Dr. Horrible: TV Reviews

Posted on October 10, 2012 by boz

Last night, CW presented the TV premiere of the 2008 Emmy-winning web musical Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog. Of course, most critics weighed in on the musical when it first aired online four years ago, but below is a sampling of what bloggers now are saying about how the show has held up in its transfer to TV. For the record, the creative team includes Joss Whedon (writing, direction), Maurissa Tancharoen, Zack Whedon (writing), Jed Whedon (writing, orchestrations), Ryan Green (camera), Lisa Lasek (editing), Alethea Root (art direction), Sandy Struth (sets), Shawna Trpcic (costumes), and Nicole True (hair, makeup). The cast includes Neil Patrick Harris (Dr. Horrible, Billy), Nathan Fillion (Capt. Hammer), Felicia Day (Penny), and Simon Helberg (Moist).

Robert Lloyd (L.A. Times): One would reckon that much of the audience for Dr. Horrible will have already seen it, though many will want to watch it again – on television! with commercials! – because we live in a world where watching things again is just how we watch things. (It holds up well.) … Passing time has only increased its significant star power. … It is a sweet, rather sad piece that – like the songs, by Whedon and his brother Jed, which are at once mock-heroic and actually heroic, mock-moving and moving in fact – works both as parody and as a drama. It also works as comedy, from line to line and moment to moment, but it is not, really, a comedy. It kept me quite unsettled, seeing it for the first time – and subsequent times, for that matter.

Richard Marroquin (Nerdtainment): Once you get past the initial blog entry, the story really starts to flow. I really enjoyed the dark feel of the film with the humor mixed in. The songs are ridiculously entertaining. … I really got sucked into the characters to the point I wanted to punch Captain Hammer in the face. Also, there is that moment in the movie where you just throw your hands up in the air and want to shout “Oh no! Why?” … The quirkiness of the movie does not get to the point of irritation and it has a slam the door shut type ending. I cannot find too many flaws if any at all during the movie, only that it was short and left me wanting more. Then again, it was not a motion picture and gave more than what a web series needed to give, so that was a bonus in it self. Rating: 9 out of 10

Alan Sepinwall (Hit Fix): Once upon a time, this might feel like validation of the Dr. Horrible experiment – an obscure indie project graduating to a (relatively) mainstream media outlet. … Now it’s just filler programming for the CW. … At the time, Whedon talked about how Dr. Horrible might turn out to be the model for future passion projects that don’t fit a particular commercial niche, but there haven’t been as many successors – at least, not involving talent this high-profile – in the years since. … Overall, Dr. Horrible feels more like a singular event, from a time when all these creative people had nothing else to do, rather than the start of a huge trend.

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Marry Me a Little: Review Roundup

Posted on October 5, 2012 by boz

Lauren Molina
and Jason Tam

The Keen Company has received mixed reviews for its first-ever musical production, a “revisal” of the 1980 one-act Marry Me a Little, which was last revived Off-Broadway in 1987. The creative team includes Craig Lucas and Norman Rene (book), Stephen Sondheim (lyrics, music), Jonathan Silverstein (direction), John Bell (musical direction), Dan Knechtges (choreography), Steven C. Kemp (sets), Jennifer Paar (costumes), Josh Bradford (lights), and Colin Whitely (sound). The cast of this two-hander includes Jason Tam (Him) and Lauren Molina (Her) with John Bell (piano).

Joe Dziemianowicz (N.Y. Daily News): 3 out of 5 stars. What made the Marry Me motor purr the first time around was that the Sondheim songs threading it together were unknown, since most had been cut from his early shows. Three decades later, the music is familiar and the element of surprise is gone. The exception: “Rainbows,” the newest number, a pretty and incisive song cut from an unmade movie of Into the Woods. Performing alone and together, Tam and Molina, who also plays cello, are game and appealing – no more, no less. Her teary take on the title song impressed, as did his rousing “Happily Ever After.” They blended sweetly on the wistful “So Many People.” But hearing songs sung recital-style … grew tiresome.

Andy Propst (Theater Mania): Silverstein’s sometimes overly fussy production too often shifts into a less concrete and more dreamlike reality. At those moments, audiences may find themselves struggling to understand why Him and Her have broken into songs like “Your Eyes Are Blue” … or “Rainbows.” … What ultimately pulls theatergoers through these missteps are Molina and Tam’s consistently winning performances. … When Molina and Tam nail their numbers – such as Tam’s searing delivery of “Happily Ever After” and Molina’s sultry rendition of The Girls of Summer – there’s an unmistakable electricity in the air. Equally wonderfully, when the actors’ voices combine … the effect can be concurrently sweet and poignant, much like the revue itself.

