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re: Honeymoon in Vegas first preview ... ?

Posted by: ilw 04:49 pm EST 11/19/14
In reply to: Honeymoon in Vegas first preview ... ? - Ann 02:48 pm EST 11/19/14

Sitting in the theater during the first preview of Honeymoon in Vegas, I had the same thought that I had during a preview of The Book of Mormon: this is a musical comedy that's going to be a hit because it is laugh-out-loud funny and manages to sustain comic momentum through the whole show. I think Honeymoon is the better show, due to its brilliant score by Jason Robert Brown, which not only captures the sound of Las Vegas but also includes beautiful ballads, hilarious take-offs of Hawaiian music, and the "Airport Song," which starts out semi-realistically and gets sillier and funnier as it goes along. There's a great overture and entr'acte and lots of effective underscoring, including a clever echo of the Vertigo movie theme, which is used to underline the similarity in the two stories' plot of a woman reminding a man of his former love.

The original cast recording is on sale in the theater for an outrageous $25. I bought it anyway, since I think this is the only place to get the CD for now. A digital version is available on Amazon and iTunes.

There were a few technical bumps and Tony Danza stumbled on a few of his lines, but generally things went smoothly for a first preview. I hope that the airplane set piece can be made more stable: its conspicuous rocking was distracting.

I saw the show during its tryout at Paper Mill, and I think the performances have improved. The book has changed a bit and the staging is different due in part to the smaller stage (it seems a little cramped at the Nederlander), but I didn't notice many musical changes. (I did notice that "Anywhere But Here" has been shortened.)

Seat warnings: the stage is high, so you definitely want to avoid the first row of the orchestra and maybe even a couple of rows behind that. I was sitting in the fifth row and still couldn't see Tony Danza's feet during his tap number. During intermission, I went up to the mezzanine, and spoke to a woman in the front row who complained that the railing bisected her view. I think this is because they've extended the stage to cover the orchestra pit. (The musicians are on stage.)


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Previous: Honeymoon in Vegas first preview ... ? - Ann 02:48 pm EST 11/19/14
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