#1
Posted: 11/5/07 at 12:13pm
DISCLAIMER: There are tons of mistakes in here (spelling and punctuation) but I wrote this in a hurry and I don't have time to go back and fix them.
I saw the Invited Dress of Cry Baby last night, and while I know it is not fair to judge a production based on the invited dress of an out-of-town tryout - I thought I would dash down a few of my thoughts.
- The show as a whole is very stronge and will run on Broadway for years. It has the comercial appeal and the show is a realy crowd pleaser. The show is TONS of fun and there is loads of energy in the cast, it is really something rare.
- The music is one of the best original Broadway scores that I heard in a while. The score goes so well with each scene and the songs fit in really well. The drape songs are very rockabilly (sp?) and the square songs are very tight harmonies, and the whiffles sing some great Barber Shop Quartet type songs (only better!).
- The lyrics are one of the strongest parts of this production. They are down right hilarious. The only problem is that with the TERRIBLE sound design (couldn't understand half of what they said) you miss a fair amount of them. GIRL CAN I KISS YOU WITH TOUNGE was a real crowd pleaser and the song was a hoot.
- Rob Ashford's coreography is very appropriate for this show. During scene transitions there are 6 dancers that come down there is a short little dance break that transitions the scenes and his coreography is esspecialy great there. The rest of the coreography is fun and imaginative and like I said before very appropriate for the show. There is also a fun number that involves some actors attaching license plates to their feet and tap dancing, the number would have been a lot more exciting had the whole mens ensemble done that instead of just three people.
- The book is funny but it needs more work. Some of the jokes get lost but that could have something to do with terrible sound design. The entire second part of the second half really drags on. It is to plot heavy and it really drags. Several times throughout the show it really drags and the energy is lost. The main characters are also severley underwritten (which is also kind of the fun of the show) and the audience does not connect or care about the character CRY BABY. They really need to do something about that.
- I am really mixed on Scot Pask's set design. The show itself is very pretty to look at but there are times when I feel like I am watching an empty stage. There are times when the stage is full of sets and others when the stage is just empty. But to their defense, not everything has arrived yet. The stage is kind of the same colour as Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the baby blue, and it even uses the panals around the stage. During a square scene the entire stage is a perfect square but during a drape scene the entrie stage shifts so everything is crooked looking, it is a very cool effect.
- Elizabeth Stanley is fine in the underwhelming, underwritten part of Alliosn. She does justice to the role but there isn't very much there for her to work with. She has the star quality that she needs, I just wish there was more meat for her to chew on.
- James Snyder has everything going for him - he has the moves, looks, acting chops, and g-d knows he has the voice. But he lacks that star quality. This is his first time in a major stage show so he might be still working on finding his way. He needs to be able to command that stage like no other, and right now he is just getting lost in the background. I think this guy has LOADS of potential but he just needs to work it a little bit.
I think he will get there and I see a TONY nomination is his future.
- Christopher J. Hanke as Baldwin is great. He really plays the character as the two faced brat that Baldwin is. He needs to explore the nuance's of his character and I also could see a TONY nomination in his future.
- Carly Jibson, Lacey Khol, and Christen Page are all hilarious in Cry Baby's gang - esspecially Carly Jibson. They really had me laughing hard during the show. They do have a song Class Dismissed that needs to be re-written. It is a fairly important song plot wise but I think that they could do better.
- Harriet Hariss was pretty stinkin bad. I was expecting a lot from her, and she did not deliver at all. She plays the character with a weird accent that is hard to understand at times and she loses SO MANY laughs. She just says the lines to quickly or she will get stomped on by the person after her so you miss the entire line. She REALLY needs to work on it. She also has the 11 o'clock number of the show and it really could win somebody a Tony. I don't know if she just can' sing or what, but it was TERRIBLE. I could not wait for the song to end! I heard that Jan Maxwell was so much better in that role, I wish it were her up on that stage.
- The girl who steals the ENTIRE show is ALI MAUZEY as Lenora, Cry Baby's crazy fan girl. She literally steals EVERY scene she is in, well her and her imaginary friends do... She has a great song in Act One called Loose Screw or something that is a hoot. She knows how to command a stage. I don't know if her part is big enough but I also see a Tony nomination in her future.
Overall, the show is loads of fun and I really LOVED it, and I don't often LOVE a show. It does need some work, but it is work that can easily be fixed if they chose too. Mark Brokaw just needs to work on making his actors heard and on the line delivery. So many great lines get lost....
