

[Strange Lupone]

Posted: 11/3/24 at 12:01am

Maturity? LUPONE?!?!

[quizking101]

Posted: 11/3/24 at 4:49pm

It looks like today’s outdoor portion was aborted due to a pair of emergencies on 44th St. 

They set it up, but Tom never came out and they packed it up. Did anyone go to the show and see what the alternate plan was?

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 11/3/24 at 4:51pm

Strange Lupone said: "Maturity? LUPONE?!?!"

 

girl give it a rest 

 

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 11/3/24 at 4:59pm

quizking101 said: "It looks like today’s outdoor portion was aborted due to a pair of emergencies on 44th St.

They set it up, but Tom never came out and they packed it up. Did anyone go to the show and see what the alternate plan was?"

I happened to be at Hills of California when they did the Sunset walk at 4:55. They must have held intermission for a really long time because of the medical emergency in Shubert Alley. Tom just came out the doors and walked down in front of the Hayes, then the ensemble joined him there and they went back inside.

[Strange Lupone]

Posted: 11/3/24 at 5:14pm

TotallyEffed said: "Strange Lupone said: "Maturity? LUPONE?!?!"



girl give it a rest

"

Never! That would make me a …traitor! 😉

[MRPURPLE2012]

Posted: 11/3/24 at 6:58pm

Was at the show today. I think intermission ran closer to 30 minutes because of whatever happened outside of the theater/shubert alley. But yes, Tom didn't come out except for a small bit where he walked to the end of the marquee. He basically just went around the backstage area and lobby of the theater before heading out for a few seconds towards the end, then returning inside. Despite the change it ran smoothly and was still really impressive

[binau]

Posted: 11/4/24 at 9:30am

Are they closing the balcony for Mandy's performance? 

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 11/4/24 at 10:09am

binau said: "Are they closing the balcony for Mandy's performance?"

Yes.

[suzycat]

Posted: 11/5/24 at 8:24am

Did anyone catch Diego Andres Rodriguez’s debut as Joe last night?

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 11/5/24 at 8:54am

His street performance is online, and his voice is a bit warmer than Francis. Word of mouth is that his performance was very good for a debut!