Yoshimi and the Pink Robots Still Happening
Yoshimi and the Pink Robots Still Happening
Yoshimi and the Pink Robots Still Happening#1
Posted: 3/15/12 at 12:05pm
Des McAnuff directs, but no mention of Aaron Sorkin as the book writer. It's playing at La Jolla in the winter.
Music of The Flaming Lips to Ignite Des McAnuff Musical Yoshimi and the Pink Robots
Yoshimi and the Pink Robots Still Happening #2
Posted: 3/15/12 at 12:15pmYAYYYYY!!!
Yoshimi and the Pink Robots Still Happening #2
Posted: 3/15/12 at 1:16pm
The very definition of tempered high hopes.
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
Yoshimi and the Pink Robots Still Happening #3
Posted: 3/15/12 at 1:22pmI hope to God there isn't scaffolding or a "Toto Cam."
Yoshimi and the Pink Robots Still Happening #4
Posted: 3/15/12 at 1:38pmAccording to the LA times, Sorkin is not involved.
Yoshimi and the Pink Robots Still Happening #5
Posted: 3/15/12 at 1:51pm
^Yeah, I think that was information from last year's rumors.
Yoshimi and the Pink Robots Still Happening #6
Posted: 3/15/12 at 1:53pm
"The very definition of tempered high hopes."
Precisely.
Yoshimi and the Pink Robots Still Happening #7
Posted: 11/26/12 at 3:49amSo, has anyone on here seen this production? If so, I'd like to hear thoughts.
Yoshimi and the Pink Robots Still Happening #8
Posted: 11/27/12 at 2:36pm
Going to be in San Diego in a few days and am hoping to catch it. Has anyone seen it?
Updated On: 11/30/12 at 02:36 PM
Joined: 12/31/69
Yoshimi and the Pink Robots Still Happening #9
Posted: 11/27/12 at 4:05pm
The online review I saw yesterday was a rave
Talkin' Broadway Review by Bill Eadie
Updated On: 11/27/12 at 04:05 PM
Yoshimi and the Pink Robots Still Happening #10
Posted: 11/27/12 at 4:33pmSeeing it 12/14. Wouldn't call that review a rave, but definitely positive.
Yoshimi and the Pink Robots Still Happening #11
Posted: 11/28/12 at 11:06amI'm seeing it on the 8th and I'm quite excited. The LA Times review was mixed, but I hear that audiences Re enjoying it. Apparently, the book is pretty week so it's a shame they didn't have Sorkin on board. Perhaps, they will get him if the show moves on after La Jolla. In any case, The Flaming Lips always put on a spectacular stage show and I know that Wayne was involved in this so I am expecting at it to be visually stunning at the least.
Yoshimi and the Pink Robots Still Happening #12
Posted: 11/29/12 at 10:09amI was really curious about a song list and I managed to find this http://lajollaplayhouse.org/yoshimi-kbyg in case anyone else is interested
Yoshimi and the Pink Robots Still Happening #13
Posted: 11/29/12 at 2:44pmI'm glad "Do You Realize??" is the finale.
Yoshimi and the Pink Robots Still Happening #14
Posted: 11/29/12 at 3:12pm
This show seems to be well-handled. The band seems fairly involved and supportive, it's being taken in interesting directions, the pedigree is pretty solid.
People rag on the existence of jukebox musicals all the time, but the well-structured plot-based book musical took years to become the dominant form over plots with song slots, where bits could be shuffled without any real harm. They're not such a bad thing, really, at least when they aren't utter ****. I don't think Yoshimi is going to be utter ****.
Yoshimi and the Pink Robots Still Happening #15
Posted: 11/29/12 at 5:24pmYes, Do You Realize is my favorite lips song ever! Perfect choice to close the show.
Yoshimi and the Pink Robots Still Happening #16
Posted: 11/29/12 at 7:22pm
There's an interview about the project with Des McAnuff. I wouldn't call it a jukebox musical, though I suppose a case could be made for it being one...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4GhqjzqjGc
Yoshimi and the Pink Robots Still Happening #17
Posted: 11/30/12 at 12:21am
I saw this while it was in previews, and had exceedingly high expectations (As I was expecting a collision of two maximalistic aesthetics [Des's and Wayne's]). The analogy I'll give is I was expecting the second coming of Christ, and all I got was an obscure 14th century saint. As far as reviews, I agree almost entirely with Bob Verini's rather eviscerating review in Variety.
Rather than giving a line by line complaint list, I'll give a couple bullet points...
1: If you go in expecting a remarkably three dimensional Flaming Lips show, you'll likely be disappointed with how much of the show feels trapped within the proscenium arch. So much of the show feels remarkably pulled back and surprisingly understated.
2: My constant line is the narrative is a lifetime movie of the week about a girl with a rare form of lymphoma. Yes there are some explosions of fantasy around that (and that is where the show succeeds the most), but there are nowhere near enough of them, and you're left with swaths of banal scenes where the staging blandly illustrates the lyrics.
I will admit that the last quarter of the show is more successful and emotional (If you know the lyrics, it won't take a rocket scientist to figure out what happens in that part of the show [starting at Feeling Yourself Disintegrate onwards]), but by that point I was well past the point of no return for not liking the show.
Bob Verini's review in Variety
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
Yoshimi and the Pink Robots Still Happening #18
Posted: 11/30/12 at 12:26amSo it's trying to be American Idiot? Which....didn't do so well...
Yoshimi and the Pink Robots Still Happening #19
Posted: 11/30/12 at 12:40pm
Wow, that's a shame that it doesn't employ the 3-D tricks that you get in a Lips show. I guessim thankful to know this as I will try to lower my expectations a bit...
Still, ugh...
But, I'm still excited to see it :)
Yoshimi and the Pink Robots Still Happening #20
Posted: 11/30/12 at 3:08pmI have low expectations for this show but I'm such a big Flaming Lips fans that if it ever gets to Broadway, I'll be first in line for tickets.
Yoshimi and the Pink Robots Still Happening #21
Posted: 11/30/12 at 3:28pmThat's kind of how I felt as well!!
Yoshimi and the Pink Robots Still Happening #22
Posted: 11/30/12 at 3:33pmThe Flaming Lips' live shows are pretty theatrical in themselves. You'd think they'd incorporate some of that into the stage show.
Yoshimi and the Pink Robots Still Happening #23
Posted: 11/30/12 at 3:36pmI can't help but wonder if another director isn't better suited to something like this.
Yoshimi and the Pink Robots Still Happening #24
Posted: 11/30/12 at 3:43pmI've come to the point where I don't think Des McAnuff is suited to direct anything.
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