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| WHITE GIRL IN DANGER (ACT 1) Last Night | |
| Posted by: sergius 07:08 pm EDT 04/01/23 | |
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| A colossal disappointment—Act 1 anyway. The first half, ninety dreary and largely inaudible minutes, was plenty: plenty disjointed, monotonous, shrill, and obvious. I liked A STRANGE LOOP a lot, but ACT 1 of WGID is startlingly half baked; it’s bitty. And, after FAIRVIEW, AIN’T NO MO’, FAT HAM etc., already seems worn. | |
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| One of the worst things I have seen on a professional stage | |
| Posted by: barna99 08:35 am EDT 04/02/23 | |
| In reply to: WHITE GIRL IN DANGER (ACT 1) Last Night - sergius 07:08 pm EDT 04/01/23 | |
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| And I write this as a huge fan of ASL, but this is bad on all counts. My partner left after Act I, I made the mistake of staying. It was three hours long when I saw it a week ago. Score and book are appallingly bad. The cast works hard but they could not save this wreck. I was surprised that after the well-received ASL, MRJackson would let this production open because now I will consider Loop a fluke. |
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| re: One of the worst things I have seen on a professional stage | |
| Posted by: NYCVoiceTeacher 12:29 pm EDT 04/02/23 | |
| In reply to: One of the worst things I have seen on a professional stage - barna99 08:35 am EDT 04/02/23 | |
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| WIth all due respect A Strange Loop was absolutely awful. It did not deserve the awards or the run it had. It had no shape. I totally fell apart in the second act. The music was terrible. The book a mess. So I am not one bit surprised about the early word on this show. Strange Loop was a fluke. Michael Jackson is not particularly talented or smart. | |
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| re: One of the worst things I have seen on a professional stage | |
| Posted by: ryhog 05:03 pm EDT 04/02/23 | |
| In reply to: re: One of the worst things I have seen on a professional stage - NYCVoiceTeacher 12:29 pm EDT 04/02/23 | |
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| OK. You didn't like ASL. That is your right of course but when you act like your assessment of it is some "truth," you insult everyone here and elsewhere who felt otherwise. I was just reading an article the other day about expressions that ought to be discarded from our diction, particularly because they are disingenuous. "With all due respect" was at the top of the list. Besides, owing to your hatred of ASL, you are likely in the worst imaginable position to provide a useful opinion on this play. | |
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| re: One of the worst things I have seen on a professional stage | |
| Posted by: NYCVoiceTeacher 07:00 pm EDT 04/02/23 | |
| In reply to: re: One of the worst things I have seen on a professional stage - ryhog 05:03 pm EDT 04/02/23 | |
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| No. I didn’t like A Strange Loop at all. He wrote one really awful show. Why does anyone think his second show would be any better? |
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| re: One of the worst things I have seen on a professional stage | |
| Posted by: ryhog 10:03 pm EDT 04/02/23 | |
| In reply to: re: One of the worst things I have seen on a professional stage - NYCVoiceTeacher 07:00 pm EDT 04/02/23 | |
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| Because (as you obviously know) a great many people did not and do not think it was awful at all. Which was my point which you must think it is cute to ignore. | |
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| re: One of the worst things I have seen on a professional stage | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 07:05 pm EDT 04/02/23 | |
| In reply to: re: One of the worst things I have seen on a professional stage - NYCVoiceTeacher 07:00 pm EDT 04/02/23 | |
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| 100. Who would expect the writer of last's years Tony-winning Best Musical to write a good show? That's just silly, amirite? | |
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| re: One of the worst things I have seen on a professional stage | |
| Posted by: caseyko 09:25 pm EDT 04/02/23 | |
| In reply to: re: One of the worst things I have seen on a professional stage - Singapore/Fling 07:05 pm EDT 04/02/23 | |
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| And the Tonys mean what? MJ and Paradise Sqaure were far from worthy competition, and twenty years from now, Girl From the North Country won't be mentioned in a Bob Dylan retrospective. SIX was probably the most worthwhile competition, even though it was a fantastic Taylor Swift concert. It's the luck of the draw (and the year). | |
