MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG First Performance...- Page 6
MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG First Performance...
#125MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG First Performance - I was at the dress..
Posted: 2/13/12 at 10:09am
It's a strange and off-kilter production, where Gussie and Beth are the best things you see.
Donnell and Miranda both flubbed or just omitted major chunks of lyrics this weekend; in "Old Friends," when Frank is supposed to interject "If you're wrong," Donnell just stood there staring blankly at Miranda. It took about 6 measures for them to find a way to get back on track. Pretty amateurish, seeing as how they've had as much rehearsal as a summer stock production, as well as months to learn the roles on their own since they were hired.
And Miranda just can't sing, I'm afraid. That would be OK if he was a good actor, but he ran the emotional gamut from A-A in "Franklin Shepard, Inc."
Lapine seems to harbor a grudge against Mary (or Keenan-Bolger), dressing her in history's worst wigs and costumes, staging her in profile or turned away from the audience much of the time, and turning off her lights in the reprise of "Not A Day Goes By."
I'm not sure why Lapine thought it was a good idea to have Frank & Charley meet for the first time ever in the last scene, rather than being long-established friends. It doesn't allow them to share their passion at the intensity it had before; they had to be tentative and "getting to know you" with one another. But I suppose the genius had to put his stamp on the piece, and that was one way...
Not the worst production ever, but not a good one, either.
WiCkEDrOcKS
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/13/04
#126MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG First Performance - I was at the dress..
Posted: 2/13/12 at 1:24pmI thought it was a fine production. Too bad the three leads are miscast and had zero chemistry. The show really hinges on the three of them and sadly, they were mediocre at best. Miranda barely registered, Bolger (who I love) was horribly out of her element, and Donnell was simply good, nothing more, nothing less.
#127MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG First Performance - I was at the dress..
Posted: 2/13/12 at 1:31pmWicked, I get the feeling that you're using "fine" here in the context of, "not good, not bad, just satisfactory," right? As opposed to the "very high quality" definition?
#128MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG First Performance - I was at the dress..
Posted: 2/13/12 at 1:44pm
For me, it boiled down to miscasting.
Donnell was perfect for the role and was very good, but nothing exciting or new. I was hoping for a Raul Esparza in Company tour de force-type performance. So, I was a little let down, but not horribly.
I LOVE Celia, and I actually really liked her as Mary. That doesn't change the fact that either Leslie Kritzer or Stephanie D'Abruzzo should have been cast over her. Both auditioned and both deserved the roles. I feel that Celia was probably the final choice due to her working with Lapine in Spelling Bee. Just speculation. All of that said, I think she was good. Just miscast.
I was horribly disappointed when the news broke that Miranda was playing Charlie. Miscast from day ONE. Just awful. Couldn't act it, couldn't sing it. Brooks Ashmanskas, where were you?
Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed every single minute. LOVED the projections. No real flubs or anything, that I noticed.
#129MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG First Performance - I was at the dress..
Posted: 2/13/12 at 1:48pm
There have been several questions about why people think the show doesn't work for many audiences. Here are my theories:
1) Most important - Frank is the center of the show, and he is a blank, except when he's an ass. He cheats on both wives and seems to be emotionally retarded when it comes to dealing with anyone else. He makes bad choices for no better reason than the writer needs to move the story along.
2) That said, he doesn't do anything truly terrible to Charley, not enough to justify a crazy rant on television like "Franklin Shepard, Inc." Yes, he puts off a project that Charley cares about; he also helps Charley make the money he needs to work on that project alone. Frank is annoying, yes, but not rage-inducing (at least not to Charley).
3) Charley's high moral tone is so ridiculous as to be utterly perplexing. What writer in their right mind ever turned down a movie deal? If Charley were shown to have independent income, sufficient to raise a family, it might make a little sense. But it just doesn't.
4) Mary, the last member of the triumvirate at the center of the story, is underwritten - she loves Frank, as everyone points out, but does nothing about it. She has no action to play, except to try to keep Frank & Charley together, which just isn't very interesting to watch.
5) As shown too well in this production, Gussie and Beth are the active players in the narrative - they have real goals, real emotions, real stories. But they're supporting characters.
Until the three people at the center can be made active and earn our interest, the show will never work for more than a handful of devotees.
#130MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG First Performance - I was at the dress..
Posted: 2/13/12 at 1:51pm
I was hoping for a Raul Esparza in Company tour de force-type performance.
Bobby is a much better role than Frank. It wouldn't be fair to compare them. Frank only has one solo (Growing Up) and it's not a big moment like Being Alive.
. Brooks Ashmanskas, where were you?
