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NEW - BEDBUGS!!! - Talkin' Broadway's Review

Posted by: T.B._Admin. 08:39 pm EDT 09/14/14

Matthew Murray takes a look at Bedbugs!!!:

Sometimes a show can be too timely. One assumes — or at least hopes — that when composer Paul Leschen and librettist-lyricist Fred Sauter began work on their musical Bedbugs!!!, which just opened at the ArcLight Theatre, they weren’t aware just what a scourge on New York their title characters would be. Though the nocturnal nibblers have been irritating city dwellers for much of the last decade, it’s only within the last couple of years that they’ve gone “big time,” as it were, and terrifyingly recent headlines about them invading a number of subway lines are constant reminders that they’re here, they’re annoying, and we’re not ready for them. Unfortunately, the same things may reasonably be said of the musical itself. . . .

Link BEDBUGS!!! Review

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re: NEW - BEDBUGS!!! - Talkin' Broadway's Review

Posted by: Chromolume 11:42 pm EDT 09/14/14
In reply to: NEW - BEDBUGS!!! - Talkin' Broadway's Review - T.B._Admin. 08:39 pm EDT 09/14/14

Sounds to me like yet another show where the jokey one-word-with-exclamation-points title was dreamed up before a note of music or line of text was ever written. When will people learn that this is not at all the way to write a good show?


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re: NEW - BEDBUGS!!! - Talkin' Broadway's Review

Posted by: KingSpeed 04:00 pm EDT 09/15/14
In reply to: re: NEW - BEDBUGS!!! - Talkin' Broadway's Review - Chromolume 11:42 pm EDT 09/14/14

Why are you trashing a show you know nothing about? Got a rave in the NY Times today, by the way.


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re: NEW - BEDBUGS!!! - Talkin' Broadway's Review

Posted by: Chromolume 08:11 pm EDT 09/15/14
In reply to: re: NEW - BEDBUGS!!! - Talkin' Broadway's Review - KingSpeed 04:00 pm EDT 09/15/14

You're right, I give you that. But good show or not, I'd love to see more writers coming up with more interesting titles, instead of just jumping on the bandwagon with the one-word sensations... (I mean, even something as formulaic in its own way as Revenge Of The Bedbugs would have sounded a bit more original somehow, IMO.)

But I do think LordOfSpeech makes my point in his post below as well. While coming up with a predictably trendy one-word title may not mean the show is bad, the fact that I do think a good number of such shows are title-generated and THEN written (and not the other way around) just doesn't bode well. Examples would include many of the film adaptations that have not done that well - with a reliance on selling the film title rather than on selling a well-constructed musical.


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Link

Posted by: KingSpeed 04:07 pm EDT 09/15/14
In reply to: re: NEW - BEDBUGS!!! - Talkin' Broadway's Review - KingSpeed 04:00 pm EDT 09/15/14

Link below

Link NY Times review

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re: NEW - BEDBUGS!!! - Talkin' Broadway's Review

Posted by: lordofspeech 05:05 am EDT 09/15/14
In reply to: re: NEW - BEDBUGS!!! - Talkin' Broadway's Review - Chromolume 11:42 pm EDT 09/14/14

Years ago, I attended an illuminating talk by the brilliant film director and sometime actor, Sydney Pollack. He averred that fils are greenlit based on their title and projected poster. He sadly bemoaned the lack of credence given to narrative and artistic skill in determining what movies are made. So, in reference to your comment, it may well be with theatre now, too.

By the way, in my opinion, ATC's Matthew Murray is certainly at least Brantley's equal in lush, enticing prose, and miles above him in aesthetic judgement.


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