Witches of Eastwick- Signature Theatre — Page 6

There is no real buzz about the show going to NYC after this. I spoke with one of the principal singers who said they had not been approached about a Broadway run. Who knows what that means.

I hope you all can come and see this production. I am biased because I see it every night, but in spite of it's faults, it has great moments, great singers, and some great effects, especially given the size of the space.

And seriously, listening to the girls sing "I Wish I May" and "Look at Me" at the end of the show is worth the price of admission.

I saw it on Sunday and felt the book was extremely weak. I would've liked it a lot more if it hadn't ended so neatly.

This is a show that has so much potential - it just needs a good rewrite!!!

"Look at Me" is a great ending.

any more reviews? 8 performances left!

Finally got to see the show on Thursday night and loved it - wish I'd booked more than one ticket now (Spoilers ahead for those interested in avoiding such things)

I quite liked the shortening of 'Eastwick Knows' as the show seems to start much quicker now, setting up the characters of Felicia and the townspeople as well as the three leads (courtesy of some music cut from London) who did some great work with the new vocal arrangements in 'Make him mine'. I do miss 'A Little Town' but the new number 'Darryl Van Horne' does the same job just as well. The resequencing of the seduction songs was a bit strange, but the new number 'My Wildest Dreams' was great (and included a bit of my favourite cut song 'Little Miracles'). I'm still not convinced that 'Something' still needs to be there in it's current form, I could hear the audience getting restless before the end. That all changed with 'Dirty Laundry' which got huge laughs and applause. 'I wish I may' is a lovely song (though have they reallocated the verses?) and though the 'wiring up' of the ladies at the end of Act One was more obvious than it had been before, the effect still worked for me, so who cares!

The new arrangement of 'Another night at Darryl's' with the three woman made more sense, and though I miss 'Loose Ends' as a song I think they were right to cut it. I always found it rather jarring that Sukie would sing a lovely four-minute ballad to the girl and then be out for her blood (albeit briefly) a couple of scenes later. It's a shame that they've cut 'The Glory of Me' as well, but I suppose that this new version doesn't really need another big showy number at that point (even though it was so much fun!) Darryl's final speech confused me a little and seemed to be overstating the point rather, but still worked and his exit over the audience was entertaining. 'Look at me' was great, and though I found the riffing and belting a little too 'American Idol' at one point, the actors really gave it their all. And I wouldn't say that the ending was neat considering that, although the women have a new understanding of themselves, they also have another problem coming...

Only one complaint - the orchestra sounded rather underpowered to me, despite playing with energy they could. Whether this was due to the reduction in numbers or the new orchestrations I couldn't tell, but they could do with being beefed up a bit.

But that's quite minor - overall I loved how the whole show had been made darker, especially the Clyde and Felicia storyline. You really get to understand why he finally took the action he did, and the fact that he beat her to death with a poker rather than smacking her with a frying pan (complete with comedy 'boing' noise) was a great addition. The business with the Little Girl was an interesting way of showing Darryl corruption of the town's innocence, if more than usually tastless at some points (here in the UK the media are obsessed by peadophilia and the implications of those scenes in the show made me feel rather uncomfortable. But everyone else was laughing, so that's probably just me).

Having followed the musical from previews in London to such a radically different production in the US, it's been fascinating to see how one show can take so much tinkering, alterations and to change so radically in tone and yet still be 'the same'. If this new version gets done anywhere else, I'd be there like shot...

Difficult question as I loved all of the London casts (with the exception of Ian McShane) - in particular I didn't see how anyway one could improve on Joanna Riding's performance, but Christiane Noll was equally as fantastic. She played up the emotion more (as was true of the entire production) and even threw a tennis racket at me. Which was nice.

Marc Kudisch was Darryl van Horne, if that's not too much of a cliche. Earl Carpenter and especially Clarke Peters were great but it was still very much 'a performance', whereas Marc was utterly believable. Maybe that was due to the changes which made the whole show a lot darker and gave him room for more interesting acting choices (again, true of the entire production).

Emily Skinner and Jacquelyn Piro Donovan were also great in their respective roles, not better or worse than their London counterparts, just different (again, mostly down to the changes in the show, especially giving Alexandra more of a character). Vocally, all three women blended fairly well whilst retaining a bit of individuality and really threw themselves into their respective 'seduction songs'.

It sounds strange but hearing the jokes come out of American mouths with a more American sensibility and pacing seemed to make all the difference (to me, anyway) and I really hope that it has some kind of life outside this staging at Signature.

Fingers croseed then - best of luck to the cast, crew and orchestra for their final few performances!

"I just have one question. Is the ending of the musical supposed to indicate that the ladies are pregnant, as they were in the movie? That is what it led me to believe. "

That's how I took it as well. I'm not sure it it's in the script as it's been used in a few of the amateur productions here in the UK as well, but they could also be taking their cue from the movie...

lets hope the witches fly on and have a longer life

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Yes, I think it is meant to insinuate they are pregnant.

Feeling Electric- Thanks for the comparison to the movie. I have not seen it (like most newer movies that have since been adapted for the stage...).

I very much hope this show has a life after this production- especially if they keep the same leads!

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Updated On: 7/14/07 at 07:47 PM

Well, the show is closed and we can only hope that Witches lives on, either in regional companies or on Broadway.

The show was very well received tonight, and it was emotional in one way or another for everyone involved.

I hope those who saw the show continue to post comments and show support for the show, and those who didn't keep your fingers crossed for a Broadway run.

P.S. Backstage gossip revealed to those who PM me.

I really wanted to be at the last show yesterday. However, I have some distance problems with that one. However, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a Broadway run. With a few changes here and there it could be a more enjoyable show on Broadway.

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