#1
Posted: 5/28/13 at 11:20pm
I saw the first preview tonight and my thoughts are kind of all over the place with this one.
I liked the set and costumes, and for the most part I thought the cast was great. The music was very catchy and full of pop references. (The score was like a rock/r&b/hip-hop version of In The Heights; it was about 1/3 rapped, 2/3 sung.)
Although I liked the music and was singing "Sunrise" while leaving the theater, the lyrics were pretty hit or miss. LOTS of imperfect rhymes, especially in the rap sections. They were never cringeworthy, just imprecise and sloppy, though at other times they really gelled with the music and it all worked.
I had trouble getting emotionally invested with the characters and their plight. Murky story-telling was a big problem; relationships and motivations needed to be defined sooner and with sharper clarity. So while I enjoyed the music and would pop in the OCR, I found the show to be rather cold.
My two favorite performances were from Uzo Aduba, who has a role similar to that of Lillias White's in Fela, and Victoria Platt, who played Leslie Odom Jr's wife.
Platt had a duet with Jennifer Damiano in act two called "Willow" that was probably the highlight of the score of me.
The was a weird framing device where a narrator came out at the beginning with a laptop and began typing the script, which was then projected on the walls of the theater. Before each scene the was some more typing, announcing the song, setting, etc. At the finale (this isn't a spoiler) the narrator tells us it was all just a play, etc- but I didn't understand why this device was being used. It wasn't like the "actors" became the "characters" before our eyes or anything.
The plot revolved around the city/land of Venice that had become divided like East and West Germany. There were walls along the border and checkpoints few could travel through. Venice was also the name of our hero- a rebel leader who wanted nothing more than to reunify the country. There was a lot of convoluted scheming going between the warring factions. Leslie Odom Jr played the evil general who was playing both sides against each other, but it was never clear to what end. He seemed to want Venice, his half-brother, in power, but he kept betraying him at every turn. This stuff needed more work.
There is a Nicki Minaj/L'il Kim/Beyonce type character that was very extraneous to the story and probably could be cut, though the actress brought some good energy to the production. There just wasn't reason enough in the plot to justify the stage time.
This is a lab production, so I'm well aware it's a work in progress. Hopefully they make some changes and it comes out a stronger piece for this run.
I liked the set and costumes, and for the most part I thought the cast was great. The music was very catchy and full of pop references. (The score was like a rock/r&b/hip-hop version of In The Heights; it was about 1/3 rapped, 2/3 sung.)
Although I liked the music and was singing "Sunrise" while leaving the theater, the lyrics were pretty hit or miss. LOTS of imperfect rhymes, especially in the rap sections. They were never cringeworthy, just imprecise and sloppy, though at other times they really gelled with the music and it all worked.
I had trouble getting emotionally invested with the characters and their plight. Murky story-telling was a big problem; relationships and motivations needed to be defined sooner and with sharper clarity. So while I enjoyed the music and would pop in the OCR, I found the show to be rather cold.
My two favorite performances were from Uzo Aduba, who has a role similar to that of Lillias White's in Fela, and Victoria Platt, who played Leslie Odom Jr's wife.
Platt had a duet with Jennifer Damiano in act two called "Willow" that was probably the highlight of the score of me.
The was a weird framing device where a narrator came out at the beginning with a laptop and began typing the script, which was then projected on the walls of the theater. Before each scene the was some more typing, announcing the song, setting, etc. At the finale (this isn't a spoiler) the narrator tells us it was all just a play, etc- but I didn't understand why this device was being used. It wasn't like the "actors" became the "characters" before our eyes or anything.
The plot revolved around the city/land of Venice that had become divided like East and West Germany. There were walls along the border and checkpoints few could travel through. Venice was also the name of our hero- a rebel leader who wanted nothing more than to reunify the country. There was a lot of convoluted scheming going between the warring factions. Leslie Odom Jr played the evil general who was playing both sides against each other, but it was never clear to what end. He seemed to want Venice, his half-brother, in power, but he kept betraying him at every turn. This stuff needed more work.
There is a Nicki Minaj/L'il Kim/Beyonce type character that was very extraneous to the story and probably could be cut, though the actress brought some good energy to the production. There just wasn't reason enough in the plot to justify the stage time.
This is a lab production, so I'm well aware it's a work in progress. Hopefully they make some changes and it comes out a stronger piece for this run.
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
Updated On: 5/28/13 at 11:20 PM
