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Matt Reviews: ELF, TAMMY FAYE, SWEPT AWAY & DEATH BECOMES HER
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- [00:05]
A
So tell me, Ernest, what would you do to me aesthetically? A lift, a tuck, a freeze, a suck, some filler in the chin?
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Oh, goodness, no.
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Nora. Tell me, Ernest, if you had your way with me medically, are we talking face, chest, thighs, breasts? Oh, God, I don't know where to begin. What about this pain on my leg? I stressed it out from doing stuff.
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B
Hello all you theater lovers, both out and proud and on the DL. And welcome back to Broadway Breakdown, a podcast discussing the history und legacy of American theater's most exclusive address, Broadway. I am your host, Matt Koplik, the least famous and most opinionated of all the Broadway podcast hosts. And we've got another review episode today. It is a quadruple whammy. We've got Elf, We've got Tammy Faye swept away, and death becomes her. Now, I will do my best to do this in order. I also was asked on the Discord Channel, which if you haven't joined yet, please join. We are at over 2. We are over 200 members on the Discord Channel. It's a lot of fun, but someone asked if I could maybe do timestamps for the reviews, which I think is actually a pretty good idea if I can narrow it down well enough. Because when you add the advertisements after the fact, it's hard to know exactly where the timestamps need to go, but hopefully it'll be within like a minute and a half or so of the right time. Anywho, and maybe if we do the timestamps for this, then things like housekeeping won't bother people so much because guess what, guys, we got two more reviews and I will read them right now as well as talk a little bit about the play that I wrote that just had its livestream reading and responses and how exactly we go about talking to people about the things they are working on. There is a difference between somebody working on a project and having worked on a project when something is complete and out for public consumption and when it's still in process. Also, just when you talk to someone about anything that they're doing or have done and knowing when to offer constructive feedback, which is ultimately you wait until they ask for it. That said, the reviews for this podcast is a safe space for you to give feedback. I always hope that people will be considerate of the fact that I'm a human being and and not be raging cocks when they write reviews. But you know, sometimes people just get really fed up with how I speak or how I run this podcast and they really want to let Me know. And that's their prerogative. Again, I hope we aren't cocks about it, but hey, this is the world. Okay, so let us get into our first two reviews. Or I should say our two new reviews. First up, play the Lightning, the Piazza, or Overture Music. Five stars. What we need right now. This is such a great podcast. I found it while searching for info on last season's Broadway lineup. After planning a trip to New York with my family, I look forward to every new episode. I love Matt's knowledge and love of this art form and agree with most of his hot takes after the results of this past election. Jesus. This podcast is exactly what we need right now. Art and creativity is what unites us. Keep up the good work, Matt. Thank you very much, Fort Wayne Ben, that's very kind of you. As I always say, you don't have to agree with any of my takes. I just hope that I speak on them in a way that makes sense and you can, you know, zero in on even if you disagree. Next up, four stars. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Matt, I am an avid theater goer. I see everything and I love listening to other people's opinions on shows. I often agree with your takes and you do very thorough through. I think you wrote through, but I think you meant thorough. And you do very thorough deep dives. However, you do go on and on to long. Three exclamation points, especially in introductions. Sometimes I can't take it and I want to quit. Another thing that drives me crazy was your Tony review show where you had other people in to discuss with which I appreciate, but these people had not seen half the shows. Three exclamation points. It drove me crazy. Three exclamation points. How can these people be commenting? Three question marks. Surely you can find someone. Find some. Surely you can find people who have seen 90% of the shows. I'll volunteer next year if you like nerdy smiley face. Thank you for the offer. I think just in the future, don't neg me and then ask, you know, offer your services. This is not Neil Strauss is the game. If you would like to come on the podcast, there are better ways than saying all the things I do you don't like and then saying I would love to come on. That's just. It's not 2004 people. Okay? If you have legitimate concerns about the podcast, that's fine. I'm glad you said it, but not in reference to you then wanting to come on. Not because I'm sensitive, but because that's just, you don't bitch slap me and then say, want to go get a manicure? That's just no. I have too many people in my life who've done that to me and I've cut them all out. Because I will say this, people have gotten very bold with me and how they speak to me. I know that I am opinionated. I sometimes will say something crazy or sassy. But when I'm reviewing shows, I do try to be considerate of the fact that it's actual people who worked on this who took the time and really put in a lot of effort. And if I don't like it, I explain why. And I again, I only get kind of snarky if I feel like my time was wasted. I'll be snarky in private sometimes with friends just to sort of let out the toxins. But overall, when I'm on here, I try to be considerate. I also don't then send my reviews to everyone who worked on these shows. If they want to hear my takes, they can find it, but I don't go into their DMs and send them a link to the episode. Whenever I write reviews on Instagram, I don't tag the production. They can find it if they want to. That's because ultimately they did the thing. And if they don't want to hear it, they don't have to. I'm just sharing my opinion with people who maybe want to hear it. And I say that because again, so much wonderful feedback from the play that we did. But and this isn't just listeners, but also my own family members. I eventually had to tell family members that if I want feedback, I will ask for it. And a couple of people on Instagram from who listen to the podcast or follow me on Instagram reached out and everyone said very lovely things. But a handful of people also were like, and here are my notes in the future. And this isn't just a me thing, but like, don't do that to people. You don't know where they are in the process of their show or in their work on the show. You don't know what's going on behind the scenes. You don't know if maybe they're happy with their work or you don't know if they're emotionally ready to hear constructive criticism. You wait and you know, let them tell you they're ready. And then especially when it's people who are writing stuff and those of you who have written scripts and have had me do some coaching sessions with you on this. You know that the first thing I always ask is, what is it you're trying to achieve with this? What story are you trying to tell? What angle are you going for? And then I offer my feedback based off of what you've told me. I don't try to tell you to make it a certain kind of show that I want. And sometimes I'll hear myself give notes that sound kind of that way. And I will not backtrack, but I'll apologize and say, that's really just me with my own taste. And you don't have to take that at all. So just when it comes to feedback, just know that that's sort of a way to go with anyone in this community. You know, don't talk about what you didn't like unless they ask. Okay? Just in the future. All right, moving on. Seven and a half minutes in. Here we go. We're going to start with our first review. If that was too much housekeeping for some of you, either use the fast forward button or get an attention span. We are starting off with Elf. Now, full disclosure, I have never seen this musical before. This is its third time in New York City. First, I believe, was 2010, 2011. And then it had a revival. Ish, Like a Return Engagement. And then this is the second Return Engagement, something with Elf, based off of the movie starring Will Ferrell. Is that the main character of Buddy? If you don't know the story, it's basically about a human who as a baby, accidentally ends up in the North Pole and is raised as an Elf, even though they're a human. And with Will Ferrell in 2003, it's the fact that he's like 10 times taller than everybody, but he absorbs all of the Christmas spirit and optimism and positivity from the North Pole as well as their hard work mentality. And when he's told to go to the human worlds, to New York City specifically to find his birth father, he just is very much a fish out of water there as well. But nothing really dampens him. The humor of Elf is just in terms of how positive Buddy is and how against the grain he is with all the cynics of New York. And when it was first on Broadway, it was, I think Sebastian Arcellus played Buddy and he was considered rather miscast because he's just so dashingly leading Manny and just wasn't really the fish out of water vibe that Will Ferrell was. And then the second time around, it was Jordan something. What's his name? Jordan Gelber, who was in the original company of Avenue Q, and he was considered an improvement. But still, a lot of people are like, I don't know about this show. And it's written by Chad Boguellen and Matt Sklar with a book by Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin. And now it is starring Gray Henson and. And it opened earlier this week to pretty solid reviews. I mean, some people just will never like this musical. Some people were kind of over the fact that this is clearly like a touring vibe show and just plopped on Broadway for the holiday season. I went in with very, I want to say minimal, but almost like zero expectations. I really didn't know what to do. I only knew two songs. I knew Christmas Song because I sang it with the New York City Gaiman's Chorus many years ago. And