Women on the Verge...

Thursday, December 16

8pm performance

This show really confused me.  It’s close to being good and it’s almost always entertaining, but it’s hampered by a central character who isn’t as interesting as the secondary characters surrounding her.  It’s not Sheri Rene’s fault, either.  Her material is just, well, uninspired.  Her character, Pepa, gets straddles with one bland ballad after another.  I mean, it’s her story, yet the writers give the big, 11 o’clock number to Patti LuPone.  Yes, I know, it’s Patti LuPone and God forbid she doesn’t get the “big numbah,” but it really just throws the whole show off balance.  It’s like giving “Rose’s Turn” to Louise.

The act one finale is a big ole mess.  Until then the show is more or less naturalistic.  Then for no apparent reason it turns into Cirque de Soleil for dummies.  And the accompanying song is like an itch inside your skull that you can’t scratch.  I was actually enjoying myself through most of the act, but that finale annoyed me so much that I actually felt angry when the lights came up for intermission.

The show also suffers from multiple personal disorder, i.e. inconsistent tone.  The opening number sets us up for a big, splashy musical comedy and a few scenes later it gets super serious with the burning bed scene.  The next moment we’re in a (not very well executed) farce with zany Laura Benanti and LuPone running around slamming doors and drugging police with Valium. 

Benanti looks gorgeous and is surprisingly funny, with her flouncy walk and ditsy demeanor.  Of course, Sheri Rene’s less-than-fiery Latin fades even further into the background next to Benanti’s wide-eyed sex kitten. 

Methinks some over-sized star wattage blinded the writers’ focus.  Certainly Lucia’s first act song and scene with Paulina would have been tightened up, even cut, if not for LuPone’s star stature.  Same goes with Stokes’ (whose understudy was on) boring microphone song which definitely should have been cut by at least a verse or so.  I’m not saying these troupers don’t deserve to be upstage center, but poor Sheri Rene’s character has been relegated to spectator status in her own story.

With some judicious editing, a more streamlined story, more consistent tone and the deletion of a song or two, I think there’s potential for a great show.  As it stands, it’s perfectly average. 

La Fille du Regiment and Tony Noms

Well, it was nice to see a cast of opera singers actually try to act. I will give Natalie Dessay and company an “A” for effort, but I’d have to give them about a “C+” for execution. She broke - no shattered - the golden rule of comedy, which is not to try and “be funny,” but to just play the intentions and let the comedy result from the given circumstances. She was like a little energizer bunny on crack, waving her arms and jerking around the stage as if in the throws of a petit mal seizure. She sounded gorgeous, though, especially her high pianissimos. I also had no trouble hearing her over the orchestra as I had with her Lucia earlier in the season.

Idiot me chose the one performance that dreamy Juan Diego Florez (left) was not scheduled to perform. I really have no idea how I missed that, considering I bought the ticket a YEAR ago just to see the Dessay/Florez pairing. Oh well, Barry Banks was sufficient. Nice big, warm voice (much warmer than Florez, but lacking the “star quality”) and he had no problems with the nine high-C’s. Though he received an extremely long and deserved ovation after the aria, he, unlike Florez, did not perform an encore. His acting was fine, if a bit stiff.

I’m still a little disappointed because I really expected a more grounded performance from Dessay, a self-described “actress first,” and not the spastic performance she delivered. I guess I can’t really complain. She was vocally excellent and never boring. What-ev’s, it was still a good, almost great, night at the opera and my last until next season. Damn, this year really flew.

All That Chat was buzzing this morning with Tony nom talk. I love how those catty bitches go at each other because they just can’t believe the travesty of so-and-so getting snubbed by the nominating committee. It’s so High School Musical. Get a life you crazy queens! Sadly, many of those crazy queens are probably close friends of mine. Oh well, click here for the full list of Tony nominations.

My only Tony hope is that Kelli O’Hara beats out Patti LuPone for best actress so we can see PattiLu force a smirk onto her face for the camera and feign congratulatory wishes to Kelli. Either that, or we’re gonna’ see a full on girl fight. And I’m pretty sure Patti could beat the sh*t out of Kelli. Watch your back O’Hara.

Keep it real, homies!

Patti LuPone is definitely a freak of nature, but her performance in the recent Gypsy Broadway transfer, at least last night, seemed to lack the focus and subtlety she displayed at City Center earlier this summer. I mean, she’s still f*cking amazing, but there were definitely some pushed line readings. Trish described some seeming almost like asides to the audience rather than conversational. Reel it in Patti! It actually seemed like everyone was a tad over the top last night. My guess? The cast is overcompensating due to fatigue on a two show day. Laura Benanti (Louise) turned in the most solid performance of the evening, yet her screaming in the act two dressing room scene bordered on “Mommie Dearest” campiness. Again, reel it in biyatches! Boyd Gaines is a likeable Herbie with just enough backbone as to not seem like too much of a wuss. Leigh Ann Larkin’s deadpan Dainty June really added some new dimension to the character at City Center, but upon transferring to Broadway seems to be pushing too hard and is starting to come off a tad cartoonish. Sometimes less IS more and more is just, well, too much. I was nearly brought to tears at City Center because I believed these were real characters, but on Broadway I started to see the actors work, almost begging the audience for a standing ovation. Keep it real, homies! The only number that actually benefitted from the "more is more" direction was the Gotta' Have a Gimmick number. It’s still an amazing performance of first rate material and a second viewing only magnifies the lack of quality book shows currently playing/being written - Legally Blond, anyone? And for the record, I didn’t hate LB, I just wouldn’t exactly label it a classic.

The orchestra sounded glorious and to hear the overture in its original orchestration is worth the ticket price alone. I hope this is a continuing trend, with South Pacific also touting a 30-piece orchestra playing the original Russell Bennett orchestrations. Unlike some angry posters on ATC, the minimalist set didn’t bother me at all. I really don’t pay to see helicopters or chandeliers. I’ll take a kick-ass cast and full orchestra over a turn table any day.