Days of Wine and Roses to Close Early- Page 4

[theatretenor2]

Posted: 3/16/24 at 9:24am

I absolutely loved this last night. As someone who used to review regional theatre, I can get caught critiquing shows when I'm distracted and distracted I was. It was Brian and Kelli's performances that really worked for me, but Michael Greif's staging was often too literal. The audience for this show doesn't need to be spoon fed everything. IMHO, this would be an even more stellar production had it been stripped away of some of the background happenings and a majority of the cast. I think it would have been more powerful with the pair, the daughter, the father and then two others to play the various men and women we saw, and it wouldn't have taken much to shift the script to work with fewer actors.

[bwaylvsong1]

Posted: 3/22/24 at 11:53pm

I fortunately got to see it tonight and really enjoyed it.  I agree with the previous poster regarding the extraneous ensemble members- what were they there for?  For example, things could have very easily been adjusted to have the actor playing the father play the other male roles, especially since none of them sang anything other than a few seconds of ensemble music (and pity to have Sharon Brown in a show and not have her sing anything substantial).  On the other hand, I disagree that the staging was too literal- there were actually two pivotal moments where my initial perception of what happened was different from what was supposed to be.  I found the score to be beautiful but even less catchy/traditionally melodic than Guettel’s other work, though the reprises towards the end perfectly tied the score together.  I thought the cast was phenomenal and Kelli and Brian’s singing was incredible, though as I mentioned I would have liked to hear more cast members sing.

All in all, while I loved the show, I still stand by my initial reasons for why it’s not selling well.  

[berniesb!tch]

Posted: 3/27/24 at 9:37am

Saw this last night and I am kind of split down the middle. There were moments of it I loved. There were moments I hated. It should have been 25 minutes shorter. 

I didn't mind the music. It was not melodic, but it was for lack of a better word, interesting, which is more than I can say for a lot of scores lately. My favorite song was definitely the "water on the stone" song. 

I will say, the direction of the ensemble was a mess. As many have mentioned they were totally pointless and oftentimes bad at acting. Sometimes the standard for acting in musicals is far far too low. Kelli and Brian were sensational though. 

I went with a friend and her parents. She really liked it, her dad hated it, and her mom enjoyed it. Overall, I am really glad I saw it, but it will not go down as one of my favorites.