re: High Fidelity Reviews- Page 4

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 12/9/06 at 12:51am

I kinda agree Munk but he dwells on the past way too much, and likes to hear himself write.
(Brantley not Munk, well maybe they share the second part) Updated On: 12/9/06 at 12:51 AM

[caitiesus1522]

Posted: 12/9/06 at 10:12pm

So I just saw this..and I did not hate it at all. I agree with what others have said, the guy who played Jack Black's character was so...blah. He bored me. And I hated that HE had the last song. Such a let down for an otherwise amazing second act.

The first act dragged, but I did like (at least most of) the music.

I thought the rest of the actors were really good, Will Chase was fabulous.

There were a few brilliant parts that I thought were hilarious and I thought they were perfect, but not th ewhole thing.

I know others have said this, but the book of this show was not very good. And you can compare it to WS because the singing in the rain song=If I told you the I'm Sorry song=Grow Old...just a lot of similarities.

I was annoyed that there wasn't a song list in the Playbill.

However, as a whole, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would

[jasonf]

Posted: 12/9/06 at 10:18pm

I agree with Caitie pretty much.

I also hated the guy sitting behind me who bitched every time I even slightly moved my head despite the raked seats.

The guy who played Barry needs to go.

The book needs to be rewritten/the show needs to be re-directed. There are beats that are just -- odd. The end is TERRIBLE. Let me say that again. The end is TERRIBLE. I completely zoned out during the last song and it was over before I knew it.

That said, the music is mostly strong (I think it'll make a great cast album). I LOVED LOVED LOVED the Bruce number, and I loved the "kill Ian" scenes.

So -- mixed, not great, not bad -- the Bruce scene alone was worth the price for this Jersey boy.

[antiandrewx]

Posted: 12/9/06 at 10:42pm

I saw this today as well. I enjoyed it a lot. It has its flaws and it is by no mean a masterpiece, but I thought it was great. Will Chase is perfection. Rachel Stern was also another standout for me. I can't figure out why there is such negativity around this show. The songs were catchy and it was funny.

The only thing I didn't like was the ending. Predictable.

[jasonf]

Posted: 12/9/06 at 10:45pm

antiandrewx -- where were you sitting?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 12/9/06 at 10:45pm

I'm glad you enjoyed it, antiandrewx. Just have one quick question - what would you have preferred to see as an ending, if you felt the ending was too predictable? Would you rather have seen Rob and Laura not reunite? I think the final song is mediocre and the reunion seems rushed, but I didn't have a problem with the final outcome.

[antiandrewx]

Posted: 12/9/06 at 11:03pm

"antiandrewx -- where were you sitting?"

Row AA Seat 111. Orch. Center. (Lotto seats)

[antiandrewx]

Posted: 12/9/06 at 11:04pm

"I'm glad you enjoyed it, antiandrewx. Just have one quick question - what would you have preferred to see as an ending, if you felt the ending was too predictable? Would you rather have seen Rob and Laura not reunite? I think the final song is mediocre and the reunion seems rushed, but I didn't have a problem with the final outcome."

I don't really think that the ending should be changed. I liked that they get back together but it was predictable. I guess maybe it was just the final song that I didn't really like at all.

[ashley0139]

Posted: 12/9/06 at 11:06pm

How was the lotto today? Has it generally been pretty empty?

[antiandrewx]

Posted: 12/9/06 at 11:13pm

Everybody won lotto who played. It wasn't crowded at all.

[Trish2]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 8:07am

I'm just glad choreographer Christopher Gattelli came out unscathed. I've always enjoyed his work and am hoping for his next big thing after Altar Boyz. Seems like most of the critics ignored or barely mentioned him, with the exception of John Simon who made a snide remark about "skipping". As most of us realize the days of great choreography on Bway is just about dead, but i still have hopes for someone like Gattelli.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 9:20am

Dooesn't seem like anyone came out unscathed.

[wexy]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 10:02am

I saw it last night. Agree that giving the Jack Black charachter the last# was strange.I think its a little unfair to compare the actor to Jack Black. He can't just mimic him. Thought the choreography was mostly jumping around.

It was still entertaining though I don't remember any of the music
and strangely the Playbill doesn't have the musical numbers which is pretty weird.

[jasonf]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 11:10am

I agree about the last number -- it just didn't work AT ALL. Giving Barry the last number made no sense since he didn't have any other numbers in the show really. The song itself was one of the weakest (if not THE weakest) in the entire show. Rather than end with some kind of punch the show just faded. I really think Tom Kitt needs to learn how to write the end of a song -- just about EVERY song builds builds builds and then is interrupted by dialogue stopping the song dead before it ended.

The show needed a little more help.

[Anakela]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 11:16am

I won the lotto for this last night (fyi for those wondering- Saturday night in December and I would say 50% of the names in the lotto got pulled, so there's a very good chance to win here) and I have to say I just did not enjoy it.


(spoilers)



Now I have never read the book and/or seen the film, so maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I had done either one of those. And I did like parts of it- I liked the beating up Ian scenes, and the top 5 breakup girlfriends bits, and the actress who plays Liz was awesome, and I have loved Christian Anderson since Avenue Q and it was great to be able to see him do his own thing instead of the puppet thing (if that makes sense).

But, I finally figured out what the problem was for me: I did not care about Rob. At all. So he sold some records to pay back money he owed someone- yeah it's called being an adult and making responsible choices. So he went back to being a dj, this time at his record store- um, ok, I guess that's making a change in his life or something? So he apologized to Laura at her father's funeral- again, being kind to someone at a funeral, it's called adult behavior.

I just felt like there was supposed to be some growth or development or whatnot of Rob that I was supposed to be getting that I just wasn't getting in the way the material is presented onstage. I thought 'what an ass' at the beginning, and then 'wait- so she goes back to the ass?' at the end- the whole Rob character was meh for me.

Again, perhaps if I knew the book and/or the movie I would have enjoyed it more.

did I want my money back at the end? no
but, would I see it again? no

[ashley0139]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 12:09pm

While all those things may be normal adult behavior, we see from the beginning that Rob is not actually a mature adult. So I think from the beginning to end he does exhibit some growth.

I thought the reason I personally cared less about Rob, was the whole cheating sequence. I personally cannot tolerate a character who cheats and can have very little sympathy for them. (Except Addison from Grey's, and I don't know why. But I digress) However, something about the show let me care about Rob's character. Maybe it was the fact that I did feel he grew. Maybe it's because I don't have a very firm grasp on the ins and outs of what is a good book of a musical. I don't know. Just my 2 cents.

[overthemoon419]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 2:26pm

I will not lie and say that I didn't like High Fidelity. But I also KNEW that Brantley wouldn't like it. However, I don't RESPECT his opinion because he talks down to his readers. He looks at each review as a way to top the last one, as far as how downright nasty he can be. As another poster pointed out, he's supposed to be reviewing objectively, as a way to help the reader understand how much he'll like the show. Brantley reviews subjectively, taking his own personal expectations and tastes and deciding that when a show doesn't live up to them, it's utter crap and deserves to be blown up.

That's what really grinds my gears about Brantley. His "reviews" always sound more like angry letters to the editor, or some angry teenager with a thesaurus writing in his blog. They never sound like honest critiques of the show, just his personal venting.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 2:58pm

Is Brantley the one who people blame for Parade closing early, or am I thinking of another critic?

Anyway, I haven't seen the musical, but I disliked the movie. Just couldn't like any of the characters, really.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 12/10/06 at 5:29pm

Parade closed because of Livent, I thought...