I knew there was a Santa Clause because of the first time they performed it with Beth Leavel and that little kid at Broadway, on Broadway or wherever. So I didn't know the rest of the score and I really didn't know how it was adapted as a musical. And I gotta tell you, I was so surprised I found this fucking delightful. Gray Henson as Buddy is extraordinarily perfect casting. He really makes the musical work. And I think the musical itself does work. Overall, it's a bit overly long. It probably could be an hour and 45 with no intermission. There's definitely some padding going on. But it is a well structured musical. I think the songs are all in the correct places. It's Matthew Sklar on music, so it's like obviously a lot of great bops. I think Chad Boguellan's lyrics are very smart and clever. Again, it's just. I think that this could totally be streamlined. Just trim some fat off of it, which is sort of my MO for most things these days. I just feel like everything is a little too long. And I don't know if that's my old age or if it's that just everybody kind of puts down the scissors like a week and a half too soon or people get too attached to their babies and can't bring themselves to kill their darlings. I don't know. But with Elf, it's not so much that there's anything bad in the material, so much as you watch and you're like, ah, this scene could have ended a minute ago. This song, delightful as it is, doesn't need to be here. But overall, it is a well written musical and Gray in particular elevates everything. If you've seen Gray in Either Mean Girls or Shucked, you know, that he's really good at sort of like, dry comedic delivery every. He doesn't comment on anything. He has a timbre in his speaking voice that already makes it elevated. He's not like a super Steppenwolf organic kind of actor. I'm sure he could be if he wanted to be, but for something like Buddy and Elf or Damien and Mean Girls or the narrator and Shucked, the style with which he speaks makes so much of the humor land even better because he plays it earnestly, but his affect is sort of with, like, one foot off the ground. And it works so well for Buddy, who is so earnest but is so not of this world. And you just watch Gray, first of all, light up the stage because he's got charisma out the butt and also a beautiful singer and full of energy and positivity and just really smart comedic instincts. And I do know Gray. If you are a fan of the POD from, like, years back, you know that he is a friend of the pod. He was on once, I think, during lockdown, and we've hung out a couple of times. Podmother Ali Gordon got married two years ago. Gray and I were both there. He was in her wedding party. He's also friends with friend of the POD, Josh Daniel. So, like, Gray and I have hung out a couple of times, but he is not such a close friend that I am biased in any way. In fact, if I had texted him that I was seeing the show, his response would have been, cool, Enjoy it. It wouldn't be like, oh, come backstage and say hi. Like, we're not that close, but we're friendly. So I feel no, I have no qualms in telling you how wonderful he is in the show. And if he's eligible, I would absolutely nominate him for actor in a musical. And as it stands in this moment in the season, he was who I would vote for. I would rank him in Elf for number one, an actor in a musical, followed by Darren Criss in maybe Happy Ending. And then three, I would say Tom Francis in Sunset Boulevard, who is really good. But I just think that Darren and Gray just are so natural, such natural fits in their role. Like, you don't see the work. It just feels so organic, and it's really beautiful to see. The rest of the cast also does a really lovely job. It's great to see Ashley Brown on Broadway again. Her voice is killer. She's actually quite funny, which I didn't expect because we're used to seeing her play, you know, Mary Poppins and Belle and things like that. But she has some fun comedic instincts, and she does a really great job with the little kid who plays Michael Kai Edgar, that's his name. And we all know I don't like kids on my stage, but this kid is solid. He. He sings like a tank engine. And he's not like, you know, a nuanced actor. He's, what, like 11? But he's not an annoying child presence, which I appreciate. I also think that Kayla Davion as Jovi does a really nice job. Jovi's a hard role. If you've seen the movie, it's Zooey Deschanel, and I know that Amy Spanger did it in the original production. Jovi is kind of a wet blanket for a long time, and that's sort of the point, is that Buddy kind of brings her out of her shell, but you also have to make her in a way that you would understand why Buddy would be drawn to her. Not just she's pretty, she's got to have something about her. And with Zooey Deschanel, she's got those big eyes. So it's less that she was hard in the movie and more that she was just kind of dry. You know, she had been in New York for so long, she was a little over it, but she wasn't mean. And the way that Jovi's written in the stage show, she can come off mean at first, and they even make a joke about it. And I thought that Kayla Davion did a really nice job of showing the hardened edges of Jovi while not making her a total ice queen. So when you see the turn with her and Buddy, it's more that, like, she has joy again. It's not that the ice has melted. It's just that, you know, she's kind of resigned to New York City life and all the things that she kind of wanted probably won't happen. And that's fine. It's fine. And she doesn't realize just kind of how through the motions she is until Christmas Song when they're ice skating. And it's a really nice thing to see. My beloved Michael Hayden plays Buddy's father, Walter Hobbs. And we all know how much I love the Haed. He is a Juilliard actor in the musical, and he is giving Juilliard training in the musical, and it's giving me vibes of KO And Moulin Rouge. When I first saw her and the way she sang Firework, and I was like, girl, this is not Mother Courage. You need to tone it down. You have to have. It's the way that my friend Chelsea said this, because for those of you who listen to Heather's episode, that's Chelsea Williams. Chelsea has been in Mamma Mia. So many times. She did it on the road, she did it in Vegas, she did it on Broadway. And she's met the creative team on it. And they always would tell the cast that when you're doing Mamma Mia, you need to have one foot on the ground and one foot in the air. So everything is real to the characters, but everything has to be real with a light delivery. In the same way. I was talking about Gray as Buddy, and I think that Michael needs to have one foot in the air because right now he's got both feet on the ground. And he lightens up in Act 2 as his character eventually starts to lighten up and you see him kind of get a little sillier. But when he's hard, when Walter is kind of being the tough boss man In Act 1, the cynical James Caan, New Yorker. I think Michael could play this a little less serious, just a little lighter, a little less James Caan, a little more Broadway. But even so, we're always glad to see him. And he still looks good. Technically speaking, yes, it is on the more economic side of design, but I thought that they actually did a very nice job of making the most of what little they had. The design is, when it begins, you think to yourself, oh, God, is this just gonna be like the most projection heavy show ever? And, like, yes, there's an LED screen at the back of the stage that very much is there, you know, to enhance everything. And they'll use it for scene transitions. But they bring in, you know, drops, they bring in things from the. From the sides. And I felt that it was a clever way of using what was clearly an economical design of, okay, like, we can't have all elaborate sets. We can't have everything be visceral, everything tangible. Like, we have to use projections from time to time. So rather than just rely on it always, let's see if we can meld the two and trick audiences into thinking that there's more scenery than there actually is, in the same way that Great Gatsby does. For those of you who have seen Great Gatsby or heard me talk about it, what I said was so clever about the design for that is there actually isn't. There aren't as many tangible sets in Gatsby as you would think. It's a very Clever usage of tangible sets and projections. And I think that Elf does that as well, maybe not as successfully, if only because they don't have as much money or as many resources, but they do a really good job of. Doesn't look cheap, it just looks streamlined. And I was appreciative of that. I also thought that the choreography by Liam Steele was very good. It would be my number one right now for best choreography of the season with a bullet. It has officially replaced A Wonderful World for top spot. Wonderful World. I had said before, my favorite bits of choreography were either the solo tap dancing or the ensemble movement. Stuff that were in jazz clubs and things like that. The ensemble tapping, I thought, was very Midwest regional theater, which is not a dig to Midwest regional theater. But you have different expectations for a show that's coming to Broadway after a long time of development with a certain tier of talent that's being compensated a certain amount. And you're like, okay, what are you bringing? And I thought that Liam Steele brought it, for the most part. Some really clever choreography in the beginning with all the elves. I liked his skating work for Christmas Song. I liked all of the stuff. There's a number in Act 2. Oh, I think it's called There is no Santi Clause or no Santa Clause with all the New York Santas in the Chinese food restaurant. And I thought that was really well done. The direction by Philip William McKinley, who, as far as I know, his other big thing is he directed Boy From Oz with Hugh Jackman, and he was a creative consultant on Turn off the Dark. He did a nice enough job. He kept the tone going, he kept the pacing going, which I really appreciated. And he just sort of made sure that everything flowed. And maybe it's because of the time we're in or how I was feeling so drained after the play, but I really needed something to just be joyful. And this was joyful and it was delightful and it was smart and clever and just, you know, we talk so much about it, knows what it is, and it doesn't try to be anything else. And that's true for some shows.
