Lestat
It wasn't as boring as Dracula the Musical, but it was hardly good.
Dracula Lite, Ann Rices' outline of a story, crib notes of Interview...,, Lestat eats Wonder Bread.
The first two scenes are a bore, and I want to run for the hills. No "Wow", no great song, it's 15 minutes of explanation. It is possible to take an epic story and present it intelligently and not dumb it down for the audience, ie: Les Mis. This was bad news.
Hugh Panaro is dashing and has a nice voice, if not a little too high for this villain. I don't believe his relationships with any character through the entire show. With his mother, flat, with his lovers, flat, with his daughter, flat.
Carolee Carmello is so over dramatic in the first half of the first act. It's embarrassing and hard to watch. After she gets "saved", she is a lot more fun, prancing around stage, probably knowing she wont have many more evenings on this stage. Her big belt showstopper "The Crimson Kiss" received thunderous applause and bravas. Huh? Was it her family in the audience? "..the thing that bonds us is the crimson kiss." Now I'm no writer, but that is really dumb.
Allison Fischer as Lestat's daughter is precocious and quite good. Her belted number "More" is terrific, but her voice is eerily mature. A little bit like watching a Jean-Benet Ramsey.
The sets (or lack of) and special effects were stupid and uninspired. The Elton John score was boring and polite. The lighting was ok, the costumes looked thrown together. A couple even looked like mistakes.
A real bad show. It is going to get skewered by the critics after opening tonight. Can't wait to read the reviews.
All that said, even a bad night on Broadway is still a great night.
posted by JerseyEd1 at 4:31 AM
1 Comments:
I have to disagree on this one. I didn't hate it and actually enjoyed some of it. Was it memorable? No. But I was never bored, and it had a few good moments.
Considering the lambasting it took in the San Francisco tryout, I was rady for a comlete disaster. I really was expecting it to be one of the worst shows I had ever seen. Perhaps I survived it better because I went in expecting to hate it. Not that it's saying much, but I thought it was better than Dracula the Musical, Dance of the Vampires, and Brooklyn.
It was a lot of story to fit into a show. Three long books with at least 9 major characters crammed into 2.5 hours. I was able to follow the story throughout. Only the Marius parts were missing narrative cohesion. Vampire stories aren't my speed, but I was interested enough in this to want to see how it turned out.
I liked Carolee Carmello very much, and she looked like she was having a ball. The Crimson Kiss lyrics were a bit banal, but she sold the hell out of them. I'll fault Bernie Taupin for his words and not her performance.
Hugh Panaro was fine enough but lacks a certain charisma to center and anchor the story completely.
Drew Sarich was pretty bad as Armand. He came off as a bitchy queen not as a menacing figure.
Jim Stanek (Louis) and Roderick Hill (Nicholas) were decent though they weren't given much of anything to make them shine. I always feel you need at least one good song to cement your place in a show.
17 years old Allison Fischer jolts the show to another level with her number "I Want More". It's a great scenery chewing piece and she devours the stage. While most of the music was serviceable, this song was a standout. A few more numbers like this one would have made the show a lot more enjoyable.
I don't think the show will be a "hit" but I do think it will run a bit. If something as bad as Dracula can run for 5 months, they might get a season out of this one. The critics will take issue with the music as it really is the weakest part of the show, but the performances are good and the book works well enough.
9:01 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home