The Last Goodbye

[musicalfool]

Posted: 10/31/13 at 1:03pm

For those of you who saw The Last Goodbye - how much of the Shakespeare text is cut? The review in The Times made it seem like alot. Thanks.

[15minutecall]

Posted: 10/31/13 at 10:52pm

This review also discusses the cuts:
http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/tags/witches'+rave

[dented146]

Posted: 10/31/13 at 11:00pm

37.6%. Honestly, the musical moves very quickly and, of course, music takes up much of the time in place of dialog. Plus the ending is changed a bit. And my knowledge of Shakespeare is shamefully limited. I doubt anyone but the actual book writer or the erudite artistic director could answer that question. I could be off by quite a bit.

[charliebrown5]

Posted: 11/13/13 at 2:17am

I'm late to comment, but I kind of hated this production. They really aimed for a Baz Luhrmann style Romeo & Juliet - mixing Shakespeare with a modern, pop-rock style and sensibility - but it didn't work. The sets were lovely and the action scenes were occasionally impressive, but the direction was questionable. The phrasing of the leads, particularly Juliet, was awkward and painful.

The actors playing Friar Laurence and Lady Capulet were the only two that stood out as being able to manage the Shakespeare successfully. Everyone else either partially or fully butchered it.

The show needs a lot of work before it ever gets close to Broadway. First and foremost, they need to hire actors who can handle Shakespeare. The work is too well-known for it to be misspoken and messed with this much.

Regarding the music, I like Jeff Buckley, but the music in the course of the show was forgettable (particularly when sung by Romeo, aka Justin Timberlake-lite).