The Blue Flower

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The Blue Flower

Posted: 10/23/11 at 9:10pm

Has anyone seen this? I've listened to some of the music on the website, and I like it, but the story does not interest me at all. Can anyone who's seen it tell me if it would be worth it just to go for the music and possibly performances? Or if the story's less dull than it sounds on paper.

The Blue Flower

Posted: 10/23/11 at 10:45pm

I believe 1 or 2 performances were canceled this weekend due to illness in the cast (I assume the understudies haven't rehearsed yet).

Updated On: 10/23/11 at 10:45 PM

The Blue Flower

Posted: 10/23/11 at 10:52pm

Performances were cancelled last week, but I don't think any were cancelled this weekend. I've walked by TKTS every day this weekend and have noticed it was up. Or I thought I did. They definitely played two shows today.

"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body

The Blue Flower

Posted: 10/23/11 at 10:56pm

Today's matinee was canceled, but the evening went on. I was there tonight -- the story is definitely not its strong point, but the music is great, the cast is fantastic and there's never nothing to look at. (If you've ever been to Paxton Gate in San Francisco, it has a similar aesthetic.)

It's a bit too artsy for some, I'm sure, but it's still a very good show.

"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt

Updated On: 10/23/11 at 10:56 PM

The Blue Flower

Posted: 10/23/11 at 11:00pm

That's interesting, as the matinee was up on TKTS (I almost bought tickets for it). They must have cancelled some time between 11:00 and curtain.

Updated On: 10/23/11 at 11:00 PM

The Blue Flower

Posted: 10/23/11 at 11:09pm

Michelle,

I'm afraid your impression was correct. The story is quite dull, especially in the second act. It's too bad, because there is some very nice music here, as well as effective evocations of time and place though projections and costumes.

The problem is what should be fascinating characters are delineted without sufficient specificity, so that both they and their tale fail to engage.

The cast members were all very good. At tonight's performance, Mark Kudisch was out, and his role was performed by Aaron Serotsky, who did a great job.

The Blue Flower

Posted: 10/23/11 at 11:12pm

That's weird that it was up on TKTS, because my friend, who had bought the tickets, were told LAST NIGHT that the matinee was canceled. Hm.

As for the plot, I can't exactly agree that it's "dull," but I would say it's just entertaining enough.

"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt

Updated On: 10/23/11 at 11:12 PM

The Blue Flower

Posted: 10/23/11 at 11:18pm

Unless I'm going absolutely crazy, it was on TKTS today for the matinee. I distinctly remember seeing it, both as I passed by the booth and on my iPhone app, and thought that I might want to buy tickets for the afternoon performance. It could have just been an error on the board programmer's part.

Updated On: 10/23/11 at 11:18 PM

The Blue Flower

Posted: 10/24/11 at 9:23am

Saw this a week ago .... well, saw Act One a week ago. Nothing - and I mean NOTHING - could have dragged me back for Act Two.

For much of the time, the characters don't even speak to one another, but "narrate" events, which are illustrated by a video show projected on a screen. Lots of underscoring, and when they sing it's still sounds like underscoring. Melody is scarce.

When one of the characters sang about puking (I'm not making this up!) I empathized completely. If I was seated on an aisle, I wouldn't have waited for intermission to flee.

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#10

The Blue Flower

Posted: 10/24/11 at 12:58pm

Updated On: 10/31/11 at 12:58 PM

#11

The Blue Flower

Posted: 10/24/11 at 2:13pm

Alas, The Blue Flower earns the worst word I can assign to any show - unfixable.

"If my life weren't funny, it would just be true. And that would be unacceptable." --Carrie Fisher

#12

The Blue Flower

Posted: 10/24/11 at 3:32pm

am i mistaken -- i thought this was at ART in Boston last season, and received decent reviews?

"You, sir, are a moron." (PlayItAgain)

#13

The Blue Flower

Posted: 10/24/11 at 9:08pm

I saw it last weekend, and while it wasn't the best show I've ever seen, it wasn't the worst (that would be Fame in London in 2001). It was definitely one of the most interesting concepts for a musical that I've ever encountered. But I think I may have had a deeper understanding of the show if I was familiar with the Dada aesthetic.

Yes, the story is a little slow and the characters do narrate, but at no point during the show did I find myself thinking that I wanted to leave before the end.

With that said, I would pay to hear Marc Kudisch read the phone book, so maybe my impression of the show is a little biased.

On the road of life, do not pause for suicidal chipmunks who freeze in your headlights, seeking death by your tires...

#14

The Blue Flower

Posted: 10/24/11 at 10:22pm

Playbill is reporting that Kudisch was married tonight in Florida--I wonder if that accounts for the cancelled performances and him being out last night.

