Women on the verge - What went wrong? - Page 2

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 5/11/19 at 1:24pm

I saw the show very early in previews and I know it went through vast changes, which indicates to me that they should have done an out of town tryout before the Broadway run. The main thing that sticks out as a problem to me a number of years on is the direction; it felt overwrought and was attempting to make a large-scale spectacle of a story that should have been small and focused on the relationships among the characters. The book definitely didn't help this as it wasn't particularly focused on anything, but Sher's production was frankly a mess and so was the design. The score, however, was excellent and I'm glad it got the attention it deserved from the cast album because a lot of it was mangled onstage due to the direction.

Updated On: 5/11/19 at 01:24 PM

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 5/11/19 at 1:34pm

ljay889 said: "What turns me off from the revised version is that the fabulous Overture is cut and the score is played by a very small band. The broadway sound was superior. "

I actually kind of prefer the smaller sound of the revised version.  It could probably use some brass, but I actually think it reflects the show more.  I also hope we get a new production soon, but unfortunately, I'm not sure anyone could ever top Benanti and Lupone in their roles.

Also, as great as Sherie is, I'm not sure she's ever had the sort of diva status and fan following that Lupone and Benanti have always seemed to have, so I think she was immediately overshadowed by her more "beloved" co-stars.  I think she faded into the background.  She was just upstaged.  And the set was awful.

 

Updated On: 5/11/19 at 01:34 PM

[BuddyStarr]

Posted: 5/11/19 at 7:19pm

I had mentioned this years ago while listening to the score on Pandora when it came on.  Had I not seen it I would have thought “Wow, this sounds like a great musical, I wished I had seen it on stage, the music is gorgeous”. But if you had seen it you knew what a mess it was.  I mean putting all the leading ladies on wires at the end of the Act 1 and flying them around the stage?  Model Behavior is probably the best song and number from the show.  Laura was wonderful and Patti...well she was Patti, hilarious and Invisible is haunting but she was hilarious in the part.  I remember lots of projections and thinking that I didn’t want to leave at intermission cause it was Patti (It was that bad) but I was so bored.  

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 5/11/19 at 8:56pm

As someone said, the burning of the bed was a big problem for me. It worried me and the Theatre smelled of smoke most of the show.

I felt very bad for Sherie when they announced Patti and Laura would be joining the cast, that was very unfair to the leading lady and off-set any balance the show might have had. It was a real mess, with some decent music.

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 5/11/19 at 10:59pm

Almodovar's film is fast, funny, and dazzing, but it's also very nimble where the production was belabored. The subtler scale of the film's winking pop-art sitcom vibe was traded for cirque-du-scenery that was like a stairmaster for your eyeballs. I also agree that the score, as nice as it is, was too often stopping for introspective ballads when it should've been keeping things going.

[David10086]

Posted: 5/12/19 at 6:38pm

Here is a link to the thread on the "Patti trashing Sherrie" topic which was brought up earlier by a member here. It seems to revive itself every two years, (2013, 15, 17) so it's time for 2019....LOL

 

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1061347&page=1

Posted: 5/12/19 at 8:50pm

That was one of the biggest bummers in the history of Broadway. And yes, it wasn't ready to open. Needed an out of town for sure. 

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/13/19 at 3:45pm

Saw the Broadway production in previews and loved everything about it, except the burning bed, which could have been staged much better without the actual fire on stage.  It was my favorite show that season.  To me, the staging, direction and book were stylistic tributes to Almodovar, which is one of the reasons I loved it so much, and probably the biggest reason it failed.  I think the Almodovar stylings were perhaps a bit too esoteric for general audiences (and many of the critics).  The cast was sublime (Benanti truly deserved the Tony and yes, Guarini was surprisingly GREAT in his role), including Sherie Rene Scott's performance as the axis on which all the manic plot revolved.  If they all played at the same level of hysteria, it would have been too much.  Same with the score.  The story is a farce about the characters' states of mind and, in many cases, rooted in the histories of their relationships.  The metaphorical songs and reflective ballads provided information about the characters and their relationships that were vital to the plot as well.  None of them were like "What do the Simple Folk Do?" where we are given multiple verses that provide only one minute character detail and simply repeat it over and over and over again.

