The Cher Show — Page 16

Just having read the this thread, I fear the whole conceit is confusing. Just wonder how much overall they will do before Broadway. I know workshops are a thing, but why not invite a critical eye to workshops to see if you're going in the right direction?

Saw it tonight (Thurs 6/28, Press night) . Though the show is super FUN by virtue of the music alone, and is on its way to being freaking fantastic, I agree with many of the comments on what needs fixing. Some of the storyline gets muddled with the "show within a show" breaking off into songs/dramatizations of memories, and back to the "show" again.

The part with Gregg Allman is over in mere minutes, and there is either a problem with the sound...or the actor...as a lot of his dialogue meant to come off as hippie-philosophy or funny jokes, doesn't land, because you couldn't really understand him. You understood that he came on very directly to Cher mostly via body language, and they were very blunt with each other, and I guess that was the attraction, but two brief song-and-dance sequences and baby-Elijah later...poof, he was gone without having made much of an impact to the story on stage. He clearly had enough of an impact on her life to marry him and have a kid with him. One song is a "duel" between him and Sonny that is mostly dominated by a fantastic Tango dancer and doesn't really get the point across about the two men, at all. The dance in the bar ends, the audience goes wild for this truly captivating dancer who has nothing to do with Cher, and then you're like "oh, that song was supposed to be Sonny and Allman duking it out...or something." And did that really happen--the two men fighting over her after one had divorced her and another had married and was about to divorce her--or was that artistic license? I don't remember that, historically. Anyway, the reality is, they probably don't need to devote more than 2 song-and-dances to Allman, but maybe...different ones? I dunno. I realize they have been cutting for time, but the whole Allman period needs clearing up.

Another part that really bothered me was...if you didn't live through Sonny Bono actually passing away nearly 21 years ago, or were too young to know...there's not much on stage that cues you into why Stephanie Block is pouring her guts out and rocking that song in sadness in this dimly-lit scene. The sets, while fantastic, are comparatively "minimalist" in this sequence, just with lots of blue church-y looking disco lights, but nothing to indicate she's actually in a chapel giving a eulogy. She gave SUCH an emotional eulogy for him in real life, and it's been on video all these years. They use a few lines of her speech, but then she swoops into song a bit too early to tell what actually happened, plot-wise. I was hoping they'd take it all the way to the end of her saying at the time that, for all their ups and downs, he discovered her and usually had a solution for whatever problems came up, choking up at his actual funeral: "...that person has always been Son, for me." The scene literally writes itself, with that material. They didn't even include that in the show, and they should. (In one of the articles posted above, Cher actually tells the writer that she's been giving the director ACTUAL quotes from the situations in her life that they use; they should use that one.) There's only a brief blowing of kisses between the two of them signifying he's...out of her life, but not any indication to anyone not fully up on this part of her history and seeing the show, that a person in her life--this significant person, career svengalie and father of her first child--has actually passed away, and tragically young, and suddenly, in a skiing accident, at that. Those of us old enough to remember were tearing up, though; again, Block blows the roof off of that number, and much of Act 2.

Super fun fashion show included to showcase all of her career-defining, noteworthy outfits over the years. Emily Skinner as Cher's mother (and as Lucille Ball) is absolutely fab and you kinda wish you had more of her, but really, her stage time and content is just right.

Updated On: 6/29/18 at 03:45 AM

I wondered why the producers had Cher give that interview last week and of course, it was to set expectations and frame the reviews: Cher knows it needs work, and she's the expert here, critics.

Also, BettyBoy, I can absolutely see what you mean by Teal being the wrong type. One of the things that made so remarkable in that Cher show era was her distinctive look (hell, and nose).

Opening night curtain call

https://www.facebook.com/seanlewiswgn/videos/2179634442051894/UzpfSTExNzc2OTg0NDQ6MTAyMTU3NDgyNjM4Mzc3MzY/

Is Jason Moore's direction the biggest problem with the show? The reviews seem to imply that the show needs directorial focus.

Before I saw the show, I was expecting it to be more of a chronological telling of her life story. But this show is about Cher and it cannot be conventional. I did like the song choices and how they were used, for the most part all of the songs were performed very well and also helped with the progression of the story...

RevolutionaryCostume said: "I hear a lot of people saying they don't remember "If I Could Turn Back Time" being used in the show.

The melody is also sweetly heard in the oversized Fairy Tale book moment.

jon5202 said: "Opening night curtain call

https://www.facebook.com/seanlewiswgn/videos/2179634442051894/UzpfSTExNzc2OTg0NDQ6MTAyMTU3NDgyNjM4Mzc3MzY/"

Is that Teal Wicks on the right of the threesome? I don't know who she's supposed to be, but I don't get Cher at all.

Lesli played Star Cher when she was apart of the show so I don't think they'd bring her back to play the middle Cher.

FanofGreen said: Honestly, I don't tend to get distracted by whether an actors look fits the character. I mean, Aaron Burr was never as tan as the actors who have portrayed him in Hamilton.

WTF? None of the actors who've appeared in Hamilton look like the characters they portrayed.