Why do I find the return of the PRODUCERS Dynamic Duo...

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 11/5/03 at 8:34am

...oddly depressing?

I love the show, and love them. And I was fortunate enough to have seen them both twice. And they were truly as terrific and funny as most everybody says they were.

And yet, after all that...I honestly don't feel they were THAT much more earth-shatteringly fabulous than Brad Oscar and Roger Bart (saw THEM twice too). The book is so solidly written that it can more than withstand the lack of stardust - though I do wish the score were better, It's still tip-top entertainment (its achievement seems even more impressive compared to this seasons dismal musical misfires).

I have no desire at all to join the clamoring crowds again. I've seen the show enough. I'd be much more enthusiastic to see both Nathan & Matthew both go on to other, equally interesting projects on stage - and I'd love to see them in a film together.

I also feel kinda badly for Fed Applegate & Don Stephenson. Their situation reminds me of a great PEANUTS strip from the 1960s (back when it was still funny): Linus is telling Charlie Brown about a fantastic baseball triple play he saw on TV, where the 'other team came from behind and triumphantly claimed victory'.
Charlie Brown turns to him and glumly asks: "How did the other team feel?"

Updated On: 11/5/03 at 08:34 AM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/5/03 at 8:44am

I've been thinking a lot about this since that Times article last week and for me, the saddest reality covered in the article was this notion, after the megamusicals, that shows have to run into their second decades to be considered successes.

And I think it's reflected in the recent thread where members talked about seeing X two or three times a month. These things that run forever and ever and the people who see the shows hundreds of time kind of work against the nature of what theater has always been about. It's right in front of you, and then it's not. It's a live performance. You are either there in the moment with the performers, or you are not. It is not a movie or a dvd.

So last weekend I saw the Phantom mask outside of the theater on the sign and thought, "Oh please." Every time a Mimi tent went by on top of a cab I wanted to scream. Something like RENT being just wrung to dust is annoying because it's was once about the new and different, the inspiration to create something new. And instead of doing that, the people who love it just keep seeing it again and again like it's The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Get out of the lottery line, pick up a guitar, and write a new musical.

It takes a lot of convincing for me to get up the interest in Broadway revivals of anything, and this Producers thing is the same.

Things can be great for a couple of years, before long-run-itis. There's no shame in running a few years.

Am I making any sense?

[sheekala]

Posted: 11/5/03 at 8:57am

I agree that the "treatment" of the current cast is a tough situation for any actor to be in, and the "RETURN" is being hyped at an alarming fever pitch, but I'm excited as heck about it! I've seen the show here in NYC with all the different combination of leads, in LA with Alexander and Short, on tour with Lewis& Don,then with Brad and Andy and soon in Toronto (keep your eyes on this production. Amazing leads!)and I've never enjoyed it as much as I did with Nahtan and Matthew. Of course the show has a successful structure that usually delivers the laughs, but there are times when it doesn't, Steven Weber comes to mind. N&M brought a combo of star power and a chemistry that hasn't been matched in this or any other show since, well maybe Harvey and Dick in Hairspray. Their comic love affair was so touching that usually I had tears in my eyes at the end, and I'm a hollow bastard! Brad Oscar was a huge favortie as Franz, but I never warmed up to him as Max, he sings the score with relish, but his natural energy doesn't fit the character, it's all so "forced"..ahh to me anyway as I know many people love him. So, yes, I'm happy The Producers will have Leo&Max, the "real ones", back on old Braodway!

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 11/5/03 at 9:04am

Ah, Sheekala!

After Nathan & Matthew leave again...then what?

[sheekala]

Posted: 11/5/03 at 9:37am

Why Jon Lovitz and Robert Sean Leonard, MasterLcZ!