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| Author | Topic: Menier Chocolate Factory's SITPWG |
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Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 8/1/2007 at 7:53:32 AM ET
Sister Rose, checked your always interesting blog today but couldn't quite figure out how to leave a comment there 
... just to say that this London production is well worth waiting for. It is so good (especially the second act). I felt the same way about seeing (and hearing) a new "Dot", but Jenna is terrific ... both leads thoroughly deserved their "Larrys" at the Olivier awards ... now all they need is a couple of Tonys to complete the set. The production also picked up several well-deserved design awards including an Olivier for Natasha Chivers' unforgettable lighting effects. I thought this would be a gimmick-ridden production (new technology vs the 80's cardboard cut-outs etc.) but the sets and the lighting design are worthy of Mr Sondheim's magnum opus -- as is the entire production.
as Bernadette says....just keep moving on.....
|  Sister Rose
Registered User
Registered:
5/4/2004
From:
NYC | posted: 8/1/2007 at 8:06:06 AM ET
Thanks Scottie! Add your name to the list of those encouraging me and it does mean something from somebody who actually saw the production in West End. I have listened to Maria Friedman's Dot and I do love her. I have listened to the recent West End cast album and it doesn't grab me but sometimes seeing something live makes all the difference. If they do win Tonys, then it will be a certain amount of vindication as the original production won the Tony only for lighting and scenic design. It did win the Pulitzer. But still. Okay, La Cage won everything that year (except Chita won for Best Actress in The Rink). It rings true that big spanking musicals have often won over smaller and more artistic.
Sigh.
(To leave a comment on my blog, just click on the hyperlink for Comments at the bottom of my post. You don't have to register and can be on anonymous, but be sure to leave your name or handle in the body so I know I'm hearing from you! I love comments!)
http://sarahbsadventures.blogspot.com/
| Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 2/18/2008 at 11:03:21 AM ET
Has anyone seen this Menier Chocolate Factory's West End transfer to Broadway? I would love to know what you think, do tell.
"There’s a lot in the world for us to turn our attention to — helping people, helping animals, and helping animals help people." ... Bernadette Peters, August, 2007
|  moljul
Registered User
Registered:
4/2/2001
From:
New York
Fav. BP CD: I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
Fav. BP Song: Dublin Lady
| posted: 2/18/2008 at 11:25:33 AM ET
I have. Can't go into details now but I loved some things, hated others. Glad over all that I was finally able to see a live production of this show.
"Particular mention must be made of Bernadette Peters, who turns up briefly in a sort of sparkly Glinda the Good costume. She's the reluctant muse sent to help Alice with her writing. The muse is dressed like Oz, sounds like Queens and behaves like a bored student adviser." Alice Film Review, The New York Times, December 25, 1990
"I'm one star away from Dolly Parton ... and Raymond Massey is between us. I hope we don't suffocate him." Bernadette Peters receiving her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, April 24, 1987
| Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 2/18/2008 at 11:43:49 AM ET
Anytime you feel like sharing I'd be keen to know what you loved and hated about this new production.
"There’s a lot in the world for us to turn our attention to — helping people, helping animals, and helping animals help people." ... Bernadette Peters, August, 2007
| moljul
Registered User
Registered:
4/2/2001
From:
New York
Fav. BP CD: I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
Fav. BP Song: Dublin Lady
| posted: 2/18/2008 at 4:50:07 PM ET
SPOILER ALERT - I guess.
Okay, things I HATED: the actor who played George! Could not stand him. Why he felt the need to play both Georges (but particularly Act II) as a flaming queen, I don't know. This also meant that he was extremely outwardly physically emotional which is not George at all. George is supposed to be so emotionally
suppressed and can only live and feel through his paintings. Honestly, the whole
context that Dot could not get him to express his feelings was lost because they
were on his face the whole time. And I really felt he needed to be wigged in the
second act. I'm sorry the actor is apparently going bald but it just contributed
to an already distracting performance. Second thing: The doors and the DOORKNOBS!!
What set designer from hell came up with this? A play of which at least 80% takes
place outdoors should not have a set with doorknobs that end up being in awkward
places like the middle of the water or the sky. The doors I could have dealt with
(though I still felt they were not needed) but the doorknobs just looked stupid.
