So we all know the search function on here blows, so I couldn't find the thread with all the preview postings, so just thought I'd start this thread to hear some other people's opinions about the show.
I saw it tonight - 3rd row, center, $27 - and I just hated it. Like loathed it.
First off, none of the actors are to blame. They're all in great voice and giving decent performances. Carolee is excellent and in excellent voice, and the men both sounded great, but found them both rather dull. The ensemble all surprising committed to their part strongly. I feel like usually ensemble members aren't the best at the "bit parts" but was pretty impressed by them.
The show is just very amateur, and a big messy. I think one of the core problems is the flashback set up - which could work - but I hated having the main character also the narrator. It seems odd to give the lead character a 4min power ballad, and then give her a 4min sermon right after it. It's just a lot. They need to give the story bits to either the ensemble, or a sole character - like Roz Ryan or something. It doesn't work the way they have it now. Carolee was essentially the only person singing for the first like 4 songs.
All of the Mother's songs should be cut. They don't go anywhere and they're not tuneful and she sounds rough. Cut them. They bog down the show. Cut the dad's duet with Carolee.
The staging is just very.... cheap regional theater. There weren't any interesting stage pictures, no interesting ideas were given. Just a run of the mill direction. I just wasn't impressed, and the set had visible knicks and cracks. For $120 at ticket, they could at least repaint the set.
Speaking of, the set looked like a Winter Wonderland. I noticed the designer also did the upcoming Christmas Story, and figured this set would probably reflect that one.
To me, the story just isn't interesting. I think she had an interesting life, but the first act is so boring. Nothing really happens. She falls in love, she falls out of love. The big dramatic moments are all told through a sermon, so there's not a lot of action happening on stage. The book is just a bore and a mess.
The music isn't terrible, but those lyrics. Oof. I think Carolee's first big solo had something like "I'm going to scream so loud I'll be louder than next Tuesday." I mean c'mon. This show has been in development for close to 10 years, and that lyric still exists?
The audience was small tonight. And the clapping after songs was beyond half-hearted.
I thought it was just TOO religious at points. I get that she is religious figure sure, but the end of the show is the fascinating part. She turns out to be a liar and blackmails people? Yet at the end of the show we're somehow suppose to clap and praise her? I don't get it. You just told me she made up a bunch of stuff and scammed the people who believed in her? It just seemed a weird note to end on. I mean, sure she did great stuff, but.... she's kind of a bad person?
I have to disagree with a couple of things in your review. There is one actor in the show who is to blame for some of the awful parts of the show. I think Candy Buckley was honestly giving one of the worst performances ever. She can't sing any of the score that is given to her.
I found some enjoyable moments in the show, but the first act still needed to be changed. The end of the second act starting with *SPOILER* her affairs and then her trial could have been entertaining. If they expanded on the trial at the end for most of the second act, it wouldn't have been so bad because that was actually interesting. It was done in such a rushed way that it feels the ending comes too quickly. They could have easily cut out the beginning of her childhood and restructured her marriage to her first husband as an opener, or how she was grieving over his death.
They had a lot they could have done, just never did that.
However, I personally love Carolee and have seen the show twice so far just to see her, and will be going for a third time next week. Again, I personally think that Carolee is giving a phenomenal performance with mediocre material. I just wish she had something more grounding to perform.
I agree. She was pretty awful, but she was also given some awful songs. And yeah, she can't sing, which is why I said please cut them.
And yeah, I agree. Who cares about the childhood aspect? I also thought the mother/daughter relationship was patched together pretty darn quickly. I mean, she says "the wrong parent died" and then in the next scene they're like business partners? Huh?
And the whole bit about Shakespeare and her wanting to be an actress could have been summed up with two lines, not a whole segment of the first act.
I saw it tonight from the third row mezz center and agree with RippedMan. However, I thought RippedMan's review was too kind. It was one of the worst Broadway shows I have ever seen.
The stairs should not be on the stage the whole time, only during the temple scenes. They take up too much of the stage. The whole staging in general needs to be improved. I agree the show needs a narrator. The story is not interesting at all, the book is very weak. I was not given enough of a reason to care about any of the characters. The score is very bad, with both the music and the lyrics to blame. There isn't a pleasant sounding song. It sounded like some of the songs were being spoken instead of sung. The orchestra sounded pre-recorded and not vibrant. Some of the temple numbers bordered on parody (which maybe is the point). I thought the trial was too long as it was, by that time I was looking at my watch waiting to leave.
Right, but if the trial had been the center part of the show, it would have been way more interesting - or at least it could have been.
The stairs were distracting too. I thought there was actually more "set" than I was expecting. I mean, it's built out into the audience but they don't really use that to it's advantage. All of her big sermons should have been done down there, talking directly to the audience in front of her.
Yeah, I was like a couple rows back and the orchestra sounded canned and really, really cheesy at times. Also, do they really need to end every religious themed show with the phrase "stand up?" Do they not realize that most of the people in the audience are either Jewish or Gay and therefore kind of alienated by the Bible anyway?
Also meant to add that the choreography - or whatever the hell you call that - was terrible. I don't normally notice choreography but that Irish number was just embarrassing. Why was that even in there? Cut that bitch! Cut the whole boat scene.
Are they going to quit halfway through rehearsals? B'way actors often put on their brave face and hope for the best. It is better to be IN a bad show (and get notices saying they are performning well) then to be in NO show.
Discussing how this ridiculous mess could be "fixed" is as foolish as discussing how to "fix" a supernova.
Aimee's life was interesting enough to provide fodder for a good show; but the book would have to be written by a writer, not a dilettante refugee from beauty pageants.
The less said about the score, the better. It, too, would need to be entirely trashed and replaced by something written by someone with talent and skill.
But I recommend everyone see it - tickets are practically free, and it's a great lesson in how not to create theatre.
Rippedman, it looks as if the original thread was deleted. I know broadwayguy2 posted some of the best stuff in that thread, and when I ran a search on his name, only posts from early October showed up.
It was listless and plodding, especially the dreary first act with its incessant narration. Carolee Carmello was in good voice, but she doesn't have much to work with. Roz Ryan was a bright spot; I enjoyed her boisterous madam. Ditto the performances by Andrew Samonsky and Edward Watts as Aimee's suitors. They have the one good number, "It's Just You." Waste of George Hearn's talents. I can't see any successful future for this show.
Although Ryan gets laughs, her role is an insulting stereotype - the sassy-black-madame-turned-maid, with dialogue consisting primarily of grunted judgmental "mmmmmmm-hmmmm's." It's the African-American equivalent of the over-the-top swishy queen (as recently seen from David Turner in On A Clear Day, and several men in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson).
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Posted: 11/7/12 at 12:00am