Bonnie & Clyde

http://bonnieandclydebroadway.com

I'm a heartless bitch, but even I feel a bit bad about giving this necessarily negative review for the new Bonnie & Clyde musical. The coroner has already been called on this one, so if you have your heart set on seeing it, you better hightail it to the Schoenfeld Theatre by December 30.

This musical had so much potential, but I was pretty sure they would screw it up, so expected it to flop. I just wish it had done so in a bigger, fun(nier), more spectacular way. (Like On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, for example.) Well, at least Jeremy Jordan is available for Newsies, now.

Really, the show isn't all bad. It just ... fails to be good. On the plus side: It's chock-full of really talented performers. The design work is great, especially the projections. And everyone sings the crap out of the (overly eclectic, and mostly forgettable) songs. But the main problem is a failure of vision, of focus. The book is terrible, basically, and it has no excuse for not being awesome and really relevant to what's going on in the country right now.

At its core, the story of Bonnie and Clyde is about a celebrity-obsessed country in financial ruin. But instead of focusing on this historical pair of vain, fame-hungry criminals in order to proffer Crucible-like incisive commentary on contemporary issues, this creative team chooses to focus on the love story. Because that's clearly more ... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Remember how I didn't like Laura Osnes in Anything Goes or Grease? I like her even less here. She sings like a dream, but none of the songs are particularly great, so that doesn't really save her performance. And Bonnie Parker had to have been more than a self-centered, lovesick ingenue since she was also an accomplice to bank robbery and murder. But Osnes's performance has no edge or down-and-dirty sex appeal, and her saccharine line deliveries feel so out of place once the bodies start dropping. Some of that must be a failure of Ivan Menchell's writing and Jeff Calhoun's direction, but I'm not sure she could have handled anything darker anyway.

Jeremy Jordan is much better as Clyde Barrow. The boy can SIIIIIING, and he has charm for days. Others have complained about the cloyingly cute young Bonnie (Kelsey Fowler) and Clyde (Talon Ackerman), but I kind of like them. In fact, they have some of the edge that Osnes sorely lacks. Claybourne Elder as Clyde's brother Buck was fine in a kind-of nothing role. And Melissa Van Der Schyff gives a performance better than the one she was handed as Buck's wife, Blanche--and, really, Blanche has the best lines in the show anyway. Unfortunately, I hate country music, so I don't like her songs as well as I should.

My favorite song in the show is definitely the one in the beauty shop about how the women actually prefer the freedom they have while their husbands are in jail. It's hilarious and a bit out of place--and pretty much the only island of joy in this sea of mediocrity that seems to go on and on forever.

I could rip apart other problems in the show, such as how poorly written Bonnie's sad sack not-Clyde suitor is. Or that prison rape jokes are. not. funny. Instead I will bury this nearly dead horse with this bit of praise: I love the use of real photos of the famous duo and newspaper stories about them. I also appreciate how the integration of the projections onto the rustic set leaves parts of the images obscured. That, the precision of the sound effects (i.e., gunshots), and starting the story at the end and then flashing back are the best things about Bonnie & Clyde. (But ending the show right before it catches up to where it began feels anticlimactic, which is really the problem with the show in general. Damn, I guess I really don't know how to end this on a kind note.)

Anything Goes

http://www.anythinggoesonbroadway.com




[This is a guest review by Lisa.]

I know Sutton Foster was miscast as Reno Sweeney, but I just can’t bring myself to care. She sings and dances the crap out of Anything Goes, and I’d happily watch her do it again and again. I had wanted to see this show since the moment it was announced, so I was ecstatic when theatre buddy Mel said she was willing to pony up for the good seats. If you can’t tell, I was predisposed to like this show. And from the opening strains of the overture I had a smile on my face that didn’t leave until long after the show ended. (It probably disappeared during the less-uplifting Follies, which we saw that evening.)

There are plot twists, mistaken identities, and hijinks all over the place on the way to a typical everything-works-out happy ending. While Billy is trying to woo Hope from Lord Evelyn, Lord Evelyn becomes enthralled with Reno, who is trying to help Billy woo Hope. Meanwhile Hope’s mother Evangeline is being pursued by Billy’s boss Eli Whitney, but she is busy trying to talk Hope into marry Lord Evelyn. In spite of all of the confusion it’s not actually that hard to follow the plot, and in this Cole Porter show the plot is hardly the point anyway.

As Mel has already stated, when it comes to sexy and edgy, Sutton Foster comes across as neither. She’s cute as a button and looks like she is having the time of her life on stage. Still, she lacks the edge that evangelist turned nightclub singer Reno should have. She was too happy in the opening number, smiling her way through the beginning of I Get A Kick Out of You right after Billy Crocker tells her doesn’t really get a such a kick out of her (as anything more than a friend--but what great friends they are). And I expected more from the seductive Blow Gabriel Blow at the top of Act II. But all of that somehow doesn’t matter. Plus, the title number was AMAZING: Sutton Foster and the rest of the cast sang, danced, and tapped their asses off in a very extended and much appreciated version of the song Anything Goes.

I apparently saw Colin Donnell in the forgettable Johnny Baseball at the A.R.T. last year, and now I’m sad I don’t remember it because his performance in Anything Goes is anything but forgettable. He is absolutely charming as stow-away Billy Crocker who is trying to romance Hope Harcourt out from under Lord Evelyn Oakleigh while pretending to be Public Enemy Number One, all the while avoiding his boss, who thinks he is back in New York. His numbers with Laura Osnes as Hope Hartcourt (Easy to Love, It’s De-lovely, and All Through the Night) are as de-lightful and sweet as his number with Sutton Foster (You’re the Top) is fun. Laura Osnes moves and sings like a Disney princess.

