 | Dfernando - Scoops Broadway
Our very own Dfernando once again
brings us the current Broadway scoops on
shows and their current cast changes.
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"Bells are Ringing" (and Faith Prince) are back
on Broadway…The current revival of "Bells are Ringing" (at the Plymouth Theatre) is a fabulous visually flashy production. The sets are extremely 'stylish' (reminiscent of the original set design of the original 1970 Broadway production of "Company"), especially Jeffrey Moss' late 50's blue-toned 'amoeba'-inspired living room. The orchestrations are sensational (BETTER than the ones for the original 1956 Broadway production) and the scene transition music is simply to die for (I hope the upcoming cast recording incorporates this as well, as it was done for the transition music of the recent Broadway revival of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying"). The costumes are simply jaw-dropping -- those funky 50's capri slacked, mid-driffed tossled hair hunnies, the elegant Christian Dior-ish evening gowns and the huge brimmed hat, white hand gloves and wide skirted window-shopping women are phenomenal! Even the vintage 1950's film-montaged Overture (on a HUGE TV screen that greets you as you walk into the theatre) is simply incredible Broadway staging at its finest.
Okay, okay...OKAY! Faith Prince (who is nominated for a Best Actress in a Musical Tony Award) is delicious as Ella Peterson. Of course -- since the show and the character of Ella were written exclusively for the show's original star (back in 1956), Judy Holliday, its impossible to NOT be reminded of the great one whenever Faith delivers any comic reading. She does bring her own to the character (very 'Faith Prince-ish' stuff), so SHE makes certain moments her own. Faith's voice is of course much better than Judy's, so when she sings those numbers -- they sound completely refreshingly new again, done the correct way. I never heard "The Party's Over" interpreted the way Faith magically did. Again, its sometimes hard seeing the comic scenes because they were so identified with Judy Holliday, but Faith manages to allow the comic bits to happen, and they do - throughout the show.
One thing that brought chills to me was of course, the dances -- Jeff Calhoun has created some funky and totally high-energy, jazzy, cool stuff (especially the "Independent" number). The show has some of the grooviest female dancers you can find on Broadway (Caitlin Carter, Stacey Harris, Emily Hsu, Alice Rietvled & Kelly Sullivan!), so whenever that music kicked-in, they were all over the place. I was beaming with delight -- that music AND those funky dances! Faith really shows what she can do in the infamous "Mu-Cha-Cha" number that she does with Julio Agustin. She CAN kick!
It took 45 years to find Betty Comden and Adolph Green's "Bells are Ringing" back on Broadway, and the wait was definitely worth it. This is a completely well-polished top-notch revival. You only see this kind of electrical production ON Broadway.
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