| Boy .... | |
| Posted by: | jdm 08:25 am EDT 03/13/14 |
| In reply to: | The last great musical to open on Broadway - JayBee 08:17 am EDT 03/13/14 |
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| I would so disagree. The production of A Chorus Line at Paper Mill last season was terrific, simply sensational. And one of my favorite musicals ever is Ragtime. So .... Jim | |
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| re: Boy .... | |
| Posted by: | enoch10 02:21 pm EDT 03/13/14 |
| In reply to: | Boy .... - jdm 08:25 am EDT 03/13/14 |
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| i disagree with your disagreement. i hated the revival and the paper mill production, though i liked the paper mill the better of the two. here's the deal - you can't have a great ACL without a great cassie. the revival failed on almost every level. the paper mill revival had enough going for it that if was if not great then at least a successful revival until you got to "music and the mirror" and it all just went to hell. i'm all for waiting until we have another great female dancer, one actually able to pull off that number, if in fact that ever happens, before we have another revival of ACL. | |
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| I agree | |
| Posted by: | Kaoru 08:46 am EDT 03/13/14 |
| In reply to: | Boy .... - jdm 08:25 am EDT 03/13/14 |
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| Jim, Ragtime is my favorite musical too. The score, the set, direction, and the cast, everything was superb (I'm talking about the version that includes Houdini escape trick). That's the first (and the last) show I purchased another ticket immediately after I saw the show. | |
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| Ragtime | |
| Posted by: | Chazwaza 03:01 pm EDT 03/13/14 |
| In reply to: | I agree - Kaoru 08:46 am EDT 03/13/14 |
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| When I saw the original broadway production I was BLOWN AWAY. As I've said here before, I thought to myself "this is what it must have been like to see/hear Fiddler On the Roof for the first time on Broadway." I went back as soon as I could. And I thought the staging and sets of the original were totally in line with the scope of the piece, fitting and sensational. I am so glad I got to see Broadway shows before they were all created small or scaled down for revivals. | |
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| re: Ragtime | |
| Posted by: | Chazwaza 07:37 pm EDT 03/13/14 |
| In reply to: | Ragtime - Chazwaza 03:01 pm EDT 03/13/14 |
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| This is not to say that with some distance and years that I think Ragtime is perfect. It's not. And I don't mean that in the way that everyone says every single musical "is great but flawed"... no, I don't think that about many shows. But I do think Ragtime is a show with a non-stop incredible first act, and a second act that is half incredible and half of it just doesn't live up to the greatness in the first act. | |
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| re: I agree | |
| Posted by: | lowwriter 11:22 am EDT 03/13/14 |
| In reply to: | I agree - Kaoru 08:46 am EDT 03/13/14 |
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| I love Ragtime but the only production that worked for me was the scaled down version at Papermill, directed by a fellow who did it in England. I found the Broadway production bombastic and hurt by that awful barn of the theater on 42nd Street. | |
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| re: I agree | |
| Posted by: | allineedisthegirl 04:46 pm EDT 03/13/14 |
| In reply to: | re: I agree - lowwriter 11:22 am EDT 03/13/14 |
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| I with you there. I was impressed but unmoved by the original production of Ragtime, which I saw several days after it opened, all original cast. Of course it didn't help that I was in the rear of the orchestra and felt like I was watching the show from Hoboken. Many years later I saw a production at Hofstra Univ. (on Long Island) (Hofstra USA or Grey Wig, I forget which), and I was blown away and reduced to tears. If I'd only had a better seat first time around! db | |
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| re: I agree | |
| Posted by: | Chazwaza 06:24 pm EDT 03/13/14 |
| In reply to: | re: I agree - allineedisthegirl 04:46 pm EDT 03/13/14 |
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| Oh man... as someone who sat in the mid to front orchestra both times I saw the original, let me tell you, it really helped. I assume, I've never seen it from the back of a house that big. I think what I just said in reply to Alan about Sweeney applies in many ways to Ragtime too. It is a big show, written with big music and big emotion and relatively broad character who start out distanced, purposefully, from the audience. And the show gets more intimate, but besides that it's a show about people (it's also a show about history and about Ragtime as a time in and metaphor for that period in America), it is not really an intimate show. And I think the show works best when the physical production embraces and compliments the large scale of the work and story, while also allowing it to become intimate when the writing goes there. And from where I saw in that theater, it did both in the original production. But I can certainly understand having a different experience from much further away. However I will say those songs are built for the back of the house, so I don't know that being half-again as close to the singer would move you that much more. | |
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| re: I agree | |
| Posted by: | OldTheaterGuy 09:26 am EDT 03/13/14 |
| In reply to: | I agree - Kaoru 08:46 am EDT 03/13/14 |
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| Ragtime definitely is a great musical. Others I would classify that way include Nine, Grand Hotel, and, in its own way, The Producers. | |
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