| 5-show weekend | |
| Last Edit: carolinaguy 03:05 pm EST 11/13/24 | |
| Posted by: carolinaguy 02:55 pm EST 11/13/24 | |
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| Observations on a quick trip to gorge on the fall season. Saturday was a marathon, with three shows following getting up at 3:15 am for a 5:30 flight. Saturday 11/9 1pm THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA THE FERRYMAN would be in the top three or four Broadway plays I've ever seen, so I was looking forward to this new work from the same creators. It wasn't at Ferryman level, but it's still very good. It's a slow build like its predecessor but pays off handsomely in the end. It's the kind of family drama you can really get absorbed in, but the audience interfered with that a bit. The average age of patrons at this performance was quite high. I'm truly glad seniors are going out to the theater, but there were a lot of mobility issues causing blocked aisles, as well as latecomers returning from the restroom at the breaks who didn't like the audience hold once the performance had resumed. It ended up causing more commotion than just letting them go back to their seats. And that pause between acts 2 and 3 was confusing, so I understand how that may have created additional difficulties. At any rate, I'm in the camp that loved Laura Donnelly in her challenging dual role, and the rest of the ensemble was A+. Rob Howell's detailed, atmospheric revolving set was an integral part of the drama. Saturday 11/9 5pm OH, MARY! Yes, it's a riot. Just unashamedly itself and goes all out. Cole Escola's facial expressions preceding most of the blackouts separating scenes were a master class in stage clowning. The play itself isn't a classic; it would require a strong, distinctive personality in its central role. But while it has one, it's an event and it's easy to see why it's become a phenomenon. Saturday 11/9 8pm MCNEAL This is more of an idea play, and the central idea doesn't ever come to any real resolution or take any particular position. Or if it did, it never came into focus for me. (But I had been up for 19 hours by the time it ended.) Then there's a family melodrama packed around the sides that doesn't work. It's done in six scenes, and I was bored in at least two of them. On the plus side, Robert Downey, Jr. felt right at home on the Broadway stage and it's always good to see theater favorites like Andrea Martin and Ruthie Ann Miles. I've read some criticism that Martin feels like she's in a different play from the others. Maybe there's some truth to that, but it made sense to me because her character is coming from an entirely different space and perspective than the others. I thought Melora Hardin was wonderfully effective in the final scene, even though her part of the story was weak. The set design is also a major asset. Sunday 11/10 3pm SUNSET BLVD. This is the only Broadway production I've ever seen with projected credits at the beginning. With all its ultra-extreme close-ups, it may also be the first Broadway show in history where a cast member would have to call out if they got a zit. While I was never bored during this, I don't think the absence of sets and props did the show any favors. As for the "costumes," I'm sure there was a concept behind putting everyone in various black and white pieces, half of which looked like underwear, but I didn't get what it was. Reviewing the score at this point is moot, but it had been a while since I had heard it. I had forgotten what an egregious use of reprise there is here, and there are far too many times that the lyrics sit inelegantly on the music, with mismatched stresses abounding. Diego Rodriguez was on as Joe, and he was okay, nothing more. (He did get a big laugh during the title number walk through Shubert Alley when he posed by the picture of Tom Francis and kissed it.) Understudies were also on for Betty, Artie, and Young Norma. As for the show concept itself, there was an enormous amount of overemphasis on so many things that it amounted to too much of a muchness. This had the end result of making Norma's mania seem less... well, manic. Surely that wasn't the point. But in the end, this exists because of Nicole Scherzinger's balls-to-the-wall portrait of Norma. Her singing and her performance of the "big scenes" (going right to the top of the wall without going over) make seeing it worthwhile. Sunday 11/10 7pm TEETH This production, which recently opened at New World Stages, is a wild romp. I have to say, I enjoyed this much more than Michael R. Jackson's multi-prize winning A STRANGE LOOP, which I think was just a little too niche to speak to me. I found TEETH's score to be more accomplished than any new scores on Broadway the last couple of seasons. "Modest Is Hottest," "According to the Wiki," and "Always the Woman" especially stood out. The cast was committed and effective at both the comic and more genre elements, even if some of them looked a little too "seasoned" to be playing high schoolers. No matter, it's all meant to be in good fun, and it is. |
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