David Rooney (N.Y. Times): Mr. Silverstein’s update is a wee bit obvious in its incorporation of contemporary gadgetry to make the material resonate in our age of hyper-connected isolation. But it nonetheless retains a pleasing retro flavor and is a model from which many later songbook confections could learn a thing or two. … Both actors bring emotional transparency to their roles, providing a quietly affecting counterpoint to the guarded ambivalence inherent in many of Mr. Sondheim’s lyrics. … No living Broadway composer’s gifts have been more celebrated than Mr. Sondheim’s. But it’s a testament to his skills that the discards and remnants from which this show was stitched are more beguiling than so much of what passes for contemporary musical theater.

Marilyn Stasio (Variety): It takes great determination and no little effort to screw up Marry Me a Little. … Jonathan Silverstein manages to make some spectacularly bad choices – starting with the decision to hook up these sensitive souls to social networking websites. … Instead of allowing these happy/unhappy youngsters to explore their conflicted feelings through their assigned songs, Silverstein encourages them to take their cues from their laptops and smartphones. … But at the end of the show, when this lonely boy and girl are finally allowed to meet, Tam and Molina seize the moment and make us melt with “Rainbows.” … Thankfully, we don’t have to watch them going back to their laptops and smartphones.

Terry Teachout (Wall St. Journal): The world has changed greatly since 1980, of course, and Jonathan Silverstein, the director of this revival, has changed Marry Me a Little accordingly. In addition to moving the action of the show into the age of smartphones and sexting, he’s toyed with the score, dropping three songs and adding four others, in all cases to excellent effect. … He’s also added a new twist to the end of Marry Me a Little. Don’t ask – you’ll want to be surprised – but it’s neat and right. Ms. Molina and Mr. Tam are a bit short on mutual chemistry, and they also need to be a lot more careful about projecting their soft singing. … Those aren’t exactly quibbles, but they shouldn’t stop you from enjoying a show that’s as short, smart and sweet as Marry Me a Little.

Robert Windeler (Back Stage): The two singers here are a bit mismatched. Lauren Molina, Her, has a stronger voice and more forceful personality. Jason Tam, Him, dances very well in two fantasy sequences but is more tentative in his vocal delivery – until he knocks “Happily Ever After” (Company) out of the park. … Jonathan Silverstein glibly moves his cast of two around their separate but shared flats … but in attempting to update a timeless piece, he has removed some of its subtle charm. … And those mutual fantasy dances from choreographer Dan Knechtges feature such tactile intimacy as to break down the basic conceit. If you’ve never seen Marry Me a Little you may enjoy the show; the rest of us have our memories. Either way, unsung Sondheim is better than most composers’ greatest hits. Critic’s Score: B-

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Carrie: Album Reviews

Posted on October 4, 2012 by boz

Ghostlight Records has released the much-anticipated 2011 Off-Broadway “revisal” cast recording of the 1988 musical Carrie, the infamous adaptation of Stephen King’s 1974 novel and 1976 film, to appreciative reviews. The legendary original production opened at the RSC in Stratford, England, with Barbara Cook and powerhouse newcomer Linzi Hateley. The Broadway transfer, which saw Betty Buckley replace Cook, closed after only five performances (one of which I was fortunate to attend) and lost an estimated $8 million, so an original cast album was never made – though there are several bootleg recordings being shared.  The revised production’s creative team includes Lawrence D. Cohen (book), Dean Pitchford (lyrics), Michael Gore (music), and Doug Besterman (orchestrations). The cast includes Lortel nominees Marin Mazzie and Molly Ranson.

Steve Bergman (Edge): The performances of Mazzie and Ranson effectively balance the humanity of their dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship with Margaret’s religious fanaticism and Carrie’s telekinesis. We finally feel sympathy for the psychotic Margaret when she delivers the mother’s lament “When There’s No One,” even though we know that all will not end happily. With a smaller venue presenting the 2012 revival (the MCC Theater, Off-Broadway), the demons have been exorcised from this show, and Ghostlight Records has released the long-awaited cast recording to memorialize this horror tale.

Bryant Burnette (Truth Inside the Lie): Bootlegs are better than nothing, but … we now have something considerably better in the form of this official CD release. … Overall, this is a pretty good CD. The music isn’t awesome or anything, but it’s mostly good. … The CD is packaged with a 44-page booklet that includes all the lyrics, as well as some good photos and an essay by writer Lawrence D. Cohen (who wrote the book for the musical, as well as the screenplay for the 1976 movie). In terms of its presentation, this is a classy affair, and for musical fans and hardcore King collectors, I’d say it’s well worth picking up a copy.