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But.
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But I also think that we use that as an excuse when a show is maybe under baked. Maybe they're not trying to aim for Piazza, but if they're trying to aim for Drowsy Chaperone, I'm like, it's still only like a 7 out of 10 if we're going on a Drowsy Chaperone level. And Elf is definitely trying to go for a drowsy level. And I think that it hits the mark pretty often, if not all the time. Very often. Especially this production, which I'm sure is coming in with half the budget of past productions of Elves and a third the budget of most Broadway productions in general and half the rehearsal time. And it's just for this limited period. So, like, they could have phoned it in, and I didn't feel that they did. I thought that they really worked to make this as delightful a time as they could, and they succeeded.
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Yeah.
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That's all I really have to say about Elf. I guess if I missed anything that you want to hear more about, you can always write in on the Discord Channel, and I will give further notes on that. But I think it's time that we take a quick break and move on to the next show, which is going to be Tammy Faye.
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Really? I beg to differ with you.
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How do you mean?
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You're the top. Yeah. You're an arrow collar. You're the top. You're a Coolidge dollar. You're the nimble tread of the feet of.
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And we're back. So next up on the agenda is Tammy Faye, the musical about Tammy Faye Baker Mesler. Mesner, I think was her name after she divorced GM Written by Elton John on music, Jake Shears on lyrics, and James Graham on book. Directed by Rupert Gould. Choreographed by Lyn Page. Starring Christian Borrell, Katie Brabin and Michael Cerveris. I saw Tammy Faye a few days after opening. I think two days after they announced their closing notice. I'm pretty sure the cast got the closing notice a few days prior. Tammy Faye is pretty much considered the flop of the season. It got pretty much trashed across the board from critics, and by the time it closes, it will have played 29 official performances and 24 previews, losing its entire investment. And it's always a shame when we have flops like this. We always want shows to succeed. You want actors to be employed. But ultimately, if the stuff is just not up to snuff, what are you gonna do? I tried to go in with an open mind. I had heard talk from friends who had seen it. I try really hard not to let that sway me. I also try to get my friends not to tell me too much before I see a show. I already have two friends who hinted at their opinions of Audra McDonald and Gypsy, and I basically was like, nope, shut it down. I'm waiting till it's frozen. I'm waiting till it's settled, and I will see it later. Anywho, Tammy Faye, I Didn't know much about the actual public figure of Tammy Faye Baker. I knew, you know, her get up. I knew the basic spiel about her. I knew that RuPaul was obsessed with her, that many gay people were obsessed with her, that Kristin Chanoweth was obsessed with her and was trying to get a bio musical off the ground. I saw Ginger Minj play her on Snatch Game on Drag Race, and then I saw the movie starring Jessica Chastain. The Eyes of Tammy Faye. And, you know, there's a lot about her that's very fascinating. Her style is wild, and her attitude of positivity and constant energy is very admirable. But she and her husband also did a lot of shitty things, like also swindling people out of a lot of money. And the thing about Tammy Faye is, despite all of that, she has such a publicly positive perception. She was a joke for a very long time. And I would say in the 21st century, I guess, because she became mostly forgotten by a lot of people, the queer community really kind of kept her relevant and. And supported her in a lot of ways, but never really made her, in my opinion, never really made her quite the gay icon of other historical figures. And also, you know, her career never really felt. From everything that I've looked up about her and seen in the movie and. And read about her, she wasn't knowingly a gay icon when she was alive. I think she maybe discovered that towards the end of her life, but even then, like, sort of just barely. The musical. How do I describe the musical? People on the Discord asked, is this worse than Lempicka? And I'm gonna say yes, because Lempicka, while also bad. Lempicka suffers from having too many thoughts in its head and too many things that it wants to do. And so there is tonal whiplash in Lempicka. There is clashing genres. Lempicka kind of wanted to be great. Comet meets Evita meets Fun Home. And there's a world in which that blend can work. But with Lempicka, for me, it did not work. And thus it was constantly battling itself, which led to some uber campy moments, but memorable. And the ultimate sin of Tammy Faye is that it is just so dull. I was really thrown by how boring I found it to be. And also under baked. Rupert Gould is a very talented director. I mentioned this last season with Patriots. While I found that play to be very cold, I found that Rupert Gould's direction, he's a very theatrical man, and he has a lot of ideas in his head, a lot of images and felt that that was sort of to the benefit of Patriots. It also worked well in ink. But Tammy Faye, you know, there's a lot of stuff going on on stage. The Bunny Christie set of all these TV screens and constant popping up and out of the floor. First of all, the show is too small for the Palace. The palace is a large, large theater really meant for shows like Beauty and the Beast and Aida. I mean, I even think Legally Blonde was the wrong show for that theater. Legally Blonde should have been in like the Shubert or the Neil Simon. The palace is reserved for spectacles and larger than life shows. I think the last production that I felt truly filled the palace was, I hate to say it, but An American in Paris, a musical I didn't care for very much, but the way it was put together filled that theater. SpongeBob was a show that they filled the theater. But I do think spongebob was ultimately a smaller show than the palace was offering. And Tammy Faye would probably work better in a theater like, you know, the Music Box or the Broadhurst. I mean, it started life at the Almeida, which is a 300 seat theater. Granted, they. The plan was for it to go to the Gillian Lynn and they brought it to the Almeida instead. So it was always meant to be a bigger show, but you watch it and you're like, I can see why this maybe clicked London. A. It's, you know, it's a British telling of American story, so there's a remove there that I'm sure British audiences had about it, so they could just sort of enjoy this American story from afar. And also when you are in a theater that is a fifth the size of the palace, it's easier to get wrapped up in something if it's four inches from you, as opposed to it being 80ft from you. Distance allows you to be a lot more observant and objective. You can't get wrapped up in it so much. And at the palace, we all sat there and we were very removed from it. So we saw it for what it was, which is that it is ultimately an under baked musical telling of Tammy Faye. And I would even argue unfocused, because it doesn't really have a take on her or her story. It doesn't really know what it wants to say. And sometimes you don't have to say anything. Sometimes you're just telling the story, but especially when you're telling a story that's true from the past, there needs to be some kind of angle Otherwise, why are we telling it? Is it just because it's a good story? Sure. But, like, you know, what makes it a good story? Why do we like it? It's the same reason I feel about revivals. Like, don't be a director of a revival. If you don't like the show, if you think that you're going to fix it, if you think that you have to apologize for it, your revival is going to blow. And. And it does every single time. We talked about this, I think in the west side Story episode with Margaret hall, of what are the Revisals in the past that have been actually successful? And I'd argue that the only one that has been considered successful is the Hal Prince candide in the 70s. And even that has its detractors. But it did sort of start a new mold for Candide. Pretty much any other revisal you can think of has been met with criticism. There are fans of the David Henry Huang flower drum song. There are just as many critics of it. So with Tammy Faye brings us back to Tammy Faye. You ask yourself what made this creative team want to tell this story? Because ultimately, Tammy Faye as a character is secondary in this show. I would argue that Christian Bale as Jim Baker is the larger role. Katy Brabin has a couple of big numbers. She's got two