Witches of Eastwick

[DickonDefysGravity]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 1:40pm

What is this show about??? Is it good??? I love the song "Loose Ends"...did anybody see this show???

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 2:03pm

The show is based on the 1987 film of the same name starring Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Susan Sarandon and Cher. I saw the show in London and the score and book were quite good. I didn't care for the sets which were mostly giant postcards for backdrops and picket fences. The only numbers that I didn't like were Eye of the Beholder and Dance With the Devil, but overall, it is a fun show that I think would do well on Broadway (especially with Kevin Kline). At the end of the first act, the three women fly up and over the audience to the balcony, but the apparatus had a malfunction when I saw it and the whole scene was rather baffling. The women remained firmly seated on the sofa (which resembled a hideously giant pair of lips) and waved their arms in the air cooing, "Oooooh! Wow! This is great!" etc. The orchestra skipped ahead to the end of the scene and there was a sudden blackout and dead silence as you could hear the actors leave the stage. The house lights came up and the stage manager announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen, we apologize, but the Witches of Eastwick were unable to fly at today's matinee." There was a light smattering of applause, but most people just got up from their seats looking very confused. It was kind of funny, but I was sorry I didn't get to see the effect.

[JakeB]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 2:57pm

If you see my previous posts on this you know I hold a thing for it. It's incredible, and in the hands of the right director could be electrifying. However, it's a really large intimate show. Large cast, big effects, but very intimate. Would love to see this cut down to, say, 14 people.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 5:55pm

We saw it in London & enjoyed it immensely

It should come to Broadway although our snooty critics would pan it as not being "worthy" of Broadway ( whatever that means)

[LoringsGuy]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 5:58pm

I really love this score and would love to see it on Broadway.

Any casting ideas on who should play the three women???

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 6:13pm

Chenowith would be one

No clue who would play the devil except maybe Tom Hewitt

[Auggie27]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 6:30pm

Funny, to each his own, as always. I saw it in London, and had the opposite reaction. I thought the score was ordinary and ballad-heavy. And the book was a reduction of the Updike novel with heavy-handed jokes. To be fair, I saw it near the end of the run (July 2001) after Arnaz had departed and they'd moved it from the Drury Lane to the Prince of Wales. People swear it was exhiliarating in the bigger house. I think it's a dubious prospect for Broadway, despite its American pedigree. But the posts here suggests a potentially strong word of mouth, so what do I know?

[Tiny-Toon]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 6:43pm

I saw it in London.. great show

[RockyRoad]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 8:27pm

There's a production of it opening in Australia

[Eastwickian]

Posted: 11/23/04 at 5:30am

Well as you can tell from my screen name, I quite liked this show It was more spectacular at Drury Lane though let down by Ian McShane as a lackluster lead. It was more focused when it moved to the Prince of Wales, but lost all the sets

The origianl Australian production opened and closed in 2002 - changes had been made from London and it was rumoured that it was a try-out for Broadway, but obviously didn't succeed as well as it might have. There is a 're-imagined' version running in Moscow, Russia which is spectacular if weird (www.eastwick.ru)

As for it's Broadway chances - very little at the moment. The producing partners of Cameron Mackintosh apparently wanted a pre-Broadway tour, but after doing the sums found that this would be too expensive, and it's all gone quiet. There was a reading in 2003 at MTC, but nothing came of that either. It has now been released to selected amateur groups in the UK to stage in the coming year.

Incidently, Kristen Chenoweth is actually on the demo recording along with Ruthie Henshall.

[SingingTeacherNYC76]

Posted: 11/23/04 at 7:59am

I saw it at the Drury Lane before the move. Maria was amazing singing Loose Ends!