I don’t know why I waited so long to see this show. For some reason I didn’t think it would be very good, even after winning some Tonys. And being totally in love with everything Mark Rylance does, I should have known better. Because it is awesome. Seriously. So stupid, yet so awesome.

It’s a door slamming sex farce. We’ve seen it a million times. But the set design, performances, and direction really make it the best of this particular genre I think I’ve ever seen.

Although it takes place in the 1960’s and is totally sexist and racist, it manages to poke such fun at these ridiculous stereotypes that it doesn’t feel dated. It actually feels fresh and modern. Surprising.

The story is pretty lame. A man living in Paris has 3 fiancees, all airline flight attendants. None of them know about each other, and he carefully schedules himself around their arrivals and departures. He loves them all; the American, the Italian, and the German. When his old friend arrives from Wisconsin on route to visit family elsewhere in France, he stays for the night at the Paris flat - the night that all 3 fiancees happen to somehow get rerouted back to the flat at once. Chaos ensues, and is resolved in the end.

Really dumb plot. Like I said.

But the performances were so spot on they literally couldn’t have been any better. Well, Rebecca Gayheart as the Italian I thought could have been a bit more firey, but not knowing her as a stage actress (and knowing her as a mediocre film star) I was really pleasantly surprised by her performance. I know she had replaced Gina Gershon in the role, and I wonder if they differed much. Paige Davis was out, so we saw her understudy as the American girl. She was fine, but the character is a bit confusing. Very peppy and slutty. I didn’t quite get why she was that way, if it was an attack on American women or what….dunno. The most entertaining by far of the 3 fiancees was Missi Pyle as the German. Oh wow. Knowing her from film and TV roles (most recently on Pushing Daisies), in her Broadway debut, she steals the show. Ridiculous huge over the top German stereotype. Violent and loud and overtly passionate and kind of totally insane. Loved every second she was on stage.

The winner of this years best actor in a play was well deservedly given to Mark Rylance for his performance as a frumpy, lonely, Wisconsin small town man who finds himself overwhelmed by the women and the chaos and the foreignness of it all. Having seen him mostly do Shakespeare at the New Globe in London, it’s so nice to have him over here. And not only nailing an American accent, nailing a Wisconsin dialect! So impressive. And nailing every single joke. His comedic timing and physical comedy is something I hadn’t seen before - he is every bit as well suited to comedy as he is to Shakespeare. Goofy and clumsy like I had never seen him before. Genius man, that is.

If there is a week link in the show, that would have to be assigned to Greg Germann, as the triple-timing bachelor. Knowing him only from his TV work (Allie McBeal), I thought he made a fine transition to the stage - perhaps it’s just that his character isn’t quite as interesting as the others. But he played the role with energy and conviction. You just don’t really care that much about him. Maybe that’s the point. He had replaced Bradley Whitford, another TV actor, in the role.

Oh - and Christine Baranski as the jaded housekeeper. Another priceless comedic talent. Great to see her on the stage. She is practically unrecognizable in a black bob wig, horn rim glasses, and thick French accent. She, like Rylance, nails every joke. Everyone loves a bitchy, French existentialist maid who sits and smokes and hates her job. Comedy gold right there.

I think the success of the comedy has a lot to do with the direction. There were lines in the script that I’m sure, at first glance, were not intended to be jokes, but with tweaking from director and actors, every line was milked for optimal comedy. Not a moment thrown away. Extremely careful script dissection of a seemingly simple and silly play.

Even the scenic and costume design were great. The Paris apartment was beautiful, open and airy, with lots of doors (of course.) The three women had each of their three colors - red for the American, blue for the Italian, and yellow for the German, and those vibrant pops of color were there throughout the show - even down to Germann changing the color of the flower in the vase as each of his women depart and arrive. The color theme was well executed and strongly resembled that of 1960’s mod-style. The predominant set piece is a hanging light fixture, center stage - three globes of red, yellow, and blue. Makes everything pop.

Over all - I didn’t stop smiling or laughing the entire time. One of the most fun things I’ve ever seen. Loved every minute. And I hope it runs for a very long time. The kind of show you could see multiple times and still laugh. And the most remarkable thing of all, I think - nothing felt stale, even though the show has been running I think for about 9 months now. It still has the spark and freshness of a brand new show. And for a sex farce? Not smutty or sleazy. More cutesy.

Even the curtain call was fun. A choreographed dance number.

Even when Marc Rylance asked us to donate to charity at the end - it became a stand up routine, in which they made fun of the Seagull. Something to the affect of, “we know you have many shows to choose to fly with this holiday season….something about the ‘dead bird across the road’” and then they did impressions - “My bird is dead! I need some vodka!” Because making fun of Chekov is always fun.

Anyway all’s I’m saying is that not one inkling of the experience missed the mark on any aspect, even those non-show bits at the end. Everyone should see this. Everyone. Kids, grandmas, whatever.

I was actually really looking forward to seeing this when I heard it was coming to the stage. The film is one of my favorites from childhood, the cast lineup was great, and I really did enjoy the Producers on broadway the couple times I saw it. So I thought it would be a surefire hit. Tickets quickly became difficult to procure, so I decided to wait till the buzz died down and hopefully I wouldn’t have to pay full price for a seat.

Cut to less than a year later, and it’s closing, so I duck in with the in-laws to catch a Thanksgiving week performance before its gone forever. And tickets were easily available on TDF.