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| re: One of the worst things I have seen on a professional stage | |
| Posted by: TheOtherOne 12:06 pm EDT 04/08/23 | |
| In reply to: re: One of the worst things I have seen on a professional stage - caseyko 09:25 pm EDT 04/02/23 | |
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| Girl From The North Country is about to be filmed, with an impressive cast including Olivia Coleman and Woody Harrelson. I actually think it's going to be remembered well, especially if the film is a hit. Time will tell. |
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| re: One of the worst things I have seen on a professional stage | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 09:18 pm EDT 04/03/23 | |
| In reply to: re: One of the worst things I have seen on a professional stage - caseyko 09:25 pm EDT 04/02/23 | |
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| The Tonys means that a lot of theater professionals thought it was worthy of the Tony, regardless of the level of competition. | |
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| re: One of the worst things I have seen on a professional stage | |
| Posted by: ryhog 10:07 pm EDT 04/02/23 | |
| In reply to: re: One of the worst things I have seen on a professional stage - caseyko 09:25 pm EDT 04/02/23 | |
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| forget about the Tonys. It's a lousy metric. Focus instead on what many many people here, in the media, and elsewhere, who liked it a lot. Oh and that meaningless thing called the Pulitzer, which (as you presumably know) they don't award in a year if they don't think anything is worthy. | |
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| re: One of the worst things I have seen on a professional stage | |
| Posted by: den 04:24 pm EDT 04/03/23 | |
| In reply to: re: One of the worst things I have seen on a professional stage - ryhog 10:07 pm EDT 04/02/23 | |
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| The Pulitzer Prize committee has made some questionable choices over the years, including years when they awarded nothing in drama because they mistakenly thought no play was worthy (most famously, of course, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf). The Pulitzer may be a better metric than the Tony, but not by much. | |
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| re: One of the worst things I have seen on a professional stage | |
| Posted by: ryhog 05:26 pm EDT 04/03/23 | |
| In reply to: re: One of the worst things I have seen on a professional stage - den 04:24 pm EDT 04/03/23 | |
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| OK. Not gonna argue that point. But what then is the metric? Not awards then critics? Ok. Not critics so social media? Ok. The one thing I know is that the usual cranky ATC'ers are not the metric. :-) | |
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| re: One of the worst things I have seen on a professional stage | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 01:03 pm EDT 04/02/23 | |
| In reply to: re: One of the worst things I have seen on a professional stage - NYCVoiceTeacher 12:29 pm EDT 04/02/23 | |
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| You fell apart in the second act of a one-act musical? Tell us more. | |
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| What seems like resisting to make changes | |
| Posted by: dramedy 09:40 am EDT 04/02/23 | |
| In reply to: One of the worst things I have seen on a professional stage - barna99 08:35 am EDT 04/02/23 | |
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| Is terrible. The piece needs a lot of work and editing down an hour. I didn’t think the songs were good at all. I thought the same thing—it took him probably 10-20 years to write strange loop based on his life experience. Maybe that is the only show in him. There probably see plenty of other examples of one show wonders. Mary Rodgers did once upon a mattress. Her other broadway show hot spot flopped. She contributed some songs to other shows. |
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| re: What seems like resisting to make changes | |
| Last Edit: BroadwayTonyJ 01:02 pm EDT 04/02/23 | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 12:54 pm EDT 04/02/23 | |
| In reply to: What seems like resisting to make changes - dramedy 09:40 am EDT 04/02/23 | |
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| Mary Rodgers had a significant, long running second hit with the off-Broadway musical revue The Mad Show. Better examples would be Clark Gesner for his single hit "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown!" and Rick Besoyan for his hit off-Broadway show Little Mary Sunshine. Besoyan, like Gesner, never had another hit. Sherman Edwards had a single hit with 1776, but died at the age of 61 without writing another show. |