Andy Propst (Theater Mania): As if owning – at long last – a legitimate recording of the infamous Broadway flop based on Stephen King’s teen horror tale Carrie were not enough, this album that preserves the revised version of the show that played Off-Broadway features the uncompromisingly dynamic performances of Marin Mazzie and Molly Ranson, as mother and daughter Margaret and Carrie White, whose powerhouse voices send songs like “When There’s No One,” “And Eve Was Weak,” and the musical’s title number soaring. There’s solid supporting work, too, particularly from Christy Altomare as “good girl” Sue, and while not all of the material from composer Michael Gore and lyricist Dean Pitchford is sterling (notably one of the new numbers, “The World According to Chris”), the album has been given a first-class packaging and it’s a disc that will be savored and debated for years to come.

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Let It Be: Review Roundup

Posted on October 3, 2012 by boz

Ian B. Garcia, John Brosnan, Phil Martin and Michael Gagliano

The Beatles jukebox musical Let It Be has opened to mixed reviews at the West End’s Prince of Wales Theatre, where the Fab Four gave their notable 1963 Royal Variety Performance. It is the first British musical to be granted the rights to the pop group’s entire back catalog. The creative team includes Joey Curatolo (book, direction), Beatles (music), Tim McQuillen Wright (sets), Humphrey McDermott (lights), Gareth Owen (sound), Darren McCaulley and Mathieu St-Arnaud (video), John Maher (music direction), and Jack Galloway (costumes). The rotating cast includes Emanuele Angeletti or Ian B. Garcia (Paul McCartney), Reuven Gershon or Michael Gagliano (John Lennon), Stephen Hill or John Brosnan (George Harrison), and Gordon Elsmore or Phil Martin (Ringo Starr).

Michael Coveney (What’s On): 2 out of 5 stars. There can be no complaints about the material: 30-odd of the best pop songs ever written, performed in chronological order from “She Loves You” through to “Hey Jude” by a perfectly efficient quartet of imitation Beatles, singing and playing live, with a back-up muso on synthesizer, keyboard and tambourine. It’s a fairly good concert, fairly rubbish theatre, and nothing like a musical even remotely, with a series of “visuals” that regurgitate every newsreel cliché in the book.

Andrzej Lukowski (Time Out London): 3 out of 5 stars. Some day, somebody will surely write an absolutely stonking Beatles musical. … Let It Be is not that musical. In fact, it’s not even really a musical: it’s basically a posh tribute gig … four blokes wearing wigs, playing instruments and changing costumes while bashing out proficient covers of the Fab Four’s greatest hits. … You won’t learn anything about the Beatles from Let It Be, and the production feels on the cheap side for a show of its scale – brass and strings etc. all come from a bloke on a very un-’60s synth. If ambition was The Beatles’ defining trait, there isn’t a huge amount here. But it’s likeable, with a well-chosen set list. And if you didn’t already know that the songs are astonishingly good then there are far worse introductions.

Charles Spencer (Daily Telegraph): 4 out of 5 stars. Let It Be is essentially a concert with a brilliant covers band offering a non-stop parade of hits in more or less chronological order. … Some of the wigs and false moustaches sported by the cast may be a touch dodgy, but the music is almost spookily faithful to the originals, the great irony being that the Beatles themselves never performed many of these songs live, having given up touring in 1966. Apart from a minimal amount of chat between numbers and invitations to the audience to dance and sing along, the hits just keep on coming. … For those who love the Beatles, this show is as about as good as it gets.

Natasha Tripley (Theater Mania): Let It Be, the new “theatrical concert” at the Prince of Wales Theatre, timed to coincide with the Beatles 50th anniversary celebrations, more closely resembles a good tribute act than a real musical. And if you’re a fan of the Fab Four, as so many people clearly are, that may well be enough of a reason to go. The show runs through the band’s best-known songs from their early hits to the later psychedelic experiments. And that’s all it does. There is very little in the way of content; indeed, there’s no dialogue except for some amiable between-song banter, and certainly no attempt at all to tell the story of the Beatles in any way beyond charting their musical trajectory. Luckily, the band members are all skilled musicians.