If you have any questions I will be happy to answer them (but I might not be back at a computer till later tonight).
I saw the Invited Dress of Cry Baby last night, and while I know it is not fair to judge a production based on the invited dress of an out-of-town tryout - I thought I would dash down a few of my thoughts.
- The show as a whole is very stronge and will run on Broadway for years. It has the comercial appeal and the show is a realy crowd pleaser. The show is TONS of fun and there is loads of energy in the cast, it is really something rare.
- The music is one of the best original Broadway scores that I heard in a while. The score goes so well with each scene and the songs fit in really well. The drape songs are very rockabilly (sp?) and the square songs are very tight harmonies, and the whiffles sing some great Barber Shop Quartet type songs (only better!).
- The lyrics are one of the strongest parts of this production. They are down right hilarious. The only problem is that with the TERRIBLE sound design (couldn't understand half of what they said) you miss a fair amount of them. GIRL CAN I KISS YOU WITH TOUNGE was a real crowd pleaser and the song was a hoot.
- Rob Ashford's coreography is very appropriate for this show. During scene transitions there are 6 dancers that come down there is a short little dance break that transitions the scenes and his coreography is esspecialy great there. The rest of the coreography is fun and imaginative and like I said before very appropriate for the show. There is also a fun number that involves some actors attaching license plates to their feet and tap dancing, the number would have been a lot more exciting had the whole mens ensemble done that instead of just three people.
- The book is funny but it needs more work. Some of the jokes get lost but that could have something to do with terrible sound design. The entire second part of the second half really drags on. It is to plot heavy and it really drags. Several times throughout the show it really drags and the energy is lost. The main characters are also severley underwritten (which is also kind of the fun of the show) and the audience does not connect or care about the character CRY BABY. They really need to do something about that.
- I am really mixed on Scot Pask's set design. The show itself is very pretty to look at but there are times when I feel like I am watching an empty stage. There are times when the stage is full of sets and others when the stage is just empty. But to their defense, not everything has arrived yet. The stage is kind of the same colour as Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the baby blue, and it even uses the panals around the stage. During a square scene the entire stage is a perfect square but during a drape scene the entrie stage shifts so everything is crooked looking, it is a very cool effect.
- Elizabeth Stanley is fine in the underwhelming, underwritten part of Alliosn. She does justice to the role but there isn't very much there for her to work with. She has the star quality that she needs, I just wish there was more meat for her to chew on.
- James Snyder has everything going for him - he has the moves, looks, acting chops, and g-d knows he has the voice. But he lacks that star quality. This is his first time in a major stage show so he might be still working on finding his way. He needs to be able to command that stage like no other, and right now he is just getting lost in the background. I think this guy has LOADS of potential but he just needs to work it a little bit.
I think he will get there and I see a TONY nomination is his future.
- Christopher J. Hanke as Baldwin is great. He really plays the character as the two faced brat that Baldwin is. He needs to explore the nuance's of his character and I also could see a TONY nomination in his future.
- Carly Jibson, Lacey Khol, and Christen Page are all hilarious in Cry Baby's gang - esspecially Carly Jibson. They really had me laughing hard during the show. They do have a song Class Dismissed that needs to be re-written. It is a fairly important song plot wise but I think that they could do better.
- Harriet Hariss was pretty stinkin bad. I was expecting a lot from her, and she did not deliver at all. She plays the character with a weird accent that is hard to understand at times and she loses SO MANY laughs. She just says the lines to quickly or she will get stomped on by the person after her so you miss the entire line. She REALLY needs to work on it. She also has the 11 o'clock number of the show and it really could win somebody a Tony. I don't know if she just can' sing or what, but it was TERRIBLE. I could not wait for the song to end! I heard that Jan Maxwell was so much better in that role, I wish it were her up on that stage.
- The girl who steals the ENTIRE show is ALI MAUZEY as Lenora, Cry Baby's crazy fan girl. She literally steals EVERY scene she is in, well her and her imaginary friends do... She has a great song in Act One called Loose Screw or something that is a hoot. She knows how to command a stage. I don't know if her part is big enough but I also see a Tony nomination in her future.
Overall, the show is loads of fun and I really LOVED it, and I don't often LOVE a show. It does need some work, but it is work that can easily be fixed if they chose too. Mark Brokaw just needs to work on making his actors heard and on the line delivery. So many great lines get lost....
If you have any questions I will be happy to answer them (but I might not be back at a computer till later tonight).
Updated On: 11/5/07 at 12:13 PM
