The Griswalds' Broadway Vacation (World Premiere First Performance Tonight!) — Page 2

I just saw the production photos. Boy does this look cheap. 

The set reminds me of the non-equity set for the ELF tour... and that is not a good thing.

Saw the show again Sunday night, and my reaction shifted significantly after a second viewing although the show itself seemed exactly the same. I didn't notice any changes from Tuesday night, so they may just be letting this one run as is.

Point blank: This show needs more humor and less heart. This is not Vacation nor are these the Griswolds (in spirit). A Vacation musical should be hilariously funny first and foremost. We don't need emotional depth or even true character arcs. Tell us who these people are, and then put them through a series of hilarious events for our enjoyment. Vacation should be about the journey, not the destination.

To answer the question - yes, I think you can enjoy this show without having seen the movies. Maybe. You might wonder why the laughs are bigger for some jokes than those jokes seem to warrant or why a secondary character gets such a big reaction just showing up - movie reference. But you also won't come in with expectations.

Yes, the set looks incredibly cheap which seems to be how things are done at The 5th now. I honestly don't see how they expect people to pay $170/ticket for the rest of their season if these are the production values we can look forward to for an uninspiring lineup with no other original musicals. Sitting in the orchestra emphasized the visual effect of the forced perspective angles and flats (both the dimensions and single color matte paint), and I can only guess the intention was to treat this like a live action cartoon. But, as with the Grease/Greece confusion with Carrie, in my head cannon, someone said, "It's like Looney Tunes," and some people on the creative team took it literally.

But the tone isn't even Looney Tunes. It's more like Tiny Toons or Animaniacs, where it's aimed at kids but has jokes for the parents thrown in that will sail over the kids' heads. (They turned Ghostbusters and Beetlejuice into cartoons wildly different from the movies, so maybe it's something about ‘80s movies). Except for one f-bomb (which gets the evening’s biggest laugh), I don’t think there was any other profanity in the show, putting this very much in light PG territory.

But oddly, not in keeping with the kid’s cartoon feeling, they minimize the physical comedy, replacing it with movie references, lame jokes that get repeated I guess in hopes they’ll be funny the second time, and out of place, wink-at-the-audience-this-is-a-musical contrivances. They mostly prefer to tell instead of show. I get it, it’s much easier to give us a lot of static ballads.

Clark in the movies is kind of an overconfident, yet frequently wrong or inept, condescending, self-centered dick. People often get physically hurt or things get broken due to his single-mindedness, which often means he doesn't even notice. The musical has a little of that, but misses what's funny: the joke isn't just him absent-mindedly throwing a bouquet of flowers from the observation deck of the Empire State Building; it's more so what happens to whomever or whatever is at the receiving end of that toss. Musical Clark is very passive, people pleasing, and unbelievably dim.

Imagine the stories you’d get if Clark knew Wally World was closed or he wasn’t getting his Christmas bonus ten minutes from the jump. Or if Christie Brinkley’s character had barely dated Clark (switched to Ellen here) in high school yet remained obsessed with him because for some reason a lust-driven mini-storyline needs full justification to create a not-quite villain. This Clark would not shoot someone to ride a roller coaster.

The choices here are frustrating as they seem to throw out everything the source material gave them other than references and near quotes. Instead of having the family playing the (relative) straight men rolling their eyes at their embarrassing patriarch, the musical goes out of its way to separate them all repeatedly. We lose the humor of their interactions. I think members of the ensemble get more to do than poor Rusty. An example solution - take the song “You Can Tell Me Anything,” make it the whole family with each member getting a verse, have the confession in each verse get darker/meaner and funnier, and cut the sentimentality (mostly).

When I first saw this on the schedule, I wondered how one could make a musical based on the Griswolds. By this team showing us what not to do, I can see what might have worked. If you’re adapting this material that originally consisted of situations connected by a super-thin plot, take the opportunity to make this a show focused on the funny, packed to the brim with large, ensemble numbers in a variety of settings, impressive set pieces or locations, and stunts that make us ask, “How did they do that on stage..and safely?”

This kinder, gentler, safer Vacation is ultimately a boring one (as I’m sure many find my diatribe to be).

The highly talented cast is giving their all in a poorly directed production. As others have mentioned, Jen Cody is a standout - even her posture in that off-brand duck costume was distinctive and humorous.