powerhouse numbers in Act 2, both of which are unearned. Tammy Faye is so passive in this entire musical. And the reason for that is ultimately people want to believe that she had no knowledge of what was going on at the network that she was working at, of the swindling that was going on of their viewers. And maybe she really had no idea. And the movie with Jessica Chastain does kind of take the attitude that she was unaware, or if she had any inklings, she chose to ignore it. But they make that part of her character, of ultimately she's turning a blind eye, A, because they're successful, and B, because she always wants to see the positive. She genuinely believes they're doing good for the world. And Tammy Faye in this musical, you don't get that. You just watch her constantly react to things. And when the show is called Tammy Faye, she has to have more than that. She can't just be the linchpin that brings all the other characters together. She is our focus. She is our viewpoint of all of this. It's happening to her. It's her life. What we don't get that much. We don't get many facets of her. We see her be swept up in religion we see her, you know, kind of come into her own sort of as a TV personality. I don't even. That even sort of doesn't really work for me because when they start the network, her and Jim, she's already a natural at it. You watch him, you watch Christian Borrell as Jim Baker, like, kind of flub stuff, and you watch her just always being able to cover. And then one day he decides not to go on air, so she has to do it alone. And she's got this big song of finding her power within her and finding the love and Jesus and all that stuff. And everyone's like, oh, my God, we had no idea you had that in you. And it would be more powerful if there was a build to it. We've already seen Tammy Faye crush it on camera at that point. And so this song is more sort of just like she crushes it even further. Very Gloria Estefan and On youn Feet of like, watch me, she did it. Watch me, she did it. Except in Tammy Faye, it's her going, I couldn't possibly do it. And everyone going, she did it. She learns about Jim Baker's affair and she gets very upset about that. And then we cut to act two and she's just like, all of a sudden more rigid and disciplined, but also has a pill problem. Also, as more things are happening with the network, she just keeps getting overwhelmed by it all and. And we don't see her have a turn in any way. We don't see what she's learned about any of this. We just watch her be resilient. Her like, big 11 o' clock number is like, if you came to see me cry. And it just, it doesn't. None of it feels earned. It's these moments where it's like, okay, we need a big 11 o' clock number for Tammy. Everyone knows that she cries. Let's talk about how she's like, I'm sure you expect me to cry, and maybe I will or maybe I won't. Who knows? So it's all just wishy washy. Also, not for nothing, and I know it's hard to make this sort of resonate in a large theater like the Palace. They don't do Katy Brabin up in any way like Tammy Faye Baker. She also doesn't go for any kind of imitation of her, which in some respects is fine. I do often think that we give too much credit for actors who are able to pull off the voice or an accent of a real person and not necessarily the acting of it all. And Katy Brabin is doing a nice performance, as fully formed as she can do with this material. But she is also not channeling Tammy Faye Baker in any way, not in voice or mannerisms. And the design team isn't helping her in any respect with her makeup or her hair. She just doesn't give any of it. They reference her eye makeup, but when she talks about having all this mascara and eyeliner and rouge, you're like. And eyeshadow, you're like, I don't. None of that's coming across over the footlights or even on the TV screens behind her. I could go on and on, I guess, but I really. I don't think I can. There's so much that I don't. I can't even really remember anymore. As I said, this show is really just dull. It's. There are moments where you're like, what the fuck? They. You know, they bookend it with Temmie faze. What's it? Mri, I guess, as she's being diagnosed with cancer, and part of her is thinking that she's in purgatory on her way to hell or heaven. She's still unsure. But, no, it's actually that she's at the doctor's office, and it doesn't mean anything because it's not like. It's a moment where she's like, I need perspective on the life I've led. It's just, we have it so to give her a reason to flash back. And then when we come back, it's like, well, what was the point of any of it? What did we learn? What did we realize from our remembrance? Not really anything. She does say at the end that she couldn't have done it without a certain help in the world. And her nurse says, oh, God. And she goes, no, the gays. And of course, people applauded for that. And I was like. That felt so out of left field and unearned, because I know I talked about how she's become a gay icon for many, but in this show, we never see that, ever. There is a scene where she interviews an AIDS patient, which you can also see in the movie with Jessica Chastain. And in reality, Tammy Faye interviewed this individual via satellite. The person was on a TV screen, and she was in the studio. And it wasn't out of fear of catching AIDS or anything like that. It was. I think it was just scheduling issues. They couldn't get him to fly over in time, so they just did that interview that way. But of course, in the stage show, it's like, well, we want him in the room, which is fine. And then they add her hugging him, which also didn't happen. And again, it's dramatic license. You want to move your audience. It's a little more difficult. When it's a story that a lot of people remember and a moment a lot of people remember, it can feel like manipulation. But that's the only interaction Tammy Faye has with the queer community in this musical. And so for her to end it with, I couldn't have done it without the gays. It's like, well, apparently she could because we didn't know that the gays were there for her in this musical. Christian World's Jim Baker is doing his best. He just doesn't. You watch it and you can see how Andrew Rannells was a better fit of wholesome all American apple pie with a sinister edge underneath as well as a tortured spirit. Because there's also discussion of, well, Jim Baker also might have been queer and just never really addressed it and couldn't figure it out in time. And he and Tammy have sort of a reconciliation about that and it just feels a lot too fast at the end for it and unearned. And I can imagine with Andrew Reynolds, who is queer and doesn't really pass for straight. I mean, he passes for like all American boy, but there is a queerness to him that when you are told, well, Jim Baker might have had a queer component to him with Andrew, you could see that and it would all pile up. With Christian, it doesn't. Michael Cerverus as Jerry Falwell is just doing very much Disney villain and does it well. But there are no dimensions to his character. He's just pure evil. And yes, the real Jerry Falwell evil. But also you can do degrees, you can do shades of red. It doesn't all have to be ruby red all the time, right? It's nice to have variety. It keeps you as an audience on your toes. And nothing about the writing for Jerry Falwell or Michael Cervers performance really gives you any of that. That's really all. I could go off on Tammy Faye, guys. If you had more questions, let me know. In the. In the discord, I wanted this to be a Diana. I wanted this to be two and a half hours of strong and wrong choices that I would remember for the rest of my life. And it isn't that. It's not even Lempicka, which is a bunch of strong and wrong choices where you can see the kernel of where the artistry maybe Started and got lost along the way. It's just a lot of vague intentions executed semi professionally. Like it's not an amateurish disaster. You're just watching, like, I feel like I see the vision board you made for this in the first writers meeting, and then nothing got fleshed out after it. And there are many musicals, much better musicals than Tammy Faye, that also have similar problems. I feel that way about Ragtime. I talked about that in my Ragtime review, that there are some songs that clearly were written early on, and then they never actually got around to earning those songs. So Tammy Faye shares DNA with that. But Ragtime is a better musical and better songs, so we forgive a lot more with that kind of stuff. Tammy Faye works a lot harder about it. And, yeah, that's it, I guess. So ultimately, with Tammy Faye, I would say it's a nay. And speaking of the rhyming, we're gonna take a break and then we're gonna come up on Swept Away. So Tammy Faye. Nay. And then next up, Swept Away.
- [39:33]
A
Billy, I beg to differ with you.
- [39:35]
B
How do you mean?
- [39:35]
A
You're the top. Yeah. You're an arrow collar. You're the top. You're a Coolidge dollar. You're the nimble tread of the feet of Fred Astaire.