Matthew Tucker (Huffington Post): 3 out of 5 stars. Theatre aside, Let It Be is a concert fit for the most hardcore of Beatles fans – those who are seeking the consolation thrill of an authentic tribute performance. Journeying through the ages, we see a head-bopping, suit-wearing Beatles perform “Love Me Do” and “Please Please Me,” to the psychedelic military uniforms of “Sgt. Pepper” and beyond. … If you find yourself craving a dose of the Liverpudlian lads, Let It Be may well give you your Beatles fix – however, best prescribed for die-hard fans.

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Lonesome: Video Reviews

Posted on October 2, 2012 by boz

Criterion has received universal praise for its release of the DVD with a triple-play of Universal features helmed by Paul Fejös from the late 1920s. The first movie is the hourlong silent romance Lonesome (1928), included on the U.S. National Film Registry in 2010. Its creative team includes Mann Page (story), Gilbert Wiarrenton (camera), Frank Atkinson (editing), and Charles D. Hall (art direction) with a cast that features Barbara Kent Mary) and Glenn Tryon (Jim). The second movie is the hourlong silent horror The Last Performance (1929). Its creative team includes James Ashmore Creelman (story), Hal Mohr (camera), Edward L. Cahn, Robert Carlisle and Robert Jahns (editing), Charles D. Hall and Thomas F. O’Neill (art direction), and Sam Perry (music) with a cast that features Conrad Veidt (Erik the Great) and Mary Philbin (Julie).

Of particular note is the third movie on the disc, the musical Broadway (1929), adapted from the long-running 1926 play by George Abbott and Philip Dunning. At the time, it was the most expensive film ever produced at Universal and its first talking picture with Technicolor. For the film, Fejos designed a camera crane that could travel 600 feet per minute, which allowed unusually fluid movement. The film’s creative team includes Charles Furthman and Edward T. Lower Jr. (screenplay),  Hal Mohr (camera), Edward Cahn and Robert Carlisle (editing), Howard Jackson (music) and Charles D. Hall (art direction) with a cast that features Glenn Tryon (Roy Lane), and Evelyn Brent (Pearl).

Adam Becvar (Cinema Sentries): While it’s a pleasure to see Lonesome on home video for the very first time in itself, Criterion’s crew have sweetened the pot by adding two more Fejos titles to this release. First up is a somewhat-complete cut of the silent version of The Last Performance … from 1929, which stars the magnificent Conrad Veidt as a magician who loses his bride to an assistant. Next up is a patchwork reconstruction of Broadway (also from 1929), one of the first films to use a crane, assembled from both the sound and silent versions of the drama.

Mike Clark (Home Media): What will undoubtedly end up being regarded as one of the home entertainment events of the year. … Two additional Fejos features are part of this package: Conrad Veidt in the 1929 silent The Last Performance … and the mob-backdropped musical talkie Broadway. … Fejos did not (after Lonesome) lose his very obvious love for moving the camera. Though Tryon plays a hood-employed hoofer hoping to make it in the show biz big-time, the camera snakes around a club (his boss’s) that looks huge enough to fill half-a-soundstage. If this is a speakeasy, it must be the biggest one in town, and I don’t think a “Joe Sent Me” type of introduction at the door would do all that much to provide a smokescreen.

Lawrence Devoe (Blu-Ray Definition): 3-1/2 out of 5 stars. Although Lonesome was technically a silent film, a music track and sound effects are added to give it more pizzazz. In addition, there were three dialogue scenes incorporated, something unusual for 1928. … We are in luck, as Criterion Collection has given us two other Fejos films: the 1929 Last Performance with Conrad Veidt; the reconstructed sound version of the 1929 musical Broadway. … Film-lovers should be grateful for companies like the Criterion Collection that have taken the time to resurrect nearly forgotten minor masterpieces like Lonesome. … If this were not enough, we actually get a triple-feature with the addition of nearly full-length restorations of two of director Fejos’s other hits both of which will be revelations to film history buffs.

Dusty Somers (Blog Critics): Prepare to be utterly taken aback by Paul Fejos’ Lonesome … a stunning display of visual storytelling. … The two major supplements here are Fejos’ two subsequent films for Universal – an incomplete version of The Last Performance, a silent starring the great Conrad Veidt as a magician pining after his assistant, and a reconstructed sound version of Broadway, an ambitious musical with a Technicolor finale. … The Bottom Line: Absolutely a must-see in every sense of the term.

