I must say that the majority of reviews on here while negative have not been all that mean spirited or sensational.
The nastiest posts in this thread are from the people who haven't seen the show attacking the opinions of those who have.
I didn't open the thread until after I saw the show for myself, so I wasn't influenced by anyone, but when I did open it the first 2 people who posted substantial reviews (the poster with all the falsetto names and Michael Bennett) were pretty fair in their assessments. They didn't seem to be over the top or "hater-ish" to me.
That blog someone just linked, is that person someone we should know of? Is he someone whose opinion is more valid than anyone else's. That's not sarcastic, I've never heard of him before and don't known if he's a respected theater critic.
He seems like just another opinionated person who posts on a blog instead of here.
By far the nastiest person on here is that guy who thinks everyone who didn't like the show is a frustrated actor or something.
For the record, I love my job and have no desire to work in theater. I'm just a patron who sees a lot of shows. I'm not frustrated, nor on unemployment and I still didn't care for the show.
Just wondering why those who have not seen the show are so defensive?
But like I said earlier, it's not that it's a horrible show. It's just not what people who know the previous work of the amazingly talented creative team and cast expected.
WOTV will be a perfectly suitable musical comedy. But what it won't be is a show that captures the organic lunacy and heart of the Almodovar movie.
Here, the whimsy of all the inane coincidences of the movie are by necessity signaled with less subtlety. That is something that I suppose needs to be as a bway house has to make sure that the people in the back rows get the connections (hence the discovery of Carlos' lineage being enlarged for example).
That's not a bad thing necessarily, it's just different. The phrase "lost in translation" comes to mind as an appropriate mantra.
The sweet idiosyncrasies of the movie are now big musical theater character traits.
The best way to enjoy this show if you have seen the movie is to understand that it is a different animal. It remains colorful and frenetic but loses the carefree playfulness of the movie in favor of forced musical theater tropes.
Updated On: 10/11/10 at 07:56 AM