Torch Song, Pal Joey, and Perfect Crime Friom This Newbe

[BroadwaySomeday]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 11:29am

I posted this on ATC as a newbie and people only agreed with my Perfect Crime assessment below.

I just moved to NYC and am so happy to be a part of this community. Igraduated from college in Decemeber. I am auditoning now for shows and have been seeing as many shows I can.

It was a very bad week of shows.

In reverse order this is what I have seen so far.

Yesterday I spent the day with my best friend seeing Torch Song Trilogy at Amrican Theater of Actors. I played David in college and it is a show I hope to do professionally some day. The guy who played Arnold was way too old. My recollection is that Harvey was in his 20s when he did this show. This guy was at least 50. The production quality was very poor. we paid $75 for our tickets. First off it was a four floor walk-up as the elevator was broken. Second the intermissions were way too long. We were at this theater for almost nine and a half hours. Can someone tell me how they handled this on Broadway? We only did the one act in college. The sets were not even as good as some community theaters I have been to. The guy who played Alan was VERY sexy he was poorly directed and was standung and modeling much of the performance. The woman who played Ma looked the same age as Arnold. Did anyone else see this show? Was it a bad night? Isn;t $75 a lot for Off Off Off Broadway. Besides the far too old Arnold and his poor imitation of a raspy Harvey Fierstein. They do bill this as Off-Broadway. Further there were major pacing problems, poor characater choices, people in roles because they were married to the Director, and poor use and placement of the Torch Singer.

There is subtlety inherent in Arnold's metamorphosis from Act 1 to Act 3. A person playing this part should not start at 100mph. I am not making much sense in the written word. However, it still resonates with me that I paid (as I was recently provately corrected $60 for these tickets). It was just as poorly done as Perfect Crime (they had betetr sets). However, I stuck it out with my best friend as I thought I was being avant garde with what was supposed to be NYC's first professional return of this show. It was a commun ity theater production, which are most of the credits listed for these Actors.


On Saturday night we saw Pal Joey. I had never seen the show and am only familiar with the movie. Stockard Channing was amazing and really acted the song "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered". However, I was uncomfortable with the relationship she had with the male lead. I did think the production was very high quality. I paid $39 for my ticket.

On Saturday afternoon I saw part of Perfect Crime. I paid $24 and this was one of the worst shows I have ever seen. I left after 35 minutes.

I hope I have a better week this week.

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 11:37am

Welcome to BWW, BroadwaySomeday! Those reviews were a little bit hard to follow in parts, but it's always nice to have a new member.

[BroadwaySomeday]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 11:47am

I promise to get better in terms of my writing.