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Pitch Perfect: Review Roundup

Posted on October 1, 2012 by boz

Universal has released Pitch Perfect, adapted from Mickey Rapkin’s 2008 book, to mixed but positive-leaning reviews. The creative team includes Kay Cannon (screenplay), Christopher Beck and Mark Kilian (music), Jason Moore (direction), Aakomon Jones (choreography), Julio Macat (camera), Lisa Zeno Churgin (editing), Lee Orloff and Paul Ledford (sound), Barry Robison (production design), Jeremey Woolsey (art direction), David Hack (sets), Salvador Perez (costumes), Roxanne Wightman (hair), and Deborah Zoller (makeup). The cast includes Anna Kendrick (Beca), Skylar Astin (Jesse), Rebel Wilson (Fat Amy), Adam DeVine (Bumper), Anna Camp (Aubrey), Brittany Snow (Chloe), John Michael Higgins (John), and Elizabeth Banks (Gail).

Justin Chang (Variety): Pitch Perfect is a cheeky delight. Without straying from the formulas of such campus-competition comedies … this upbeat crowdpleaser distinguishes itself with a saucy script and a flawless cast led by Anna Kendrick and a scene-stealing Rebel Wilson. While the nearly two-hour laffer could use a tighter trim, Universal has a potential winner on its hands, provided youth audiences don’t feel oversaturated with superficially similar tube fare. … Pitch Perfect nails the trappings of this increasingly popular but defiantly un-hip musical subculture: the elaborate vocal arrangements, the self-consciously goofy choreography, the pun-tastic group names and the fiercely competitive spirit perpetuated by campus rivalries and nationwide contests.

Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times): You have to hand it to Pitch Perfect. It’s a twentysomething song-and-dance movie built around rival a cappella groups. That’s more exciting than dueling string quartets, I suppose – but no, the quartets would be performing better material. In the world of this film’s Barden College, a cappella seems to rank above football in extracurricular activities. … Still, Anna Kendrick is adorable, a young version of the angelic Marisa Tomei. And it must be said that the Bellas are a first-rate group, with choreography so crisp that Bob Fosse couldn’t have drilled them to move more precisely. You may be reminded of a Broadway musical. Certainly the choreography is way over the top of other championship a cappella teams on You Tube.

Neil Genzlinger (N.Y. Times): Pitch Perfect has a pitch problem. This movie is about collegiate a cappella, but it’s loaded with the plotting conventions of the Disney Channel’s tweener shows. That makes it only occasionally funny and not at all illuminating about the rich world of a cappella singing. … As the overstuffed plot makes its muddled way toward the inevitable onstage triumph, the best comic moments come from secondary characters like Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson), another Bella, though they sometimes court offensiveness. The NBC competition series The Sing-Off showed how entertaining a cappella music can be, but this movie doesn’t respect it enough to delineate the hard work that goes into making it.

Mary Pols (Time): Anna Kendrick is cast against type as a girl too cool for school in director Jason Moore’s Pitch Perfect, a spirited, irreverent and hugely fun comedy set. … Pitch Perfect is a tale of conversion, of rigid people on both sides of the fence – that is, traditional and alternative – loosening up and coming together for the sake of … musical victory. … Yes, there’s some business about friendship, but that shimmies into the plot too late to take seriously. … Pitch Perfect is free of earnestness and messages of social responsibility. You leave it wanting to sing and dance. I’m not sure of the individual talents of the performers, but the point is the way they sound collectively, harmonizing, whether on stage or in a friendly a cappella-off on a Saturday night on campus, which is never less than delightful.

Claudia Puig (USA Today): 3 out of 4 stars. The spirited a cappella singing in Pitch Perfect makes a predictable, feather-light coming-of-age film irresistibly fun. Inspired by the increasingly popular phenomenon of college a cappella groups … Pitch Perfect showcases this campus subculture in all its eccentricities while capturing the cutthroat rivalry among its singing members. Pitch Perfect will fill the bill nicely for those who yearn for the glory days of Glee, enjoy fast-paced, nerdy snarkiness and have a soft spot for tales of rhythmic scholastic activities. … The sisterly bonds of friendship forged between Beca and her singing mates are just as important as the results of their big Lincoln Center sing-off. Pitch Perfect’s engaging mélange of pop songs and cheeky dialogue makes for good-natured fun.

Betsy Sharkey (L.A. Times): Pitch Perfect is amiable enough, and certainly in tune, but on most scores the film ends up playing in the shadow of the genre-bending series. The story follows the same basic Glee arc. … Getting prepared for the annual contest … is what keeps things humming. That journey is accompanied by a string of catchy musical mash-ups, bang-up choreography, competition jitters, egocentric stars, love, heartbreak and relationships that are about as unharmonious as they come. … What helps offset the predictable in this very predictable movie is a series of show-stopping numbers, so props to the folks who oversaw music and choreography. … Although Pitch Perfect isn’t perfect, Kendrick earns her moment in the spotlight with every note.