Third thing: Why did George sketch Dot from the wrong side???? There was no need
to stage this scene differently and it made it totally wrong. Dot stood correctly
with her parasol over her right shoulder but he was sketching her from the right
side, not the left which is how she is depicted in the painting. I honestly thought
throughout the first scene that maybe they were going to change the actual painting!
I don't understand how an error that big could slip by everyone. The last thing
that really got on my nerves is a trend that I seem to notice lately in productions.
Why do people, while singing very emotional songs, not sing looking at one another.
During the second act when Dot appears before Move On, she walks out on stage,
doesn't even acknowledge George with a look, and starts singing Move On to the
audience. George, in turn, sings to the audience as well. The two actors do not
look at each other at all until the song is almost over. I felt too much was sung to the audience in general. I like characters that actually, I don't know, interact with one another.
Okay, on to more positive thoughts. Jenna Russel, who played Dot, had the hardest
job in winning me over. No matter what she did, she had to make me accept her over
Bernadette. And I must admit, she really grew on me. I didn't find her voice
nearly as warm as Bernadette's and she doesn't have the sense of comedic
timing that Bernadette has by any stretch, but I really liked her. She didn't
surpass Bernadette in my mind but was good enough that I could enjoy her performance
and accept it for what it was - her own interpretation. And I wonder if she had
a better George to play against, if I would have liked her even more. As much as
I hate Mandy Patinkin in general, I really thought he was good as George and I missed the chemistry between he and Bernadette and the qualities of their voices that just really brought more warmth and passion to the music.
The supporting cast was pretty universally good. I can't say any of them were
better than the originals but also not worse.
I'm mixed on the projections. I thought they worked really well as the background
and during the second act as the present day island, WOW, that really made it strike
home how much it had changed. But as for the individual projections, I didn't
really like them and found them distracting. I preferred the cut outs. The projections with the dogs were okay when they were being sketched but I found the square screen very distracting when the painting came together at the end of the first act. They looked like they didn't belong in the painting at all. I honestly felt the original, despite the technological advances of today, was more visually creative.
Despite my many negative comments, I loved, loved, loved seeing this live.
The music, the lyrics, the story itself - I just sat in my seat grinning during
the songs because I loved experiencing it live - as long as I could keep from looking at George.
"Particular mention must be made of Bernadette Peters, who turns up briefly in a sort of sparkly Glinda the Good costume. She's the reluctant muse sent to help Alice with her writing. The muse is dressed like Oz, sounds like Queens and behaves like a bored student adviser." Alice Film Review, The New York Times, December 25, 1990
"I'm one star away from Dolly Parton ... and Raymond Massey is between us. I hope we don't suffocate him." Bernadette Peters receiving her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, April 24, 1987
| Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 2/19/2008 at 6:39:12 AM ET
I'm really surprised you were disapointed in Jenna Russel's comedic timimg as it was in a long-running BBC television comedy series that she first came to public notice - playing the acerbic Scottish secretary to a self-made millionaire.
I love this quote from her about the Menier Chocolate Factory production The production was so beautiful because nobody played the intellect of the piece—everyone just played the emotion and the relationships. The intellect takes care of itself.
Of course I love the DVD with Bernadette and I really didn't want to see this show but I was so glad I did. Regarding the DVD ... I absolutely cannot stand Mandy Patinkin's voice. It sets my nerves on end , too shrill and loud. And he actually spoils some scenes because he seems determined to out-sing poor Dot. He even spoils the Special Features commentary on the DVD with his incessant talking about himself and his feelings etc. Poor Bernadette barely gets a word in. Give me Daniel Evans any old day, bald patch and all.
