Tarzan Opinions

[AudreyTwoTwo]

Posted: 10/8/06 at 1:22pm

I have no idea why, but can people explain to me why Tarzan is so horrible? I thought the actors were great, but the musical itself was a bit dull.

I still liked it though.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 10/8/06 at 1:31pm

I thought it failed on every conceivable level. IF you want to read all of my comments, just search for the review I posted when it was in previews. It's one of the worst shows I have ever seen, second only to HOT FEET.

[defyingravity11]

Posted: 10/8/06 at 1:31pm

I did not think it was as awful as some people made it out to be. However, the plot tends to drag throughout the entire show. Also, I felt that a good number of the songs were out of place (both in the plot and in style). I did not love the show, but I certainly didn't hate it (I think there are far worse shows on B'way right now). I think a major reason why people have such harsh opinions is because it's Disney.

[AudreyTwoTwo]

Posted: 10/8/06 at 1:34pm

Yeah.

I thought Hot Feet was good, though. I don't know. I like the stuff everyone hates

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 10/8/06 at 1:34pm

I went in expected a children's show and a nice light enjoyable afternoon in the theatre, and that's what I got. I enjoyed it, not on an artistic level, but on an entertaining level.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 10/8/06 at 1:35pm

No, it's not because it's Disney.

It's because it's an uninspired piece of garbage.

[ILoveMyDictionary]

Posted: 10/8/06 at 3:12pm

I went in expected a children's show and a nice light enjoyable afternoon in the theatre, and that's what I got. I enjoyed it, not on an artistic level, but on an entertaining level.

Ditto.

[JustABroadwaybaby2]

Posted: 10/8/06 at 3:19pm

Double-ditto. It's cute, but not good. There is a difference. I like Phil Collins's work, but come ON. "Who better than me?" is the worst song in there. Phil keeps saying he wrote a bunch of songs for Terk. Why couldn't he have chosen some other one? Parts are nice, and sweet, but parts are childish. I fouind myself LAUGHING at it's horribleness occasionally. I can never love everything about a show. There has to be some part on some level that I don't like.
Edit: did anyone see them on breakfast with the arts? It was cute.

Updated On: 10/8/06 at 03:19 PM

[jess20882]

Posted: 10/8/06 at 4:13pm

I don't know where I stand - artistically, I enjoyed it...I thought it was visually appealing and the choreography was entertaining. Merle Dandridge and Kevin Massey were GREAT, as were the songs that I recognized from the movie (Strangers Like Me, Son of Man, Trashing the Camp, etc.). But the new songs written for the show left me wanting more.

I guess I'd give it a 6.5 out of 10, maybe...I enjoyed it but wouldn't spend more than $25 if I was to see it again...

[jv92]

Posted: 10/8/06 at 4:45pm

What turned me off were the lyrics that reallly made no sense and didn't rhyme at all. They didn't even TRY to rhyme. The excuse can't be "they were trying to be purple prose" because they weren't.
The music bugged the crap out of me. Even the songs I felt were great in the film were justed ruined by the arrangements. "Son of Man" sounded like a song about the second coming of Christ at a Born Again church in Georgia thanks to the arrangement.
Doug Besterman certainly didn't put much effort into the orchestrations either.
The book was lame. So far, with the exception of Mary Poppins, every Disney book has been lame, so that wasn't much of a surprise.
The cast tried. They tried, but they were wrong. Strickland sounded like Cher. Honestly, he did. There's no other music artist to compare him to. Jenn Gambatesse (I'm not going to bother looking up her last name) really needs to work on her English Accent because it ruined her performance. Even Shuler Hensley was bellow par. He played the most brilliant Jud Fry ever. How did he sink to this low? The material? Probably, but he didn't even seem to be interested in his role.
Bob Crowley's staging was off. Just confusing dreck. His tacky costumes for the flowers were attrocious and his concept of making Tarzan and the apes look like stoned druggies didn't work either. His sets weren't impressive either. The lighting design sort of saved the show. The opening was impressive. But it went downhill from there.

[uncageg]

Posted: 10/8/06 at 5:12pm

I was ent the sampler CD a while ago and have listened to it about 4 times and just can't get into it. I am a huge Phil Collins fan but what I have heard so far just doesn't work for me. So I think I really need to see the show to have the visuals along with the music. I keep hearing not so good things about the show and that kids are actually falling asleep before intermission. My friend went the other week and told me there was a family of 5 sitting near him. The kids fell asleep during act one and the family did not return after intermission. He said other people walked out also. But I will not pass judgement until I see it.

[bwayondabrain]

Posted: 10/8/06 at 5:19pm

i agree with the posts about it being a children's show
i enjoyed it knowing its not Sondheim or something, but just a children's show
it was fun, i mean, the actors and actresses were great, the sets were beautiful, the only weak part was the music
all in all, i say go see it if you haven't, decide for yourself

[logan0215]

Posted: 10/8/06 at 5:25pm

I saw it during previews, so if you'd like to discount my opionion, go ahead:

I saw this show within the same week I saw Lestat and the Wedding Singer - Opening Night.

