![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Three Musicals
Feb. 27th, 2014 08:06 pmI've been taking advantage of live entertainment a lot recently. That includes three musicals - one in Washington and two in New York.
American Idiot: This was a touring production at the National Theatre. I knew and liked the Green Day concept album that the show is based on, but knew little beyond that going in. It turns out that there is not really much to know. The plot line is extremely thin - a year in the life of three young men trying to find themselves by leaving their home town and going off ot the city. Will turns back right away, because his girlfriend is pregnant. Tunny spends a little time doing little but sleeping, then joins the Army. Johnny gets seduced by drugs and a woman. At the end, the three friends are reunited, having learned and grown just a little.
I liked the music but I thought the plot was unengaging. And the choreography was dreadful, mostly consisting of a large number of extras jerking spasmodically and throwing themselves on the ground athletically. I don't have an objection to that sort of dance, per se, but it had no actual relationship to what was going on. I also had issues with the set, a significant portion of which was obscured from my side orchestra seat by a tall amplifier tower.
Overall, I'd have liked this a lot more if I had been thinking of it as a Green Day tribute concert. But it didn't work for me as musical theatre.
Smiling, the Boy Fell Dead: York Theatre Company has a series they call Musicals in Mufti, which consists of semi-staged readings of lesser-known musicals. Their current series is a tribute to Sheldon Harnick, one of the great lyricists of the musical theatre. I couldn't resist a quick trip to New York to see Smiling, the Boy Fell Dead, a musical parody of Horatio Alger's novels.
The show had a brief (22 performance) run off-Broadway in 1961 and has not been staged since. For this production, Harnick merged the best aspects of five versions of the book. There are still some gaping holes in the story, which involves a young man named Waldo, who needs to get his late father's machine to work in order to save a local tool company - and his family's financial future, as well as to get the girl. Opposing him is the sinister Simeon Moodis, who is evil just for the sake of being evil. As an example of the flaws in the book, at the end of the first act, the machine gets blown up, but at the beginning of the second act, Waldo again needs just one part to finish it.
But the relatively minor book flaws were overcome by a pleasant score by David Baker and some very clever Harnick lyrics. I particularly liked the songs "Environment - Heredity," "All the Best Girls in Town," and "Temperance Polks." I also want to note the fine cast. In particular, Matt Dengler struck just the right note of innocence as Waldo and Rose Hemingway was charming as Dorothea, the love interest, while Tony Roberts sneered his way amusingly as Simeon. It would be nice to see this as a fully staged production at some point.
By the way, there was a talk-back after the performance. Among other things, Sheldon Harnick mentioned interest in a possible revival of The Rothschilds.
A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder: If I'm already in New York for a Saturday matinee, it makes sense to get tickets to something on Saturday night. I settled on A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder because: 1) it got good reviews and 2) it is based on a movie I loved, Kind Hearts and Coronets. The plot involves a young man, Monty Navarro, who discovers his late mother was rejected by the aristocratic D'Ysquith family when she married a Spaniard. He's eighth in line for the earldom and he decides to avenge the family's poor treatment of his mother by killing his way to the position. There's also the problem of the two women he loves - Sibella, who married a rich man but still carries on an affair with him, and his cousin, Phoebe.
The gimmick is that the same actor, Jefferson Mays, plays all of the murder victims (as had Alec Guiness in the movie). Mays did an excellent job, making each of those characters distinctive. I also want to note Bryce Pinkham as Monty and Lisa O'Hare as Sibella. I was unfamiliar with the creative team of Robert L. Freedman (book and lyrics) and Steven Lutvak (music and lyrics), but I thought they did a fine job with a traditional musical style. The songs effectively conveyed character and advanced the action, as well as being reasonably witty. I also want to note the choreography. This was Peggy Hickey's Broadway debut and I thought that she did an effective job, especially on "Lady Hyacinth Abroad." All in all, this was a very enjoyable show and I'm glad I took the chance on it .
American Idiot: This was a touring production at the National Theatre. I knew and liked the Green Day concept album that the show is based on, but knew little beyond that going in. It turns out that there is not really much to know. The plot line is extremely thin - a year in the life of three young men trying to find themselves by leaving their home town and going off ot the city. Will turns back right away, because his girlfriend is pregnant. Tunny spends a little time doing little but sleeping, then joins the Army. Johnny gets seduced by drugs and a woman. At the end, the three friends are reunited, having learned and grown just a little.
I liked the music but I thought the plot was unengaging. And the choreography was dreadful, mostly consisting of a large number of extras jerking spasmodically and throwing themselves on the ground athletically. I don't have an objection to that sort of dance, per se, but it had no actual relationship to what was going on. I also had issues with the set, a significant portion of which was obscured from my side orchestra seat by a tall amplifier tower.
Overall, I'd have liked this a lot more if I had been thinking of it as a Green Day tribute concert. But it didn't work for me as musical theatre.
Smiling, the Boy Fell Dead: York Theatre Company has a series they call Musicals in Mufti, which consists of semi-staged readings of lesser-known musicals. Their current series is a tribute to Sheldon Harnick, one of the great lyricists of the musical theatre. I couldn't resist a quick trip to New York to see Smiling, the Boy Fell Dead, a musical parody of Horatio Alger's novels.
The show had a brief (22 performance) run off-Broadway in 1961 and has not been staged since. For this production, Harnick merged the best aspects of five versions of the book. There are still some gaping holes in the story, which involves a young man named Waldo, who needs to get his late father's machine to work in order to save a local tool company - and his family's financial future, as well as to get the girl. Opposing him is the sinister Simeon Moodis, who is evil just for the sake of being evil. As an example of the flaws in the book, at the end of the first act, the machine gets blown up, but at the beginning of the second act, Waldo again needs just one part to finish it.
But the relatively minor book flaws were overcome by a pleasant score by David Baker and some very clever Harnick lyrics. I particularly liked the songs "Environment - Heredity," "All the Best Girls in Town," and "Temperance Polks." I also want to note the fine cast. In particular, Matt Dengler struck just the right note of innocence as Waldo and Rose Hemingway was charming as Dorothea, the love interest, while Tony Roberts sneered his way amusingly as Simeon. It would be nice to see this as a fully staged production at some point.
By the way, there was a talk-back after the performance. Among other things, Sheldon Harnick mentioned interest in a possible revival of The Rothschilds.
A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder: If I'm already in New York for a Saturday matinee, it makes sense to get tickets to something on Saturday night. I settled on A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder because: 1) it got good reviews and 2) it is based on a movie I loved, Kind Hearts and Coronets. The plot involves a young man, Monty Navarro, who discovers his late mother was rejected by the aristocratic D'Ysquith family when she married a Spaniard. He's eighth in line for the earldom and he decides to avenge the family's poor treatment of his mother by killing his way to the position. There's also the problem of the two women he loves - Sibella, who married a rich man but still carries on an affair with him, and his cousin, Phoebe.
The gimmick is that the same actor, Jefferson Mays, plays all of the murder victims (as had Alec Guiness in the movie). Mays did an excellent job, making each of those characters distinctive. I also want to note Bryce Pinkham as Monty and Lisa O'Hare as Sibella. I was unfamiliar with the creative team of Robert L. Freedman (book and lyrics) and Steven Lutvak (music and lyrics), but I thought they did a fine job with a traditional musical style. The songs effectively conveyed character and advanced the action, as well as being reasonably witty. I also want to note the choreography. This was Peggy Hickey's Broadway debut and I thought that she did an effective job, especially on "Lady Hyacinth Abroad." All in all, this was a very enjoyable show and I'm glad I took the chance on it .