I also saw the London production and loved it as well.  The staging was simpler on a white 2-level unit set with a smaller cast and orchestra.  Lighting washed the set in various bright colors.  The opening added a better introduction to the characters.  I admit I do prefer Time Stood Still in the Broadway production to its replacement, It's Me.  While the message was essentially the same, the former was far more successful at illustrating how this woman mentally and emotionally locked herself in a period in time before her life fell apart.  She chooses to remain there, knowing that she's too emotionally fragile to face reality and move on.  The latter never really offered a glimpse into the depth of her psychosis.  The cast was mostly strong, though Anna Skellern was simply no match for Benanti's iconic and pitch-perfect performance as Candela (Skellern even flubbed a section of lyrics in the middle of Model Behavior the night I saw it).  The new finale, The View From Here, worked really well, but it was moving My Crazy Heart to the opening of the second act as a solo for the Spanish-guitar-playing narrator that was a stroke of pure genius.  Not only was it a great way to usher the audience thematically back into the show, the insanely talented Richard Afonso BROUGHT. DOWN. THE. HOUSE.  Microphone was removed from the score.  I actually liked how it had simultaneously lifted the from the opening scene of the original film and used it to provide the father-son link, though I can't say I really missed it in the London production (probably because the father figure was intentionally depicted as more figure than father).  What I did miss was the tango pas de deux of Marisa's gazpacho-induced erotic fever dream.  

For those who didn't catch them the first time around, two promo videos from the London production.
Trailer:
 

Opening number (Madrid):
 

 

[Wildcard]

Posted: 5/13/19 at 4:01pm

The lead as it was written was the least interesting character in the show. Hard to root for someone when the person you should be relating to is dull. Most of her songs were the slow ballads, and while they were beautiful songs, compared to everyone else, she had the least exciting songs.  

[KnewItWhenIWasInFron]

Posted: 5/13/19 at 4:46pm

GeorgeandDot said: "ljay889 said: "What turns me off from the revised version is that the fabulous Overture is cut and the score is played by a very small band. The broadway sound was superior. "

I actually kind of prefer the smaller sound of the revised version. It could probably use some brass, but I actually think it reflects the show more. I also hope we get a new production soon, but unfortunately, I'm not sure anyone could ever top Benanti and Lupone in their roles.

Also, as great as Sherie is, I'm not sure she's ever had the sort of diva status and fan following that Lupone and Benanti have always seemed to have, so I think she was immediately overshadowed by her more "beloved"co-stars. I think she faded into the background. She was just upstaged. And the set was awful.

"

I really think that hideous set -- whiich looked like four different sets, mashed together -- was the biggest problem. The show is meant to be somewhat chaotic but that doesn't mean the design elements have to be.

[Paul Plain]

Posted: 5/13/19 at 5:17pm

I am playing Ivan currently in the West Coast premiere. We have the whole thing blocked and are going into a run through tonight. I can answer questions

[Robbie2]

Posted: 5/13/19 at 5:23pm

Nothing about this worked! Patti was fierce and so was Laura but even with all the talent on stage it was boring. Music was just ok and Bart was the wrong director for this! As I said, it just didn't work as a musical.

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/13/19 at 6:08pm

Paul Plain said: "I am playing Ivan currently in the West Coast premiere. We have the whole thing blocked and are going into a run through tonight. I can answer questions"

Is the overture officially gone?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/13/19 at 7:52pm

All this talk is making me wish I’d been able to see it. I do love the album save for a few songs that seem to have later been cut in the revised version anyway. It’s a shame the Broadway cast didn’t get to preserve the final version of the score.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/14/19 at 9:36am

It’s a shame the Broadway cast didn’t get to preserve the final version of the score.

I like the fact that we have the Broadway and London cast recordings and not just the OCR of the London revisions.  Personally, I think if you just make a playlist using Time Stood Still instead of It's Me, delete the Broadway My Crazy Heart and insert the London version of My Crazy Heart after On the Verge, and replace the Broadway bonus track with The View From Here, then you get the version of the score.

Personally, I would probably replace the Broadway versions of Madrid and On the Edge with their London counterparts (I love the fact that the intro to On the Edge was recording for the London cast).  As for the Overture, I didn't miss it in London.  I enjoyed it on Broadway with the show curtain, but when listening to it, the melody doesn't seem to be connected to any of the songs from the score.  And in the London production, it would not have really segued well into the opening number.

[Roland von Berlin]

Posted: 5/14/19 at 10:49am

If there's a London cast recording, it isn't posted on Amazon.USA or Amazon.UK.

Is this some sort of indie thing, available in some out of the way manner?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/14/19 at 11:48am

Roland von Berlin said: "If there's a London cast recording, it isn't posted on Amazon.USA or Amazon.UK.

Is this some sort of indie thing, available in some out of the way manner?"

The London cast recording was only available for download on Yazbek's website for a while. I believe MTI also sends it out as the reference recording rather than the OBC recording.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/14/19 at 1:16pm

For a while, you could contact the producers and request a copy.  They mailed it to me for free, but that was a few years ago.