"There’s a lot in the world for us to turn our attention to — helping people, helping animals, and helping animals help people." ... Bernadette Peters, August, 2007
| Sister Rose
Registered User
Registered:
5/4/2004
From:
NYC | posted: 2/19/2008 at 8:08:45 AM ET
I've seen Sunday twice - first preview and again four or five performances later. Moljul, I never knew anybody could be so vehement about a set. I knew that the set becomes the art gallery so I guess I didn't think about the door knobs nor does it bother me. I thought the transition and the graphics were really breathtaking. I'm not sure why you're upset about the staging of Dot modeling on stage right instead of stage left. Does it matter? She appears on the left side of the painting. To say it's just wrong is just wanting it to be exactly like the original staging and I just don't think it matters. Certainly a painter would have his subject stand in different places for the light? Also, doesn't Marie say that her "Mama" told her that she was everywhere in the painting? I am rarely that literal or analytical about the meaning of anything in a performance or staging. I was more focused on the singing. Obviously, Jenna's voice is not unique like Bernadette's warm mezzo, but she was good. The lyrics and melody are so incredible that the performance of these was more important to me than the staging. While Daniel Evans is certainly not as acerbic as Mandy Patinkin, calling him a "flaming queen" is perhaps overdoing it. He's definitely weaker than his predecessor and probably more so than most of our American leading men on Broadway, but I didn't find him particularly effeminate. Come on, number one, he's British (not intended to be a slur against Brits) and number two, he's a British actor playing a French artist. I believe he got the cold selfish disinterestedness right although I am still disappointed that Manoel Felciano wasn't cast, but it is what it is. I didn't care enough about his hair, or lack thereof, to let it sway my feelings about him. Evans does sing it beautifully and that's what really matters. I didn't love Jenna Russell's performance but I thought she markedly improved between the two times I saw it. She was terrific in act II when she was Marie. This is what I blogged when I saw it the second time. I restrained myself from saying anything the first night I saw it because I wanted and needed a second dose. Overall, I believe this is one of the most beautiful works ever written for theatre.
It opens this week. We shall see what the paid critics think.
| Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 2/19/2008 at 9:12:43 AM ET
I recently viewed an Arts documentary on Seurat's brilliant and beautiful sketches and drawings. He habitually made lots of conte crayon studies before putting paint to canvas, so I'm sure he viewed his subjects from all angles. You folk in NYC had the opportunity to visit a great exhibition of these drawings at the MOMA up until last month.
Poor old balding Daniel Evans, yes, he is British, but also a proud Welshman. I don't know if you get the BBC comedy show "Little Britain" over there. Those that have seen it will know that "there's only one Gay in the (Welsh)village" ... and it wasn't Daniel Evans. 
"There’s a lot in the world for us to turn our attention to — helping people, helping animals, and helping animals help people." ... Bernadette Peters, August, 2007
| Sister Rose
Registered User
Registered:
5/4/2004
From:
NYC | posted: 2/19/2008 at 10:00:57 AM ET
I caught the exhibit of Seurat's drawings and studies at MOMA in January. They are so beautiful. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a study for Sunday on Le Grande Jatte in its permanent collection as well as some other Seurat pieces. I've also been fortunate enough to see the original at the Art Institute of Chicago twice. I love how art inspired the work which in turn inspired so many of us to see the art. It's a wonderful circle.
http://sarahbsadventures.blogspot.com/
| moljul
Registered User
Registered:
4/2/2001
From:
New York
Fav. BP CD: I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
Fav. BP Song: Dublin Lady
| posted: 2/19/2008 at 10:37:41 AM ET
Wow, I didn't expect my comments to bring back so many attacks.
I'm sorry everyone seemed to like Daniel Evans, but I just could not stand him and I've heard many others say they did not like him either. I'm sure its a very mixed bag of supporters and detractors. The beauty of theater, we can all see things very differently. And I'm certainly not holding his baldness against him (or attacking his nationality - as I don't understand why that was brought up) but more pointing out that I found his entire performance lacking so much that I started being distracted by his baldness. Of course everyone is entitled to their opinion, this is just mine. My "flaming queen" comment was not meant to be insulting and I apologize if anyone took it that way but its a stereotype that perfectly suited what I felt he was acting and looking like - too much emotion pouring through to be the repressed George. A friend of mine who had not seen the production since the original ran also thought George came across as very gay in this new production as well and she just thought that was the character. If this was a choice by Daniel Evans or the director, I didn't agree with it.
Scottie, I didn't say I was disappointed in Jenna Russell's comedic timing, just that is was not nearly as developed as Bernadette's - and I think most (even outside this board) would agree Bernadette has an incredible sense of timing. Just many of the funny lines weren't as funny as the original. I believe I said I really liked Jenna Russell despite her having a very hard job of getting me to block out Bernadette's performance. I pointed out the two things that didn't quite meet up to my "Bernadette" expectations but Ms. Russell was still able to win me over.
