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Post by ali973 on Jan 3, 2020 17:31:10 GMT
I skimmed through it. I don't know..is it me or did she have a German accent while singing?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2020 13:38:37 GMT
I skimmed through it. I don't know..is it me or did she have a German accent while singing? She did seem to skip in and out of accent at times. There is some debate over at Broadway World as to whether this was intentional, a leftover variation from her from A Band's Visit accent, et al. It was definitely noticeable and I guess has some folks worried about her as Bobbi.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Jan 5, 2020 14:02:32 GMT
I adored Lenk's version of Losing my mind as her take was so fresh and innovative. I think her Bobbie is going to be sensational
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Post by AddisonMizner on Jan 5, 2020 20:14:48 GMT
I hate to hijack this thread, but where has everyone watched the PBS Celebrating Sondheim concert with the New York Philharmonic? I would love to see it.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Jan 5, 2020 21:10:47 GMT
I hate to hijack this thread, but where has everyone watched the PBS Celebrating Sondheim concert with the New York Philharmonic? I would love to see it. I've tried copying the link but I can't. Are you on Facebook? There is a private group called Finishing the chat, A group dedicated to our Lord and master! Request to join. Really easy question to verify you and then the post for the concert is from from a chap called Viktor See you in Facebook land and Enjoy ☺
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Post by raiseitup on Feb 21, 2020 16:30:24 GMT
The new poster/window card looks fab!!
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4,567 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Feb 22, 2020 8:15:23 GMT
The new poster/window card looks fab!! Looks very great. Very fun.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2020 0:41:45 GMT
I would marry this Bobby a lot.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2020 11:45:52 GMT
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Post by latefortheoverture on Mar 3, 2020 16:20:24 GMT
Apparently the Another Hundred People is an entirely new sequence using the company letters, and the end of act 1 is also different.
Someone on twitter mentioned it's like she's swiping on tinder in the AHP scene... will be interesting to find out more.
I can't be the only one dying to see this again?
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Post by craig on Mar 4, 2020 11:06:46 GMT
Definitely starting to worry a bit about Lenk in this role... it's certainly going to be very different from Rosalie, who I thought was absolutely incredible.
I don't really understand why so many seem to say Rosalie isn't a great singer. I thought her vocals in Company were so assured. She demonstrated beautiful control and technical accuracy when required but also allowed herself to really let go and allow her vocal to soar. I thought her vocal was actually the most accomplished part of an extremely accomplished performance.
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Post by andrew on Mar 4, 2020 15:50:27 GMT
Definitely starting to worry a bit about Lenk in this role... it's certainly going to be very different from Rosalie, who I thought was absolutely incredible. I don't really understand why so many seem to say Rosalie isn't a great singer. I thought her vocals in Company were so assured. She demonstrated beautiful control and technical accuracy when required but also allowed herself to really let go and allow her vocal to soar. I thought her vocal was actually the most accomplished part of an extremely accomplished performance. Knowing nothing about Rosalie beforehand, I thought that she was primarily an actress with a decent/good singing voice. Her vocals were definitely not on par with an MT performer, which wasn't a problem for this role. I actually appreciated her voice even more when I saw Anne Marie Duff.
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Post by craig on Mar 4, 2020 22:41:04 GMT
Knowing nothing about Rosalie beforehand, I thought that she was primarily an actress with a decent/good singing voice. Her vocals were definitely not on par with an MT performer, which wasn't a problem for this role. I actually appreciated her voice even more when I saw Anne Marie Duff. By UK standards, I thought she was significantly better than many "MT performers".
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2020 23:14:59 GMT
Sondheim has long said he prefers actors who sing rather than flat out great singers, and I think both Craig and Lenk fall into that category. One challenge is that so many singers really belt Being Alive when performing it in concert.
Couple that with all the reality performing shows where belting is what usually brings the audience to their feet, and some people have an unrealistic expectation of what Being Alive should sound like in the context of an actual production.
I give Esparza a pass on him really letting it all out because it was in line with how his character has been repressed up until that moment, so the extra flourishes and power make sense.
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Post by intoanewlife on Mar 5, 2020 1:28:05 GMT
Definitely starting to worry a bit about Lenk in this role... it's certainly going to be very different from Rosalie, who I thought was absolutely incredible. I don't really understand why so many seem to say Rosalie isn't a great singer. I thought her vocals in Company were so assured. She demonstrated beautiful control and technical accuracy when required but also allowed herself to really let go and allow her vocal to soar. I thought her vocal was actually the most accomplished part of an extremely accomplished performance. I saw Lenk in Band Visit and she was absolutely phenomenal as was the show itself. I saw Craig in Company and thought she was above average and while I really enjoyed the show it was nowhere near as good as Bands Visit. In the end it all comes down to personal opinion and they are very different shows and performers, but I honestly can't imagine Lenk wouldn't be better than Craig.
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Post by intoanewlife on Mar 5, 2020 1:29:51 GMT
A lot of people over there didn't like Bands Visit or Lenk so I wouldn't take anything negative said as gospel.
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Post by craig on Mar 5, 2020 12:18:27 GMT
I'm seeing it next month, so it's going to be interesting, for sure.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2020 12:32:21 GMT
A lot of people over there didn't like Bands Visit or Lenk so I wouldn't take anything negative said as gospel. In general it seems like a good principle to not treat comments anywhere as gospel. I certainly wasn't suggesting people on BWW have any final say.
