I saw the show twice so far. Once at the infamous "You want a tomato? No? Let's play charades instead." performance, and once this past weekend.
Here's my thing: I'm a 22 year old actor who took a couple of courses specifically catered to the "farce" genre at NYU. While that doesn't make me a critic, a farce specialist, or anything else other than an actor who loves seeing theatre (and doesn't love tearing it apart), I have one major thought about the show that I don't believe anyone else has really touched (if I'm wrong, I'm sorry, and please let me know otherwise):
Why are some of the creators concurring with Almodovar (and most reviews I've read of the original film) that this is a "farce" if it isn't being treated as one? It's a really DIFFICULT, specific form of comedy- it requires a very specific sense of humor and timing- and frankly, I didn't believe that Sherie, Justin, Nikka, or D'Adre had much business being cast in that type of show, because they aren't really RIGHT for it. They are all clearly so talented in their respective ways, but the only people who I felt really upheld the pace and sense of FARCE throughout this (which, based on the film, I felt couldn't really have made as much of a successful film without having had the farcical pace and ideas, because of the many characters and many different purposefully comical situations...sorry for the run-on sentence) were Patti, Laura, and Brian. While I liked Sherie (and personally, for reasons unrelated to anything in this thread so it doesn't matter, I don't usually like), I just felt like she couldn't hold together that sort of story. Justin did a great job with what he had, but just didn't have the energy or enthusiasm to match that level of farce. And Nikka and De'Adre (who I felt were meant to be the "straight" men of the show) just weren't acting in the same style as anyone else- even the "straight" characters in farce have to be in the same style as the more "over-the-top" characters in order to form a cohesive show. While I love the idea of using all of these talented performers in one show, it just wasn't the right show for all of them- and I don't know that there IS a show for all of them to do together, because they are all so DIFFERENT as performers.
If there's anything I've learned from five years of auditioning and working in NY, it's that casting a show really depends on finding a "company". It just didn't seem like anyone was doing the same show here, either time I saw it (even with all the changes in the past couple weeks). Even shows like "Mamma Mia", which I know isn't thought of too highly on these boards, knows that when they recast Donna, they usually have to recast Sophie (which, unfortunately for the Sophies, means that most Sophies' contract lengths are dependent on whichever Broadway star they get to play Donna at the time). With a FARCE, it really requires that the whole cast is on the same page- it's too specific a genre. I imagine it's the same reason most "broad" comedians rarely do dark comedy- they require different things. I just felt like the casting was so scattered to fill the cast with "credits" (de'Adre is usually accompanied in print by the fact she was a Tony nominee, Justin usually accompanied by his AI fame, etc. to match Lupone, etc) that it wasn't about casting a uniform cast.
I know at this point there's nothing to be done about this, but I'd just like to see the script and score as written (which I know are not perfect) receive some proper edits or something in the future (because I think there IS a show here, with THIS creative team even) but they got too hung up on writing roles for Broadway favorites rather than writing for the show and the characters as they were imagined by Almodovar.
I also could be completely wrong and will probably get 500 responses as to why I'm an idiot (many of this board doesn't seem to like anyone whose opinion differs from theirs) but whatever. I love theatre and every time I go see a show, I try to find the best in it and constructively criticize it rather than tear it apart- being rude and catty doesn't do anything to help ANYONE in terms of creating a musical- and I just hope that WOMEN finds a way to make a cohesive production that entertains or provokes or whatever the authors intended, rather than hoping it fulfills my own expectations.
Updated On: 11/3/10 at 03:21 AM