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Love Story: Review Roundup

Posted on September 28, 2012 by boz

Will Reynolds and Alexandra Silber

The U.S. premiere of Love Story, the musical based on Erich Segal’s 1970 novel and film that premiered at Chichester Festival Theatre in 2010 before an Olivier-nominated West End limited run, has opened at Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theatre to mixed and negative-leaning reviews. The creative team includes Stephen Clark (book, lyrics), Howard Goodall (addl. lyrics, music), Annabel Bolton (direction), Douglass G. Lutz (music direction), Peter McKintosh (sets), Shon Causer (lights), Colleen Grady (costumes), and Will Pickens (sound). The cast includes Charles Pistone (Phil Cavilleri), Will Reynolds (Oliver Barrett IV), Alexandra Silber (Jenny Cavilleri), Paul L. Nolan (Oliver Barrett III), and Jane Labanz (Alison).

David Anthony Fox (City Paper): There are many things to admire in the Walnut’s Love Story, among them the elegant direction (by Annabel Bolton) and the design. … Stephen Clark’s adaptation of the book captures Segal’s world faithfully, and, more impressively, theatricalizes it with brio. The best moments in Love Story … make us fall in love with Jenny. This is immeasurably easier because Alexandra Silber is excellent as Jenny. … If only it were all this good. … Howard Goodall’s music is a swamp of generic pop melodies, repeated frequently yet completely unmemorable. The lyrics are equally colorless. At no point does the score tap the vast well of the music of the era in which it’s set. And though both Silber and Reynolds have singing chops, the score seems awkwardly written for them – too high for him; across the break for her. … Fans of Segal’s book may find a lot to like in the Walnut’s snazzy production. But you probably won’t leave humming the tunes. And if you do, you’ll wish you weren’t.

Rebecca Goering (Broadway World): The Walnut Street Theatre’s production is charming while also heartbreaking. The extremely emotional story sweeps you through two romance-filled hours, all hinging on the grandiose and authentic chemistry between the two leads: Will Reynolds as Oliver and Alexandra Silber as Jenny. … The production elements of this show were almost perfect. The set was ideal and stylishly incorporated the orchestra onstage. The newlyweds’ dinner scene was a particular favorite that was delightfully staged. The lighting warmly showcased the lovers and their journey. … Overall, the Walnut Street Theatre’s Love Story is a romance that will transport you out of your seat and into the heart of Oliver and Jenny’s amorous world.

Aaron Mettey (Philly Post): Silber and Reynolds give fine performances. With strong voices and resolute acting, they are engaging to watch. … The script by Stephen Clark … mechanically tugs at the audience’s heart and recreates the sob-inducing finale. The songs from award-winning composer Howard Goodall, with lyrics from Clark, contain memorable and hummable melodies, but stunt the scenes. Except for a few numbers – the wonderful “Pasta” which … is one of the few gleeful moments of levity in the show – most are disconnected from the scene. … The musical is out of date and overly sentimental. But for many, that may be the best selling point.

Jennifer Perry (DC Metro): 3-1/2 out of 5 stars. It’s a solid production due to some fine musicianship, stellar production values, and some good acting moments. … Stephen Clark’s book and lyrics (with additional lyrics from Howard Goodall) are very sappy and some of the rhyming lyrics are more than groan-worthy. The best example of this is the entirely too long and repetitive “Pasta” song. … However, the book and lyrics do capture the overall intimate tone of the story. Howard Goodall’s music is one of the strongest (if not THE strongest) components of this theatrical piece. The quiet and intricate melodies are mostly rapturous. … I’d recommend this production for lovers of new, smaller, contemporary musicals and for those with an affinity for romantic stories.

Howard Shapiro (Philadelphia Inquirer): I now write in defense of beautifully staged, meticulously lighted, handsomely dressed, genuinely acted and shrewdly contrived soppiness. I make no apologies. You will either detest the new musical Love Story … or you’ll give yourself over to stunning manipulation. You may regret it afterward … but while you’re being sucked in you’ll be fully in the moment. … The lovers are the adorable Alexandra Silber and Will Reynolds, who have an intense chemistry, great vocal ranges and pinchable cheeks … and when they’re young marrieds living on pasta – a great scene – the settling-down relief in their singing is palpable. … When you can make it seem genuine even though it’s clearly not, you never do have to say you’re sorry.

