WAS BBAJ a really bad musical?- Page 2

[Kad]

Posted: 10/4/15 at 8:21pm

I loved the show and saw it many times between the Public and Broadway. I think it remains Friedman's best score, and it was anchored by a terrifically funny cast and a breakout performance by Benjamin Walker. 

It wasn't a particularly deep analysis of the themes and history it presented, but didn't need or desire to be. It was just a ****ing funny, smartass show. It was tremendously misplaced on Broadway, in a much-too-large house and with the totally wrong audiences. 

Updated On: 10/4/15 at 08:21 PM

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 9:40am

I only saw the show in its Broadway incarnation and I was really disappointed. It did not live up to the hype for me. I did not find it very funny and most of the music was forgettable. But was it a "bad" musical? No.

[MVintheheartland]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 10:20am

haterobics said: "This board was running when the show was on Broadway, so just search and you can go back five years and get lots of info.

One shouldn't have to search back 5 years to ask a question about a mysterious reference in a post. 

 

 

[Eurotrash]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 10:22am

WTFK. IDC. TY. G. x

[Taryn]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 10:50am

Agree with Kad.  It lost something in the transfer, but I still ****ing loved that show.

[haterobics]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 11:01am

MVintheheartland said: "One shouldn't have to search back 5 years to ask a question about a mysterious reference in a post."

 

What mysterious reference? The entire thread is about whether an entire show was bad, what people thought of it, and why it closed. If you're curious about every aspect of a show like that, I would think looking those old threads up would be interesting, not a chore. What people posted as they read about the show closing in real time in 2010 is never going to be recaptured as vividly with people summing up their five year old memories here.

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 12:36pm

I have the honor of being the director of the NY Regional Premiere of BLOODY BLOODY some years ago. Caught it at the Public and on B'way, and can honestly say that what *I* think killed it? Opening in October, for one, and the more blockbuster-y shows coming to play around that time, too. SPIDER-MAN being one of them getting quite a bit of press...

BBAJ, a bad show? Not at all. It got some of the best reviews of the season, to be completely honest. BUT, it didn't have the time enough to truly catch on with audiences. Unfortunately, January 2, 2011 came around, and it was one very, very sad day for the theatre. So many shows went to gallows.

Updated On: 10/5/15 at 12:36 PM

[newintown]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 12:51pm

I enjoyed the first 20 minutes. After that, it felt like a wearisome collegiate skit. I love Friedman's music (his lyrics less so), but find that his scores stand apart from the shows, that they aren't integrated. In Bloody, the rhythm of the evening felt like skit/somewhat-but-not-entirely-related song/skit/somewhat-but-not-entirely-related song/etc.

 

Ultimately, I felt that the show had nothing really to say, no point to make. It's been argued that Andrew Jackson, being a populist, was like a rock star, although that's not remotely accurate, any more than saying that Ronald Reagan was a rock star. Jackson was a perfectly awful person - racist, venal, violent, ultra-right-wing, a cross between Rush Limbaugh and William Calley Jr., - and the musical uses his name only to tell a sort of generic, clichéd young-sexy-romantic-rebel story.

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 12:55pm

I saw it at The Public and loathed every second.

[MarkBearSF]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 1:56pm

I recall protests by Native American groups at recent productions. (For some reason, I don't remember much hubbub when it was on Broadway).

Does anyone know if the creators have responded to the protests and whether they have expressed openness to making changes to the show?

I don't want to get into a big discussion of political correctness on this thread, but rather, knowing that there have been protests lodged, what the creators response was.

A couple of personal opinions
- I saw a production at SF Playhouse which I enjoyed very much.
- I try to avoid telling other people what they should and shouldn't feel offended by (regardless of intent).

Updated On: 10/5/15 at 01:56 PM

[Kad]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 2:56pm

The only Native American outcry I had heard was toward the end of the Public run, mainly in regard to the depiction of Sauk leader Black Hawk which was, even in a historically loose show, heavily fictionalized and not based in fact. The Broadway production changed the character to Black Fox- more clearly fictional- as well as changed some of the less-PC lyrics in "Ten Little Indians."

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 4:05pm

Iesha said: "thats what I thought. It just lost its magic on broadway"

 

I saw it off-Broadway and didn't find anything magical or good about it.