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#26

Soft Power

Posted: 5/16/18 at 8:07am

If you’ve ever heard Jeanine Tesori talk about writing
her own passion projects, she is ruthless. Caroline, or Change and Fun Home both took years of tweaking, writing new stuff, throwing away old stuff... she’s not afraid to start from scratch to get the main message across. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a ton of new material when it comes to New York, hopefully for the better. That’s what these out of town tryouts and workshops are for — hopefully she doesn’t follow in the footsteps of most of the other shows on bway recently.

EDIT: Upon reading more into this, it seems this is more David Henry Hwang’s project than Jeanine’s. So, who knows?

Updated On: 5/16/18 at 08:07 AM

#27

Soft Power

Posted: 5/16/18 at 12:14pm

I think it would help a lot if they could cut the musical dream/fantasy by about 50% and increased the story of the character having the dream/fantasy by about the same amount. The concept's interesting but it's hard to stay invested in a purposefully condescending, trite musical for about an hour. On the other hand, I was interested int the stories of the the two lead characters, but that story disappeared about 20 minutes in.

#28

Soft Power

Posted: 5/16/18 at 1:28pm

I saw Soft Power this past Saturday and unfortunately I too couldn't wait for it to be over. The lady behind me shouted during the middle of it "what's going on?" and kept leaning towards her husband to ask him to explain. I don't think it was ready for this space.

"I never had theatre producers run after me. Some people want to make more Broadway shows out of movies. But Elliot and I aren't going to do Batman: The Musical." - Julie Taymor 1999

#29

Soft Power

Posted: 5/16/18 at 2:33pm

The show definitely seems more like Hwang's vision than Tesori's. While there's a lot of original music, I didn't feel the personal stamp she brought to FUN HOME and CAROLINE, or even MILLIE or SHREK. It's a lot of pastiche with a few modern-sounding power ballads.

I agree with bk's post 100% - LA audiences love "hip" and "edgy" stuff that makes them feel worldly and sophisticated, but most of the time the material is a total softball. The show got a huge response when I saw it (2nd preview) and it seemed like the audience was overcompensating. bk's thoughts on the finale are dead on. It rang completely false. Suddenly they want to go for earnest, sentimental uplift after bombarding us with weak satire? It felt like a slap in the face.

That said, there's something strangely likable about SOFT POWER (I think it's the stellar performances, from the leads down to a very passionate ensemble). Unfortunately the show is a muddle - it's tonal whiplash and feels like you're watching ten different shows at once, none of them very good.

That said, I do love a hot mess and this is definitely it. I "understood" and appreciated its intentions more after reading the NY Times article, but the authors' execution is incredibly flawed.

#30

Soft Power

Posted: 5/17/18 at 7:33pm

The Los Angeles Times review seems to echo what many here have said - it's a fun hot mess. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-soft-power-review-20180518-story.html

#31

Soft Power

Posted: 5/17/18 at 11:52pm

Charles McNulty's LA Times review doesn't discourage me from seeing the show one bit, at least at rush ticket prices, despite my fear that I will like it about as much as bk and LesWickedly did.

But McNulty echoes many folks who've seen it in saying that the cast is great, and that parts of it are fascinating and fun - if more than a little much. The "poor execution" critique keeps coming up, but isn't that why shows theoretically go on the road?

#32

Soft Power

Posted: 5/18/18 at 2:35am

McNulty softballs the show as LA critics tend to do. Its problems are bigger than he lets on but he also gives due credit to the production for being ambitious.

Either way, at least it's memorable. I always prefer a hot mess over bland mediocrity, which is 90% of what plays at the Ahmanson.

#33

Soft Power

Posted: 5/20/18 at 10:08pm

RippedMan said: "Seems almost too big for the Public, but curious to see how they scale it down to fit their space and see what's worked and changed. Sometimes less is more."

There's nothing "big" about this show - the set, such as it is, is pretty nothing and certainly not spectacular - in fact going into the hallucinatory "musical" that should be a huge wow moment and it isn't.

#34

Soft Power

Posted: 5/20/18 at 10:11pm

ABB2357 said: "McNulty softballs the show as LA critics tend to do. Its problems are bigger than he lets on but he also gives due credit to the production for being ambitious.

Either way, at least it's memorable. I always prefer a hot mess overbland mediocrity, which is 90% of what plays at the Ahmanson."

All the LA reviews are entirely predictable and are cutting the show tremendous slack for all the reasons stated here. No one has actually called it for what it really is or isn't.

#35

Soft Power

Posted: 5/22/18 at 6:59am

The reviews - and buzz - got me to purchase tickets.

I would image the show is frozen and there haven't been any changes or edits to it since it officially opened. Interested in seeing the show now...

#36

Soft Power

Posted: 5/23/18 at 1:43pm

Selling 1 ticket for Soft Power:

Was planning to be in L.A. for Soft Power's final week but my trip got shifted to the following week.

I have 1 ticket for Thursday, June 7th at 8:00 p.m. Great Orchestra seat, D-2. On the far side but sightlines are always good at the Ahmanson. $33 total which is what I paid for it ($30 ticket + $3 service charge).

PM me if interested.

Updated On: 5/23/18 at 01:43 PM

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