Who Actually Saw BKLYN?

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 1/6/13 at 9:36pm

In the years I've been on this board it seems to be the only universally hated show among everyone here. I know it's mostly people making jokes about its awfulness, but, for those of you who saw it, what was actually so horrific, aside from screeching actors?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 1/6/13 at 9:39pm

I saw it. I sat there front row center for two hours being sceamed at. I'm not kidding when I tell you that I had a headache like I've never had before, after that show let out.

It was a new kind of awful theater and the reason that if I see the words "Eden Espinosa", I will run as fast as I can in the opposite direction. She should never be allowed to torture anyone else the way she tortured audiences who had to suffer that experience.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 1/6/13 at 9:53pm

I sat there, the entire time, simply thinking: WTF?!! I oh-so-desperately wanted to leave, but there was no way out.

Honestly, though, I don't remember much except for the reaction I had.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 1/6/13 at 9:58pm

I saw it. I thought Eden and most of the very talented cast were trapped in a nightmare with a director and designers from Hell.
I thought Eden should have gotten a TONY nom. The music is not that bad try the CD)

[julesboogie]

Posted: 1/6/13 at 10:09pm

I did. And i remember thinking...THIS is Broadway?? I hadnt seen much else in NY before then. I kept wanting Clevant Derricks part to be amazing, but it was just weird. The whole thing was. The garbage costumes, the interesting orchestrations, and the book. Oh and Eden was out. Blonde understudy was on. Talented cast. Weird show.

[DEClarke]

Posted: 1/6/13 at 10:13pm

I didn't. I love the CD though.

Oh, and when I saw [title of show], I almost died from laughing when they said, "This show's derivative, but we're singing the **** out of it" in reference to BKLYN.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 1/6/13 at 10:15pm

I saw it many, many times - and while I believe it felt like 2 hours, Jordan, I'm pretty sure it was an intermission-less 90 minutes. It wasn't as bad as most people have made it out to be, but the story was simplistic and pretentious. The music was awful, made worse by the American Idol-style singing, which at times was pretty painful.

The sets and costumes were fairly interesting, made of trash (IIRC, every character was either very poor or actually homeless). The character Paradice (pair o' dice, get it?) wore a dress made entirely of trash - chip and Wonder Bread bags, things like that. Cleavant Derricks made the best of an embarrassingly bad role, Street Singer.

Hard to imagine how it ever made it to Broadway.

[trentsketch]

Posted: 1/6/13 at 10:24pm

Once I accepted it was nothing but a pop concert with trash for props and spray paint, I enjoyed myself. I do enjoy the score but the book is terrible. I even think the bad book was part of the gag, but it wasn't funny enough or cheap looking enough to sell the "we're broke street performers, tip us so we can live" conceit. The much ballyhooed garbage ball gown was constructed beautifully, as was every other piece of "garbage" on the set.

You want to be the street performer show? Then maybe you should pass out the cup more than once in the show. At the very least, do you think you could return to that conceit at the end of the show for some kind of visual or song? Maybe you should come up with a story so tight that the audience has to pay attention. You think all those buskers in the park just freestyle every day and draw a large crowd? No. So why would you go with that story and super fussy "look how broke we are...not!" costumes, props, and sets if you're trying to channel street performers? Go all the way (like Spelling Bee, where it didn't matter that adults were playing 8-12 year olds because everyone fully committed at every step of the creative process) or don't go there at all.

Updated On: 1/6/13 at 10:24 PM

[Kad]

Posted: 1/6/13 at 10:38pm

Ghostlight- why did it see it so many times?

[Phantom4ever]

Posted: 1/6/13 at 10:42pm

I saw it on New Years' Eve, 2004. Snagged a last-minute date that afternoon and asked if he'd be down to see a Broadway show. He said sure, and the ONLY thing available was Bklyn, for full price of course. So I paid full price, sat through it, and found it unenjoyable and dull.

I remember being very excited about it because it seemed like it was being marketed as the new Rent.....in the same way Spring Awakening was marketed a couple years later.

I do remember Edin Espinosa being a bit scream-y. But I was mostly let down because of the poorly-written book and score.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 1/6/13 at 10:49pm

I saw it. Like a lot of things that get so much retrospective hatred, it wasn't as bad as the hyperboles say. But it was pretty bad, and ultimately just inconsequential.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 1/6/13 at 10:50pm

Money talks, Kad.

