Long time no update...
I went to the first preview of "Xanadu" last night. I think it's taken 24 hours for me to process what I saw (that, and the whopper of a "Lost" season finale last night that left me so dazed that I couldn't do anything else for the rest of the evening).
Despite the awfulness of its source material, I think "Xanadu" could have been a fun musical. I mean on paper you have the songs from the movie (after all, the musical numbers are what make the movie worth watching), a new script by Douglas Carter Beane (after all, the film's screenplay is what makes the movie so painful to sit through), and a cast including everyone's favorite musical comediennes Jackie Hoffman and Mary Testa. So where does the end product go wrong? Where to start?
My main problem with the stage production was its obvious cheapness. I guess I should have been worried when I heard not only that this big musical was going into the tiny Helen Hayes Theatre, but that they were going to be putting seats on the stage. The excuse was supposedly that the whole theatre was going to be used, so stage seats wouldn't distract. The real reason for the stage seats (other than more moolah for the producers)? To make the playing area smaller so hopefully no one would notice how sparse everything looked, and to hopefully let the paltry cast of 10 hard working actors fill the stage. The set consists of a giant mirror (so we can see the floor of the stage), a couple of tacky white brick boxes for the on-stage audience to sit in, and a couple of Greek columns. Later on in the show, we get a couple of disco balls and a shiny "Xanadu" sign thrown in. The whole thing - from the small cast, to cheap set, to the tacky costumes looks like some low-budget off-Broadway musical. How this made it to Broadway, complete with $110 tickets is beyond me. I just don't understand how you can take source material made so entertaining by its lavish gaudiness, do it on the cheap and hope it all looks all right.
The new book by Douglas Carter Beane is full of winks to the audience, saying "Yes, we know this stinks. Isn't that great?" Well, the jokes are very hit or miss, and honestly the new story is full of gaping holes. Camp is all well and good, but would it hurt to camp up a story that made sense?
As for the cast, well they really work very hard. And all but Tony Roberts are really very talented. Why Tony Roberts (who obviously cannot dance) was cast in a role originated by dance legend Gene Kelly is beyond me. I mean, he tries to do the moves with the rest of the cast, but it's really pathetic.
So in the end, if you can ignore the bad sets and mediocre script, and try to focus on the fun silly songs and silly choreography, it is possible to have a somewhat enjoyable time at "Xanadu." If this were at an off-Broadway theatre I would probably be much more forgiving. But to do a show like this on Broadway, well it really is insulting to the audience.
I'm going back to see this again after is opens, so we'll see how things progress after the show gets on it's feet. I remain somewhat skeptical, but at least it's not painful to sit through. Nonetheless, it's probably cheaper and more enjoyable to pick up a copy of the dvd and just watch the musical numbers in the comfort of your living room.
And since I'm in writing mode, a quick recap of two other new musicals.
"10 Million Miles" is the new Patty Griffin musical at the Atlantic Theatre (original home of my beloved "Spring Awakening") and directed by Michael Mayer (director of my beloved "Spring Awakening"). So of course, hopes were high.
Now, I don't know anything about Patty Griffin, so I went into the show with an open mind. I figured if pop singer who I knew nothing about Duncan Sheik can write a good musical, why not folk singer who I know nothing about Patty Griffin?
Well, the show started and the first song was pretty entertaining. And second song, while sounding an awful lot like the first, and while having only a little bit to do with the scene, was also not bad. The third song, also sounding rather similar and still only having a little to do with the scene, was not so enjoyable. And so it went down hill from there. Along the way there was one (yes, one) song that was actually plot specific. The rest all just sounded like songs that would be played in the background of the film version while the audience watched some montage.
I learned afterwards that there's a dirty little secret about this musical that the Atlantic doesn't want you to know. It's not in any of the advance material I read, but watching the show, well... they just can't hide it. You see, "10 Million Miles" is (*cue thunder and lightning*) a jukebox musical. (Run! Run! Don't you see the fire pouring down from the sky?). Now there isn't anything inherently wrong with a jukebox musical (see: "Jersey Boys"). But there is a reason that people usually don't much care for them. And that reason is that songs shoehorned into a book generally don't make that much sense there, and so character development is hindered, audience don't much care for the characters on stage, and the whole thing tanks more or less.
Well, book writer Keith Bunin apparently didn't worry too much about whether the audience cared about the characters, because the was he wrote them, they're just not very likable. The show starts out with two people going on a road trip. I don't think you need me to tell you anything else about it, you can easily fill the rest in on your own. The writing fairly cliche-ridden, disappointing coming from the promising playwright who wrote the very enjoyable "The Busy World Is Hushed" last season.
The cast of four is very talented. The set is serviceable - it's basically a truck that turns and has lots of parts that fold out to create different scenes. Eh.
Full disclaimer: I went to the first weekend of previews for "10 Million Miles" so it's always possible that it's improved since then. I somehow doubt it.
Since I went to see "In The Heights" last week, it has announced that it will be moving to Broadway. Uh huh.... The musical and lyrics and fairly strong (though there was a bit too much rapping for my taste - the last number especially just sounded like lyrics that the composer didn't get around to writing a melody for), but the book is a mess - too many characters with rather uninteresting stories - and it's all so bland and G-rated wholesome - this supposedly edgy musical felt awfully tame and a bit too family friendly. Anyway, hopefully something can be done about the book before the Broadway run, but since the show isn't selling that well off-Broadway (I saw it on tdf) I don't really see it selling well at a much larger theatre on Broadway. We'll see. It certainly has promise - Lin-Manuel Miranda is definitely an exciting new voice for the musical theatre. I look forward to hearing the cast recording.
That's all for now. Bed time :O)