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Pipe Dream: Album Reviews

Posted on September 28, 2012 by boz

Ghostlight Records has released the live 2012 Encores! concert revival cast recording of Pipe Dream, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s 1955 musical adaptation of John Steinbeck’s 1954 novel Sweet Thursday, to strongly positive reviews. The creative team includes Oscar Hammerstein II (book, lyrics), David Ives (book adaptation), Richard Rodgers (music), Rob Berman (music direction), Robert Russell Bennett (orchestrations), and John Morris (dance arrangements). The cast includes Will Chase (Doc), Laura Osnes (Suzy), Leslie Uggams (Fauna), Stephen Wallem (Hazel), and Tom Wopat (Mac). The liner notes include essays by R&H President Ted Chapin, R&H Director of Music Bruce Pomahac, Encores! Artistic Director Jack Viertel, and more.

Andy Propst (Theater Mania): Osnes is surrounded by a terrific company, including Wopat, Will Chase, Leslie Uggams, and Stephen Wallem, all of whom are in top form. And the combined work of these artists along with the Encores! orchestra, led by Rob Berman, makes this little-known musical sparkle brightly. … Rodgers’ score is filled with tunes that beautifully bring the period and color of the place to life, even as it soars with the sort of melodiousness that listeners expect. … Berman’s direction of the orchestra has a remarkable precision, and the musicians’ work supports the vocalists to perfection. Also notable is the balance and clarity of this live recording, which includes just enough dialogue to help listeners follow the story and just the right levels of audience reaction to create a sense of being present. … This recording is both a musical and historic triumph.

Steven Suskin (Playbill): This failed, neglected score does sound a whole lot better now that we can actually hear it. The big numbers have the glow of pure R&H. These are not among their best or most famous songs, true; but Dick and Oscar were craftsmen, and “Everybody’s Got a Home But Me,” “All at Once You Love Her,” “The Man I Used to Be” and “Suzy Is a Good Thing” are fine examples of their craft. The surprise here, though, comes from other sections of the score. More complicated numbers like “The Tide Pool,” “A Lopsided Bus,” “The Bum’s Opera” and “The Party That We’re Gonna Have Tomorrow Night” – which sound merely eccentric on the 1955 cast album – are here raffish and bountiful. … Everything Traubel sings on the 1955 recording sounds strange. Put Leslie Uggams in the role [and] Pipe Dream seem possible. She is joined by Will Chase as Doc and Laura Osnes as Suzy. All three perform skillfully and attractively, and are presumably what Dick and Oscar had in mind before Pipe Dream became so damagingly sidetracked. The whole thing sounds pretty wonderful. … Those who are unfamiliar with the show should be thrilled to hear a brand new, old Rodgers & Hammerstein score.

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Allegiance: Review Roundup

Posted on September 27, 2012 by boz

Telly Leung and
Lea Salonga

The new musical Allegiance, inspired by George Takei’s experiences in the U.S. Japanese internment camps during World War II, has opened to positive-leaning reviews at San Diego’s Old Globe Theater. The creative team includes Jay Kuo (book, lyrics, music), Marc Acito and Lorenzo Thione (book), Stafford Arima (direction), Andrew Palermo (choreography), Lynne Shankel (orchestrations), Laura Bergquist (music direction), Donyale Werle (sets), Alejo Vietti (costumes), Howell Binkley (lights), Jonathan Deans (sound), and Darrell Maloney (projections). The cast includes Michael K. Lee (Frankie Suzuki), Telly Leung (Sammy Kimura), Paolo Montalban (Mike Masaoka), Paul Nakauchi (Tatsuo Kimura), Lea Salonga (Kei Kimura), George Takei (Sam Kimura), and Allie Trimm (Hannah Campbell).

Katherine Davis (Back Stage): Some scenes end up feeling overly expository or rushed, but overall, this show offers balanced amounts of history and plot. … The most memorable songs are those with a ‘40s sound or Japanese lyrics. … When Kuo doesn’t follow this historical or cultural formula, the results are much less interesting. Many have a generic musical theater sound and rely on clichéd lyrics like “spread my wings and fly.” Even with several forgettable tunes, however, the strong cast makes this production a musically enjoyable one. … Lea Salonga gives a flawless vocal performance. … With more editing this show could work out its minor flaws, but even as it is, it successfully brings an often-overlooked part of American history to light in a way that is creative and affecting.  … Critics Score: A-

James Hebert (San Diego Union-Tribune): “From the past / we can learn at last.” That’s a lyric from “Second Chances,” a song that goes a long way toward embodying what makes this show … such a stirring and worthwhile work. … It is, to say the least, a sobering subject for a musical. But Allegiance … finds just the right balance of lyricism, heartbreak, yearning and, yes, humor. Most impressive of all, this original work manages to thread together myriad themes – of family strife, politics, patriotism, racial prejudice – into a beautifully unified exploration of what it means to be true to something. It’s not just about allegiance to one’s country, but also to a cause, and to loved ones, and ultimately to one’s self. … “Second Chances”? With luck, Allegiance may well find those on Broadway.

