after watching the jane's new york special...

am i the only one who secretly and rather shamefully wants to see good vibrations now? It seems like good ol' fluff with little substance but hell

---

You're not the only one.
"Hello, my name is Ryan and I liked Good Vibrations."

Updated On: 2/27/05 at 11:41 AM

Yankee, I don't think anyone in their right mind would go into GOOD VIBRATIONS expecting any sort of comprehensible plot - let alone a heavy one. I went in expecting it to be terrible - and it was worse than I had been led to believe. How can you say it's fun? The only fun I had was laughing at the less than amateur choreography, the deplorable direction, that hideous set, the bland cast, and the butchered music. There's nothing to enjoy. Oh, and I got a really big kick out of the screen behind the "Car" to show them driving. Terrible.

---

I will admit that I did enjoy GV. Yes the plot sucks and the dialogue of forced, but most of the numbers are a lot of fun. And the cast does give it it's all. I wanted to see this special but I wasn't home, I hope they reair it sometime...

I agree, Girlfriend. I liked watching the show just to get a look at what goes on.

... even if I sort of shuddered when the showed footage of the show.

---

Nicely said, Matt.

I wanted to forget the giant, pointless, hideous plexiglass wave - I cracked up when they showed that. And how for the finale, magically in NYC 5 years later, they're in a "subway" with a giant wave behind them. CRAP.

---

5 years, 10 years, it's still terrible.

They're wearing the same exact clothes they had on earlier - 10 years later you wouldn't still be wearing the same clothes, look exactly the same, and if you spend the entire summer together, you wouldn't meet on the subway "10" years later and barely care.

As far as the wave ALWAYS on stage, it just comes across as cheap and like they don't care. nothing about this show is good, and John Carrafa is THE most untalented director I have ever come across.

---

MAMMA MIA's book is amazing compared to GV.

And does anyone know the reasoning behind making such a big deal of not letting the audience know what year it is? It's so terrible.

---

You don't enhance whatever credibility you may have when you continue to get the facts wrong:

"They're wearing the same exact clothes they had on earlier"

Wrong. For example, Caroline has on a completely new costume.

". . .and if you spend the entire summer together, you wouldn't meet on the subway '10' years later and barely care."

Wrong again. Bobby "barely cares" so much that he says: "This is all we get? Five seconds?" He then insists they meet and, after Caroline has to jump off to avoid missing her stop, Bobby -- without knowing anything more than she lives in the Village -- finds her to confess his love. Doesn't sound like "barely caring" to me.

That's three inaccuracies in this thread alone.

Is it just me or does anyone else find Jane Hanson incredibly hot?

---

Being that Broadway is "supposed to be" the foremost leader of theatrical excellence, yes, inaccuracies in the show like costume progression does matter. I'm not a dumb audience member, and anyone who doesn't notice how little things like that greatly detract from the story (if there is one,) should really stick to shows like MAMMA MIA and GOOD VIBRATIONS. There is a smart way to put a show together, and there is a terrible way to put a show together. MAMMA MIA and ALL SHOOK UP are smart. GOOD VIBRATIONS is terrible.

And yes, I wouldn't doubt it if they did pay the audience to look amused. When I was there, the audience hated it and didn't even clap after every song.

You say you'd go to listen to the music, see a great young cast, and to have fun. Well, you can also do that at a concert. This is theatre, not an amusement park. I go to the theatre to be enlightened, obviously entertained, and hopefully it will get my mind working. After leaving GOOD VIBRATIONS, I not only felt dumb and poor, I felt embarrassed for the entire cast and for everyone involved with that show. I couldn't possibly expect you to understand that, because it seems that you go into Broadway shows expecting the least possible amount of effort and meaning. So go ahead and subject yourself to the terror that is GOOD VIBRATIONS.

---

"If you think it's good, you really need to get out more."

I’m disappointed. That’s not quite up to your usual standard of insult, such as your memorable rejoinder on Feb. 4 to Muscle and Kudzu: “Go stick your head in the oven.” Although I'm totally disarmed by such a clever retort, I'll gather my wits enough to point out the following:

"Actually, the guy is wearing the same exact coat and scarf."

The "guy" (I assume you mean Bobby, the lead) is, in fact, wearing the same coat and scarf as at the top of the show. Since you found the show "hard to follow" I'll point out that Bobby also acts as a narrator at the top of each Act and at the end. Bobby is SUPPOSED to be wearing the same coat and scarf at the top of the show as at the end because he's taking a retrospective look back at the events. BTW, narrators are common throughout the history of drama.

"If he cared, he would have jumped off the train with her."

Really? That must be the long-lost 11th Commandment. Besides, the subway door closes quickly behind Caroline. Even she just barely manages to get off at her stop. And Bobby shouts after her: "Where can I find you?"

"And it's impossible to find someone in NYC just by knowing what area they live in."

You may be interested to know that they have these things now which are called "telephone books." If you look up someone's name (and since Bobby and Caroline have known each other since the 4th grade, we can be pretty sure Bobby knows Caroline’s last name), you can actually find his or her telephone number and address. They've even got online services now where, if you know someone's name and the state (not even the city) they live in, you can get the address and phone number. I've included a link below to one such service. You might want to check it out.

"Then, after not having seen her for 10 years, he sings 'God only knows what I'd be without you.' YOU JUST SPENT 10 YEARS WITHOUT HER, SO OBVIOUSLY IT'S POSSIBLE."

Did you bother to listen to all the lyrics? The whole point of the song is that, if they're apart, life would go on, but that life is made meaningful by being together. The first line of the song is: "If you should ever leave me, life would still go on, believe me." Plus, what makes you think Bobby (or "the guy," as you call him) is talking about the past? The use of the words, "if you should ever leave me," refers to the future. If he had wanted to refer to the past, he would have said, "if you had ever left me," or "from the time that you left me," or words to that effect.

I also note that you just posted: “There is a smart way to put a show together, and there is a terrible way to put a show together.” Perhaps you’d like to point us to some examples of your own Broadway work as examples of the former.
411.com

"It is possible to recognize good craftmanship without actually having done a show on Broadway."

At least it's now clear that you've never worked on Broadway.

"I have been involved with amazing shows and terrible shows - I certainly know the difference."

Do you? The facts suggest otherwise. I note that of 28 reader reviews posted on the New York Times website, yours is ranked 27th in terms of being helpful. The only one ranked lower has such helpful comments as: "Lead guy should be replaced by long hair blonde guy," and "The gay humor needs to go."