#15

The Blue Flower

Posted: 10/24/11 at 10:28pm

If that's the reason, than this becomes really strange. Presumably, he was aware of the date of his wedding ahead of time, as was the production. If they knew he would miss performances around now, wouldn't it have made sense to either make sure the understudy was rehearsed, or just not schedule performances during this time?

#16

The Blue Flower

Posted: 10/24/11 at 10:40pm

According to the article, this was planned (and Kudisch will be out of the show until Thursday). It does seem weird that they'd not allot proper rehearsal time.
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/155854-Heading-for-a-Wedding-Marc-Kudisch-and-Shannon-Lewis-Tie-the-Knot

#17

The Blue Flower

Posted: 10/24/11 at 10:48pm

I was not all that familiar with Kudisch's work and I thought the score of The Blue Flower was lush and fascinating. The cast including Kudisch did a fine job. The staging was always exciting. I had a few problems with the book. But The Blue Flower is worth your attention if you're at all interested in seeing how the envelope might be pushed in musical thearer.

#18

The Blue Flower

Posted: 10/24/11 at 10:48pm

I absolutely loved Blue Flower at the NYMF and it remains one of my favorite things I've seen not only at a festival, but anywhere.

Before I saw it, someone who had seen it and loved it said something like this: "It's like modern art - it's not about what it looks like, it's about how you feel looking at it. And this show, it's not what it's about that's interesting, it's about how you react to it. And once I just went along with that, I loved it."

Something along those lines. And so when I saw it, I just sort of let the show happen around me and it was absolutely engrossing and weirdly moving. I've listened to that 6-track CD more than probably any other musical recording I've gotten since. I often get "Pro Patria Mori" going through my head, and I think "Let It Slide Through Your Hand" and "Dark Party" are a couple of the coolest songs I've heard come out of a theatre piece.

In case folk aren't familiar, the music is billed as "Sturm und Twang" and described as "Kurt Weill meets Hank Williams", and it really is that. The orchestration is Piano, Bass, Drums, Percussion, Guitar, Pedal Steel Guitar, Bassoon, Cello, and Accordion. I never would have thought that combination of instruments would sound like anything other than an odd mess, but I love it. The characters are Germans circa WW2 who have a thing for American cowboy movies, so the music somehow manages to blend both of those things.

It's probably not for everyone. My tastes admittedly run a little odd sometimes (the upcoming show I'm most excited about is "Einstein on the Beach" at BAM next September) but "Blue Flower" was one of those things that just hit me completely unexpectedly and I'm looking forward to getting to see it again.

#19

The Blue Flower

Posted: 10/25/11 at 1:34am

whatever2, you're correct, it played at ART last year. It was championed by Stephen Schwartz and it won a couple Best Musical awards in Boston.

#20

The Blue Flower

Posted: 10/25/11 at 2:06am

I think it can be improved but I don't know that the producers will do this. The story is very needlessly disjointed.

#21

The Blue Flower

Posted: 10/25/11 at 10:06am

Updated On: 10/31/11 at 10:06 AM

#22

The Blue Flower

Posted: 10/25/11 at 10:24am

Does anyone know how much they are asking for the cd at the theater? I have been listening to the song clips for 2 days and really like the blend of musical styles. I was going to see it just to hear it live.

Just give the world Love. - S. Wonder

Updated On: 10/25/11 at 10:24 AM

#23

The Blue Flower

Posted: 10/25/11 at 11:55am

When I saw it was approx 2 and a half hours.

And I didn't find the score banal at all.

#24

The Blue Flower

Posted: 10/25/11 at 12:20pm

This was the worst show I've seen this fall. There were many walkouts on either side of me during intermission. It was boring. The plot was so incoherent you'd think they were speaking in made up languages ----- OH WAIT! They were!!! Much of the show is spoken and sung in fictional language that is translated by subtitles, and onstage translators. It was so uninteresting and just pretentious.

If the show isn't painful enough, the sound system accosts you with extreme bass sounds from giant speakers all over the house that shakes you in your seat. The effect is used for explosions in the War scenes, and it's so it makes you 'feel it' but it hurts worse than a rock concert. Some of the audience members were plugging their ears, and I think that's why some of the older patrons walked out at intermission.

That being said, Mark Kudisch gives a 100% committed performance, and it's nice to see him do drama occasionally instead of comedy.

Stephen: "Could you grab me a coffee?" Me: "Would you like that with all the colors of the wind?"

#25

The Blue Flower

Posted: 10/25/11 at 1:39pm

Thanks for all the info. Sounds like I'm better off getting the CD and going to see Queen of the Mist instead. I'm not a big fan of modern art, or anything that gets so experimental as to detract from telling an interesting story or creating compelling characters, which it seems like this does.

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