Pam Kragen (North County Times): Allegiance is in impressively polished shape, with a multilayered, clearly plotted, well-paced book. And Kuo’s score is refreshingly different, with unusual and sweeping, Asian-inspired melodies, all lushly orchestrated and arranged by Lynne Shankel. … The musical seems best in its smaller moments, particularly the sweet interactions between Takei and Salonga, who is such a natural, likable actress, and Salonga and Yeung, who plays Sammy with a youthful, wiry intensity. … It’s a living history lesson about one of the most shameful chapters in American history and it’s well-told this fall at The Old Globe.

Rob Stevens (Theater Mania): It’s a heady subject for a musical, and one handled with surprising deftness in this powerful new musical Allegiance at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. … There is a lot of story to cram into two hours, and the writers still need to refine their work. … Takei (whose real-life story inspired the show) provides the steel spine of the production, while giving a heartfelt performance. Leung is energetic and vibrant as Sammy, while Lee gives a powerhouse performance as Frankie and delivers the satirical “Paradise” with panache. But the heart and soul of the show is the touching performance of Salonga, who shines in her many duets with Leung and belts her one solo “Higher” out of theater.

Anne Marie Welsh (L.A. Times): Though peppered with promising scenes and powerfully sung by the largely Asian American cast, Allegiance retreats from the challenge of its own material and hasn’t found a consistent focus, tone or musical idiom. For all its historical reach and welcome significance, the book drifts into two generic romances and in the second act meanders into sentimental warblings that family is “what really matters.” … Composer-lyricist Kuo’s range is wide if derivative, his most memorable tunes being gentle lullabies or hymns in Japanese, or Kander-and-Ebb-like satiric tunes. … Their show needs a sharper emotional focus and musical edge to match its bold subject.

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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: Album Reviews

Posted on September 27, 2012 by boz

Sony Masterworks has released the 2012 Encores! concert revival cast recording of the 1949 musical Gentlemen Prefer Blondes to very positive reviews. The creative team is Anita Loos and Joseph Fields (book), David Ives (book adaptation), Leo Robin (lyrics), Jule Styne (music), Don Walker (orchestration), Hugh Martin (vocal arrangement), Trude Rittman (dance arrangement) and Rob Berman (music direction). The cast includes Stephen R. Buntrock (Josephus Gage), Megan Hilty (Lorelei Lee), Aaron Lazar (Henry Spofford), Deborah Rush (Mrs. Spofford), and Rachel York (Dorothy Shaw).

Eric Henrickson (Detroit News): I’m going to put on my theater geek hat today to plug a dynamite CD I got this week, the new Encores! cast recording of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. It stars Megan Hilty. … Her “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” is a classic, and she’s just charming on “A Little Girl from Little Rock.” But this isn’t just the Megan Hilty show. She’s surrounded by strong voices, most notably Rachel York. … Lots of others get their chance to shine, too. Aaron Lazar gives a romantic “Just a Kiss Apart” … and Stephen R. Buntrock mines laughs out of the innuendo of “I’m A’Tingle, I’m A’Glow” even without the visuals. I didn’t realize just how much instrumental music there is in the show, and the CD has a bunch (if not all). … Gentleman Prefer Blondes is one of those great shows that’s long overdue for a reprise on Broadway, which is the Encores! series’ mission, after all.

Andy Propst (Theater Mania): Megan Hilty stepped into the heels of the quintessential flapper Lorelei Lee with consummate style. In the process, she makes this iconic role and the show’s signature songs her own. Not only do Hilty’s renditions … have a terrific combination of gentle Southern charm, subtly conniving shrewdness, and delicately communicated dimness, they are also both followed – on separate tracks – by the encore verses of the songs. It’s a small detail, but one which allows listeners to hear how the actress builds a number, and then tops it. Fortunately, the CD also has other considerable charms and assets to recommend it, including … a bountiful amount of the show’s dance music. … Conductor Rob Berman’s fine work with the orchestra and the ensemble results in a sound that’s both brash and sparkling. He has also contributed a fine essay about songwriter Hugh Martin’s vocal arrangements for this and other shows as part of the handsome book that accompanies this remarkably satisfying recording.

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