Wait, seriously? That man can't play straight if his life depended on it.
#131MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG First Performance - I was at the dress..
Posted: 2/13/12 at 1:51pm
Overkill, Kritzer worked with Lapine on SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM, so it goes beyond that.
Keenan-Bolger is 35 and looks about 16, so I think that gave her an edge for a show that's so intrinsically about the progression of time (Kritzer is 34 and d'Abruzzo is 39, for the record.) That being said, she's still entirely miscast, and it's a shame that some of the other incredibly talented and incredibly appropriate women who went in for Mary weren't given the opportunity to do it. This production would have been undoubtedly more successful with better casting, so Lapine had handicapped himself from the very beginning by dropping the ball in that regard.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
Updated On: 2/13/12 at 01:51 PM
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
WiCkEDrOcKS
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/13/04
#132MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG First Performance - I was at the dress..
Posted: 2/13/12 at 1:54pmYes, newintown, "fine" as in "satisfactory." I liked it enough, but didn't think it was anything spectacular.
#133MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG First Performance - I was at the dress..
Posted: 2/13/12 at 2:00pmFor me, the saddest thing about Keenan-Bolger's performance was how small and dried-out her voice sounded when compared to the big gorgeous sounds coming from Elizabeth Stanley and Betsy Wolfe.
#134MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG First Performance - I was at the dress..
Posted: 2/13/12 at 2:02pm
I completely forgot Lapine directed, SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM! Thanks for pointing that out, like I said, it was just speculation. :)
ljay, that's also very true when it comes to Frank, but at the same time, I was just wanting MORE from his performance...emotionally, I guess.
#135MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG First Performance - I was at the dress..
Posted: 2/13/12 at 2:26pm
Well, this oughta be good for a smile and cry.
Original MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Cast to Perform in Encores! Finale, 2/14
#136MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG First Performance - I was at the dress..
Posted: 2/13/12 at 2:34pmI'll be there tomorrow night. Had no idea they OBC would be there, but now I'm even more excited!
#137MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG First Performance - I was at the dress..
Posted: 2/13/12 at 6:15pm
I've not got time to elaborate, but I saw this last night, and you can add me to the stack -- if there is such a stack -- that recognized the production's myriad flaws, many of which seem to have been discussed in this thread, and still found it to be a wonderful evening. Despite problems, it was lucid, consistent, fun, and the actors made the book sound damn good.
And I haven't read a whole lot of what people are talking about, but are people talking a lot about Elizabeth Stanley's performance? Because they should be. In additional to everything she did last night, her "Growing Up" was an absolute, unqualified knockout. So amazingly clear, and sharp as a tack. Pure heaven.
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#138MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG First Performance - I was at the dress..
Posted: 2/13/12 at 6:41pm
themysteriousgrowl, I completely agree. Stanley absolutely nails Gussie. As I said before, her "Good Thing Going" at the top act two is an absolute showstopper.
More than anyone else in this production, she charts a complete and fulfilling progression of the character with colorful and specific choices are that are always both interesting and appropriate. Given how thoroughly unlikeable a character she's playing, it makes her achievement in the role all the more remarkable. While you don't always like Gussie, in this production, you're constantly aware of why everyone is so completely magnetized by her, and that's because of how luminous Stanley is at each and every moment.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
Updated On: 2/13/12 at 06:41 PM
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
#139MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG First Performance - I was at the dress..
Posted: 2/13/12 at 6:44pmElizabeth Stanley really does come out of this production looking stellar. It's a shame Brantley barely acknowledged her in his review.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
Copperfield2
Stand-by Joined: 11/4/06
#140MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG First Performance - I was at the dress..
Posted: 2/13/12 at 11:43pm
I just saw Leslie Kritzer at American Songbook and the evening was sometimes embarrassing in its unprofessionalism. And I've liked her before. So I don't think she would have been better than Kenan-Bolger who was actually very good at the Sunday matinee and one of the few characters getting any laughs.
#141MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG First Performance - I was at the dress..
Posted: 2/14/12 at 12:41am
I said it earlier in this thread, if this was a Broadway production, Stanley would absolutely deserve a Tony nomination. She really surprised me with her performance. While her "Good Thing Going" is a showstopper, it's her "Growing Up" (act 1) that is the perfect mix of seduction and subtlety. It's one of my favorite moments in the show... yes I know, random!
I really hope this production gets a cast recording. It deserves one.
#142MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG First Performance - I was at the dress..