Considering it is Disney, I'd honestly have expected a little more magic to it. As much as the acrobatic feats are impressive, I take into consideration the fact that I can see a Cirque du Soleil show with much more heart and artistic inspiration and far less cheesey fluff humor and bad music. Once again, you can say this is a Disney show so such humor is expected, but I feel it could have been presented differently.

The music was mostly unimpressive to me. The songs felt as though they were supposed to be ending in some big bombastic note and then fell flat. To this day, I can't think of anything that stands out from the score, maybe "Who Better than Me," but moreso because of the riffing and hamming it up of Chester Gregory. I was longing for a huge flowing/belty reprise of "You'll Be in My Heart" by Merle which never came.

The cast is quite strong and does their best when playing gorillas and such, but I just couldn't connect with this show.

[defyingravity11]

Posted: 10/8/06 at 6:26pm

I agree about "Who Better than Me." It seemed like the only thing Terk sang over and over and over...

[jess20882]

Posted: 10/8/06 at 7:35pm

I thought of two more things, one positive and one negative.

One of the highlights of Tarzan, for me, was the performance from Alex Rutherford as Young Tarzan. He had so much energy, and a beautiful voice. It seemed that the people around he felt the same way - on his exit, we all sighed.
Something that bothered me was the problem they seemed to have when changing sets on-stage. There were a few times when stage crew was completely visible on the stage, whether it was behind or underneath a curtain, or leaking in from the wings. I was disappointed - it took away some of the magic, whatever magic there was, for me.

[actor]

Posted: 10/8/06 at 7:45pm

I took my whole family to see this show - my wife and child. My son was incredibly excited about seeing Tarzan and it was his first Broadway musical. After about 30 minutes my son was asleep. I wanted to fall asleep as well.

Reasons why I didn't like it:

- the set was terrible, it was no more than ropes on a wall
- the music was awful and dragged on for too long
- the show was unproffesional, even for Disney -- I noticed a lot of the same things that Jess noticed - the crew was visible throughout much of the show
- it was boring
- it wasn't cute enough for parents to sit through it comfortably with their children (who were most likely asleep)

My wife loved it. I'm not sure why, but she did.

I suppose that if you go in with extremely low expectations, you can enjoy it.

[DRSisLove]

Posted: 10/8/06 at 10:24pm

I will say I agree on the set, it's awful.
The first scene is the best part, then it's all down hill.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 10/8/06 at 10:27pm

The first 2 minutes of the show were stunning, I suppose. I thought "Wow, this might be good!"

But no.

I fled that theatre before the show even ended.

Posted: 10/8/06 at 11:18pm

I loved TARZAN.

I love Jenn Gambatese- and I loved "For The First Time", its one of my favorite songs in the show. I found TARZAN to be very amazingly well thought out. Everyone complains about the set, I thought it was very cool seeing the monkeys come flying out. The aerobatics were fanatastic. The visuals were breathtaking. Josh has a clean crisp voice, its alittle high to play Tarzan but I really enjoyed it.

Call me a nut, but I enjoyed the show and would go back again and most likely will.

[BroadwayRandy0711]

Posted: 10/8/06 at 11:24pm

After reading everyones reviews on here, I went into the show with very low expectations. The only reason I went was to pretty much please my partner. We stood in line for the student rush tickets, got our bad seats and were on our way. I agree with most of you that the first two minutes were great and then the ropes came out. Some parts were very slow and others went by too fast. I agree that some of the songs were out of place. But, I did enjoy myself. I went in to be entertained, and that is exactly what happened. Would I see it again? Maybe. Some of the music was catchy, IMO.

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 10/9/06 at 10:31am

It's garbage. I cannot wait to see regional productions of this show. At the very least, a new set and different director might make it palatable.

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 10/9/06 at 10:31am

It's garbage. I cannot wait to see regional productions of this show. At the very least, a new set and different director might make it palatable.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 10/9/06 at 12:32pm

Munk, we have the same taste. I didn't like Tarzan, but I DETESTED Hot Feet. Worst thing I'd ever seen. I would have left halfway through act 1 if I weren't chaperoning a school field trip.

Tarzan was a complete artistic failure. A mind-blowingly awesome opening sequence, one of the best things I've seen on a Broadway stage, led to complete nothingness. The music is uninspired, but the singers are good. Updated On: 10/9/06 at 12:32 PM

[folkyboy]

Posted: 10/9/06 at 2:15pm

visually Tarzan was amazing for a lot of it but the book was just ridiculous. i mean, some of the stuff that would've flown in a cartoon on stage just had me laughing.

i also was highly disappointed with the song selection. these voices could've done something really intelligent and i kept asking myself "oh that's it?" when the songs would end. no rhymes. no plot-drive.

and i didn't really care about anyone in the story, no matter how much i tried. i just kept wishing it would close so that i could see some of this cast in something else better for them.

[parislover87]

Posted: 10/9/06 at 2:19pm

If Josh Strickland wasn't the hottest person I've ever seen I would have hated but, but since he is I puddled over every minute of it