I know this sounds like I ended up hating it, which I didn’t (or I would have left at intermission). It was just ultimately a frustrating experience when the choices that were made in creating and staging a new piece yet again seem to be some combination of misguided, uncreative, and lazy.

If you are in Seattle, I can recommend 5th Avenue’s co-production of Choir Boy with ACT at their space a block over.

Updated On: 9/22/22 at 12:49 AM

I think it's a fantastic idea for a musical. But lacking humor.... ouch. 

How have they missed out on the comedic aspect of this? Welp, I guess this isn't coming to Broadway anytime soon then.

Re Johnny's long review, I'm sad to read the feeling that the 5th is going cheap with sets etc lately   Next spring they are doing both ITW & Sweeny Todd.  I'm sort of indecisive about whether I want to go down to see these productions since I have seen & plan to see them recent Broadway versions. But, I hate to pass on opportunities to see any productions of these shows.

OlBlueEyes said: "I don't think that this is a good place to challenge PC, unless it's relevant to the play itself. No minds will be changed. Just brings acrimony.

Good Grief!

National Lampoon's Vacation

The Devil Wears Prada

Back to the Future

Legally Blonde

Mrs. Doubtfire

What next? Porky's. Animal House. Or will they go highbrow with Star Wars or Indiana Jones

Goldfinger the Musical Already has a hit song. Performed wonderfully by Shirley Bassey.

Is this the future of the Broadway musical? It's not that these were bad films, necessarily. It's just that when you subtract Christopher Lloyd, Robin Williams and Meryl Streep there's not a lot left.

I recall when they used to make blockbuster films from ground-breaking musicals.

That still happens now and then.

"

Well, to be clear, this is an original story based on characters from a film series. There’s no film of Broadway vacation. The examples you cite are really just musicals of movies. It’s a very minor quibble, but I have a Virgo rising and it’s causing me to make the distinction.

 

pethian said: "Strange Lupone said: "Well, to be clear, this is an original story based on characters from a film series. There’s no film of Broadway vacation. The examples you cite are really just musicals of movies. It’s a very minor quibble, but I have a Virgo rising and it’s causing me to make the distinction."



Good point. Regardless of the merit of the show, it is more original than the film-to-stage adapted musicals cited.

I am flattered that you took the trouble to enlighten me.

So is this the way that Broadway fills those $300 rear center mezzanine seats in the future? No Edna Ferber or G.B. Shaw? No spectacle like Phantom, Miss Saigon, Les Miserables?

They are going to eliminate the risk of the prospective audience being indifferent to the subject of the musical by using as source popular old films. But remove the stars from the films and there is little that remains.

Oops. Off topic again. "Never mind."

 

Kad said: "Ferber and Shaware your reference points?"

My intent is not to turn great literature into great musicals, although this has been done. 

You need as a minimum an good story and some interesting characters to inhabit the story. I think that literature and drama are a better source of these than popular films. The films are well known and their popularity depends in great part on the actors who play the roles. 

This is not to say that there are not many films that would serve as source for a new musical but I speculate that when they are looking for investors, producers feel more confident if the film creates instant recognition of a pleasant memory of the film.

I had the chance to see the show last week and really enjoyed it. Is it perfect? Of course not - it's literally the first public performances of this show EVER. But the bones of a really fun musical are there and many of the songs had really witty lyrics and great melodies and the performances were fairly strong. 

Personally, I felt like the first act moved a bit too quickly and wish there was a bit more setup of the characters and world before they got to NYC. Act Two felt much stronger to me, with Cousin Eddie's song and the sweet song for Clark and Audrey (You Can Tell Me Anything) which was probably my favorite of the evening.

If you're ripping this as "one of the worst things ever", you've really never seen actually terrible shows - trust me, I've sat through "Dance of the Vampires", "Good Vibrations", and "Scandalous" - those were horrendous. This is a solid first incarnation IMHO and you seriously need to give people more than a week from the first out-of-town tryout to change things before decrying everything unfixable.

With the show now closed in Seattle, has there been any rumblings of a Broadway run or next steps? 

Entire cast is back in the rehearsal room today so they’re back at workshopping this puppy.  It’s safe to assume the producers are adamant about a Broadway run.