It basically sucked all the darkness, madness, and joy from the film and turned it into cheesy, formulaic musical theatre schmaltz.

Roger Bart as Frederick Frankenstein - I believe one of the only original cast members still in the show - was truly excellent. Hilarious, sounded good, looked good, really really enjoyed his comic timing. And the fact that he made the role his own and didn’t do a Gene Wilder impression is something to be commended.

Conversely, I could tell that all the actors that had filled the roles for the “name” actors that had already left the show (Sutton Foster, Megan Mullally, and Andrea Martin, etc) were basically doing impressions of the performances their predecessors had left them. No creative expression here, just cheap imitations of what came before them. Which must kinda suck for an actor. Regardless of the size of their paycheck. The woman playing Frau Blucker was pretty good, the other two - meh. The monster and Igor were fine. Just fine, though.

The show is so stupid I don’t really have words. Just so, so stupid. All the cleverness of the film - gone. In it’s place, a ton of stupid sex jokes and penis references. Comedy for people that don’t appreciate comedy. Comedy for dumb people. Comedy for children.

I will say that the set is amazing. Particularly that of the laboratory. And the working Tesla coil that sparked and exploded when the monster was created. Great work there. I was also amazed by the fact that every single scene seemed to have a different set dropped in and/or created around it. We even get to see the castle from different angles - meaning, they built the castle in a variety of angles (one just for the “knockers” joke). Most likely the most expensive looking (and expensive costing) show I’ve ever seen. If they had spend nearly as much time on the book as they had on the set design and special effects, it would have been a better show.

As an educated, savvy theatre-goer, it’s the kind of show that you scoff at and mock and criticize. But if you can distance yourself from your knowledge and experience and just watch it, it’s kinda fun. I was watching it and smiling a little, even chuckling a bit from time to time. All the while knowing that it was crap, but trying to push that out of my head, as to have a good time.

What I find interesting is that this is just exactly the kind of show that technically should do well - complex, intellectual thinkers’ musicals don’t sell tickets. This is the kind of show that should. So the fact that it’s closing so early, besides being due to the recession - I wonder, is it a sign that theatre goers are getting more choosy? Are their tastes evolving past crude sex jokes and leggy chorus girls? Mystery.

Although the “Puttin’ On the Ritz” number was pretty awesome. They do the whole song, and it evolves into a huge song and dance number (an obvious leap from the film version to the stage) and reminded me a lot of his Springtime for Hitler from The Producers. Mel Brooks apparently loves a huge exciting dance number in the middle of act 2. His formula needs some tweaking tho, if he wants to keep making musicals.

And it would help if the music was at all memorable or interesting.

But like I said - Amazing Set!!!

I went to see this show on it’s opening preview because I just couldn’t wait. New Sondheim musical starring Michael Cerveris? No freaking WAY. So on the night of October 28th, 2008, I went to the public to see this new work of musical theatre.

Here’s what I thought. So…for argument’s sake, I’m Stephen Sondheim. I’m old. I’ve only got a couple musicals left in me, tops. I am responsible for the greatest musical theatre compositions of the 20th century. I have written the best, most complex, and most interesting characters and vocal compositions in the history of the genre. So here’s an idea - I’m gonna write a play without any women in it! Oh yeah, great idea! I’ll put one woman in, a dowdy mother character who dies in the beginning! After that it’s all just boys boys boys!

From a feminist standpoint, and from the standpoint that we need more roles for women being written for the stage, this was an utter disappointment.

The play overall, gets a C. The music was very clearly Sondheimian, and it was exciting to hear new stuff. Although at least one of the songs he sourced from his musical Bounce, which I think was recorded a decade ago but I’m not sure if it was just never performed or what the deal was there - either way - he definitely sourced songs from other musicals to put into this musical, which I found a bit odd, but makes a sort of sense.

The play follows two brothers at the turn of the century following the American Dream. So….basically….Ragtime without any black people. Even the music sounded a lot like Ragtime in parts. There were even references to “Gliding,” which is a song from Ragtime. So I just couldn’t get past the comparison. It was the same time period and the same themes. Just in this instance, it was about 2 brothers instead of 3 different ethnic and socioeconomic groups.

One brother follows the path of greed and vice and drugs and is basically a bad guy (Cerveris) while the other brother (the constantly working Paul Gemignani) becomes an architect, falls in love, and stupidly goes into business with his cad of a brother, trying to sell real estate in Boca Raton. The majority of the show follows their failed business venture into real estate, largely due to Cerveris’s lies and deception in their radio adverts. Then they get old and die. And that’s the story of the American Dream, apparently.

What I did appreciate a lot was that Gemignani’s character was gay, his love interest was a dude, and they didn’t treat it like it was even a “thing.” Just, no big deal. No gay themes other than the fact that it happened to be a gay relationship. Probably very accurate as to how homosexuality was treated back then. More privately but just as prevalent.

I have to say that I hated the set and the costume design. Everything was sepia toned, like you were watching a faded old timey film. I get the idea and the concept, but it had the result of everything blurring together and being rather dull.

The performances, especially by the two leading men, were great, of course, but those guys are always great. No surprises there.

And the ending was fantastic. The very last line and the blackout were well executed and a complex spin on two men’s lives, summed up in one bittersweet sentence. So I did love the ending. But other than that, and the fact that, yay for new Sondheim, Road Show will probably not be remembered along the likes of Sweeney Todd and Company. Maybe more like A Little Night Music or Merrily We Roll Along. Maybe. If it’s lucky.