The Last Ship previews- Page 2

[mpd4165]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 2:09am

Honestly, it sounds like not a whole lot changed from the Chicago run, where I thought it dragged, and Gideon was a completely unlikable character who joined the workers for incredibly selfish reasons. Aaron Lazar walked away with the best song in the score (What Say You, Meg?) and glad to know that continues.

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 3:47am

The critic who reviewed the show in the Chicago Tribune warned the producers that they had better make that main character more likeable, or New York was likely to "take the show down."

Dirgical. Never heard that label before, but I like it. I guess Carousel is the most successful dirgical, due to the timeless beauty of its score, not because Billy Bigelow is pacing around annoyed in heaven, while ducking the big stars hung from the ceiling.

Showboat might qualify since in the second act the lives of the main characters come apart, although it ends on a faint note of hope. But the show has too much joy in the first act for me to throw it in with the others.

Porgy and Bess. Until I saw it, with Audra, I thought it was probably a bit of a romp with the poor Negro characters making the best out of their lot in a way resembling Sanford and Son. After all, it had these perky songs I had known all my life: "It Ain't Necessarily So," and "I got Plenty of Nothin'". Very wrong. Very dark opera. But Bess got to hold the baby and sing "Summertime," damn the original book. Was anyone really supposed to believe that Porgy was going to get to New York with that brace contraption and win back Bess?

West Side Story? It starts out full of life and possibilities, but every turn of the plot brings it closer to its tragic ending. Not a dirgical. A grand storm of thunder and lightning that just happens to end in a deadly lightning strike. Again, a faint note of hope at the very end.

[After Eight]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 6:35am

"Dirgical. Never heard that label before"

It's a neologism of my own invention, coined from having suffered through too many examples of the genre through the years.

None of the musicals you mention qualify as such.

You see, beautiful music is a strict no-no in a dirgical. Can't "pander" to the audience that way! But also, the perpetrators of these ordeals are probably incapable of writing any even if they wanted to!

As an antidote to experiencing these things, I suggest listening to "Peach on the Beach" from No, No, Nanette.

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 7:06am

Yikes. Sounds like not much of anything changed since the Chicago run.

[Famebroadway2]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 8:44am

TDF People. Where were your seats?

[martianman2]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 8:45am

This just seems to be a copy of the Chicago tryout thread. No improvement at all. How it can be classed as a masterpiece is laughable. My prediction of many months ago that this would be dull dreary repetitive and boring was spot on.

For those who were there do you miss the "action" on the bridge if you sit back of stalls. Never been to the Neil Simon. Has Aaron Lazar`s acting improved. He was very wooden in Chicago. Is the ending still a huge disappointment. Stage rising, smoke and screen projection. Have they reduced the number of times Last ship is played. It just got on my nerves by the end.
I do also think they are aiming at the Once audience as there are many similarities.

[newintown]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 8:48am

As Noël Coward said, “Do anything you f---ing like, darling, but don’t you dare f---ing bore the audience.”

Sting, like Coward, is moderately adept in a limited scope; unlike Coward, he is not content with a talent to amuse, but instead (like Bono) insist upon being PROFOUND.

The trouble is, if you're not unusually insightful or intelligent, you'll only be profound to those with less insight or intelligence. Fortunately for Sting, that's a large enough group to make him terribly filthy rich.

Whether it's a large enough group to keep The Last Ship running remains to be seen. Certainly very few people will be buying tickets to see Logan or Yorkey's work.

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 9:14am

Had a friend who went last night. Michael's song at the top of the show is brand new. In Chicago he had "And Yet" and it is now replaced by "All This Time". I assume this was in an effort to combat the critiques of the show in Chicago that Gideon wasn't likeable.

I think this was done at the end of the run in Chicago as well, but Gideon is given the scene with Fred Applegate's character in the hospital (Spoiler?) rather than Meg, I believe who had it initially. I give them credit for trying to build up Michael's material. Updated On: 9/30/14 at 09:14 AM

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 9:24am

I do have to say that I didn't find Esper's character unlikeable, so if that was the goal for the work done between try-out and Broadway it was accomplished. As for his opening number, the orchestrations were a little too pop for my taste and it sounded like it could have been a radio single from one of Sting's earlier albums.

