"8Ball, watch those drug comments...that was just rude."
It was obvious sarcasm.
"Goodness is rewarded. Hope is guaranteed. Laughter builds strong bones. Right will intercede. Things you've said I often find I need, indeed. I see the world through your eyes. What's black and white is colorized. The knowledge you most dearly prized I'm eager to employ. You said that life has infinite joys."
"In theater, the process of it is the experience. Everyone goes through the process, and everyone has the experience together. It doesn't last - only in people's memories and in their hearts. That's the beauty and sadness of it. But that's life - beauty and the sadness. And that is why theater is life." - Sherie Rene Scott
Every time I see the title of this show I still have that small bit of hope that it'll be a Springsteen jukebox musical. I would totally see that, but this show presently is a definite no.
8Ball, it was a well written review and i agreed with everything, but once I read that comment my standards for your review lowered and I certainly think that the personal comment you made wasn't very funny.
I saw the show last night, and was told that there was a new number added to the show, a new final number that will probably not last, if they have any sense.
I agree with most of the opinions already expressed about the show. It is pretty entirely forgettable, an after-school special with rather bland music and lyrics. Harmless, inoffensive, and all that.
It isn't an atrocity like GOOD VIBRATIONS or RING OF FIRE, by any means.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick
My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/
I don't know what it was called, but it had the lyrics "My Next Story" in the song. I don't have any further information as to how it was different from what had happened other nights, sorry.
It was kind of an odd song, it made it seem like he was just getting ready to move on and cannibalize other peoples' lives for the next notebook full of jottings he was going to do. Not exactly a great ending.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick
My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/
Main Character's Friend: "Why were you two kissing?" Main Character: "He kissed me, and I just let it happen." MCF: "You can't please everybody."
I had to repress my laughter so much that I almost started choking.
"Goodness is rewarded. Hope is guaranteed. Laughter builds strong bones. Right will intercede. Things you've said I often find I need, indeed. I see the world through your eyes. What's black and white is colorized. The knowledge you most dearly prized I'm eager to employ. You said that life has infinite joys."
Main Character's Friend: "Why were you two kissing?" Main Character: "He kissed me, and I just let it happen." MCF: "You can't please everybody."
That actually got sustained laughter at the perf. I attended. The actors def. held for it, so I am assuming it is an intended laugh. One of the better ones in the show.
Laughter is much more important than applause. Applause is almost a duty. Laughter is a reward.
Carol Channing
oh god...no I don't get offended by everything. He just made a very dumb comment in an otherwise good review and it was a failed attempt at being humorous...
"That actually got sustained laughter at the perf. I attended. The actors def. held for it, so I am assuming it is an intended laugh."
Ah, see... at the performance I attended, nobody knew whether or not to laugh at that moment because the show takes itself so seriously so much of the time, and that inadvertently made the line even funnier.
"Goodness is rewarded. Hope is guaranteed. Laughter builds strong bones. Right will intercede. Things you've said I often find I need, indeed. I see the world through your eyes. What's black and white is colorized. The knowledge you most dearly prized I'm eager to employ. You said that life has infinite joys."
At the performance I attended, it got a bit of a chuckle, but not much else. Of course, not much else about the show got much of a reaction anyway, it was one of the most tepid audience responses I've ever seen.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick
My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/
"He just made a very dumb comment in an otherwise good review"
It wasn't a very dumb comment. Call was manic and twitchy and sweating profusely, vaguely reminiscent of the homeless man that stands outside of the Duane Reade on my block; it was uncomfortable to watch, and I said so. Get over it.
"Goodness is rewarded. Hope is guaranteed. Laughter builds strong bones. Right will intercede. Things you've said I often find I need, indeed. I see the world through your eyes. What's black and white is colorized. The knowledge you most dearly prized I'm eager to employ. You said that life has infinite joys."
I also concur. I saw the show in DC and had a hard time watching Andrew Call bouncing around the stage. He has a pretty voice and nice to look at, but if he would just stay still for 5 min it wouldn't be so annoying to watch him. It just looked like he was trying WAY too hard
I have yet to see the show in NY and maybe some changes/improvements have happened but I'm going off what I saw. The number 1 problem I had with the show was just the story itself. They reunite after just one year of high school. I just don't think that many life changing events could happen in one year. I thought maybe if it had taken place after graduating from college it would have been better. Also, I just didn't get the whole gay thing. I don' t think in today's world and society that it would be such a big deal. That to me just wasn't enough conflict for me to even want to continue watching. The music was ok. There were maybe one or two that sort of stuck with me. Overall I left the show just thinking it was ok. I was far from loving it, but didn't absolutly hate it. Never thinking it would actually make it to B-Way. Maybe off or off off Broadway. I was glad I didn't pay for a ticket, let's put it that way. And as much as people on this message boards are saying that it doesn't matter what we, people on this message board, say. The critics could have a different opinion. That is very true. But isn't us the theatre goers opinion who really matter? We are the ones paying and filling the seats. And even if, somehow, it gets rave reviews I still don't think it will sell. Because us the theatre goers don't think it's Broadway material. Lastly I wanted to say that I don't blame James and Nick. They are 2 young GOOD guys with dreams like the rest of us. And they had a chance to put up a show on Broadway. Which is more than A LOT of people can say. And I don't think anyone would pass that up. But I do blame the people around them. Producers, critics in DC and anyone who told them this was ready to go. Those experienced people should know better.
Also, I just didn't get the whole gay thing. I don' t think in today's world and society that it would be such a big deal.
It shouldn't be, but for about 90% of the country, it still is. All you have to do is read a newspaper or watch the news. Granted, I think making ahuge deal out of it in a Broadway musical is only perpetuating the rather antique view of homosexuality, but it's not exactly unrealistic.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
I saw this tonight, and it was pretty bad. Most of it has been covered here already. A few things stood out. (Spoilers!)
At the end of the show, the red hoodie guy realizes that the high school ramblings/juvenilia in his notebook lack truth, and he rips the notebook up. He swears that his writing will now be truthful in a way that it wasn't before! Except, the show appears autobiographical. And we've just watched his high school ramblings. Which he has just dismissed as dishonest and juvenile. Which, sadly, they are. Why couldn't the author have followed his character's lead? Oh, the irony!
Also, the exaggerated cajoling and backslapping, etc., that occurred throughout the show reminded me of a Christian rock band, except instead of singing about Jesus, they were singing about college, and friends, and being gay. And, uh, human beings.
Also, "Andy's Turn" was ridiculous in that, in my mind at least, it recalled "Rose's Turn", but as a mirror opposite. Instead of being a really good song, it was a really, really bad song.
To recap, the show isn't quite ready for Broadway. I hope these guys will learn from this!