Just back from Las Vegas, where it was a charmingly cool 108 degrees.
Las Vegas was... weird. From the cuts to being sort of disoriented by what happened to John Altieri, to the extremely weird audience, it was kind of hard to internalize.
First, the audience... I guess 10pm gives people a lot of time to get inebriated, and it's Vegas so people have... different standards for theater etiquette, or something. Apparently some woman really liked "Short Shorts," because when Joey told Bob to "play that new one," she yelled out "SHORT SHORTS!" Later, someone, possibly the same woman, shouted out, "MEEE-OW!"
The sound was good if a bit too loud. I mean, the show has always been loud, but generally, I didn't find "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" entirely deafening at other venues.
I saw both Dominic Scaglione and Rick Faugno as Frankie. I felt like Dominic Scaglione has all the right stuff to be a great Frankie, but it hadn't quite come together yet. His acting was great overall, but his dancing was quite awkward and I think perhaps his concentrating on the dancing took over the rest of the performance at times. I'd love to see him later in the run, as I think he has the potential to be really great. Rick Faugno has always been a strong actor, and his voice has an interesting "rock" grit to it that I have always liked, and he's only gotten more solid since.
I really, really enjoyed seeing Jeremy Kushnier again. His Tommy seems craftier than the other Tommys, which he really makes work. I especially love the part before "Walk Like a Man," when instead of actually not getting it, he appears to be really enjoying winding Bob up, as well as "Cry For Me," when his joining in playing with the other guys is because he's noticing that people in the venue are paying attention. Jeff Leibow, as always, hit the perfect balance of OCD yet strangely endearing, especially with his rant about the towels.
Erich Bergen seems more dry and droll than I remembered. I am not sure how this plays to people who haven't seen him before as opposed to how it does for those of us who have, but it worked well overall. He has an incredibly smooth voice, which I had sort of forgotten. Joyce Chittick brings a nice, hard brittle edge to Mary, which makes the breakup scene quite strong. I enjoyed the rest of the cast as well, but as I'm not inclined to write 10 pages... if anyone wanted to know something about a particular performance, let me know.
I felt like the cuts mostly made sense, and wouldn't have been obvious to anyone who hadn't seen the show a, er, few times. Cut verses here and there, a cut line or word here or there... it all adds up. The only time I found it really jarring was with the final monologues... I think a little was lost there, especially for Nick Massi.
I really didn't get the 8 minute "Short Break" with the weird video of driving in San Francisco, gambling in Vegas, and a cow at the Ohio state fair. Maybe if I were drunk it would have seemed normal.
Also, The Jersey Store is fabulously tacky. There was seriously a "Working My Way" ball cap, among other things (Fallen Angel key chain?!).
So, it was definitely great to see the show again, with a very good mix of cast members, and hopefully I can catch it again in the future (although hopefully with less deafening sound).
'"Contrairiwise," continued Tweedledee, "if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic."'
~Lewis Carroll
Updated On: 8/5/08 at 04:18 PM
That being said it was an enjoyable night at the theatre!
