Somewhere In Time @ Portland Centerstage

[JohnyBroadway]

Posted: 6/14/13 at 1:13am

Has anyone on the west coast caught this yet? For a Broadway bound premier it's been pretty low on the radar.

[iamjwk]

Posted: 6/14/13 at 9:18pm

I went opening night. The first act really drags. It is a lot of setup and really only Richard Collier (played by Andrew Samonsky) has much to do. The rest of the cast is mostly ensemble in the first act, though there are some brief appearances by Elise. I frankly struggled to stay awake. The music is not very memorable. By intermission, I thought they were insane if they thought this could make it to Broadway.

However, the second act was much better. I actually didn't want to fall asleep and there was finally some action instead of Richard just pining over a painting. Marc Kudisch was electric and brought some much needed charimsa to the stage. Also, the actress playing Elise finally had something to do and was very likable with a good voice. There is only one song I remember and it was from the 2nd act.

For this to make it to Broadway, they would have to majorly revise act 1 and get some better tunes.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 6/14/13 at 9:47pm

" I actually didn't want to fall asleep"

This would make a killer pull-quote.

[Wildcard]

Posted: 6/15/13 at 1:49am

I was going to fly to Portland for it but when they replaced Ryan Silverman with dull Andrew Samonsky, I lost all interest.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 6/15/13 at 1:52am

Considering Ken Davenport overhauled the creative team during the developmental process and replaced the book writer himself, I think people's expectations for this should be tepid at best.

For what it's worth, the number in this promo video is relatively insufferable. Andrew Samonsky sounds fine, but his acting is... pretty rough. And if you look at the pull quotes as they fly by, they're actually from audience members and not legitimate reviews, which really tells you all you need to know.

http://www.pcs.org/somewhere/

Updated On: 6/15/13 at 01:52 AM

[PlayItAgain]

Posted: 6/15/13 at 5:04am

and davenport strikes out again.

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/15/13 at 8:15am

I think this story could have worked well as a stage musical, but the first two things that came to mind were "speed up the setup" and "find a way to introduce some of the other main characters early on."

They did neither. And the song(s) I've heard via the Internet so far have been pretty bad.

Even in the movie, Richard is so much of a loner that it's almost a one character film with bit parts and extras. And while it should be a struggle for him to return to the past, it shouldn't take all of act one to get there ... or if it does, there has to be a way of introducing the characters from the past earlier on (as narrators, ghosts, memories, etc.).

I still think this is a worthy property for an adaptation. Just maybe not this one.

[JohnyBroadway]

Posted: 6/15/13 at 12:22pm

I went ahead and purchased Tickets for the 29th. I'm interested to give the show a chance, and I'm probably in the minority of those who enjoy Samonsky. I'll give a full report back.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 6/15/13 at 5:12pm

I really liked Samonsky as a bad guy--Beauchamp--in Tales of the City. The only other thing I've seen him in is South Pacific on TV where I was underwhelmed (but didn't hate him)--maybe he's just not a romantic lead guy.

The music I've heard so far has been beyond bland--but that video is hilarious how random quotes attributed to "Audience Member" fly by.

[Tom5]

Posted: 6/16/13 at 9:28am

What made the film so special were the two leads combined with John Barry's score and some beautiful scenery. You take all that away you're starting near zero. But good luck to all all the same !

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/16/13 at 9:54am

Christopher Reeve had a very special quality about him. He may not have been a "great actor" (I think he was a damn good one), but he always seemed so committed in his work. Even if the material was flawed or the character underwritten, or even if his performance wasn't "pure magic," he had a way of drawing me in. Because of that, I always wanted to take the journey with him, and I stayed with him even in crappy stories (and I don't believe this is a crappy story by any means).

But now that I think about it, the fact that "Somewhere In Time" is still a favorite romantic film of mine is largely due to Reeve and this on-screen commitment. I'm willing to "struggle" with him for probably way to long in the story to finally get to the time travel part. Richard Collier can't be an easy role to play. He carries the entire plot (all of it) up until the journey back in time.

It would be extremely difficult to find an actor with that "unwavering commitment on stage." That unrelenting, but subtle focus. You can't relax or let up for one moment, or it becomes too casual and the stakes aren't high enough.

I would think it much easier (and perhaps better for the overall story) to reconstruct the earlier scenes, adding in more characters and subplot lines in Act I to help this out.

Otherwise, good luck finding the right (singing) actor for Richard Collier.

Updated On: 6/16/13 at 09:54 AM

[Wildcard]

Posted: 6/16/13 at 12:13pm

John Barry's score was so integral to the film that its hard to imagine watching "Somewhere in Time" without it.

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/16/13 at 12:52pm

I'm actually surprised they didn't get the rights to the Barry score. Or maybe they didn't want to use it anyway.

If nothing else, they could have used the Rachmaninoff Rhapsody. It's public domain.

[ggersten]

Posted: 1/22/15 at 12:22pm

Ryan Silverman is back with the show - at least for another workshop.
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