pab visits Rent, Bee, Wicked, Chitty, DRS, Piazza and Ave. Q

[pab]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 4:09pm

I returned from New York today after having seen a show on Tuesday, two on Wednesday, one on Thursday and Friday and two on Saturday. Here are the shows (in the order that I saw them) and some thoughts on each of them.
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RENT. This was my forth time seeing "Rent" and after my last visit in June of last year I thought I would not go back again. That experience was ruined for me by the one and only (thank god), Scary Spice. The entire evening was just a bad memory and I decided that maybe I would just wait for the movie and not bother seeing the show anymore. Having a friend with me who wanted to see the show again we ventured to the Nederlander Theatre on Tuesday night. I am very happy that I went and thank god for Karmine Alers who just brilliant as Mimi. It was a very enjoyable evening, for the most part, but there are one or two things that I will nit pick about. Matt Caplan as Mark was good but not great. He seemed at times to just be walking through the role. There was an energy level that was just not there and at times I got the feeling that maybe he was now bored with playing this role. Cary Shields was good as Roger and everyone else seemed to be on target. Frenchie Davis sang the hell out of everything she had to do. For all of the people who have mentioned her as a possible Effie in "Dreamgirls", forget it. Great voice but she cannot act. You can see it even in the bit parts that she has in this show. I was happy to have gone back to Rent again and it just goes to show you what one bad stunt casting performance can do to a show. Mel B. should stay far away from musical theatre.
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SPELLING BEE. What an absolute pleasure this show was. I had seen the Tony performance but I had no idea how that number fit into the show especially after they brought Al Sharpton on. This show was fun from start to finish. The entire cast was good but I must give special mention to Jesse Taylor Ferguson, Sarah Saltzberg, Jay Reiss and Dan Fogler. I saw this show at a Wednesday matinee and the spellers from the audience were great. I had an opportunity to be one but declined in favor of just watching the show and after seeing what was required I was happy to have just watched and I now offer kudos to those who participated.
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WICKED. My third time seeing this show and it was okay. Still by NO means the best show on Broadway and it continues to have a tendency to drag in a few places but all in all an okay evening of entertainment. Ben Vereen and Rue McClanahan, both of whom I’ve liked in various performances, add nothing new to this production. I felt that the show was no better or no worse with them than the two other times that I’ve seen it. Shoshana Bean and Megan Hilty both handle themselves well in their respective roles. Having seen Idena & Kristin, Idena & Jennnifer and now Shoshana & Megan for me the best working combination was Idena & Jennnifer. I fail to see how this musical rates so highly with so many people. I’m not saying that it’s bad but there are so many other musicals that are just that much better.
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CHITTY. Well, I went into this show not expecting too much and I came out with mixed reactions. There should be no doubt that the villains own this show. Marc Kudisch as the Baron and Jan Maxwell as the Baroness were both brilliant! Keven Cahoon as the Childcatcher was pretty good as well. I felt that the role of the grandfather was wasted on Philip Bosco and both Raul Esparza and Erin Dilly really did very little for me. There was NO chemistry between them. Their songs were nice but I could not wait for villains to reappear. I've seen the helicopter and the chandelier and I have to say that the car in this production is one of the best special mechanical effects that I've seen on Broadway. Now I know this is a children’s show and they are expected to react but some parents let them go a bit too far. There was a child sitting behind me who, at the top of his voice, asked the adult with him, ever-conceivable question there was as to what was going to happen next. The adult then would answer at the same vocal level. Needless to say I was annoyed but was restrained by my friend from turning around and saying something. A few seats from this child was another kid with a bag of chips, which rustled for a god ten minutes. AHHH! I was wishing that the Childcatcher would come up to mezzanine and take those kids away. I paid over a hundred dollars to see this show and no matter what I end up thinking about it I should be allowed to see it without these major distractions. Because it’s a “children’s show” parents should not feel as if their kids should have cart blanche in the theatre.
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DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS. What a delight this was! I had seen the movie a few times and liked it. When I heard that it was being turned into a musical I let out an audible groan because I assumed that it would be something that I would not take to. Well, I could not have been more wrong. I loved every minute of this show and everyone in he cast. Norbert deserved that Tony hands down. What a great performance. Lithgow was also brilliant as was Sherie Rene Scott, Joanna Gleason, Gregory Jbara and Sara Gettelfinger. This show is worth another visit and it will be a show that I will highly recommend to all of my friends.
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THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA. What a pleasure! It's been a while since I've seen such a fresh new musical with this kind of score. Music has been secondary in some Broadway musicals recently in favor of the quick laugh and some scores have been downright trite. The music has been good but the focus has been on the comedy with easy refrains and simple songs. Finally a new musical with a great score. Adam Guettel has shades of Sondheim in his writing. I don't know the best way to describe this musical without sounding snobbish, and at this point I really don’t care, but it's akin to a lot of musicals being made for children (musically) while this one is made for the adults among us. By adults I mean that musically and not chronologically. There was not a bad performance in this musical and a well deserved Tony Award for Victoria Clark. Seeing this prompted an immediate purchase of the OBC CD.
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AVENUE Q. This was my second visit and the show is still as fresh as ever after two years on Broadway, as we were all reminded at the curtain call when Stephanie D’Abruzzo came out with a banner stating that fact. Natalie Venetia Belcon as Gary Coleman seemed a little weak in Schadenfreude to the point where the audience lost some of the works and Ann Harada's accent got so thick at times that it was difficult to understand what she was saying. These were minor points in an otherwise very fun evening of entertainment. It’s been almost a year since I saw this show and it has none of that “we’ve been doing this forever” feel to it.
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Needless to say, it was a great trip.

