theatre review: high fidelity
aka: rob gordon, is that you?
on the 7th night of its pre-broadway, preview run here in boston, high fidelity is off to a promising and surprising start.
i say "surprising" because (as many of you know) i was a little more than skeptical about this particular adaptation of nick hornby's hilarious and soulful novel. yet, once i allowed my guard to be lowered, i found myself not only enjoying it, but occassionaly tapping my foot and *gulp* smiling.
the music: though there were a few songs that i didn't particularly care for, i found that i liked most of the offerings. lyrically, a lot of the wit of the source material was present...but perhaps lost in the translation to the new medium (but i can only hope that this will mature as the preview process moves forward). that said. there were definitely some "only-on-broadway" moments. though none too cringe-worthy in my opinion. of particular enjoyment were the numbers "i have a chance," "it's no problem" and "if i could be like 'the boss'" (note: since this production is in previews, an official song listing was not given. the previous titles are purely guesses on my part. *) i thought the music worked. it was never over the top cheesy and at times was even catchy.
the peformers: will chase (as rob) is a talented performer, no doubt. he is a gifted singer and showed to be a solid actor. he is, however, NOT rob gordon. at least not the rob gordon i know. he was a bit too soft and a bit too, dare i say, likeable. again, talented? yes. right for rob? not exactly. jenn colella (as laura) not only held her own, but flirted with outshining her counterparts on many occassions. jay klaitz (as barry) was very good but perhaps a little TOO jack black-ish. in fact, many of the mannerisms he gave barry derived directly from black's character in the movie version. i have no doubt that klaitz could have made barry his own with no problem and been at least as, if not more, successful. but it was christian anderson (as dick) who shone above the rest. who would have guessed that? not me. his "it's no problem" was outstanding. understated and powerful. the kind of performance that wins over an audience every time. the supporting cast (as is usually the case in broadway (or soon to be broadway) shows) was great.
the set: multi-functional. well dressed. technologically complex. like a beautiful, complicated puzzle moving us (repeatedly) precisely where we needed to be.
the story: held true for the most part. with only slight modifications to appease the "new york" crowd (it's set in the big apple instead of chicago or london) and the "romantic comedy" crowd (barry and liz? really?). there were also multiple characters (ian and liz for example) that were given more of a role while others (charlie...sad) were given less. the scene in which rob and laura get back together (note: possible spoiler in that previous sentence) was of particular disappoint. the classic rain-drenched-grief-avoidance-sex-in-the-car was replaced by the more PG you're-wonderful-no-YOU'RE-wonderful-duet. this was as close to a low moment as i found in the entire show.
the rest: speaking of PG-ing something, this was a concern of mine going in. i'm happy to say that the show's R rating was left in tact and (though not as edgy as could have been) rightfully appropriate. and despite the updating (both radiohead AND coldplay were mentioned -- see my post below about the "relevant bug") the music references were adequate. there were a good number of laugh out loud moments. and there was new stuff that's not in the book or the movie; most of which (the purist in me be damned) worked just fine.
all in all, it was an adaptation of the source; not a direct copy. it wasn't the book. it wasn't the movie. and for this reason, i believe it was successful. i give it a solid B. and anyone who knows my scale, knows a B means "i didn't hate it."
and that's pretty good.
besides, i knew the moment they started with an announcement to "turn off your fucking cell phones" that the night was not going to be a complete loss.
*- EDIT: actual titles: "nine percent chance," "it's no problem" and "goodbye and good luck" respectively.
on the 7th night of its pre-broadway, preview run here in boston, high fidelity is off to a promising and surprising start.
i say "surprising" because (as many of you know) i was a little more than skeptical about this particular adaptation of nick hornby's hilarious and soulful novel. yet, once i allowed my guard to be lowered, i found myself not only enjoying it, but occassionaly tapping my foot and *gulp* smiling.
the music: though there were a few songs that i didn't particularly care for, i found that i liked most of the offerings. lyrically, a lot of the wit of the source material was present...but perhaps lost in the translation to the new medium (but i can only hope that this will mature as the preview process moves forward). that said. there were definitely some "only-on-broadway" moments. though none too cringe-worthy in my opinion. of particular enjoyment were the numbers "i have a chance," "it's no problem" and "if i could be like 'the boss'" (note: since this production is in previews, an official song listing was not given. the previous titles are purely guesses on my part. *) i thought the music worked. it was never over the top cheesy and at times was even catchy.
the peformers: will chase (as rob) is a talented performer, no doubt. he is a gifted singer and showed to be a solid actor. he is, however, NOT rob gordon. at least not the rob gordon i know. he was a bit too soft and a bit too, dare i say, likeable. again, talented? yes. right for rob? not exactly. jenn colella (as laura) not only held her own, but flirted with outshining her counterparts on many occassions. jay klaitz (as barry) was very good but perhaps a little TOO jack black-ish. in fact, many of the mannerisms he gave barry derived directly from black's character in the movie version. i have no doubt that klaitz could have made barry his own with no problem and been at least as, if not more, successful. but it was christian anderson (as dick) who shone above the rest. who would have guessed that? not me. his "it's no problem" was outstanding. understated and powerful. the kind of performance that wins over an audience every time. the supporting cast (as is usually the case in broadway (or soon to be broadway) shows) was great.
the set: multi-functional. well dressed. technologically complex. like a beautiful, complicated puzzle moving us (repeatedly) precisely where we needed to be.
the story: held true for the most part. with only slight modifications to appease the "new york" crowd (it's set in the big apple instead of chicago or london) and the "romantic comedy" crowd (barry and liz? really?). there were also multiple characters (ian and liz for example) that were given more of a role while others (charlie...sad) were given less. the scene in which rob and laura get back together (note: possible spoiler in that previous sentence) was of particular disappoint. the classic rain-drenched-grief-avoidance-sex-in-the-car was replaced by the more PG you're-wonderful-no-YOU'RE-wonderful-duet. this was as close to a low moment as i found in the entire show.
the rest: speaking of PG-ing something, this was a concern of mine going in. i'm happy to say that the show's R rating was left in tact and (though not as edgy as could have been) rightfully appropriate. and despite the updating (both radiohead AND coldplay were mentioned -- see my post below about the "relevant bug") the music references were adequate. there were a good number of laugh out loud moments. and there was new stuff that's not in the book or the movie; most of which (the purist in me be damned) worked just fine.
all in all, it was an adaptation of the source; not a direct copy. it wasn't the book. it wasn't the movie. and for this reason, i believe it was successful. i give it a solid B. and anyone who knows my scale, knows a B means "i didn't hate it."
and that's pretty good.
besides, i knew the moment they started with an announcement to "turn off your fucking cell phones" that the night was not going to be a complete loss.
*- EDIT: actual titles: "nine percent chance," "it's no problem" and "goodbye and good luck" respectively.
posted by cade at 12:39 AM
1 Comments:
They didn't cast you?? Oh, you must not have auditioned...But still, they should have cast you anyway...
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