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| Anyone else underwhelmed by The Band's Visit? | |
| Posted by: castro 10:22 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
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| Saw this highly lauded new musical last night and my partner and I kept wondering why it has been so highly praised. A couple of good songs and a couple of good performances, but thread bare story line. We couldn't get excited about it at all. | |
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| re: Anyone else underwhelmed by The Band's Visit? | |
| Posted by: robert_j 01:46 pm EDT 10/24/17 | |
| In reply to: Anyone else underwhelmed by The Band's Visit? - castro 10:22 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
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| Count me among the underwhelmed. I did appreciate the craft, but the evening felt insubstantial, the sort of small show that I could see working very well off Broadway. The stakes are low and the character development is not what we might have gotten from a fuller evening. Still, I like Yazbek , and his scores always deserve a re-listen, so I am happen to reappraise it when the cast recording is out. My initial take, though, is that as much as I admired the craft of the comic numbers, they were a bit too broad and stylistically inconsistent with the naturalism of the story. The more lyric pieces for the soprano were better and often quite lovely (although is it just me, or does the chorus of "Omar Sharif" sound a lot like the chorus of "If I Could Tell Her" from Dear Evan Hansen?). I could see myself appreciating it more on repeat listenings. |
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| re: Anyone else underwhelmed by The Band's Visit? | |
| Last Edit: CCentero 11:49 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
| Posted by: CCentero 11:46 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
| In reply to: Anyone else underwhelmed by The Band's Visit? - castro 10:22 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
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| Agree with everything you said. When I saw it at the Atlantic, I thought the show was just fine, but found that the songs went nowhere dramatically and stopped the show cold. They didn't reveal more about the characters than the dialogue. While I'm usually interested in how a show changed on its way to Broadway, I'm really disinterested here. The show just kept reminding us how deep and profound it was trying to be. | |
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| re: Anyone else underwhelmed by The Band's Visit? | |
| Last Edit: royscho 11:21 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
| Posted by: royscho 11:18 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
| In reply to: Anyone else underwhelmed by The Band's Visit? - castro 10:22 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
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| I absolutely adored it when I saw it at the Atlantic, but no show is loved by everyone. I think it's highly praised because the music is beautiful, and it captures intimacy between characters in a way you rarely see in musical theatre. All elements of the show - music, lyrics, design, acting and direction - are in service of its themes: regret, loneliness, the yearning for companionship, and the ache of not living the life you are meant (or want) to live. And all of these themes are highly relatable to most people. Regardless, I don't think that a thread bare story line is an issue in a musical. Shows like Company, Follies, Hair, A Chorus Line, Cats, Sunday in the Park (to name a few) don't have a strong story line, but it doesn't stop them from being an artistic or a popular success. |
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| re: Anyone else underwhelmed by The Band's Visit? | |
| Posted by: Haberville (Haberville@aol.com) 10:36 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
| In reply to: Anyone else underwhelmed by The Band's Visit? - castro 10:22 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
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| People need to take off their musical comedy hats and instead take in its beauty: music, lyrics, strength of story and subtlety of acting. I don't think the theatre offers much better than this in its purest sense. (NOTE: my personal opinion with no horse in any sort of race). | |
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| re: Anyone else underwhelmed by The Band's Visit? | |
| Posted by: castro 10:44 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Anyone else underwhelmed by The Band's Visit? - Haberville 10:36 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
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| that is a pretty insulting response | |
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| apparently that is what is necessary to get you to respond | |
| Posted by: dramedy 10:49 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Anyone else underwhelmed by The Band's Visit? - castro 10:44 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
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| Since you ignored my question completely. | |
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| re: apparently that is what is necessary to get you to respond | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 11:12 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
| In reply to: apparently that is what is necessary to get you to respond - dramedy 10:49 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
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| Woah! Where is this coming from? According to the ATC time stamps these posts all happened within minutes of each other. To assume they answered this response first to mean they chose to answer it INSTEAD of your question because an insultingly phrased reply is "necessary" to get them to respond sounds pretty overdramatic and bonkers. No reason for me to get involved but I was pretty surprised by this comment, especially from you. |
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| Well Castro was seeking opinions | |
| Posted by: dramedy 11:40 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
| In reply to: re: apparently that is what is necessary to get you to respond - Chazwaza 11:12 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
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| On what others thought of the show. I didn’t think haberville comment was insulting as stating this isn’t a broad comedy and that he/she liked the subtle quiet musical that isn’t for everyone. | |
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| I'm supposed to be the grumpy one around here... | |
| Posted by: GrumpyMorningBoy 01:07 pm EDT 10/24/17 | |
| In reply to: Well Castro was seeking opinions - dramedy 11:40 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
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| C'mon, people. We've been doing so well these last few years. The super snarky voices from the early 2000's have moved onto other boards (or been banned, hard to tell, I suppose)... ... but that snark is edging its way back into these vaulted hallowed cyberhalls. Let's play nice. - GMB, who sometimes employs the persona of a grumpy malcontent to maintain the stance of a harsh theater critic, but is actually a rather peppy person in real life |
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| did u like come from away? | |
| Posted by: dramedy 10:35 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
| In reply to: Anyone else underwhelmed by The Band's Visit? - castro 10:22 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
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| Some have compared the shows as having a similar audience. It selling really well without doing discounts. | |
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| re: did u like come from away? | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 11:07 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
| In reply to: did u like come from away? - dramedy 10:35 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
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| Oh lord I hope not. I was not a fan of Come From Away but Band's Visit sounds right up my alley. | |
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| I did like cfa | |
| Posted by: dramedy 11:31 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
| In reply to: re: did u like come from away? - Chazwaza 11:07 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
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| I did not like the bands visit movie, So if this were a stage adaptation, I'd skip it. But adding a score makes it a different animal. | |
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| re: I did like cfa | |
| Posted by: PlayWiz 12:28 pm EDT 10/25/17 | |
| In reply to: I did like cfa - dramedy 11:31 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
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| "The Band's Visit" follows the film very well, but includes some beautiful songs, including some rather introspective numbers and some lovely performances. | |
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| re: did u like come from away? | |
| Posted by: castro 10:51 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
| In reply to: did u like come from away? - dramedy 10:35 am EDT 10/24/17 | |
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| I did not see come from away | |
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