- [39:52]
B
And we're back. So next up, we have Ms. Swept Away, the new musical using the song catalog of the Avette Brothers. Do I know the Avette Brothers? No. Had I ever known about the Avet Brothers? No. Did I have any idea they existed? No. I heard of this musical when it was trying out in D.C. i think, at Arena Stage. And silly me, I thought it was an original score. I had no idea it was, technically speaking, a jukebox musical. So take my uncultured fuck self and cock slap me to death, everybody, because I just had no idea. Also, I believe Jimmy Buffett is a producer of this, which is crazy to me. So this show, our only connection really to this show in terms of the community, is friend of the pod. Will Van Dyke is the. The music director and arranger of this, music supervisor of this. He. I will say the music for this show is handled incredibly well. As someone who does not know the song catalog, I thought that everything sounded beautiful and made sense for the world of the show. The vocals are great. The arrangements are great. It is definitely the number one reason to see this show. There are other reasons why I maybe would detract for you to see it. The book is by John. Sorry, John Logan. Not John Logan. It's John Logan. Some of you might know John Logan for his book for Moulin Rouge on Broadway. He also wrote the book for the Last Ship. He also wrote the Tony winning play, Red, which is a good play, but I always thought was not as good as people like to say. I believe John Logan also has written quite a few screenplays. Did he do the Sweeney Todd movie? I think he did. He co wrote Skyfall. I'm on his IMDb page now, so let's take a quick look, shall we? John Logan's screenwriting credits. He created Penny Dreadful. Okay, that's fine. He co wrote Spectre. He wrote Skyfall. That's nice. He wrote the screenplay for Hugo. Okay. He wrote Rango. Okay. Yeah. No, he did do the screenplay for Sweeney Todd, a screenplay that I very much like. He did the Aviator, which is an okay screenplay. Sinbad and the Seven Seas, Last Samurai. That's a good one. Oh, and he wrote Gladiator. Okay. So like, you know John Logan, that guy. The book of this show, it's ultimately the story is you enter the theater and you see the highest stage deck known to man. There's the regular longacre stage and then a bunch of metal rakes, I guess you could call it, on top of that. And then a ship deck on top of that. And you're like, okay. So everyone's just crank their head up this entire time if you're in the orchestra. And on the ship deck as you enter the theater is John Gallagher Jr. In bed with a mask over his face. And we're all just going like, oh, God. Covid realness. And when the show begins, it's very sinister ghost, like haunted lighting, very haunted mansion at Disney World. And a couple of actors enter the stage, one of whom is Dark Sands and. And loom over John Gallagher Jr's bed. He comes out screaming and coughing and spitting into a bucket. We find out that his character has consumption. And the actors behind him, who we have come to know are most likely ghosts. Spirits. Tell John Gallagher Jr. That he has to tell everyone what happened to them, what he did to them. Otherwise he will never be able to rest. Basically, like swept away is his confession, I guess you could say. And so we flash back to the late 1800s, and John Gallagher Jr. Is on his ship with all of his shipmates and his captain. And a young man runs on stage who's desperate to get away from home and to be on this ship, and his brother, played by Stark Sands, comes there to chase him and try to get him to come home. But as soon as they're on there. The boat takes off and everyone is on the high seas. One of the things that separates Dark Sands and his brother from everyone else is that they are religious. They pray, they like to have sermons on Sundays. And they find out that pretty much all the men on the ship are not religious. They actually are kind of. They're not even agnostic or atheist. They're like anti God. And so this is sort of like something that butts heads with Stark Sands and John Gallagher Jr. And of course, as soon as that happens, then there's a giant storm that tosses the ship over. Pretty much everyone on board perishes at sea except for Stark sands, John Gallagher Jr. Stark Sands, brother and the Captain. And yeah, their characters literally are mate, captain, little brother, big brother. Little brother is played by Adrian Blake Enscoe and captain is played by Wayne Duvall. So the four of them are on this boat, this, you know, rescue boat from the ship and they end up spending the better part of two weeks on it with almost no rain, no food at all. So they're withering away. They're. They've had like very little sustenance from the rain in these two weeks. So they're hanging on by a thread. And the way that the stage does this is they do the shipwreck and everyone falls off the deck. And then all of a sudden the ship deck, spoiler alert. Everybody but the ship deck rises up. It's sort of a reversal of the growltiger's last stand in the original Cats. If you saw videos of that on Aurora's Spider Woman or you heard me talk about it how like the back of the wall came down like a pop up book and there was the ship swept away does the reverse of that. And so the deck folds up and there you realize there's a mirror underneath it. And on the metal rakes is the boat that's just constantly spinning in a circle, which explains why the stage deck is so high. And so it's these four in the boat for two weeks. And eventually, as they're getting more and more desperate, they realize that they're all starting to perish. But little brother is perishing the most. And because they need to eat. Soon John Gallagher Jr. Decides that they're going to kill little brother Adrian Blake Ensco and they will drink his blood and they will eat his flesh. And Stark Sands is like, you're not going to kill my brother. How dare you. And Adrian's like, no, no, no, I want to die. I'm like, I'm done for. Just kill me. And so Stark Sands takes the knife and ends up killing himself. And they eat Stark Sands. And of course, like, two days later, they are found. And everyone on the ship that rescues them sees the bones of Stark Sands and, like the dry blood on the bottom of the boat, and they realize what has happened, and they're all horrified. And so those three men come back to shore and go back to their homes, having to live with what happened. And you find out that the captain pretty much strank himself to death. Little brother goes on to live the rest of his life, has a family. And John Gallagher Jr. Also continues to live on his life and outlives all of them, only to wind up in this bed with consumption. And now that he's confessed, he dies. And I suppose he is reunited with those souls and they all go to heaven. A platform comes down from the flies, And John Gallagher Jr gets on it. And then the lights go out. Now, that's. That's a very odd tale to tell, I would say. Here's the thing. The show begins the way it begins, and you're like, oh, okay, what's going to happen? Is this, like a ghost story? What's happening? And then we flashback to the ship so much flashing back in these musicals. We flash back to the ship, and we're on the ship for maybe like, 20 minutes, and we get sort of an idea of where all the conflicts are between Stark and John Gallagher, Jr. Of how little brother has stuff home that he's kind of ignoring and what the vibes of the ship are. And before you can say boo, that's when the shipwreck happens. And so the majority of the show is on the boat with these four characters where I know it all ends with us eating Stark Sands, which is a sentence you never thought you'd say. The joke I've been telling people is, like, when you told me this show is about swallowing Stark Sands, this is not what I had in mind. Sorry, let me say that again. Like Samantha Jones, honey, when you told me this musical was about swallowing Stark Sands, this is not what I had in mind. Which is. I'm sorry. That's funny. I'm funny. But considering that it ends with cannibalism, you'd think that it would be more engaging, and I just didn't find it to be. I was actually very bored. I found the second half of the show, actually. Sorry, the second. The last two thirds of the show, the last hour, let's say that to be both overwritten in text and underdeveloped in terms of story, not that a lot of things have to happen, but there's got to be more tension. There's got to be more internal conflicts going on. And it was very just drawn out. And part of that makes sense on a dramaturgical level. We want to feel like we are deserted on this boat with these men and to really feel the. What's the word? What's the word I'm looking for? Just how, you know, mental these men are going. That makes sense on a dramaturgic level, on a storytelling level, I was losing focus constantly. I was looking at the design, I was looking at the lighting grid, I was looking around me. It. I can't say that I really got into it. There are things happening in that stage that are well crafted. This is in some ways a return for Michael Mayer as director. It doesn't make up for Funny Girl in a Beautiful Noise, but it is back towards the direction we know him for. Of his Spring Awakening days, his Hedwig days, American Idiot, of just really bold visuals and tight knit ensembles and fully integrated musicals with text and song and choreography and staging. It's not on the level of his original Spring Awakening or his Hedwig. It's not on the same level as American Idiot, but it is much higher than Funny Girl and Beautiful Noise. So it definitely feels like we're making a return to the mayor that we love. I will also say that the choreography by David Newman is very effective. The way they do the shipwreck I thought was really. I won't say spectacular, but it was really clever and really exciting, I guess. I think the design is also really well done. This set by Rachel Hawke. It's simple but it's effective and has surprises within it. I know I spoiled that for some of you with the ship deck, but hey, if you are adhering to the timestamp so you don't want to have spoilers about some of these shows, you're okay. The Lightning by Kevin Adams. Kevin Adams is one of my favorite lighting designers. He just is so good at atmosphere and temperature. Does that make sense? Like you feel the cold and you feel the wet with his lighting? It doesn't. And it's also very artful and you get the vibes of the eeriness. So there's a lot of nice things happening. It's just that ultimately I don't find the story engaging. I find it over long and underwhelming. So there's a lot of pretty wrapping paper. There's a nice bow on top. It's Placed strategically under the Christmas tree, but you open the box and there's nothing but tissue paper inside. Not unappealing tissue paper, but tissue paper. And I'm glad that they got a critics pick. You know, we love shows that can get praise and hopefully have that translate to sales. I don't agree with the critics pick, and especially if you read Jesse Green's review, it doesn't read like a rave. He basically says, like, this show has problems, but ultimately I enjoyed it. Fuck you, and Lord knows I can be the same way. But I'm also not gonna give a critics pick to a show that, even if I enjoyed it, I thought had too many problems. You know, that is ultimately what we're going to lead to with our final show on this podcast. No spoilers, but yeah, I just. For me, this was very underwhelming. And I will do an updated ranking of all four of these shows with the current season when we get to the end of the episode. But, yeah, that's all she wrote on Swept Away. We're gonna take another break, and then next up will be Death Becomes Her.