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| re: What seems like resisting to make changes | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 01:04 pm EDT 04/02/23 | |
| In reply to: re: What seems like resisting to make changes - BroadwayTonyJ 12:54 pm EDT 04/02/23 | |
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| Mitch Leigh, Man of La Mancha | |
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| re: What seems like resisting to make changes | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 07:47 am EDT 04/03/23 | |
| In reply to: re: What seems like resisting to make changes - Singapore/Fling 01:04 pm EDT 04/02/23 | |
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| Mitch Leigh may well have had the worst track record in Broadway history after achieving one spectacular success with Man of La Mancha in 1965. From 1970 to 1993 he wrote the scores for 5 Broadway shows, all of which were short lived commercial failures: Cry for Us All, Home Sweet Homer, Sarava, Chu Chem, and Ain't Broadway Grand. 2 more examples: Gerard Calvi, whose one Broadway success was La Plume de Ma Tante, and Marguerite Monnot, who wrote the score for Irma La Douce. Calvi's follow up show La Grosse Valise played only 12 previews and 7 (official) performances. He never returned to Broadway and pretty much provided incidental music for French films for the rest of his career. Monnot was mostly known as a songwriter for Edith Piaf. I believe La Douce was her only musical show -- she passed away in 1961 at age 58. |
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| re: WHITE GIRL IN DANGER (ACT 1) Last Night | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 09:17 pm EDT 04/01/23 | |
| In reply to: WHITE GIRL IN DANGER (ACT 1) Last Night - sergius 07:08 pm EDT 04/01/23 | |
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| Act 2 gets both more interesting and more disappointing. It’s a shame this show didn’t get a regional run first, as there are some marvelous moments buried in the conceptual mess of it all. | |
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| re: WHITE GIRL IN DANGER (ACT 1) Last Night | |
| Posted by: Commopics 10:04 pm EDT 04/01/23 | |
| In reply to: re: WHITE GIRL IN DANGER (ACT 1) Last Night - Singapore/Fling 09:17 pm EDT 04/01/23 | |
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| Maybe the producers consider an Off-Broadway subscription run, with a long preview period, a tryout of sorts. Do other cities deserve a show in need of shaping any more than NYC does? | |
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| re: WHITE GIRL IN DANGER (ACT 1) Last Night | |
| Posted by: NewtonUK 01:23 pm EDT 04/02/23 | |
| In reply to: re: WHITE GIRL IN DANGER (ACT 1) Last Night - Commopics 10:04 pm EDT 04/01/23 | |
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| Just like Spelling Be, Next to Normal, etc | |
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| re: WHITE GIRL IN DANGER (ACT 1) Last Night | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 01:45 pm EDT 04/02/23 | |
| In reply to: re: WHITE GIRL IN DANGER (ACT 1) Last Night - NewtonUK 01:23 pm EDT 04/02/23 | |
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| Not sure which point you are trying to make. Spelling Bee had an initial development and production at Barrington Stage, and Next to Normal was such a mess in its Second Stage production that it had to go to D.C. and significantly re-vamp itself before it could return to New York. At the time, there was a good deal of writing about how Next to Normal was unique in being saved in this manner. So neither are good examples of shows that opened cold Off-Broadway and went to Broadway. |
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| re: WHITE GIRL IN DANGER (ACT 1) Last Night | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 01:01 pm EDT 04/02/23 | |
| In reply to: re: WHITE GIRL IN DANGER (ACT 1) Last Night - Commopics 10:04 pm EDT 04/01/23 | |
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| Fairly or not, the version of the show that opens Off-Broadway will be seen as the final version, and the reviews that come out of New York will affect the show’s ability to be produced regionally. Ever so often, a Musical can survive a bad Off-Broadway premiere (think Next to Normal), but this will probably not be one of them. White Girl might have been able to reach a point where it could be produced quite a lot by bigger theaters in the next five years (to the benefit of audiences all across the country), but I fear it’s going to be DOA. |
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