a Chorus Line of understudies and Galinda Chenoweth climbs an Apple Tree

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/7/06 at 11:39am

quick comments...

saw Chrous Line was a slew of covers.. first of all, I must just say that I LOVE Diedre Goodwin and that I still think Charlotte is awful, which is unbelievabl since she is playing HERSELF. I'd like Goodwin to give a whirl at cassie. She has the same real life story after all.....
Yuka Takara is still out, and J Elaine Marcos has come in to play Connie. I enjoyed her more than Yuka.
David Baum was on as Bobby, I liked him, butw ould like to see him as any of the other roles he covers. He SCREAMED straight man trying to gay it up but not too much, if that makes sense, and he lacked the bite and wit of Ken Alan.
Pamela Jordan was HORRIBLE as Kristine.The one dissapointing understudy.
Lyndy Franklin was a great Bebe, though I missed Alisan Porter.
Mike Cannon was in as Al. I think I liked him more than I liked Yazbeck.
Dure to running out of swings, they did the opening number with a cut track, which I felt was glaringly obvious.

Stay tuned for my Apple Tree post....

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 12/7/06 at 11:48am

...Wow, why were so many people out? They ran out of swings?

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/7/06 at 11:48am

Okay.. first, the cast.

Kudisch was great. Loved him.
Walter Charles goes horribly underused.
Brian d'Arcy James was good and enjoyable in Act One, but came off as HORRIBLY miscast in Acts Two and Three.
Cheno, as always, was a one trick pony, though she does it well. I was only impressed because she expanded it to "a trick and a half". Act One, she is doing Glinda again. Act Two, she does Glinda doing "Popular". Act Three, shocker, she starts by reverting back to Sally Brown mode (Glinda with a tom boy walk and reigned in voice), but goes right back into Glinda when she is glamorous.
Sean Palmer and Sarah Jane Everman are the ensemble standouts.

The set was horrible.. ugly, unattractive, and VERY cheap looking throughout. The only aspects I liked were the show curtain panel, which looked like a left over from Beatty's Color Purple set, and the back wall used during Act two.

The use of body doubles was awful and OBVIOUS.. at least find someone short to double for Cheno for God sake... and when the double was onstage, Cheno's voice was even fed through a COMPLETELY different set of speakers... VERY obvious. I hope it was an intentional cheezy "60sish" effect, given the act it takes place in, but sadly, it just came off as "w have no budget and shoe string summer stock company told us to do this."

The sound design was awful... aside from late cues, there was bad micing where James' voice would be double amped - from HIS mic AND Cheno's.. and the orchestra was mic'd in a way that EVERY turn of a page of sheet music was heard loud and clear... just awful.

All in all, this show should be left cold in award season, just as it left me cold last night. Thankfully, I was comped.
Updated On: 12/7/06 at 11:48 AM

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/7/06 at 11:49am

Chorius Line was THREE swings. Two female, and one male (Joey Dudding.. I was glad to see him on). FOUR people were out.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 12/7/06 at 2:13pm

Finally, someone else sees the light about THE APPLE TREE.

[Princeton78]

Posted: 12/7/06 at 2:21pm

Does the full cast of ACL EVER perform?
Or can we add them to the Murphy, Benanti, LaChanze club?

[LeaGirl]

Posted: 12/7/06 at 2:30pm

When I saw the show last week it was full cast, except Yuka, who since its known that she's out for a while wasn't a big deal.

[gumbo2]

Posted: 12/7/06 at 2:41pm

Care to explain a little bit about how James was miscast? I thought he was fantastic.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/7/06 at 2:43pm

last time i saw LINE, there was a full cast. This show leaves the cast VERY prone to injury.. so it would not be unreasonably to have many times where SOMEONE is due to to injury or in order to prevent it.