I didn't like the staging of Dot because George is clearly drawing her for the spot in the painting that we see Dot most prominently in - the one with the monkey, in that dress with the parasol - down to playing with her hand so its in the correct place to hold the chain. Sorry, I didn't feel this was an element of staging that could be changed, it was integral to the story.
Glad you weren't distracted by the doorknobs, Sister Rose, I was, and I just didn't see the need for such round doorknobs that were going to end up in the middle of the sky or water where they became very obviously out of place.
Everyone seems to think I'm trashing this piece but I think if you read my post, you will see that I enjoyed myself for the most part, I just didn't love everything and really disliked a few things. I would have liked to have seen the London production to see what had changed while it crossed the pond but unfortunately I was unable to get there.
I do agree the show itself is one of the most beautiful pieces of theater out there.
"Particular mention must be made of Bernadette Peters, who turns up briefly in a sort of sparkly Glinda the Good costume. She's the reluctant muse sent to help Alice with her writing. The muse is dressed like Oz, sounds like Queens and behaves like a bored student adviser." Alice Film Review, The New York Times, December 25, 1990
"I'm one star away from Dolly Parton ... and Raymond Massey is between us. I hope we don't suffocate him." Bernadette Peters receiving her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, April 24, 1987
| Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 2/19/2008 at 11:03:34 AM ET
quote:
Wow, I didn't expect my comments to bring back so many attacks.
I'm bemused as to how any comments I made could possibly come over as an attack. Perhaps you meant "replys"?
"There’s a lot in the world for us to turn our attention to — helping people, helping animals, and helping animals help people." ... Bernadette Peters, August, 2007
| moljul
Registered User
Registered:
4/2/2001
From:
New York
Fav. BP CD: I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
Fav. BP Song: Dublin Lady
| posted: 2/19/2008 at 11:09:31 AM ET
Sorry. Maybe its just a mood I'm in or the trouble with the internet (you can't read emotions), that it felt like I was under attack for having some negative feelings about this production that seemed so univerally loved in London. Or maybe its because I had to go to work yesterday while most of the US had off!  I appreciate your response correcting my misperception. 
"Particular mention must be made of Bernadette Peters, who turns up briefly in a sort of sparkly Glinda the Good costume. She's the reluctant muse sent to help Alice with her writing. The muse is dressed like Oz, sounds like Queens and behaves like a bored student adviser." Alice Film Review, The New York Times, December 25, 1990
"I'm one star away from Dolly Parton ... and Raymond Massey is between us. I hope we don't suffocate him." Bernadette Peters receiving her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, April 24, 1987
| Karen
Registered User
Registered:
5/3/2002 | posted: 2/19/2008 at 1:05:37 PM ET
You had to work yesterday? HA ha! (in the voice of Nelson Mundt)
| moljul
Registered User
Registered:
4/2/2001
From:
New York
Fav. BP CD: I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
Fav. BP Song: Dublin Lady
| posted: 2/19/2008 at 1:20:25 PM ET
Plus I have to work on Columbus Day AND Veteren's Day. The audacity of some places!  
"Particular mention must be made of Bernadette Peters, who turns up briefly in a sort of sparkly Glinda the Good costume. She's the reluctant muse sent to help Alice with her writing. The muse is dressed like Oz, sounds like Queens and behaves like a bored student adviser." Alice Film Review, The New York Times, December 25, 1990
"I'm one star away from Dolly Parton ... and Raymond Massey is between us. I hope we don't suffocate him." Bernadette Peters receiving her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, April 24, 1987
| Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 2/20/2008 at 6:42:19 AM ET
Encouraging quote from Lapine ...
The warm buzz and audience response at Studio 54 is thus gratifying to Lapine. “I’m kind of amazed that it’s in this 1,000-seat theater and people are standing up and cheering,” he marvels. “That’s not what they did 20 years ago, to say the least.”
Danny boy
"There’s a lot in the world for us to turn our attention to — helping people, helping animals, and helping animals help people." ... Bernadette Peters, August, 2007
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