THE TIMES... on the View — Page 3

"How exactly is this better than something you'd see in "Ring Of Fire"? Or "Lennon"?"

The difference is choreographed BY TWYLA THARP.

ATROCIOUS! Thank Christ for once I made the right decision and didn't throw my money away on this crap! Dylan should sue.

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Updated On: 10/25/06 at 08:18 PM

I will never get what people see in Arden. It must be cause he's kinda cute. I never got his allure. The problem with this show seems, as I have not seen it, that all of Dylans intentions with his lyrics are being lost. Again, I have only seen the view clip but Arden cannot act this song out. "How Does It Feel" is coming across like some cheezy pop song. It's making me sick!!

I think what people see in Arden is simply his beautiful voice. He's a really talented actor, multi-talented musician, composer, and really cute guy, but I think most people latch on because of his voice.

Anyway, the thing that bugs me about these "he's not really sick!!" accusations is that yes, there have been people who abuse taking time off for illness, but just because there have been people with poor track records for whatever reason in the great plethora of many, suddenly NOBODY is ever really sick anymore. Suddenly as soon as reports come in that someone is sick, everyone is all about the backlash and trying to insist that it's not true or that there's some sort of conspiracy and so forth. That much, in terms of assuming a trend just because people HAVE f*cked up, is obnoxious.

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I really like their artwork.

Well, you asked what people supposedly see in him. So... I told ya. :) But, while I think that how highly you regard him IS a matter of opinion, the fact that he HAS talent is fairly objective. I'm not sure you can watch him perform and think "wow, he sucks. He has NO talent," but to each his own, I guess.

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Arden is a great talent IMO. I've seen TIMES twice, and while my opinion of the show drastically went down upon the 2nd viewing, my opinion of Arden only went up. He is an amazing singer that does the best he can in the role (as most of the cast is visibly struggles to do). The View appearance was not him as his best, but I don't think it was so horrible as everyone's making it out to be. The choreography around him was horrible, I think he was just stuck in the middle of a tornado. Plus his staging was changed quite a bit if I recall, as the two other singers are in that scene as well.

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Which one of the clowns was John Selya?

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I'm not sure what some of you are seeing, or not seeing. I thought the performance on the "View" was great, including Michael's. Then I read these negative comments and was blown away. So I watched it over again with a friend who knew nothing about the show and he thought it was great and he didn't know that Michael was "bad" either. I'm guessing there is a generation out there lacking in imagination and appreciation of some very fine art, see beyond the obvious. People, see the dreams, see the metaphors. True Bob Dylan fans will catch more of the purpose of certain things on the stage. Watch the dancers and the movements. These people are all individuals living the dream, Twyla's dream, for an hour and a half. My God, she is brilliant. I stand in awe of her creativity. This is a beautifully laid out piece of American iconism.
I don't know why I care that not everybody "gets" it. Maybe, some of you are wanna be's and not quite there's. I just want to tell you not to blast something because you don't understand it or have it yet. It kind of makes you look ignorant. Ooops, Did I just type that out loud?
As for me, I'm off to see the show again!

Here is a link you might like. Or not. I just watched it again and it's even WORSE the second time.

By the way, why would Dylan talk BAD about the show? Even if he hates it, doesn't he get more money if it's a hit?

And as for the artwork, Isn't that the same art that was used for Pump Boys and Dinettes?

Tribune on The Times

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Updated On: 10/26/06 at 09:13 AM

I still don't get though why people have such a big problem with yoga balls when a few streets over, the dancing girls are wearing pretzels and sausages on their heads and people throw Tony Awards at it.

Because that's supposed to be silly. I was never under the impression that this show was supposed to look silly and/or ridiculous (at times, at least). I'm a big Dylan fan, and the concept of this show, being set in a circus, sounded incredibly promising to me, considering the surreal tone much of his music took in the mid-'60s.

I think my main gripe about this is, the show should either be an abstract dance piece to Dylan's music (a la Cirque du Soleil) which I think would be better acheived without having the characters in the show singing (I guess, taking the Movin' Out approach) or commiting to having a narrative storyline and expanding on it. OK, so there's this vague love triangle with the father, son, and this girl, but what of it? How much character development can there be when you're just whipping through two dozen songs, one after the other? Sure, you might stumble on some narrative thread in there somewhere, but if they did, I had a hard time seeing it.

More power to the people who enjoyed it and saw the genius of Twyla's vision. You definitely can't count me among them, but the vast majority of the sold out audience I saw the show with seemed to love it. It takes all kinds, I guess. Just don't try to insult my intelligence by saying that if one doesn't "get it," that makes a person some sort of "wanna be's and not quite there's."

You don’t see me saying anyone who liked this show is a wanna-be, pseudo-intellectual who’s deluding him/herself into finding artistic vision in yoga balls, flashlights, and men dressed up like dogs. Ooops, did I just “type that out loud”? Please note that I don’t necessarily feel that way, re: those who enjoyed the show. There are dozens of Broadway shows, it's great that there's a wide variety of stuff out there, and there's nothing saying everyone should like/get/respond to everything. But, I took your initial post as sort of catty, so a catty response ensued on my part. What can I say, it's a Thursday morning, and it feels like it should be Friday. Definitely not in the cheeriest of moods.

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Here is a question.
Rosie said everyone in the audience was getting ticket to the show that day. Is this arranged way in advance or on the fly only if tickets are available for that days performance? Do the producers (of the Musical) say, "Hey, we are papering the house here's 300 tickets to give to your audience for today's show!"? Now given that most of the audience of The View are probably tourists, I would guess that most already have plans for the afternoon, so how many would actually take advantage and go see this performance?

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I love how at the begining of The View, Rosie said the show was "based on the life of Bob Dylan."

I guess she didn't see it yet.