Jessica Stone as Erma is all sass and sexy fun as the not-so-faithful girlfriend of the true Public Enemy Number One and travel companion of Moonface Martin, aka Public Enemy Number Thirteen, in disguise as a minister. Moonface is more caricature than character, but I don’t know if that’s how the character is written or directed or both. In any case, Joel Grey is exceedingly endearing in his portrayal of the hapless guy.

Adam Godley is hilarious as Lord Evelyn Oakleigh, the fiance of Hope Harcourt with the secret past who would rather be with Reno. The Gypsy in Me was seriously goofy. John McMartin and new-to-the-show Kelly Bishop as Eli Whitney and Evangeline Harcourt were well cast, although I’d like to see Bishop in something where she has more to do (I loved her as Grandma on the Gilmore Girls). The rest of the ensemble was equally impressive and enjoyable to watch.

This show is just pure fun. Porter has a way with words that makes me giddy and I have happily integrated this cast recording into my rotation of albums I listen to frequently. Kathleen Marshall’s choreography is jaw-droppingly spectacular. Whether there are two people on stage or twenty, the dancing is phenomenal. The costumes by Martin Pakledinaz are wonderful, and I think Foster has more gorgeous outfits for a two-and-a-half-hour show than I would actually take with me on a week-long cruise.

All in all I had a blast at this show and highly recommend going to see Anything Goes.

These divas leave me cold (Follies, Anything Goes)

Lisa and I saw Follies and Anything Goes weekend before last, so we experienced several big-name or up-and-coming divas: Bernadette Peters (who was on my bucket list), Elaine Paige, Jan Maxwell, Sutton Foster, Laura Osnes. Overall, the experience made me sad.

Anything Goes is a great time: everyone looks like they're having a blast; there's an insane tap number that is just jaw-dropping; and Sutton Foster is clearly in love with the show. Still, although I had fun, I didn't love it. Part of the problem is that Foster seems completely wrong for the part. I mean, based on off-stage videos (like in the hilarious Side by Side with Susan Blackwell), she is probably excellent to have a few beers with. I'm sure she knows hilarious jokes, probably rude ones. And the girl can sing and dance. She works hard and has fun and I just don't buy her as the risqué, sex-on-legs Reno Sweeney. Her number at the top of Act II in the nightclub fell flat because of it. (The Tony voters clearly disagreed.)

AG was the second time I'd seen Foster on stage. Previously, she failed to convince me as a dominatrix in the Second Stage play Trust. I firmly believed she'd yell at and beat the hell out of her clients if they so wished. I did not believe that she'd be at all erotic while doing so. She's a pretty girl, but something about her just comes off as too goofy to be sexy. Alas.

Back to AG, Laura Osnes has a beautiful singing voice, and when she dances it's like she's floating above the floor. Seriously, I have no idea how she moves so smoothly or sings so effortlessly. Stunning. She should not, however, be allowed to open her mouth except to sing in this show. Her acting is so acty and her line deliveries remind me of high school plays. *sigh* And I was rooting for her. I actually voted for her in that terrible Grease casting show on NBC back in 2007. (In fact, I owe my current Broadway obsession to that--as I've said, awful--show.) I saw her in the terrible production of Grease on Broadway that followed. I was so happy, and impressed, when she took over for Kelli O'Hara in South Pacific (though I didn't see the show until closing, when O'Hara was back). And I'm glad for her that she's getting the chance to originate a role on Broadway, though I think the Bonnie & Clyde musical will be truly dreadful. What I'm saying is that I was rooting for her. But every time she talks--so earnest and so forced--it kills my theater-loving soul a little bit. I thought it was just a problem with that completely charmless (and toothless) Grease revival but her acting was really bad in both it and AG. (Perhaps with the better direction and better material of South Pacific she was fine. She certainly got good reviews for it.)

So, after filling up on post-show Belgian fries at BXL across the street from AG, we saw Follies. (It was still in previews, but it did have a recent out-of-town tryout in D.C.) This is a Sondheim musical, and one that I loved at Boston's Lyric Stage a few seasons ago. So it was the fall production I had been most excited for. I expected to still love the show itself, and I've wanted to see Bernadette Peters on stage since I first saw the video of Sunday in the Park with George oh so long ago. Oh, well. I could not be more disappointed. I don't care a whit about her Sally Durant. Her little-girl voice grates. And her singing voice isn't that impressive. Mostly, I can't see why anyone would have an affair with or marry (and, indeed stayed married to) that simpleton who is completely lacking in charisma or passion, other than her obsession with Ben. *snore* And I don't remember feeling that way, that complete lack of compassion for Sally, with the Lyric's production (possibly because Leigh Barrett is absolutely perfect, always).

Jan Maxwell, on the other hand ... HOLY! Why would anyone cheat on her Phyllis? Brilliant, witty, not preserved-within-an-inch-of-her-life. And HER VOICE! And her dancing! And her acting! And, just, everything about her performance was stunning. Despite the accent, I liked Grams Mary Beth Peil, too, but Solange is such a minor part. Other than Elaine Paige's fantastic I'm Still Here and Jayne Houdyshell being generally amazing at all times, I really didn't care what happened in the show except when Maxwell was on. And wow, is she ON. Overall, I'm sad that I didn't like the show more in general. I remember feeling in love with the musical itself the first time around. Now I think I probably never need to see it again. That can't be entirely Peters's fault, of course.

Anyway, I must be a terrible Sondheim fan and a diva-hater because I am out of love with Follies and did not enjoy Gypsy. And Bernadette Peters, Patti LuPone, and Sutton Foster all leave me cold (well, ok, LuPone was perfect in Company). If Peters takes a Tony Award over Maxwell, I will throw things at my TV.