"The Hired Man" at Brits Off Broadway

[whatever2]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 10:30am

just saw this over the weekend ... if you're a fan of "serious" musical theater, this is well worth seeing.

it's a "chamber" version of a british musical that had a west end debut in 1984, about the changes that impacted the way of life in the english countryside at the turn of the last century. you can tell it's not an american musical pretty early on ...

it runs a little long -- the book is slavishly faithful to the original novel (not a surprise, given the same author penned both). (most of) the performances are quite strong, and the production values are high.

what really stands out is the music. i've only heard it once, and several of the tunes are quite stuck in my head. very lyric and (obviously) memorable.

not for the fanadus amongst us, and not perfection, but i would definitely recommend it.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 10:34am

I'm seeing it tomorrow night.

How long is the performance?

[whatever2]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 10:41am

the program says "2 hours plus interval" ... the usher said "two-and-a-half hours" .... it was really 2:50, but the interval seemed to last longer than it should have.

a too-long second act was one of the weaknesses, i thought.

let us know what you think?

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 6/10/08 at 10:53am

Will do.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 6/12/08 at 12:01am

GREAT production. Ran a solid 2.5 tonight - started at 8:10, was out by 10:40. Parts felt long - others too brief. Some confusing moments early on in terms of relationships (and I say that without giving spoilers) when they attempted to conflate time. Is that the right word?

I don't have the program in front of me - the male leads - John and Jackson - were spectacular and have a tremendous career ahead of them.

Fantastic score - hummable and melodic, very intelligent. Walked out humming a few of the songs. What stood out was the fact that the composer was the gentleman who wrote the theme songs and musical underscoring for most of the big BBC comedies - Mr. Bean, among them.

Go see it!

[whatever2]

Posted: 6/12/08 at 9:06am

agree completely ...

i rarely leave a musical humming a tune i didnt already know going in -- my brain just isnt wired that way -- but the music here is just that beautiful ... and memorable.

[goldes]

Posted: 6/12/08 at 1:19pm

Though not the same production, I saw a version of this show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last year. It had been shortened to just over an hour (quite standard at the Fringe), but was breathtaking. Would love to see a full production one day, but sadly am not in NY...

[whatever2]

Posted: 6/13/08 at 10:42am

isherwood's review is up:

https://theater2.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/theater/reviews/13hire.html

mostly, i'd agree, but i think he's more dismissive of the score than it deserves.

plus, the heat wave broke well before the show opened.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 6/13/08 at 10:46am

Reviews were largely very good.

[whatever2]

Posted: 6/20/08 at 6:20pm

i believe i read somewhere (maybe one of the reviews ... variety?) that a new cast recording was coming out. anyone know more about this?