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re: It Shoulda Been

Posted by: garyd 10:14 pm EDT 05/07/15
In reply to: It Shoulda Been - Ann 09:45 pm EDT 05/07/15

Good for you. The show is funny and sweet. It is not witty, clever, cynical, , thought provoking, or ground-breaking musical theatre. With the exception, maybe, of "Fun Home" and "The Visit" nothing else in the genre met those parameters this season either. Perhaps the capitalization money might have been better spent on something more "important"or commercially viable but it ain't our money. Broadway has seen much worse and will, no doubt, see much, much worse. I guess it is probably a bit of a vanity project but, if so, how often does vanity, by any other name, smell so sweet?
On the other hand…there is an abundance of exquisite theater out there that deserves audience attention and funding.


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re: It Shoulda Been

Posted by: Ann 10:20 pm EDT 05/07/15
In reply to: re: It Shoulda Been - garyd 10:14 pm EDT 05/07/15

I thought it was witty and clever. I felt the audience thought they knew what the show was about, until the twist.

Fun Home is better, yes, and maybe ground-breaking, but I think both have a place.

I will see (another controversial show) The Visit tomorrow.


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re: It Shoulda Been

Posted by: garyd 10:26 pm EDT 05/07/15
In reply to: re: It Shoulda Been - Ann 10:20 pm EDT 05/07/15

My comments were, in no way, meant to denigrate the audience or question whether or not the piece deserved "a place" on Broadway. That being said, I truly thought "the twist" was a bit of a groan.


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re: It Shoulda Been

Posted by: Ann 10:31 pm EDT 05/07/15
In reply to: re: It Shoulda Been - garyd 10:26 pm EDT 05/07/15

It's hard for me to personally judge the twist, since I already knew about it.

It does seem to be a good, fun show for tourists (and a better choice, in my opinion, than what most of them flock to). Of course, I'm not a tourist, even though I'm sitting in a hotel room with a bottle of wine, some free mini cupcakes, and I just finished watching Airport on TV.


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Guilty Pleasure...or just plain Guilty?

Posted by: Jax 12:09 am EDT 05/08/15
In reply to: re: It Shoulda Been - Ann 10:31 pm EDT 05/07/15

I have posted against ISBY not only because I found it abyssmal -- cliched book, Muzak songs -- but because I just don't get how folks dissed HONEYMOON IN VEGAS -- with far superior work from JRB and Andrew Bergman -- yet give ISBY a pass. I guess it all comes down to what you find to be a guilty pleasure. And we're all entitled to pick our own.

That said, I would agree that ISBY is on a level with hotel bar wine, free mini cup cakes, and Helen Hayes' awful eye rolling in "Airport." But if it makes you happy....


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re: It Shoulda Been

Posted by: garyd 10:43 pm EDT 05/07/15
In reply to: re: It Shoulda Been - Ann 10:31 pm EDT 05/07/15

:) Wish I was there. Especially for wine and cupcakes! ….and Helen Hayes!!!!

(Well no. Happy to be home with Scotch, homemade soup, and no place else I reckon I would care to be.)

Well, "maybe next year".


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re: It Shoulda Been

Posted by: BruceinIthaca 11:49 pm EDT 05/07/15
In reply to: re: It Shoulda Been - garyd 10:43 pm EDT 05/07/15

Have you watched "Airport" in recent years! They should have rescinded some of Hayes' Tonys as punishment for the Oscar she won for "Airport" (Now Stapleton was heart-breaking--one of those performance,s like Heckart's in "The Bad Seed," that consists of a few scenes that haunt you forever).


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re: It Shoulda Been

Posted by: garyd 12:04 am EDT 05/08/15
In reply to: re: It Shoulda Been - BruceinIthaca 11:49 pm EDT 05/07/15

lol, no I have not seen it in a long while and you are probably correct about Hayes. Agree about Stapleton and Heckart. They were always worth spending time with, stage or screen, award or no. Good work is award in itself. Cliche, I know, but true nonetheless.


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but to be honest...

Posted by: garyd 12:25 am EDT 05/08/15
In reply to: re: It Shoulda Been - garyd 12:04 am EDT 05/08/15

I was kinda, sorta, rooting for "Love Story", Ryan and Ali. That thing ignited by floundering love life… for a while.


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