Posted by Kathey on 8/23/2008, 10:38 pm, in reply to "Tale on Broadway!"
69.107.3.12
Thanks for the report!
Glad you had such a great time.
I don't think there's any doubt that this is really Sydney's show. I think it was smart of Jill to choose his journey as the main focus of the musical. It is impossible to include every aspect of every character in a show whose original source is a lengthy novel. In the words of Officer Lockstock, it's better to focus on one big thing than a lot of little things. 
Long Live Jane and Emma,
Kathey
--Previous Message--
: So I saw Tale of Two Cities today in New York
: with a friend and her family, and am very
: happy to report that we all enjoyed it
: thoroughly.
:
: The cast is wonderful with great voices and
: acting--if possible, I love Sydney Carton
: even more now. Despite the initial
: overwhelming quality of the set design, it
: actually works very well in the show. I
: definitely think a few things can be cut or
: at least shortened (some scenes are
: unnecessarily drawn out--Jerry Cruncher's
: graveyard scene, for one), but that's what
: previews are for. I actually really liked
: the music, contrary to some of what I've
: been hearing, and didn't find too much to
: fix in that area. Sydney Carton's
: interactions with little Lucie are
: wonderful, as is his entire change
: throughout the story. I won't give anything
: away, but Lucie's song near the end was very
: powerful and well done, as was Natalie
: Toro's performance as Madame Defarge. Not
: surprisingly, since I did the same when I
: read the book, I cried at the end. People
: were standing during the applause even when
: minor characters were coming out for bows at
: the end, and everyone went crazy when James
: Barbour took his bows. There was a very
: long bout of enthusiastic applause combined
: with whistles and cheering, and nearly the
: entire theater stood.
:
: All of the comments I overheard during
: intermission and after the show were
: definitely positive. It's still very, very
: early yet, but I hope this show does well!
: Everyone involved definitely deserves it, as
: you can tell they all put everything they
: had into the performance.
:
: As a side note, my friend and I decided to
: stage door it after the show, and I highly
: recommend doing so--the cast was very
: gracious and friendly. Almost all of them,
: notably Natalie Toro, James Barbour, Gregg
: Edelman, and Michael Hayward-Jones, were
: very willing to chat with everyone and spend
: time with the people at the door. The kids
: who were in the show were adorable signing
: Playbills as well. Much better than my
: stage door experience after Grease last
: August (what with all the TV show madness,
: it was just an absolute mob there).
:
: Anyway, I definitely loved this show, and I
: think with a little bit of tweaking and
: scene shortening, it has a chance of doing
: very well.
:
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