[blaxx]

Posted: 1/6/13 at 11:56pm

I didn't, as three years of therapy have managed to erase all my BLKYN memories.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 1/7/13 at 12:17am

The "book" appeared to have been written by a 3 yr old.
No offense to 3 yr olds.

Eden does a nice version of ONCE UPON A TIME on her new CD, which is excellent.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 1/7/13 at 2:16am

I did. It was a train wreck of a show with a very talented cast. I can't say I remember much specifically about it except for Eden singing "Once Upon A Time." She's a talented girl. But she also needs to learn to take it down a few notches. The entire song was performed at volume level 11. I also remember cringing at some of the cheesy dialogue, lyrics, lines, etc. It was a really odd show that seemed at odds with itself and was nowhere remotely near ready for Broadway.

[ClumsyDude15]

Posted: 1/7/13 at 3:56am

I saw it on Kids Night On Broadway, and I don't really remember too much other than liking the pop score, how sort of cool the Twister dress was, and how it was actually a HUGE downer of a show.

However, the most memorable thing I recall was having a little girl near me begin to scream out how much she hated it when her mother asked her if she was liking it.

Updated On: 1/7/13 at 03:56 AM

[Greekmusicalfan]

Posted: 1/7/13 at 6:29am

I saw it on my second NYC trip in 2004 ! My first trip was on Xmas 2003, so I had seen everything I wanted to see, and I didn't have many options, so I decided to give it a chance. It was bad, but I don't remember much at all, I blocked it out. But I do remember that this, The Producers and Cry-Baby are my least favorite Broadway experiences !

[Roscoe]

Posted: 1/7/13 at 9:14am

Saw it, hated it. Man was it loud, some of Eden Espinosa's high notes were downright sinus-clearing. The real deal-breaker was a degree of self-righteousness to the proceedings that started to choke after a while, it seemed to be under the delusion that they were saying something Terribly Profound, and little Brooklyn's saintliness became intolerable.

The one cool thing in the show was that garbage bag dress that Paradice wore late in the show. The cast did their best, but God, what a horrible show that was.

[TimesSquareRegular]

Posted: 1/7/13 at 9:40am

Yes, I saw BROOKLYN, though much of the time I wanted to close my eyes and stuff cotton in my ears. I'll never be able to look at bubble wrap the same way again.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 1/7/13 at 9:55am

I saw it. Was given a pair of comps for center orchestra. We were surround by people which made it difficult to leave. I have never wanted out of a theatre as much!
The screaming was horrendous, the storyline childish and having gone to art school, seeing the trash bag costumes was something every Freshman Fashion Design student would do for assignments.

[Sauja]

Posted: 1/7/13 at 10:08am

I saw it from the fifth row on the aisle. When Brooklyn's dad had a Vietnam flashback and started pretending his guitar was a machine gun and he was murdering children, I got such an uncontrollable case of the giggles that I ran up the aisle and down the stairs to hide in the bathroom until I could get it together.

The show WAS deadly serious which was a horrible fit since the plot was patently absurd and the costuming and set design were flat out cartoonish. And yes, the whole show was shrieked, and Eden Espinoza's high notes landed her the only spot on my list of performers I don't think I am ever willing to see again.

As I recall, the reviews were much, much kinder than I expected (I saw it in previews). Out of the 150 or so Broadway shows I've seen, it remains the worst of the worst.

[howardbf]

Posted: 1/7/13 at 1:50pm

I see it everyday. I live there.

[OSM_]

Posted: 1/8/13 at 10:22am

I listened to the CD, being that my voice teacher is good friend with Eden, and I just couldn't take it. My ears are still ringing from the time when my iPod was turned up to full volume and "Once upon a time" started to play. The beginning was fine, but geez those high notes were unbearable.

Updated On: 1/8/13 at 10:22 AM

[AC126748]

Posted: 1/8/13 at 11:29am

I seem to remember, at the time the show was on, that it had a pretty devoted fan base of people who saw it multiple times (some double digits, some triple). I think some of those people used to post here.

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 1/8/13 at 11:38am

I saw the national tour with Diana Degarmo and I thought she was oversinging the entire time. I did like her better as Doralee in '9 to 5'.