Soul Doctor- Page 3

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 12:51am

^^^^

Really, qolbinau? How charming. Why is it that you'll "take pleasure in seeing it burn"?

Understand, I agree with averagebwaynut that this likely won't succeed, having seen an earlier version of this myself, but why would you take pleasure in that?

[binau]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 3:12am

I don't know why, probably because people like their predictions to be right or because I'm a sicko. And as soon as I saw them begging for money (unsuccessfully - although I was one of maybe two 'investors' for the lulz) with that awful artwork on Kickstarter I thought this was going to go no where. Then it randomly transferred to Broadway and I was shocked. I actually am going to get a rush to see the grosses if they are abysmal. Full disclosure.

Normally I think it is sad when a show fails, but this whole thing just seems so misguided - I don't know what whoever put their money in this show was thinking.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 4:07am

I just want to know how anyone thinks this could make money or have a successful run...

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 4:23am

Well, I get the wanting your prediction to be right (I guess), but taking "pleasure in watching it burn" seems just a tad (ok, a lot) over the top. That's super schadenfreude. What did they ever do to you except take your dollar that you freely gave them for the lulz?

Nothing's been in Circle in the Square since Godspell. Soul Doctor has been a labor of love for a lot of people for many years (full disclosure - I have ZERO connection with the show other than having seen a version of it, which I thought needed a TON of work).

I don't think the show should run just because people have put so much blood sweat and tears into it, but I just don't get passionately wishing failure on a show you haven't even seen so you can enjoy seeing it fail, even if you think it's misguided - so yeah, I vote sicko



Updated On: 7/18/13 at 04:23 AM

[AntV]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 5:59am

In that show reel that someone linked to, did anyone else notice at 1:46 that "INVEST NOW!!! $$$$" flashes on the screen for a split second? Creepy.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 6:39am

Whoa. That is weird. It flies by so fast I had to watch it twice after you mentioned it to see it. As another poster said, though, I think that reel was made awhile back, in New Orleans, when they were still dealing with that ill-advised kickstarter crap.

Still...pretty weird.

[chewy5000]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 7:08am

Well, that explains how this got to Broadway - subliminal messaging.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 7:10am

Not to mention that subliminal advertising is illegal.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 7:25am

In Australia and the UK, sure. It's a bit more of a gray area in the US. The only laws I can find in the US (and they're murky at best) apply to television, radio and in theaters. No mention of the internet.

[AntV]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 8:00am

That is the same video that's on the kickstarter page, with the message in it as well.

[Kad]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 10:04am

Man, this show's finances seem fishy to me.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 10:46am

Two words: Bernie Madoff. That is all.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 6:31pm

So, qolbinau, have they sent you any returns? Did you get your dollar back? What about any profit on top of that?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 7:01pm

Pretty sure the kick starter was a fail, so they never took Gol's money at all

[binau]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 7:16pm

Yeah they didn't take my dollar, only my dignity. But they'll never take my freedom!!!!

[quizking101]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 11:51pm

Wow.

Two nights and no report.

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 12:06am

^ Right? Keep thinking I missed a thread...guess not.

Love the Audra avatar btw.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 12:15am

It is very difficult to put into words just how awful this show was tonight. I was there with Whizzer, and he will post an extensive review later, but my advice would be to stay as far away from this as humanly possible. Even if you are offered comps...hell, even if someone pays you to go - do not go.

Oh...and to make matters worse, the runtime tonight was THREE HOURS.

"I stopped doing dope when I met Shlomo!"

[ACL2006]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 12:17am

WOW!! I was expecting bad, but that's really bad. I still say this closes on opening night.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 12:19am

Oy gevalt!

As I going down the escalator into the Circle in the Square I began think of these lyrics: In the Temple Emanuel, I am certain that rabbi could tell, he was stuck with a couple of gentiles for Yom Kippur!

Of course in the case of Soul Doctor it was this gentile who got stuck with the rabbi who wouldn't stop singing.

Soul Doctor, simply put, is a genuine hot mess. Clocking in at over three hours it was a meandering slog through Shlomo Carlebach's life. I'm not a religious man, but I prayed and prayed this evening for it to end, but the damn thing kept going and going and going. I thought act one ended four times, but after each fake out the music started up again as if to yell "Gotcha!" at the audience.

The plotting never builds to anything. It ambles through his life from a 9 year old boy in Vienna to a concert he gave there 40 years later. All the stuff at the beginning with the Nazis can just be cut and briefly discussed by his family once they have fled to New York. I think only Roger Elizabeth de Bris could have staged Kristallnacht better!

The choreography, which I believe has been totally rethought since the off-Broadway production, was hysterically awful. All of the movements were way too modern; it looked like the ensemble had learned routines from So You Think You Can Dance, and not always the same one at the same time. They danced around with giant Torahs and LP covers as if they were on the Sweet Apple train platform awaiting the arrival of Conrad Birdie.

The book was chock full of so many groaners I don't even know where to start. I think my favorite was "Creme de la creme? Creme de la shmeme!" But his future wife telling a group of hippies with the intonation of an infomercial, "I was on dope until I met Shlomo," was a close second.

Soul Doctor also has to be one of the cheapest looking Broadway musicals I've ever attended. I mean they must be working with less than the budgets of [tos] and Story of My Life combined. A few benches, tables, chairs and piano are the only moveable set pieces. Otherwise there are two staircases on the sides of the stage and a walkway across the back.

Even though this is a jukebox musical of Carlebach's greatest hits, in reality they are only using his music and David Schechter supplied many new lyrics. (Yes he rhymes Hora with Sodom and Gomorrah!)

The cast is a mixed bag. This is going to seem cruel, but it's the truth: the kids were the worst of the lot. They sang of pitch and were encouraged to attempt accents that they had far from mastered. Everyone else, other than Shlomo and Nina Simone, is forced to play so many characters that it puts the doubling and tripling in Baby, It's You to shame.

Eric Anderson does his best to ground the piece with his portrayal of Shlomo, but he only has so much to work with. If I had to pick one scene that worked it would be the first time he meets Nina in a seedy dive bar. It's one of the few times you feel like you're not on a wikipedia tour of his life. Amber Iman is also a spark of life as Nina, but she essentially disappears from the story at the top of act two.

Act one at least held my attention. Act two went off the rails and it took every once of strength to keep awake in the ballad heavy final third of the show.

As I left the theater in a slightly comatose state I thought back to Henry, Sweet Henry and some new lyrics popped into my head: la bore, la nuts, la crap, la stink!

Updated On: 7/19/13 at 12:19 AM

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 12:21am

Oh it definitely deserves to close on opening night. This was a whole new level of "bad theater." FIRST DATE was far better.

[binau]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 4:06am

Is this the worst new musical you've ever seen on Broadway?

[AntV]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 6:53am

From twitter:
@AnnoyingBwayFan: Guys, I'm having a problem figuring out what to see tonight. Might head back to Soul Doctor. Yeah it was that good.

I can't tell from that username if that's a sarcastic joke twitter account or an actual genuine opinion from a real person.

Tweet Updated On: 7/19/13 at 06:53 AM

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 7:46am

This sounds awful. AND I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE IT.

[After Eight]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 8:35am

"Is this the worst new musical you've ever seen on Broadway?"

It was long, dull, and amateurish, but it wasn't as flagrantly bad as things like Raggedy Ann, In My Life, The News, Late Nite Comic, Into the Light, etc. It wasn't aggressively obnoxious either, like some others.

Iluvtheatretrash,

You may be disappointed. There are some groaners, but overall, it's not bad in a funny way like Got Tu Go Disco or In My Life. Be prepared to be simply bored.