What is the big deal with Brooklyn?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/5/04 at 5:26pm

What is the deal? I saw, liked it but this board is buzzing, good bad and ugly....why?

[CJR]

Posted: 9/5/04 at 5:28pm

Didn't you just post a thread earlier today about how Brooklyn is gonna be big?

After that, you're seriously sitting here and asking why there's all the hoopla... when YOU'RE one of the very people creating it?

*sigh*

[#1Elphie]

Posted: 9/5/04 at 5:29pm

I feel like Brooklyn is gonna be the next Wicked on this board....the constant threads, the bickering...

[joeyjoe]

Posted: 9/5/04 at 5:30pm

yup, and it's going to make me wish for a thread blocking function...

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/5/04 at 5:30pm

Point well taken, I just can not believe how many private responses I have gotten. Tons of people agree and tons are vicious? My question is why does this create so much emotion...good and bad?

[Plum]

Posted: 9/5/04 at 5:34pm

It's because of the Wicked connection- the star of Brooklyn, Eden Espinosa, used to be Idina Menzel's Elpheba standby. Worse yet, the show is being hyped as delivering what Rent only promised (whatever that means). The only way that show could attract more insensate teeny-boppers is if...well, I'll be polite and stop right there.

To be fair, I actually thought Brookyln had promise when I first heard about it. And Ms. Espinosa does have a good voice, from what little I've heard of it. But she isn't the next coming of Julie Andrews. And from the sample songs that have been released, this show can't claim to deliver half of what Rent did. And I don't even like Rent.

The show is just another weapon being used in the Wicked/teeny-bopper wars, in other words. Updated On: 9/5/04 at 05:34 PM

[wicked4life51]

Posted: 9/5/04 at 5:39pm

thank you plum im not a fan of rent either but i have to disagree that BROOKLYN is so much more diffrent from rent and they are totally diffrent shows so hopefully rent will close cause its so outdated and BROOKLYN well its amazing and its going to be amazing the music is great and the casting is amazing and i have a feeling that brooklyn is the 2005 tony award winner for best musical

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/5/04 at 5:41pm

Frankly the songs sound like a bunch of American Idol reject songs to me. Anyhow it's just the same small group of people making a big deal about it over and over.

[TheGaIsSilent]

Posted: 9/5/04 at 5:46pm

"Worse yet, the show is being hyped as delivering what Rent only promised (whatever that means)"

Huh? I have no idea what that could mean, either.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 9/5/04 at 5:50pm

"so hopefully rent will close cause its so outdated"

How is RENT outdated? There are still people who struggle for their art. There are still people who get aids and feel as if there is nothing to live for anymore. There are people who look for love and when they finally get it, it is taken away from them. I see nothing outdated by it.

[Plum]

Posted: 9/5/04 at 6:40pm

Why can't you like Brooklyn without disparaging Rent? I realize they're playing to the same crowd, but that doesn't mean they can't coexist. Just out of curiosity, have you even seen Brooklyn, wicked4life?

[uncageg]

Posted: 9/5/04 at 6:57pm

I was just going to ask the same thing.

As I have posted a number of times before....I have seen Brooklyn a few times (In Denver). The songs come off better live (in my opinion). It is not RENT but it has that feel I think mostly due to the sets and where the show is set (On a streetcorner). RENT crossed my mind the moment I walked into the theatre. And yes, Eden's voice is wonderful, but wait till you hear the other girls live. They are just as good. Actually, my favorite in the show is Karen Olivo. I think it will be a nice addition to the shows on Broadway. It got rave reviews here in Denver. I am very interested in what the New York critics will have to say. It's just a really feel good show.

[little_sally]

Posted: 9/5/04 at 7:02pm

I'd like to know what the big deal with Brooklyn is as well. I've heard the three songs off the website, and while the performers have impressed me, I didn't hear anything special in the songs. They do sound like something an American Idol would release as a single. But like I said to my friend last night, you can not judge a musical after hearing just three songs.

I can understand the comparison between Brooklyn and Rent but I don't hear the similarties. They're playing to the same crowd but the stories aren't similar, the score isn't similar (Rent has a rockier sound), and I don't know if Brooklyn will have the same impact or longevity as Rent. I certainly don't think Rent is dated.

And people talk about Eden Espinosa so much and how she's going to be a big draw since she was Idina's stand-by but I doubt anybody who isn't Broadway savvy even knows who she is.

I think this is "Spamalot's" year as Tonys are concerned...

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 9/5/04 at 7:05pm

thank you plum im not a fan of rent either but i have to disagree that BROOKLYN is so much more diffrent from rent and they are totally diffrent shows so hopefully rent will close cause its so outdated and BROOKLYN well its amazing and its going to be amazing the music is great and the casting is amazing and i have a feeling that brooklyn is the 2005 tony award winner for best musical

I usually don't like singling out posts, but this one speaks for itself. And not one punctuation mark to be found. Yes, the teeny-boppers are out at play.

I'm so bad, I'm Wicked.

Updated On: 9/5/04 at 07:05 PM

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 9/5/04 at 7:10pm

LOL, BlueWizard. You are my hero.

[insomniak]

Posted: 9/5/04 at 7:18pm

"hopefully rent will close cause its so outdated"

Brooklyn is for the preteen crowd, Rent is most certainly not. And just because it is set in the nineties does not make it dated. Would you call Romeo and Juliet dated because people no longer talk like that or get married at thirteen? No. A good work of literature or theatre will always be current if its themes are based not on situation, but on human nature. In Romeo and Juliet, we see teenagers fighting with their parents, falling in love and leaping into things before leaping. Guess what? That still goes on, even though Shakespeare's work is centuries old. Rent's themes are just as relevant today as they were eight years ago, people still struggle to trust their emotions, fight with their lovers and feel as though they can't find themselves and their art. I knew nothing about Broadway when I saw the Rent tour for the first time. I had never heard of the show before, the name wasn't even a bit familiar. Knowing none of the hype or the Tonys, I walked into that theatre and left with something I didn't have before.

Will Brooklyn do this for people? I really can't say. But don't insist that people will push Rent aside for Brooklyn so quickly.

[Rachel]

Posted: 9/5/04 at 7:20pm

do you think people will rush brooklyn like they did for rent?

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 9/5/04 at 7:38pm

If their parents will let them cross the street unescorted.

[TheGaIsSilent]

Posted: 9/5/04 at 7:41pm

Aw come on. Let's not harp on the show until it has it's first preview, at least. I've heard the songs they've released, and while they are only OK, Eden is an amazing actress, and worthy of some attention.

That being said, BlueWizard is my hero, too