info on Amour?

[theatahguy]

Posted: 9/19/08 at 1:25am

Can someone give me info on the B'way production of Amour? I remember hearing about it when it opened and whatnot, but I only very recently listened to the OCR and found most of it really charming. A few clunkers here & there, naturally, but a cute score.

Does anyone remember the staging? Did it deserve the negative reviews? Why didnt it run longer?

[DooWahDiddy]

Posted: 9/19/08 at 1:48am

I saw the show, and remember thinking it was very good. Malcolm and Melissa were wonderful, and the sets were kind of cartoonish, which was very charming. However, I recently listened to the album and it didn't sound as good as I remembered it. So either it's a poor recording or just a show that relies heavily on visuals to appreciate.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 9/19/08 at 9:34am

I LOVE Amour. The show is extremely charming, and the score is a delight. The lyrics are often brilliant and the melodies stick with me all day. The cast was wonderful, especially Errico.

The staging was simple and the sets were sparse. Gets walked through the walls by way of cloth panels in the set piece sides. The show definitely was not about creating dazzling special effects.

The only time the direction got a little crazy was during the courtroom scene. It's not on the cast recording, but there was an extended dance break where they whole cast began to can-can. Even the judge lifted up his robe to reveal a can-can skirt underneath!! Melissa Errico, if I'm not mistaken, even did cartwheels across the front of the stage.

I lament the fact that the production closed so quickly. At least it can live on through the beautiful cast recording.

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 9/19/08 at 10:18am

AMOUR, I think, was too whispy and, as Brantley put it, "claustrophobically fey," to survive on Broadway. It didn't have much of an advance, and after the wildly mixed reviews, it didn't really have a chance.

It was also a show, like THE BAKER'S WIFE, that didn't have much of a plot to care about, and so had to resort to "local color" numbers (like The Painter's Song, the Whore's Song, etc.) that didn't seem to have much to do with anything.

The characters, despite the fairy-tale quality, were hardly developed at all, which resulted in them being either one-dimensional (Isabel's husband, the street merchants) or no-dimensional (Isabel, who really doesn't do anything other than love and be loved).

And, on top of all that, some of it was just plain weird. Isabel's Husband sings about his fantasy of being whipped (Every single time I'm beaten by a whore / I go to court and even up the score!). One of Dusolei's admirers, while he's in jail, visits and spreads her legs for him. Etc.

[twogaab2]

Posted: 9/19/08 at 12:37pm

I loved this show. An almost criminal loss. (He said dramatically.)

[Roscoe]

Posted: 9/19/08 at 2:44pm

It was a nice little show that suffered from an over-elaborate production, it just got swallowed alive in that theatre. Once upon a time it would have played in a nice little Off-Broadway house, had a nice little cast album, and gotten a series of nice little regional productions.

They kind of went for a Rene Magritte vibe with the sets, I remember.

[musikman]

Posted: 9/19/08 at 3:34pm

I think there might have been a thread on this earlier that will give you lots of info, but don't quote me on that.

Wonderful, charming score, great cast. Enjoyable afternoon/evening at the theater.

Lyrics were often immature, pedantic, and predictable (but clever on occasion), sloppy production, and almost amateurish at times. This show was eaten up alive by the music box, which is a small theater to begin with.

Definitely belonged off-broadway. The cast recording is a wonderful thing to have as it preserved the best parts about that show; the music and the cast.

[me2]

Posted: 9/20/08 at 12:50pm

Ethan Mordden raves about it in THE HAPPIEST CORPSE I'VE EVER SEEN, which you may want to look up.
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