But really, what is the need to be the one to start these threads??? Do you win a prize I hadn't heard about?
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
Tomorrow night is the night that I have been waiting for since August. I had wanted to see THE VISIT since the Signature production, but I didn’t have the means of getting there at the time. Over the summer, I made the trek to Williamstown to see THE VISIT, and was so blown away that I returned a week later, making the trip from Jersey again. It is rare that I make a strong connection with new musicals as I’m usually more a revival guy. In the past several years, some new musicals that I have really connected with include: Next to Normal, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Bridges of Madison County, and now The Visit.
This show isn't going to be an easy sell, and audiences and critics will be divided, but it is so thrilling to have Chita Rivera back in one of the final Kander & Ebb pieces. The show is dark, creepy, thought provoking, and bizarrely romantic. I cannot wait to see the work they have done since WTF, I am hoping that it really raises the stakes. The design of the production is absolutely stunning, and the direction screams John Doyle, in fact, I enjoy his direction here even more than on his Sweeney and Company revivals. I know that it won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I truly hope that everyone gives it a fair chance. It's not everyday we get a new Kander & Ebb musical starring Chita Rivera in quite possibly the performance of her career.
Here's to wishing the production a healthy and honored run!
I too am really looking forward to this one. Unfortunately I have to wait until the last week of previews to see it! It is a daring show, and I know there will be very polarized reactions to it.
I love how much passion you have for this piece, ljay. I'm very excited to see it for myself. It's been a while since we've seen a show that seems like such an "event" historically speaking.
I'll be there Thursday night too and am very much looking forward to Chita's return to leading lady status.
It's crazy to think that she made her Broadway debut in Can-Can and after all these years she isn't simply working, but originating a leading role in a musical. You gotta tip your hat to a talent like hers.
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
Likewise, I can't wait to hear yours- as well as notes on any changes made from the Williamstown production.
Have they announced anything about a performance schedule? Will Donna be performing one matinee a week or something? I really would love to see her too if that's the case.
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
I don't believe she was hired as an alternate per se, but I don't think they labeled her as a standby or understudy either. I would have to look up the press release for sure, but I guess I assumed they wouldn't hire such a big name if they didn't plan on using her at some point. (Maybe Chita has a planned vacation or several conflicts that would require a cover?)
Just seeing if anyone had the inside scoop!
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
Playbill Vault and earlier articles list McKechnie simply as "Claire Zachanassian (understudy)". So, I think it remains to be seen how/if she's used. Praying and hoping Chita stays healthy in these last stretches of winter illnesses. I recall her being hit pretty hard by the fly during Drood.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
I'll be at the Saturday matinee too. I truly can't wait and I am also probably most excited to see this out of all the new musicals...I'm very excited for Fun Home as well but I saw that at the Public and this is completely unknown to me.
I unfortunately won't be seeing The Visit until April 25 (unless I decide to try to rush before then), but I just picked up a copy of the source material by Friedrich Durrenmatt. I'm hoping that those of you who have seen the show and / or read the play can advise me on whether I should read it before seeing the musical, or go in one-hundred percent cold on the specific plot details? I'm pretty torn!