Today is Tuesday, April 24, marking the official opening night of Nice Work If You Can Get It on Broadway, which borrows the Gershwin brothers' show tunes from the '20s and '30s. Kelli O'Hara plays a bootlegger who falls for a tipsy playboy played by Matthew Broderick in the new plot created by Tony Award winner Joe DiPietro. The musical recently picked up nine Outer Critics Circle nominations, the most of any production of the season.
I loved every single thing about this production. At the very least, I'm hoping for rave reviews for Kathleen Marshall's work. Congrats to all involved, and here's hoping this turns into a hot ticket.
I expected a Gershwin musical to be chock full of many high energy dance numbers. As it turns out there are only a few in the show. None of which are remarkable.
It was great to see Estelle Parsons do her thing as 'Mother'. Eventhough she was only on stage toward the end of the show. I can not say a bad thing about any of the performers.
It was so much fun 2 weeks ago and I'm sure it's only got even tighter since. It's a big throwback to all the big flashy tuners from the 20s and 30s. With a very strong cast and a witty book to boot. *Knock on wood* this WILL be the surprise hit of the season.
Variety is mixed to positive, it seems. Correct me if I am wrong:
"The newly manufactured 1920s-set musical "Nice Work if You Can Get It" crams vintage Gershwin songs into a bubbly crowdpleaser, enchantingly rendered by thesps Kelli O'Hara, Michael McGrath and Judy Kaye. Mix in staging and choreography by Kathleen Marshall ("Anything Goes") and a cheerfully screwball if somewhat creaky new book by Joe DiPietro, and you've got what might be termed a good new old-fashioned musical. If only its likable, hard-working leading man -- a miscast Matthew Broderick -- didn't seem to be painfully concentrating on his next step, all night long."
I agree with the posts that suggest a surprise hit. The show had far less discernible buzz, good or bad, than any other -- which in this season helps it from this point on.
The Hollywood Reporter is positive! (though I noticed it lists the theatre as the Lunt-Fontanne, someone should change that quickly lest someone accidentally stumble upon GHOST)
"But for all DiPietro's stylish jokes and other amusements, and despite O'Hara's lovely voice and Marshall's fresh choreographic stylings, the show somehow doesn't hang together in a fully satisfying way. You struggle to fully buy the story, which gets fractured between too many locales and takes turns that leave you scratching your head. Overall, the book feels as if it was designed to accommodate the musical numbers. That might well have been the way the sausage was made, but we need to feel more as if it was the reverse. And everyone involved often gets caught between wanting to do something totally different with these famous songs — O'Hara, who doesn't always feel well-used, sings "Someone to Watch Over Me" while holding and cocking a gun, and "I've Got a Crush on You' is camped up mercilessly — and letting them work their natural charms.
Overall, the show is too afraid of emotional engagement, which is silly when you have these songs and O'Hara's voice and Broderick's likable self to deliver them. More truth and honesty would make the work considerably nicer — and, for the audience, easier to get."
"You’d think that any show involving the talents of Matthew Broderick, Kelli O’Hara, Kathleen Marshall, and the brothers Gershwin would be a sure-fire Broadway stunner, wouldn’t you? Unfortunately, “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” despite a few bright spots, fails to hold together as a glittering entertainment, unlike previous efforts such as “My One and Only” and “Crazy for You.”"
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joined:6/21/06
Posted: 4/24/12 at 01:33am