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Post by n1david on Mar 10, 2020 17:19:26 GMT
This doesn't really fit here as it's not from Broadway, but I couldn't think where else to put it, and I thought that it might be appreciated here...
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3,057 posts
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Post by ali973 on Mar 10, 2020 21:57:50 GMT
I was lucky to see the first preview and the final performance. That gave me the chance to see what they worked on and how they changed it.
The show I saw last night was marvelous. Whatever didn't work for me in London, and a lot of it did, and it's very hard for me to pinpoint what didn't work, was flipped over its head last night.
The similarities: physically, the production is mainly the same. There might have been some dance movement changes, though I am not absolutely too sure. One specific change is during Sarah and Harry's scene, they both consume their vices rather differently than they did in London. In terms of physical differences, basically everyone has a different costume than the London production, even LuPone's. Another Hundred People has been completely rethought of it. There's no longer a train carriage. Human size letters spelling out COMPANY are now shifted across the stage, with the commuters whizzing in and out of them. The letters also work as a park bench or a seat in a bar lounge to create different scenes during the vignettes with the men that cut through the song.
Thematically, there's something clearer about how this is now set in a corner of Bobbi's mind, or in a dream or an alternative dimension of New York City. More so than ever, Bobbi is now an outsider looking in, and there are new transitions that transpose her from one location to another. Having recently moved to New York, this production truly captures the complexities of navigating the city, in a certain age, trying to negotiate love, relationships and friendships.
The cast really makes this production. Everyone worked from the bottom up to reinvent these characters. Though I've seen one show on both sides of the Atlantic, and though actors bring their own stamp to the role, they normally work off the originals' template. The charactes here absolutely have no resemblance to the original London cast, except Matt Doyle-who was good-but works off of Jonathan Bailey's original Jamie.
Then comes Katrina Lenk who is certainly nothing like Rosalie Craig. Rosalie gave a solid earnest production as a square Ameican girl. There's nothing square about Lenk, and nor could you say she's American per se. My reading of her was of an expatriate New Yorker..an international type, who is from everywhere and nowhere, who just found herself in New York and called it home. Her "un-Americanness" if you will makes her so alluring, and reinforces her outsider status, which explains her inability to full engage or connect to her friends, and their facination with her enigma. Her voice is broken and when she sings, she's sounds like a modern day European chanteuse. Even though her singing is the antithesis of musical theatre projection, that becomes a pesonality trait that works in favor of the character.
Elliot (who was in the audience) mounted a fantastic production in London, but this production takes it to an absolutely new level. Would love to see it again.
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Post by Mark on Mar 10, 2020 22:12:28 GMT
Great review Ali! I have a ticket for tomorrow night and really looking forward to seeing this again for the fourth time, albeit slightly different to the first three!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2020 22:43:54 GMT
Then comes Katrina Lenk who is certainly nothing like Rosalie Craig. Rosalie gave a solid earnest production as a square Ameican girl. There's nothing square about Lenk, and nor could you say she's American per se. My reading of her was of an expatriate New Yorker..an international type, who is from everywhere and nowhere, who just found herself in New York and called it home. Her "un-Americanness" if you will makes her so alluring, and reinforces her outsider status, which explains her inability to full engage or connect to her friends, and their fascination with her enigma. Her voice is broken and when she sings, she's sounds like a modern day European chanteuse. Even though her singing is the antithesis of musical theatre projection, that becomes a personality trait that works in favor of the character. Ah, smart take on how they may be framing/interpreting Bobbi in this production. I had not thought of it that way, bit reflecting on the preview, I saw, this makes good sense. I would have liked a bit more from Lenk vocally, but do not find her lack of belting to be near the problem that some others have perceived.
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Post by Mark on Jan 16, 2021 22:13:48 GMT
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Post by n1david on May 10, 2021 14:54:00 GMT
Reopening on Broadway December 20th. Hoping to have another go at seeing it when the UK lets us out and the US lets us in...
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Post by fiyero on May 10, 2021 21:54:42 GMT
Reopening on Broadway December 20th. Hoping to have another go at seeing it when the UK lets us out and the US lets us in... If it’s not opening until December can we have it back for a while first?
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Post by saral on Jul 6, 2021 19:13:32 GMT
Now previewing from 15 November and opening on 9 December
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Post by Mark on Feb 17, 2022 17:11:01 GMT
I caught this again on Tuesday Night (I was at the last performance of it just before the shutdown). Got a great seat in row N Orchestra about an hour before the show for $59. I'm still not totally convinced on Lenk, she did seem to struggle with the vocals somewhat but I still really enjoyed her performance. Patti is still brilliant at being... Patti! Great to see her back on stage. Supporting cast all wonderful, and particularly Matt Doyle as Jamie and Jennifer Simard as Sarah.
This was my fifth time, and hopefully not my last. It really is a wonderful production.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Mar 24, 2022 10:28:15 GMT
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Post by karloscar on Apr 23, 2022 21:25:35 GMT
Katrina Lenk's found a way to make Being Alive her own. I like her phrasing, and it builds beautifully.
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Post by craig on Apr 25, 2022 12:17:07 GMT
Katrina Lenk's found a way to make Being Alive her own. I like her phrasing, and it builds beautifully. I thought this was absolutely dreadful. Sondheim obviously saw something in her, but I really don't get it. She just seems wrong for the role and I thought this was a racket.
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