My unholy obsession with Audra McDonald continues. Not only have I already seen the current revival of Porgy and Bess twice, but twice within three days!! Yes, I'm practically a stalker. I'm not even kidding. Just ask Trish about my strange and elaborate plan for Audra's performance at my funeral. There won't be a dry eye in St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Given this obsession, you should take anything I say in this review with a grain of salt, because I would never, ever say anything negative about the lovely Audra. And thanks to TDF, I was able to get a double dose of that luminous voice last week.
The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess
Richard Rodgers Theatre
Tuesday, May 15 @ 7pm
Thursday, May 17 @ 8pm
Given Sondheim's scathing letter to The New York Times
flaming Audra and director Diane Paulus for thinking they could
"improve" Gershwin's masterpiece, I had mixed feelings going into the
theatre. Besides Audra, Sondheim is the other musical theatre icon I
blindly worship. Would this little tiff cause me to make the ultimate
Sophie's choice? Thankfully, no.
The controversy surrounding the
revival has since died down. Paulus and team dropped the most radical
of the talked about changes (an added happy ending), opting instead for
the less radical addition of dialogue in place of the recitative.
Originally, I was going to first-act the show Tuesday night, thinking
I'd sit through the whole thing on Thursday with Trish and Chris Grimm
(our Billy Bigelow in Carousel who I was taking as a graduation gift - congrats!). But I was in tears (in a good way) after "Bess, You Is My Woman" and I couldn't bring myself to leave at intermission.
Hearing those legit voices singing that romantic Gershwin score only made me long for the days before the American Idol-ization of Broadway, when gorgeous, trained voices could impress without riffing and screeching their way through a score.
And for those who thinks classic musicals are old fashioned and quaint, well, they obviously don't have a clue. How many shows in the past twenty years include two gruesome on-stage murders, an extended rape sequence, a main character who's a slut and a drug addict and a not-so-happy ending?
For Broadway standards, the singing is impeccable. It's not opera caliber, but you'll likely never hear that quality of singing on a Broadway stage ever again. The ensemble sound is gorgeous and the harmonies are breathtaking. Thank you again, George Gershwin.
The acting is also first rate. Which only makes me wonder why other shows can't be cast with better singers. Usually, the argument is that the director chooses an actor who sings over a singing actor, presuming that someone with an incredibly beautiful voice probably can't act with equal proficiency. But that didn't seem to be an issue in this case. So what's the deal, casting directors?!
Audra, of course, is glorious and should already make room on her bookshelf for a fifth Tony. Norm Lewis, besides being the nicest guy on Broadway (he met me once years ago and will still stop and greet me by name whenever I run into him on the street) sounds better than ever and his character's transformation from vulnerable cripple to courageous hero is impressive.
Like me, Chris and Trish were in tears throughout, as was most of the audience. With the exception of the recent revival of The Normal Heart and the first 10 minutes of The Lion King, I have not seen anything on Broadway more moving or thrilling.
My only complaint would be with the sound design. Though the orchestra is large by Broadway standards, it sounds thin and tinny through the house speakers and doesn't match the lush vocals coming from the stage. And though I'm usual fine with a minimalist esthetic when it comes to set design, I don't think this production benefits from a stripped down approach, especially in the picnic scene. A big white, sheet and a a sad, little bush? That's the best you could come up with? Oh well, I guess that's two complaints. Who cares, Audra's in it!
Leap of Faith
St. James Theatre
Thursday, April 12, 8pm performance
I must be getting less critical in my old age, because I actually liked Leap of Faith. Yes, it opened and closed in a hot second and the reviews were unanimous pans, but I enjoyed myself.
It's not a classic by any standards, but the story was engaging, the music was fun and it had a wonderful cast. Trust me, I've seen Dance of the Vampires, High Fidelity, Nick & Nora and Lestat - I know bad.
I think LOF may have suffered from premature show-jaculation. That's not a technical term, by the way, I just made it up. Instead of taking time to really work out the kinks and fine tune the book and score after its initial out of town tryout, they decided to rush into production months early because the St. James opened up (thanks to the forgettable On A Clear Day... revival's early closing).
Though Menken's score isn't on par with his early Disney days, he knows how to write a catchy tune and how to make a power ballad land. He understands how a show tune needs to develop and how it works dramatically within the structure of a musical. These are skills missing from much of the current pop music crossover artists who, though I applaud their ambition, don't really care to learn the history or fundamentals of theatre composing. By definition, innovation requires understanding of what has come before. I'm all for change, but why repeat the mistakes of your predecessors out of ignorance?
Anyway, off my high horse.
As has been written in many of the reviews, the story generously borrows from The Music Man and 110 in the Shade. This didn't really bother me, because the setting and period change were enough of a twist to keep me interested.
Raul Esparza is in his regular intense-but-tyring-not-to-seem-intense mode. He's probably not ideal for the role (I'd have gone Brian d'Arcy James or even Eric McCormack for some star power. Can Bradley Cooper sing? Hmmmm?) but he's always consistently great. As Esparza's love interest, Jessica Phillips is a great match vocally and has a sincerity and warmth that was totally missing from her performance in Priscilla (maybe her awful Australian accent was the culprit). As Esparza's stage sister, Kendra Kassebaum adds a likability factor to a somewhat under-written character.
If the show can overcome the stigma of its quick Broadway demise, I can see it being a staple at the regional houses.
No comments:
Post a Comment