Posted: 2/14/12 at 4:39amNewintown Was that a Lapine change and not one of Furth's (or Sondheim with Furth as it's a pretty major change) revisions before he died?. I vaguely remember the one production I saw but not the one I was in had that same change, but now I really am not sure. Either way, I agree with you that it's a bad move--the Our Time scene is meant to show what optimism and hope they shared *as friends* for the future--I think it loses something if it's their introduction...
#143MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG First Performance - I was at the dress..
Posted: 2/14/12 at 9:09amIt's the first time I've ever seen that last scene played with Charley & Frank meeting for the first time ever, so I'm guessing it's a Lapine change.
#144MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG First Performance - I was at the dress..
Posted: 2/14/12 at 9:55am^ They addressed that at the talkback, and it was a Lapine change. They had made it, they said, about six days before the Saturday performance.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
#145MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG First Performance - I was at the dress..
Posted: 2/14/12 at 3:31pmJust wondering what the running time is. I am going tonight at 7:00.
Just give the world Love.
#146MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG First Performance - I was at the dress..
Posted: 2/15/12 at 12:05am
So not only did the original cast come out at the end to sing "Old Friends" with the current cast.
Sondheim also came out onstage and sang it with them.
I had let out one convulsive sob when Celia Keenan Bolger started singing "Now You Know" and I cried when the started singing "Opening Doors" and kept on crying all through "Our Time."
But when Sondheim came out onstage I think I yelped.
RippedMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
#147MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG First Performance - I was at the dress..
Posted: 2/15/12 at 12:52am
I was there tonight too sort of by dumb luck. Just asked for a cheap seat, and got a pretty great seat an hour before curtain.
I wasn't familiar with this show at all. Obviously I've heard a few of the songs out of context, but wasn't too familiar with the story. I have to say I think the problem with the whole show is the structure. You start out with the ending. We know they aren't friends anymore. And so the only place to go is back in time to when they were friends. So we know it's going to end happy with all of them together. There's no drama. Sure, some stuff happens along the way, but really nothing major.
The 3 main actors just weren't great. I thought Celia was the best of them. I felt bad for her character though because she didn't do anything. She'd walk on and say some funny stuff and then walk off. She basically just becomes a sad, drunk. That's it. I wish there could have been a scene where her and Frank could have gotten together or shared an almost kiss, or something. But there was no tension between the two. It was just she liked him, and he didn't like her. Colin was okay. I mean he isn't a bad actor by any means, just nothing really interesting. Nothing memorable. His voice is okay, but I don't need to hear more of it. And Lin was awful. Just bad choices and an awful actor/singer. Basically everything a good musical theater actors needs he does not have. I don't know how/why he was cast.
It's just a weird show. Some of the songs are great - "Not A Day Goes By" (I loved the trio version in Act II) - but some of them sound the same and/or aren't memorable. The story is just the major problem. It's not interesting. I thought the ending was a little too cutesy and perfect. Like they all just happen to meet on the rooftop by themselves? I just didn't find it plausible.
It was cool seeing the original cast and Sondheim though!
breathyfemalevocal
Understudy Joined: 10/31/10
#148MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG First Performance - I was at the dress..
Posted: 2/15/12 at 2:15am
Is there any way to leave Merrily at City Center immediately at its conclusion (for Sat night's 8pm show) and get to Cafe Carlyle to see Christine Ebersole starting at 10:45 that same night? I'm sitting in row A (4th row, actually)for Merrily, which appears to have a wider aisle in front than most (between row CC and A). I'm hoping to dash out during final bows, run the two blocks east to Madison ave, and catch a cab to carry me 20 blocks north to 76th st and Madison ave.
Would subway be any faster? Any advice appreciated. I have to cancel my Cafe Carlyle tix tomorrow if I can't make it and I so want to see her for the first time.
#149MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG First Performance - I was at the dress..
Posted: 2/15/12 at 11:32am
I was there last night also. PalJowey, I was in tears also!
I have never seen the show performed and have only heard the OBCR. I really missed Hills of Tomorrow and the transitions but the show still works well without them. I can only speak on what I saw last night and I thought it was fantastic. Had no problem following the story backwards and I found myself dying to get back to my seat at intermission to see what "happened". Celia Keenan Bolger was fantastic. She had me on the floor all night. My heart just broke for Mary. I was skeptical about Lin Manuel but he did a fine job. They all did. They only thing that I noticed was the horn solos in the overture and the Entre' Act were a bit shaky.
The finale was great. We were wondering why Tonya Pinkins wasn't there. Neither was Jason Alexander. Ms. Pinkins was at the reception earlier though. Did I just miss her onstage? And my theatergoing experience is now complete...I saw Sondheim in the flesh!
The evening was so much better than a bunch of roses and Godiva chocolates. Happy Valentines day to me!
Just give the world Love.
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