Wicked, The Review, (Ft Lauderdale 3-15-08)

Right, then. A good night at the theatre (or a bad one) always starts with dinner before the show. This one would be no exception. We ate, alfresco, at a place called the River House. The food was excellent, the service was slow but not bad. Our waiter, however, had the personality of a cardboard box. That's really not fair... to the cardboard box. The company was wonderful. I went with Brenda and Evan Berner. I didn't mind being the third wheel at all. Poor Evan was suffering from the remnants of a cold, so I felt sort of sorry for him.

We walked over to the theatre (Broward Center For The Performing Arts) right after dinner, and arrived just before showtime. First, I have to say that I was absolutely captivated by the story. It's simply amazing. The music, while well played, wasn't as interesting. The songs themselves, to me, were just weak. I cannot shake the feeling this would have gone off much better not as a musical but as a play. There's not much dialogue, but one expects that in a musical.

It starts off very weak, and I was thinking "Dear Lord, why did I go to this?" for the first 15 or 20 minutes until the play found its stride. And it was all right from then on out. Until the ending which I just really didn't like. Maybe it's only because I have not read Gregory Maguire’s book.

Again, the story was fantastic. They did a stupendous job of marrying this show with the book by L Frank Baum and you'd be hard pressed to find many issues. The show was serious, though there was an ongoing sprinkle of comedy throughout. The performers were mostly very good though except for one, I don't know that they'd ever bring the house down. I wasn't fond of Clifton Hall (Fiyero). I did think Alma Cuervo as Ms. Morrible stole the show from a vocal standpoint -- she's got a voice. Glinda was a servicable performance by Katie Rose Clarke and Elphaba, she of the green tint, was deftly sung by Carmen Cusack who found her footing in the second act.

The set was fantastic as was the choreography. The costumes are fantastic and inspired by the film. The nods to the Baum book and film are scattered throughout, and are a nice touch. The crowd as a whole seemed to love it, but this South Florida where pretty much anything gets a standing ovation -- deserved or not.

While I enjoyed seeing it, I still left with a strange sense of dissatisfaction. I can't say my expectations let me down because I didn't know what to expect, but I never really got into the play: you know the sense where you're part of the world as opposed to an observer of it? It just wasn't quite there. That's not a damning critique at all, but some plays, take Les Miserables, you get lost in the play and the rest of the world ceases to exist. This play just doesn't have it. The whole time, I was watching actors acting and was never watching The Wizard or The Witch.

Cirque Du Soliel: Love (Beatles)

Saturday night I finally saw the latest in the Cirque Du Soliel oeuvre, Love. First, let me state that it was wonderful through and through and I highly recommend into to anyone as entertainment. However, this should not be the first Cirque you ever see. I'll explain why below.

The music was outstanding, but that's because it's the Beatles. You have to realize that this means there is no live band, so you don't get that as part of your experience. Instead, it's the Beatles singing, via CD I assume. That's not a bad thing at all, but it's not how you should see your first Cirque. Part of that joy is the entire experience.

Love also has people speaking in English as well as the now ubiquitous "Cirque Language". It loses a bit of charm and mystery that way. Nothing wrong with that, but certainly you need to experience that for your first Cirque. On the plus side, there's no mystery to this story of four lads and their music. Various songs are represented in acrobatic ways.

There's a lot less acrobatic stuff and a lot more theatrical stuff. Also decidedly non-Cirque. Again, seeing the songs brought to life is really cool but this is not something one should see as the first Cirque show. Again, everything that goes on is miraculous. We saw the show from row two, right up against the stage (this is in-the-round) and had a great view.

This Cirque borrows a page from Blue Man and has a bit of audience participation. It's a pretty neat effect. And of course the acting is superb, and everything is very well presented. This is a fantastic show and all your Cirque groupies need to see this show.

Many of your favourite Beatles songs are represented, but a fair amount of popular hits aren't -- so be prepared to not hear a song you love. You have to realize they can't include everything -- but the way they randomly sample songs together to make the introductory pieces insures you will hear at least a clip of your favourite Beatles song.

This show rocks. Playing now at the Mirage in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ka is a better Cirque show by all measures except the music -- and I saw Ka (again) this trip as well. But that being said, I still think I like this better.


All you need is Love.

Billy Elliot Comes to America

In another post, I reviewed the play Billy Elliot (London) which has been widely regarded as the best British Musical Ever.

Well, it's finally coming to the United States. As much as I personally loved this play, I'm not sure it's a good thing. I understood the play, I was able to understand the language all right but even I got lost at a few points. However that was part of its charm. Now they want to change it for American Audiences. Fie! Travesty! I am appalled beyond belief.