Amen, Munk... I even wanted to enjoy myself.. and at moments I did. I think I almost WET myself during act three when the producer character yells at Cheno, as Passionella to learn how to act.. and then again when she wins a best actress award for playing herself... now that was just too much to handle.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 12/7/06 at 2:47pm

I may be in the minority and I was actually surprised, but I thouht Charlotte was better than Cheno.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/7/06 at 2:49pm

I couldn't tell you which I prefered.... I just thought they were both weak.

Oh, and that damned staircase for TIGER was horribly designed.. it looked decnt, but was 100% NOT functional.. Cheno's whip because stuck on it several times.. before it became tangled in her headpiece... just a mess on sooo many levels.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 12/7/06 at 2:57pm

Stephanie J.'s chance at a TONY nom seems to be growing.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/7/06 at 2:59pm

and other actresses as well....

[Broadwayboy2631]

Posted: 12/7/06 at 3:21pm

I saw David Baum too, he needed to be more "gay"

[Broadwayboy2631]

Posted: 12/7/06 at 3:21pm

I saw David Baum too, he needed to be more "gay"

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 12/7/06 at 3:31pm

HUH? Explain that genious criticism...

[Kev]

Posted: 12/7/06 at 3:57pm

broadwayguy2...

I second the request to see Deidre take on Cassie. I don't think Cassie's music would sit well with Deidre's voice, but I picture a technically superb and intense dance break. Still think she's the best female dancer in the production.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/7/06 at 4:26pm

cassie's music isn't sitting well on Charlotte either. She seemed strained and was pinching out many notes, losing some lyrics. Goodwin, I think, would knock Music and the Mirror out of the park though. One thing Goodwin brings to ANYTHING she does is energy, drive, passion, and grace.. all of which is lost in the song with Charlotte.

Davad Baum, as Bobby, didn't come of as bitchy queen in the way he played. I don't think "femme" is the answer at all, in MY opinion. As I said, he just seemed to lack the bite, the wit, and, since I failed to mention it, the resentment of growing up in his shoes.

[cooperross]

Posted: 12/7/06 at 4:32pm

Cheno's whip because stuck on it several times.. before it became tangled in her headpiece...

The whip in the headpiece seems to be a bit and not a mistake..it's been happening consistently over the past few perfs..

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 12/7/06 at 4:45pm

Studio 54 is known for terrible sound. Every production I've heard reviewed from there says its terrible. No surprise there.

[VIETgrlTerifa]

Posted: 12/7/06 at 4:59pm

I bet you Apple Tree will get nominated for Best Revival just to have Chenoweth perform at the Tonys. Unless they won't let them have a performance because it'd be closed for months by then.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/7/06 at 6:21pm

I had a 3 foot speaker two feet away from me.. i was front row, at the side. it wasn't acoustics. I heard what came RIGHT of the speaker. It was the sound design that was crap.

The whip getting stuck wasn't a 'bit'. her character being bad with it was the bit.. she was doing what was staged.. it is just bad staging. I was right there and could see her reactions.... the way it caught the stairs and her head was not meant to happen.. it just happens consistently because she is in a badly designed costume on a badly designed set doing a badly staged scene.
Updated On: 12/7/06 at 06:21 PM

[Producer2]

Posted: 12/7/06 at 7:12pm

i saw acl with 100% attendance!

[Ruth Sherwood]

Posted: 12/7/06 at 7:18pm

I thought "The Apple Tree" was excellent. While Chenoweth isn't the most versatile actress, she gave a wonderful performance, and I would hardly call her a "one trick pony." (Her comic timing is perfection, but then she had the audience in tears after "What Makes Me Love Him.")

As for the minimalist approach, I thought that was wonderful also. I think to have had a big production would have taken attention away from the rich and beautiful material. Out of all the revivals this season, I find this to be the most deserving of the Tony.

[Mistress_Spouzic]

Posted: 12/7/06 at 11:45pm

minimal is fine, but theres no reason why you should see clear into the wings, or have the stage drop off about 2 feet before the brick backwall of the stage.

...as for the whip, I thought it was part of the act too but maybe its just happened so often she knows how to handle it by now.