- [53:11]
A
Billy, I beg to differ with you.
- [53:13]
B
How do you mean?
- [53:13]
A
You're the top. Yeah, you're an arrow collar. You're the top. You're a Coolidge dollar. You're the nimble thread of the feet of Freddy.
- [53:31]
B
And we're back. Final show of the review episode is Death Becomes her, which just opened like two days ago at the l' Enfantan Theater, based off of the movie starring Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, and Bruce Willis. The Broadway version has a book by Marco Penet, music by Julia Madison and Noel Carey, as well as lyrics and starring Jennifer Simard, Megan Hilty and Christopher Seaver, and Michelle Williams. If you're nasty. So two things. One, I do know Joel. So, Joel, I do know Julia and Noel. They went to Emerson with me. They were the class above me. Me, I haven't seen either of them in about six years, seven years. We are friendly in the same way that I am friendly with Gray, although I've actually seen Gray more in the past two years than I seen either of them. But, you know, we're college friends and we have many mutual friends, and we all sort of keep up on each other. So I'm very proud of them for this show. But also, I don't want anyone to think that my having known them has influenced my opinion on the show or my opinion on their work. I try to be objective every time I can. And also, I'm sure that neither of them are going to hear this episode. They don't need to hear my opinion. The show is selling incredibly well and they got very good reviews and there's a great audience response to it. So, like, no matter what it is, I think positive, negative, whatever, it doesn't matter. Second thing, I am not a fan of the movie Death Becomes Her. Yes, I am a millennial homosexual and I like Drag Race and I unfortunately have gay friends. So it is absolutely in my vernacular. The memes are constant in my text threads, in my DMs. I know the movie. I've seen it a handful of times. I don't think it's totally bad. I do think that it has humor in it. My biggest takeaway is that I think the movie's best stuff is when Meryl and Goldie are on screen together. When they are separate, the movie still is okay. It's them holding up their weight. And Bruce Willis does his best with a role that ultimately is there to react off of them. So he does a very good job with what is not much of a role. And now that it's 2024, the special effects are not as mind blowing as they were in 1992. I don't find the movie as funny as others do. I don't find the Isabella Rossellini stuff all that captivating. I also think the movie falls apart in the third act. I know it's a major cult classic. I know that it has a lot of fans. But I talked about this with a friend online the other day. I was like, people have this perception that it is now considered mainstream, like hundreds of millions of fans. I'm like, no, no. It is definitely one of the more popular cult classics, as evidenced by the business it's currently doing on Broadway, which I also would attribute to the genius marketing for this show. The marketing team for Death Becomes her deserves the Nobel Prize. Like, they are up there with the Barbie marketing team in terms of just knowing the assignment and getting asses in into the theater. But I do think that people who love the movie have a warped perception of how big a footprint it has in the world. It doesn't have that huge a footprint. It's sizable. Bigger than she Devil, the other Meryl Streep comedy flop from that era. But it's not Delaware's Prada big. It's not Mean Girls big. It's a different kind of beloved cult classic. So that's where I'm coming from with this musical. I went in having heard a lot of good things from friends. And again, I try not to let that influence me, but it's harder for me to shake off positive vibes because I'm always eager to love something and I want to have the best time. So I'm hearing from multiple friends like, oh, it's a blast. You'll have a ball. I go in and I'm like, okay, here we go. And I had a great seat. It wasn't a press seat because I'm not that fancy. The team didn't offer them for this one. So I bought my $80 ticket for 4th row Mez Center. Great view. Saw everything. I will say I had fun at death becomes her. I did not have as much fun as I was hoping, though. And I think there are some reasons for that. Part of it might be a little too high expectations. I wasn't expecting, you know, the best thing of all time, but I had heard that it was really smart and really well put together and just like, you know, in terms of entertainment value, best bang for your buck right now of the season. And there is a lot of good here. I'll start with the absolute number one reason anyone should see this show, and it is Jennifer Simard in the Goldie Hawn role of Helen. Jennifer Simard. I have sung that bitches praises for years. She is the talent alien of our time, and I'm so glad she is getting her just dessert. She's getting her vehicle. This is going to be a major turning point for her career. And I'm so thrilled. And she is absolutely, for my money, the best thing in this show. After her is Meghan as Madeline Ashton and I will talk a little bit about the difference between them later. There is absolute spectacle in the show. Money was spent. I think that the set design is very well done. It's very elaborate without feeling overly garish. Like, it's intentionally garish. The costumes by Paul Tazewell are also really strong. I told Gunkle of the pot Adam Ellsberry. I was like, part of me wonders, wonderful, good. As good a job as Paul did with this. Part of me is like, what if we gave it to Greg Barnes? What if we gave him $2 million, a mountain of cocaine and saw what he came up with when he spent it all? Because that man has never known a rhinestone he didn't love, didn't know how to cinch a woman that he didn't love. Like the man who gave us Aladdin and sideshow and drowsy Chaperone. I'm like, I don't know. Give him all the money in the world and LSD and see what sketches he has. Because the designs of death becomes are sort of split in two. There are the costumes that are the most successful, which is pretty much most of what Michelle Williams wears. She looks. She looks great. I wouldn't say it's very otherworldly elegant. It's just sort of Vegas elegant. Which again fits for the sort of the vibe of this show. They're much more going Vegas than like Fellini on crack. Which is sort of how the movie feels to me. And I think that once Megan and Jennifer transform, they are designed impeccably. There's some ensemble stuff that I don't love. I don't love how they're designed for Michelle Williams is like cronies. They're basically like either go fully sex nude or like go full sparkle unitard. It's sort of at the halfway point. It was giving me sort of ensemble vibes from Cher show where it was like, this is 60% of an idea that needs 40% more fine tuning and something that I felt like Greg Barnes would be able to really kind of nail would be something like that. In addition to the Madeline Helen stuff and the Viola Van Horn stuff. So that was like a double edged sword for me. The design of. I think the set works. The costumes are very good, but not all of them and not all the time. The book is funny. There are plenty of times that I laughed. Again, we're talking about shaving off stuff or sucking the air out. There is absolutely air in this musical. It is not airtight. I would argue every scene you could suck out about 30 seconds. There's not so much that there's any