The Glorious Ones, or The Natalie Venetia Belcon Show- review

just wanted to quickly write up my impressions of todays matinee of the Glorious Ones.

overall, I was pretty bored with many parts of the show, and while I am all for recognizing the roots of modern performance comedy, the play really beats you over the head with the point its trying to make. we get it.

there were some funny musical numbers, and some powerful moments too- but overall i was pretty underwhelmed.

the cast is good- some impressed me more than others, but no one performed poorly. the Dottore was hysterical. I thought Kudisch's character wasn't likable enough to sustain the story. He has a great voice, invests in the character- but not enough charisma to get me to care what happens to him.

the real standout though, as I expected, was Natalie Belcon's Columbina. Not such a huge role but her performance of My Body Wasn't Why was without a doubt one of the best moments in theater Ive ever experienced. She just BLOWS THE ROOF off that tiny theater with that song, and I saw a few ppl around me softly crying by the time she finished.

absolutely remarkable... i dont know if i can faithfully advise anyone to invest the $ and the 90 minutes for this show- it wasnt BAD, and to each their own- but Natalie's performance was worth my discounted price of admission.

I saw it. I liked it well enough. I think it's a really neat thing to write a musical about, and that some of the songs were beautiful, but I remember the lyrics (or general themes of) much more than I do any of the music. I thought it was very, very well-directed. I don't remember Ragtime very well, but I remember having a similar problem with Dessa Rose: I found the show at times very pedantic, and very heavy handed about spoon-feeding its audience the notion of, "hey, look! We're history, but we IMPACT THE PRESENT! See? Connections between past and present!!" I mean, that ending was the equivalent of blinking neon arrow lights. I thought it could have been done much more effectively if only it had been more subtle.

I thought the cast was good all around, although I have to admit that I had a bit of trouble believing Natalie Venetia Belcon as a very fiery, sensual character at first, simply because I hear her voice and my brain goes "look, it's Gary Coleman!" But she was great. Kudisch was definitely the highlight for me, though. He makes me exceedingly happy.

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Updated On: 11/11/07 at 05:22 PM

see, as soon as the cast started singing i heard natalies voice and i didnt hear gary coleman- i heard Joanne Jefferson, the way her voice stuck out from the ensemble's in RENTs opening number.

but a few minutes of her in that obscenely busty costume, and the butch lesbian/gary coleman side of natalie was gone.

its about 9 hours later and i cant get "My Body Wasnt Why" out of my head. stunning.