Updated On: 8/1/05 at 04:09 PM

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 4:26pm

I saw RENT at Bryant Park, and I agree that Mimi and Joanne were both great [in my opinion]. Obviously, they didn't need to act, so it was a different perspective.

Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed Piazza. I feel the same way about the performers... "There was not a bad performance in this musical and a well deserved Tony Award for Victoria Clark." And about Adam Guettel:
his mentor is Stephen Sondheim [who is also a family friend]
his mother is composer Mary Rogers
and grandfather is Richard Rogers [of Rogers and Hammerstein]

so... he's got some great genes, and he has definitely made a name for himself in a different way. --korenglish

[broadwaybaby77]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 4:43pm

GAH! I want to go on a New York theatre trip again right now.

I agree completely about LITP. I've seen loads of new musicals, and Piazza is in a category of it's own. I loved that show.

I also agree that DRS is completely different (and, in my mind, better) than the movie.

I'm so jealous you got to see all those shows in one trip...

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 4:47pm

God, I am so jealous that you got to see all of those shows. Grrr....to you!!! Anyway, thanks for those reviews. I agree about Matt Caplan. I saw some clips with him playing Mark and thought that he was such a robot. I really did not like what I saw from his performace. But, I am glad you had a great time. Keep them reviews coming.

[sanda]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 4:57pm

You paid $100 for Chitty? Poor man, that is too much. I paid $26.5 and still feel unworth of it.

And please don't blame child. This is a child show, yes, but a bad child show. It is boring even for the child. And I feel pity for those kids whose parents paid such a lot of money for this boring experience. Yes, they are children, but not nerds.

[mizzie]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 5:09pm

I really enjoyed Matt Caplain's Mark when I saw the show. I had won the lottery, so I was in the second row, and I felt that he played the role very well. He does have a tendency to "smile" when he's trying to look angry though....which bothered me a little bit....The Joanne was fabulous though!

I saw the movie of DRS after I saw the show, and I find them almost too similar! The script/book for each are nearly identical, except for the added romance and songs in the stage show. I prefer the show though.

I saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in New York also. I paid $21 for my back row (literally) seat, and as good as the show was (Spectacle is always fun! Plus, many of the actors were great!) I couldn't enjoy it because of all the chip eating around the audience. However, I was in the back row, and that can't help.

Avenue Q is great! However, I did feel that many of the lines were delivered with less conviction than when it started out. The only strange thing was that I was sitting next to a ten year old boy....and he was enjoying the show a bit too much....still, great show!

And Spelling Bee is fabulous. You turned down the chance to be in the show? Wow! Oh well, the show is great no matter what!

I'm glad you had fun!

[pab]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 5:43pm

"You paid $100 for Chitty? Poor man, that is too much. I paid $26.5 and still feel unworth of it."

Yeah, well, living quite a distance from New York there was not much choice with that one. At least I was able to get discount "Rent" tickets online but no such luck with "Chitty". As I passed TKTS I could see that the show was available and there were definitely seats empty on the night that I went. It was all so much easier when I lived in New York.

[WiCkEd4LyFfE]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 7:05pm

how did you pay 26 dollars for Chitty? because the tix on TKTS for Chitty is 75 dollars. Were your seats good?

[LucilleAndLeoFrank]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 7:11pm

The student rush tickets are $26. They are basically whatever is left over. I rushed it on Thursday and got last row of the center orchestra.

[WiCkEd4LyFfE]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 7:15pm

thanks! :)

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 7:16pm

Pab,

For future reference, http://www.broadwaybox.com/

There are discounts for most of the shows you saw on there, especially a few very deep ones for Chitty.

[pab]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 7:49pm

Thanks Margo, I've actually used broadwaybox a few times. When I was ordering my tickets, a little over a month ago, for the specific shows that I wanted and the times I wanted to see them, "Rent" and "Piazza" were the only two shows that offered a good discount at the specific times that I wanted. I have, in the past, gotten some very good deals from broadwaybox and from playbill.com. "Avenue Q" was another possibility but the Saturday night that I wanted was unavailable when I was ordering. Of course after I ordered some of my tickets a few more discounts became available.

[pab]

Posted: 8/1/05 at 10:19am

"I saw the movie of DRS after I saw the show, and I find them almost too similar! The script/book for each are nearly identical, except for the added romance and songs in the stage show. I prefer the show though. "

For me it was one of those movies that I could watch every once and a while and not get tired of seeing it and that was maybe the reason I was not too comfortable with the thought of it being made into a musical but after seeing it on stage I would have to say that I also prefer the show. After all it is the same story but it now has a very nice score and that added romance with the Joanna Gleason and Gregory Jbara characters.