Sometimes the orchestrations were great, and then other times they sound jarringly off. For example, during the late act one trio for the lovers there was a drum beat that desperately needed to be altered. The arrangements both orchestral and vocal were often stunning during the choral numbers though.

[Kad]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 9:40am

Out of curiousity, because this is the vibe I am getting: does this feel like it would play better as an album?

[newintown]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 9:40am

ibdb and the show's own website don't list much in the way of creative staff, including music director or orchestrator. Who is credited with orchestrations for this?



Updated On: 9/30/14 at 09:40 AM

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 9:46am

Rob Mathes.
http://www.playbillvault.com/Show/Detail/Cast/14056/The-Last-Ship-at-Neil-Simon-Theatre

[dave1606]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 9:55am

My TDF seats were row N of the mezz. The view is ok, but don't plan on seeing much in the front of the stage. I missed a good chunk of anything that happened there. Its the case of everyone leaning forward, and I just gave up trying to see.

[newintown]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 10:01am

Rob Mathes - not a familiar name to me, then I did a bit of research and saw why. He's from the pop world, and totally new to theatre.

Other than Whizzer's complaint about the drums in the lovers' trio, how do the orchestrations sound to everyone else? Do they contribute to the frequently-mentioned dreary tone of the show?

Updated On: 9/30/14 at 10:01 AM

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 10:01am

Kad, yes I think this will play much better on disc than in the theater.

[RUkiddingme]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 11:03am

First song feels like 20 minutes and no one cares.
Then we get Gideon's All This Time, which is a Sting hit, not an original song. The recognition is what helps make Gideon likable.
As for the trio song many are discussing, When We Dance, that's another old Sting hit.

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 11:06am

It's a great label. Durgical.

Here's some more of what the Tribune critic wrote. It was a long review, with a lot of praise, and he seemed to really want to let the producers know what was wrong with the show so it would survive in New York.

"So Sting has, so to speak, to write a new song for the faux Sting that will give us permission to like Gideon, that will help us to get know him. Gideon needs his version of “What Say You Meg,” the song that currently gives the whole shooting match to the other guy. One further solution would be more backstory — more vistas of the tough dad who hit him and made Gideon run, not to mention more of Meg and Gideon's young relationship, showing us what they once had. It also needs explaining why his dad wanted him to work in the shipyard, when most working-class dads (I had one myself) would rather their kids do anything but get stuck with their lot."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/reviews/chi-last-ship-sting-review-column.html#page=1

Updated On: 9/30/14 at 11:06 AM

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 11:15am

RUkiddingme: thanks for that. Not familiar with Sting's catalog. Disappointed that they didn't write a new song.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 11:25am

"When We Dance" has been interpolated? Really? It's a lovely song, but maybe I'm old fashioned: that's cheating, at least in a new show. Does it land? Is it, for lack of a better yardstick, a "Mama Mia" moment? Because it's so known? "When We Dance" was so 90s-defining.

[Brick]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 12:06pm

I hate to be so cynical, but doesn't this sound exactly like how we thought a Sting show would be?

[dreaming]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 12:23pm

I don't know. I had a conversation with someone last spring who asked two questions:

1. Is this "Police" music? (Nope)
2. Is Sting IN it? (Nope)

I saw the concert and plan on catching the show at some point. I wasn't really loving the music in concert-the opening needed cutting big time and it sure sounds like they didn't do that. And I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought the music all started to sound the same.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 12:41pm

Thanks for the info that some of these songs were interpolated past hits. I'm not familiar enough with Sting's catalog to recognize them, but it totally explains some of the tonal shifts in orchestrations feeling too pop and why the lyrics become generic and not as character driven in some of the other songs.

It does feel like cheating a bit. I know the current song isn't working so I'll just throw in one of my past hits to appease the audience? Well, it doesn't always work because I didn't even know they were past hits and I just thought they felt out of place with the rest of the score!

[Buffalo Bill]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 12:51pm

Updated On: 10/7/14 at 12:51 PM

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 1:03pm

Uh, parts of it? Care to explain?

[RUkiddingme]

Posted: 9/30/14 at 1:05pm

regarding cheating
Isn't this an age old thing, I mean Anything Goes used hits, as well as many other shows dating back to the 50's up through Green Day's American Idiot.