thoughts on 110, NIXON, DYING CITY, DEUCE, and MUSIK- Page 2

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/30/07 at 3:20pm

I know who George Davis is. I didn't literally mean "Who is he", I meant "What the hell is he doing there, why does she like him, and WHY is he singing there?"

Murphy's voice was surprising at first, but it's 50000% appropriate and she sounds a LOT like Lenya. Lenya's voice was harsher with a quicker vibrato - but Murphy embodied her beautifully.

[jv92]

Posted: 4/30/07 at 3:27pm

Well Munk, I enjoyed LoveMusik a lot more than you did, but I will agree that it may be Follies' bastard child. The audience when I saw it (Very early in preivews. It was 3 hours!) gave it the same sort of "It's Hal Prince, I have to sort of like it but I didn't, yeah it wasn't so great." reaction. I did not, though. I really loved it.

[Calvin]

Posted: 4/30/07 at 3:30pm

As much as I love Judy Blazer, I still have yet to figure out why she was singing on a staircase at the beginning of the show. The first 20 minutes were dreadfully boring, in fact. But there was a lot to appreciate about this production.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/30/07 at 3:34pm

I know, Calvin.

Or why the magistrate/judge scenes were vaudeville-camp.

Or why Brecht and his girls sang that awful song in Weill's New City house, while holding the German mug.

Or why Brecht was so obnoxious the entire show.

Or why that wedding number lasted 50 minutes.

Or why the Night Shift scene was included at all, let alone lasting an eternity.

[Calvin]

Posted: 4/30/07 at 3:36pm

You have to admit: No one throws a cactus quite like Donna Murphy.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/30/07 at 3:37pm

Yeah, that was thrilling.

But so blatantly obvious that she threw it into the wings. It wasn't even CLOSE to Weill, let alone the entire set piece.

[RockabyeHamlet]

Posted: 4/30/07 at 5:11pm

Am I the only one who really despised the Hitler number? I don't have my playbill to check the spelling of the actual name of the number. It just seemed so akward and random.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/30/07 at 10:58pm

I thought it was funny. Not needed or necessary, but funny.

It's one of the few vaudevill-ish interludes that actually made the show feel authentically German.

I look back fondly on the show...I thought it was a great evening - but Prince's direction is too muddled, meandering, and heavy handed.

[AC126748]

Posted: 4/30/07 at 11:08pm

With all of the talk about LOVEMUSIK (which I'm seeing again Friday night to survey the changes made), I would recommend getting over to the Upper East Side and seeing Theater Ten Ten's terrific production of Brecht and Weill's HAPPY END. Several songs from the show (most notably "Surabaya Johnny") made their way into LOVEMUSIK, and it's one of Brecht and Weill's least produced shows (which is a shame, because it features some of their most entertaining and savory music). It runs through May 27.
http://www.theatertenten.com/

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 12:04pm

I don't know that I have the patience to sit through it again.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 11:53pm

I saw 110 IN THE SHADE this evening (Tuesday May 1) and thought that Ms. McDonald rises above a second rate musical, a largely (except for John Cullum) third rate supporting cast, a fourth rate director to create some moments of real magic.

I found there to be no chemistry whatsoever between Ms. McDonald and the actor playing Starbuck, who seemed to be under the impression that he was playing Jud Fry. He was dressed more like some sinister roadie out of a sleazy carnival than a charming con man: that long greasy hair didn't do him any favors in the looks department.

The kid playing Jimmy (Lizzie's brother) did the bare minimum, getting lots of laughs from easily amused members of the audience. A bigger problem is the actor playing Lizzie's other brother Noah, who just goes over the top, shouting and whining full blast. It is bad enough that he has to look Audra McDonald in the face and tell her that she's plain (HA! what actor alive could get away with that?!) but he does nothing to make me understand what the hell he might be talking about or why.

There's the big problem with the show, in a nutshell. Ms. McDonald is an astonishing beauty, full of light and joy and energy and passion, and the point is continually made, over and over and over again, that the character she's playing is NOT an astonishing beauty (at least partly because she's never had anyone tell her that she's beautiful). Ms. McDonald does her considerable best to convince that she doesn't believe she's pretty, but I kind of wanted to shout out that she should just get over it already, just take a look in the goddamn mirror, lady!

I've seen Ms. McDonald dowdy up before. She did it to memorable effect in RAISIN IN THE SUN, where she was tired and overworked and unhappy, unrecognizable until one remarkable moment when she just blossomed, it was like someone had turned on a lamp inside her. In 110 IN THE SHADE the lamp is always on, even when it shouldn't be.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 5/2/07 at 1:15am

Brecht WAS an obnoxious man - a dirty pipsqueak with a lot to say who always got the girl. Nevertheless, one of the greatest playwrights (or copiers).

The song was the prologue from HAPPY END - a completely anti-capitalism song (as Brecht was, of course, a socialist). It also became the nail in the coffin of the original production of HAPPY END (it was originally near the end of the show). Weill even told Lenya that the show was "a hit" at its intermission - the audience loved it. Helene Weigel (and perhaps even Brecht) had a separate agenda to completely outrage the audience.

I actually enjoyed SCHICKELGRUBER (Hitler's real name).

Updated On: 5/2/07 at 01:15 AM

[Calvin]

Posted: 5/2/07 at 10:55am

And on that, let me reaffirm what AC126748 said about the production of "Happy End" now running in the Upper East Side. A delightful production.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 5/2/07 at 11:00am

I know that Brecht was not well liked, but it seemed as it Pittu was playing a charicature, not a real person.

I cringed whenever Pittu was on stage.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 5/2/07 at 5:43pm

Yeah, I hope to see HAPPY END in the city soon.

I didn't think Pittu did a bad job. I think the script turned Brecht into a caricature. I knew going in for some reason that Brecht would be used as comic relief.