specific number or scene that I would fully cut. There are numbers that I think are less successful than others, but it's not like there's a moment in the show where I'm like, oh, cut the whole thing, scrap it and start from scratch. It's more like, if we're gonna keep this train going, at the very least let's keep it going at a speedy momentum. Because there are times when it does flow really nicely. And then other times where it's just like, I think we're luxuriating in this moment a bit too long. We could probably cut four lines, speed up two of these exchanges and be on to the next scene. And it's fascinating what happens when you just suck out like 20 seconds from every scene or song. I'm not going to talk about this with Wicked, but it is one of my major notes. Of wicked. Of like, if you were to suck out 20 seconds from each thing, before you know it, you've shaved off 10 minutes of your show and the thing just moves like gangbusters. And it's the difference between a nice time and just like the fucking ball of your life. For me, I know plenty of people who have really loved this musical. And again, I did like it. I did enjoy myself. I wanted to enjoy it more. So I'm trying to talk about what would have made me enjoy it even more. The book is pretty faithful to the movie story structure wise. It follows it almost exactly. The only real change they do is they start the show with Viola Van Horn talking about and singing about the potion if you want perfection, which the New York Post rightfully called out. I didn't realize it at the time, but he was like, that's one of the few hummable melodies. Because it's a direct ripoff of the title song from Kiss of the Spider Woman. And I heard it and I went, oh shit, he's right. And Johnny's a bitch. But he is right about that. Because I also walked out of the theater. I was like, why is that like the one song I can hum? And it's because I already knew the melody. So that's the only really major difference the book does. They alter details within the plot points from the movie, timelines and certain things. But the overall story follows the movie closely. The jokes, again, the jokes I really enjoy. Sometimes it's the inflection, sometimes it's the joke itself. Some jokes were more sort of like, that was nice, but I didn't laugh. Or, you know, that was clever, but I didn't laugh. I probably laughed out loud every couple of minutes. Not like every 15 to 20, like every like five to six. Which for a 25 hour musical, that's. That's a good number of laughs. But I was really hoping a laugh a minute or two laughs a minute. The score by Julia and Noel, I think fits the show. Mostly the lyrics are clever throughout. There are only a couple of songs for me where I was like, oh, this sounds like how I would want A Death becomes a musical to sound. One is if you want perfection, One is for the gays, which is a fun number, but I'll talk about that in a second. And then my. My favorite song in the show is Tell Me Earnest, which is the song Madeline sings with Helen as she's basically seducing Ernest under the guise of trying to get to know him as her best friend's fiance. I Think the lyrics are great. I think it has a funky melody to it that is jam worthy. And Adam and I really love. There's a line that Madeline has that Adam and I both love because we're both like, you just can hear Julia saying this line. And it might be the only time she gave Megan Hilty a line reading. And maybe we're just projecting, but it's when she's asking Ernest, like one of her movies has. Has he seen. How much have you seen of me cinematically? The roms, the comms, the rom coms, the dramas, the drama Ds. The way she says drama Ds, I'm like, that is Julia Madison all over the Drummondees. It's just so fucking dumb and funny. As I said, that is my favorite song in the show. I think that it has a beat, it has a melody, it is catchy, it's funky and the lyrics are clever and laugh out loud funny and like on just the right side of PG13 almost are. Something that Adam also said that I agree with is that like, this is very clearly not for kids. This is a musical comedy for the 21 and older crowd and maybe the more evolved 17 year olds. This is not a show that teenagers go to become obsessed with like newsies or mean girls. This is, if you're going to be here, we're not going to soften the tone for you. You're either here and you're queer or you can go across the street, which is totally fine. Not every show is going to be for everybody. And I do like that death becomes her very much. Is sticking the flag in that land. This is another show like Elf totally knows what it is and sticks to that vibe the entire time. And they don't really try to go for emotion, which I appreciate. They have the big I will never leave you song alive forever between Megan and Hilton, between Megan and Jennifer at the end. But it's not like a super heartfelt song. It's much more just diva worship. And I think they end it in a nice, clever way that's still in touch with the tone and with those two characters. There's not a lot here that I. There's nothing here that I hate. There are things that I would do differently if I were there. And it's not because I want this to be a different kind of show. I'm happy with the kind of show it is. I'm just like, I think we can go even further. One of the things is this is, as far as I know, Chris Catelli's debut as a director. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure this is his debut as a director. And he's a very good choreographer. And he does some nice stuff in this as a director. He keeps the show on track. He handles all of the effects, which I think the biggest thing that I give him credit for, maybe I'm wrong giving him credit for this, is doing a lot of the body doubles in the show, of making it blatantly obvious that they're doubles, of not trying to hide the fact and, in fact, embellishing in it, which I think makes it all the funnier and more impressive. So things like Madeline's fall down the stairs is actually an incredible moment. Not because you're like, oh, my God, how did they do it? You know how they did it. It's so obvious how they do it. So you're already applauding the craft of the body double for how they're doing it, and then you're just laughing at the absurdity and the obviousness of it all. And I think that is something that the whole show could do more of. I don't think that Chris has really found his niche yet as a comedic director. Outside of the body double work and a couple of sight gags, I would watch scenes, and I would think we're really just doing traffic patterns here. We're not really coming up with stuff with the characters and the actors to find jokes within the jokes. There are already punchlines. There are already some visual gags, But I'm like, imagine what we could do with. I mean, I'm trying to think of a really great comedy director, but you think of Michael Blakemore's direction with Kiss Me Kate and City of Angels. And the original Noises off or the last Noises off revival also had some great comedic direction, or Casey Nicholaw's work on drowsy Chaperone. Just finding ways to massage the actors into making bonkers choices so we can find more jokes within the scenes just from little pieces of staging and character touches. Often the way that scenes are directed, it's pretty straightforward. And just playing out the punchlines to the audience. And there are plenty of punch lines, so it's fine. Ish.
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But.
