I'm definitely not about to start my own thread to write a review no one will be interested in reading anyway (except for Bwaysinger because he's obsessed with me and bythesword because I would never subject her to a full review in person), so I figured I'd two birds with one stone it and get out the good word while bumping a wonderful, little thread that seems to have gone out to pasture.
So,
Piazza is basically in fantasic shape.
Christine Andreas - Easily my favorite Margaret in terms of acting. Christine's Margaret is much more similar to Patti's than to Vicki's; she's a total firecracker. She has an amazing grasp on the humor and lands lots of laughs (pardon the alliteration) with some pretty fabulous sass. She's completely captivating every second she's onstage; I didn't want to take my eyes off her. She has great chemistry with Elena, and has some really amazing lineless moments I just needed to make note of. When Margaret runs on to save Clara during "Hsyteria," Christine tore into the scene and pushed the creepy "Mia cara" guy away from Elena with such panic and intensity, it was amazing. She was just as intense in the scene right before the reprise of "The Beauty Is." While Elena was doing the "Something is wrong..." lines, Christine was frantically going over the forms, trying to figure out what could have happened. She really has the character down.
As far as her singing, it's VERY Christine Andreas. You know what she sounds like, and I thought she sounded amazing. It was great to hear a slightly different stlye on the songs, especially "Dividing Day." She sounds great with Elena on the opening number.
Elena Shaddow - I can now die happy. I'd been waiting to see Elena in this role since she broke the news on her website, and it was well worth the wait. She's easily as good as Kelli O'Hara, and in my opinion, better (and I
LOVED Kelli). Her acting was really beautiful. In the same scene before the reprise of "The Beauty Is" when Margaret is trying to convince her that everything is fine, Elena was very quietly straightening out the chairs... brilliant.
Her singing is incredible. She has just as gorgeous a legit as Kelli, but she straight-tones every now and then and it sounds spectacular (her "...from the heart" in the opening is magnificent). It was wonderful to hear this beautiful score sound the way it should again. "Say It Somehow" is gorgeous, and her "Tirade" is so amazing (she's a real master of the belty-soprano stuff). "The Beauty Is" and the title song (especially the title song) are also stellar (it was refreshing to hear a Clara who can open her throat on that "Soooomeoooooone could be looking for a someone like you..." again). And "Clara's Interlude" finally sounds beautiful again (seriously missed that open throat!).
David Burnham - I'm happy to report that David has gotten even better since his days as the Broadway understudy. I caught David as Fabrizio towards the end of the run, and, while I was very impressed with his sense of musicality and his singing, his acting... would have been much more appropriate for Giuseppe. To be more direct, he was kind of a shmuck. Adorable, but shmucky. Now, he's finally found the happy medium between creating his own character, but not crossing the Giuseppe line, and it's wonderful. Totally endearing; Clara wasn't the only one who fell for Fabrizio.
His singing is just as impressive as it ever was. He really has such a good sense of musicality; his singing is so dynamic, it's a joy to listen to. He won the audience over immediately with his powerful (and funny) "Il Mundo..." and he doesn't let up from there. "Say It Somehow" - like I said - sounds amazing, and "Love to Me" is as sweet as could be. Sidebar - there's no bench to play with in "Passeggiata," so on the "Ahhh" break in the middle of the song, he runs up to Prudence Wright Holmes, who's just strolling by, and gives her this big, goofy hug. It's really cute.
Laura Griffith - I'd heard great things about her Franca and was pleased to see for myself how true they were. Sarah Berry is a pretty tough act to follow, especially in this role, but Laura strutted onto the stage in such a fury of shoulders and hips, it would have made Sarah proud. She's definite got the sass down. And I'm very pleasantly surprised to report I think Laura sounds even better than Sarah in the role. "The Joy You Feel" really sounded fantastic (and Laura nailed the comedy on top of that). Brava!
Jonathan Hammond - Probably the biggest surprise of the night. Absolutely wonderful. He's certainly not the dancer Michael B. is - but who is? - but he knocks the comedy so far out the park, the audience completely eats him up every time he's onstage. I can't say enough about how funny he was... truly delightful.
David Lendingham - Does a great job in the role. He was exactly what he needed to be in every scene, definitely landed all of his jokes, and had a great confrontation scene with Christine before "Let's Walk."
Diane Sutherland - Being a huge fan of Patti Cohenour as Margaret, I got to see Diane as Signora quite a few times on Broadway, and I'm happy to report she's still as great as she was. She delivers a very spunky "Aiutami" and splits many a side in the scenes sandwiching "The Joy You Feel."
Brian Sutherland - I just have to add a little about this man (and not just because Roy is so very important to bythesword). In the completely thankless role of Margaret's husband, I thought Brian was perfection. I was watching the show and thought he was absolutely everything I would expect Roy to be. You could see why Margaret would have fallen for him in the first place, but you could also see why she sings "Dividing Day" shortly after the first call ends.
Also,
Evangelia Kingsley is delivering a hysterically dry Tour Guide.
The entire cast is really very good. I honestly can't say enough good things about them. The show is in very good hands.
Now the downside... the technical aspects of the tour. Definitely far from bad, I just really missed the Lincoln Center production at times. The lighting and costumes are intact (and Elena is back in the original yellow dress for the title song, not the peach version Katie Clarke wore).
The set, obviously, had to be tweaked, and it looks good, it just seemed a little claustrophobic at times because they would have the building facades make an inverted V that came to a point upstage center, so it really closed off the space and made an abrupt end to the Firenze onstage. Also, there's no trap door (at least not at the Orpheum), so Signor's desk and the bed in Margaret's room couldn't just float on and off, which was sad. There was a lot of stuff being dragged on- and offstage as a result, which is certainly not the fault of the creative team - they didn't build the stage; it was just a little dinky.
Lastly, the blocking had to be tweaked bigtime. At Lincoln Center, a lot of the entrances and exits were made through those little tunnel things that went into the house. Clearly, this wasn't an option for a huge house with a proscenium stage, so all the entrances are made from the wings, like you'd expect. It felt a little static at first, but overall the show wasn't really effected. The only time I really missed the Lincoln Center staging was at "Clara's Interlude." The set didn't really get pulled out as quickly (and I saw the show twice) and it just seemed like Elena didn't have as much room to play with, especially having to enter from the wing and just run across the stage, as opposed to the big, dramatic, Lincoln Center entrance. It felt like it lost a little something (though Elena more than made up for it with her acting and vocals).
All in all, see the tour as soon as you can. The cast is really spectular and the show is holding up extremely well. The Vivian Beaumont might be dark, but the light has certainly not gone out. Too easy...
Andrew, tonight isn't about you! It isn't even about me!!! - [FD]
Updated On: 8/12/06 at 03:26 AM