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But it really could have leveled this show up for me. From a gentleman 7.7.5 to, like, an 8.59 really made all the difference in the world. Now, this is where I talk about Megan and Jen and why, for me, Gen is the guiding star of this show. Because Jen is a freak. Let's put it that way. She spent many years of her career doing off Broadway shows and weird productions all over the country and just, you know, really kind of finding inspiration from the nooks and crannies of New York theater. And so when her time came with Disaster and Company and all that stuff, like she has an innate sense of what works while also having such a wealth of knowledge of comedy and inspiration from so many different people that she can make these informed choices that are so odd but always work. Because she's also a smart actress, but she has bits coming out of every pore of her body. She can bring so much to the table already. Megan is an incredibly talented. Okay, I'll put it this way. Let me start this way. And then delve further into Megan and Jen and the direction. A show like Death Becomes her is essentially a glammed up drag show for Broadway, which is totally the right vibe to go for this musical. The difference for me between Jennifer Simard and Megan Hilty and apologies for foul language, but you guys have known me long enough to know that this is how we go. Meghan is an incredibly talented, wonderfully intelligent actress. Diva. Jennifer Simard is a faggot. And you know exactly what I mean by that. This is a. Jen is the kind of weirdo talent alien that because of everything she brings to the table, everything that's in her mind of comedy, of singing, of glamour, but also being freaking weird. She is so locked in to this role, to this material, to this tone, that she is writing it like the Dom top she is. She is a 12 out of 10, you know, causing a power outage on 46th Street. Megan is giving a very well crafted comedic performance with touches of brilliance. And she will get even more brilliant as the run continues. As she settles in and she's able to get even weirder. There are pockets of this show where she is catching her breath because Chris is putting her through her paces during certain numbers. Numbers like 4 for the gays. But I also don't feel like as a director, Chris is massaging the weird out of Megan. And by out of her, I mean like out of her body and onto the stage. Like into her choices and into her characterization. Her Madeline is very polished, which makes sense for the kind of character that Madeline is. But when you have Jennifer who is making these choices that are out of left field but still dick like a fucking gymnast. And then Megan, who is doing great work, but also for me were choices that I saw coming. They land. They're good, they're informed choices, but they Are not like, where did that come from? She looks and sounds amazing. She is very funny. And as I said, as she is getting more comfortable with the show as they now start to settle into this run and as she plays off of Jen more. I am sure in a couple months time we're gonna see Megan find even more nooks and crannies of this part. Because like, if you saw her in Noises off, that was a performance that was so meticulous and very informed and because of the character she was playing and I'm sure because with help from the director, her well researched and well thought out characterization of her part manifest it in freak and just like wildly interesting comedic choices. And I wanted more of that. In Death Becomes her you see it from time to time, but not at the same constant stream as Jen. So someone on the Discord asked like, oh, do you think that Death Becomes her is now the front runner for best musical? Do you think Megan could win actress? I don't know how they're doing. Jen and Megan as leads. I think if there's justice in the world, they're both considered leads. If Jen gets put into featured, it would be a crime and it would be category fraud. Between the two gen is my pick. If I had to pick one for a nomination, I would pick Jen. I think we're still kind of living in Nicole Sunset season. Death Becomes her has definitely become a major force in the best musical Tony race because it is selling incredibly well and got very strong reviews. So it has now been given sort of a sign of approval by critics of like, you are both a fun time and you are a like a well done time. We sign off on this. So there's like permission now by a lot of Tony voters of like, oh, we can vote for the silly thing. Same thing with oh, Mary. Right. I do think maybe happy ending is the better show with the better score and just more creative. But I don't want that to deter people from seeing Death Becomes Her. It's a very different kind of show. It's just that I feel like I would love more of the inventiveness of maybe happy ending to go into Death Becomes Her. Like, okay, we're gonna go for silly dumb drag. Like, let's think outside the box. Like, what's some spaghetti we can throw at the wall? Because there are moments of spaghetti on the wall and Death Becomes her and those are the best moments. And then there are times where you're like, okay, this is fine. This is sort of going by the numbers, but it's colorful numbers. At the very least. Christopher Sieber really has no role. Ernest is even more underused than he is in the movie. He's got, like, one big number in Act 2, which is not much of a number. There's a visual gag with furniture. That's really the whole purpose of it. He is again there to react off of Jen and M3gan, and he does a good job with it. But if you've seen him in Shrek or if you've seen him in Spamalot or the Prom, you know what he's capable of. And he's under. And he's just not allowed to shine in this. Michelle Williams looks great. She sounds great. The voice is incredible. The voices all around in the show are incredible. Megan and Jennifer are singing their fucking faces off. Michelle, she's not an actress. I also would argue she doesn't really have stage presence. And it's abundantly clear when she's opposite Megan and Jen, who not only can act, but. But have stage presence and star quality shining out of their fingernails. So you have Michelle, who is holding her water around her, but not beyond her. She also has problems with her heels, the way she walks in her costumes. Like, the ultimate drama of the show is wondering if Michelle Williams is going to make it or not offstage in one piece. She does. She's done it. She did it every time I saw the show. But you do sit there holding your breath, going, is she gonna make it to the wings? I don't know. That's kind of it, I suppose, with death becomes her. It's a. It is a good time. I like to go again, knowing what it is now and with my expectations tempered to see if maybe I enjoy it more on second viewing. It's hard for that to happen with a comedy like this because when you know what a lot of the jokes are, when you know what a lot of the gags are, the element of surprise is gone. And so it's harder to have it, you know, be as special the second time around. That's how I felt about something rotten. But sometimes when a show is good, it can actually get better on a second time or stay just as good the second time. That's how I felt about Drowsy Chaperone. So I am interested to see how I feel about this after the fact. I'll try to maybe go again, like February. February or March. We'll see. See. Maybe I can get press seats again closer to Tony time. I couldn't get it for opening, but maybe I can get it by Tony time. Maybe the podcast will be even bigger by then and they'll really want me because we keep getting reviews and ratings right now. Last I checked, on itunes were at 267, which is great. I would love for us to get to 300, but that's probably not going to happen by the end of the year. Maybe by my birthday in March. We'll see. I guess that's it for now. I told you I would do an updated ranking of the season, so I'm gonna do that now. I'm going to include the Off Broadway stuff as well, just to kind of being all inclusive. I will start with number 22. So out of 22 shows this season, at the bottom of the list, number 22 is left on 10th, which is just. I hate to use the word because it's so mean, but it really did feel embarrassing for all involved because you know how capable they all are. And this just wasn't it. Number 21, McNeil McNeil and the Mick Margarita. At number 20 is Tammy Faye. Number 19 is Strategic Love Play. That was the Helena York play I saw at Minetta Lane. At 18 is Romeo and Juliet. 17 is home. 16, the roommate. 15, Vladimir. Which seems unfair since I only saw. No, no, I did see all of the show. Sorry. For a second I was like, I walked out, right? No, I didn't walk out. That's where my brain is at these days. 15, Vladimir. 14. Swept away. 13. Shit, meet fan. 12. A wonderful world. 11. Our town.
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10.
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10. Once upon a mattress. 9. Drag the musical. 8. The big gay jamboree. 7. Job. 6. Death becomes her. 5. Sunset Boulevard. 4. Yellowface. 3. Maybe happy ending. 2. Oh, Mary. 1. The hills of California. So just so you know, I would say 22 through 18 were just like, I really disliked or hated this. 17, that's Romeo and Juliet. Strategic love play. Tammy Faye McNeil left on 10th. Disliked to middling would be, I would say 10 through 17. So that is Home, the Roommate, Vladimir. Swept Away, Shitmeet Fan, Wonderful World, Our Town, Once Upon a Mattress. I would say 7, 8, 9 are shows that I had a good or worthwhile time at, but I had notes. And that's Job. Big Age, Embry and Dragon. And then I would say 5 and 6, which is sunset Boulevard. And Death Becomes her. Is I enjoyed myself. I have notes. But I would say more on the enjoyed myself front. Then I would say one through four is just like, I really, really liked, loved this and that is Yellowface. Maybe happy ending. Oh, Mary. And Hills of California. So stay tuned for more shows this season. We have Gypsy currently in previews, Cult of Love just started previews and Eureka Day starts previews very soon. And that's it for now. Check back again later this week for Passion with podmother Ali Gordon. And then we're going to take a two week break and come back with some more deep dive episodes and maybe some reviews. And yeah, if you guys like the podcast, give us a nice 5 star rating. Write it review. We always love to read them. If you're going to write one, two, three star review, just, you know, be considerate of the fact that I'm a human being. So say how you feel. But just remember that I read it and I do, I do absorb it. I am going to have us close out with Megan and Jen singing Alive Forever because I am very happy that these gals are getting their moment in the sun. And I think that no matter what you feel about Jesse Green or he felt about his review as an actress, you could not ask for a better money review than he wrote those two. And I think we should all honor that. So I'm gonna take it away with Megan and Jen and oh, and join the Discord Channel if you haven't yet and you want to. And that's it for now. Take it away, Jen and Megan. Bye.
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Look at you. Look at you. No, look at you. Okay, let's look at me. We can face eternity Just you and and we both am to be alive forever Alive till the stars fade away in an endless night in my past Find the way I follow your light.