Chaplain

[skynyc]

Hello folks...

The fall season seems to be upon us, we've all ready got two new musicals on the boards and there are lots of plays starting previews.

If I have time this week, I will try to put up a brief overview of what's coming this autumn.

 

In the meantime, I had the good fortune to see an early preview of Chaplain last week.

 

Chaplain is a new "bio-musical" about Charlie Chaplain, and there are a lot of really good things about it.

 

There are also some problems. The biggest problem is the book. It's by Thomas Meehan who wrote the books for Hairspray and The Producers, but on this occasion, he didn't have a screenplay to work from, and so the book seems fact-filled, but not heart-filled. Using the premise that Chaplain was obsessed with his mother and her mental problems that put her into an institution when he was very small, we got to see a lot of the marvelous Christiane Noll who recurred often in his dreams. Sadly, despite her many appearances, she only has one pretty good song..."Look at All the People" early on, and reprises it's them several times throughout. The book/combined with the direction also seems to be pretty vague about the passage of time, I almost wish there'd been a time-line of his life in the Playbill. It's not clear how old he is when he comes to America, and as his movie-making starts to take off, it wasn't clear how long it was between when he went from him being offered $150/week, to making the biggest deal in movie history. (Other than the fact that he suddenly was sitting in a fancy lounge chair.)

 

Also, the show is hurt by the same situation that hurt Jerry Herman's Mack and Mabel: it's REALLY hard to reenact some of the classic silent screen moments on the stage. For example the second act opens with an homage to Chaplain's huge hit The Circus, but the various performers in circus garb didn't excite.

 

But there are some terrific points as well. There are a couple of places where they've used Rob McClure to recreate some of the great movie moments on screen and those moments shine, in particular a deconstruction of him building a brick wall...which was marvelous.

 

Which brings us to one of the real reasons to see this and that's Mr. McClure. He is a huge talent, and he displays a lot of ability on stage, from acrobatics, to comedy to dramatic moments. His singing voice is nice, but he doesn't have a single knock-it-out-of-the-park, (and frankly, I don't think it makes sense for him to have one in the first act, during his silent movie period, but I wish he'd had a GREAT later number, about speaking on the screen.)

 

The rest of the cast is very strong. The boy who play young Charlie, and Jackie Coogan is TERRIFIC, and another boy who plays this kid's understudy has a couple great moments as a singing usher.

 

Jenn Collella who was in Closer than Ever earlier this summer (with Christiane Noll) milks a lot of fun out of Hedda Hopper and she has the best song in the show: "All Falls Down." A super number. And Erin Mackey is lovely as Oona O'Neill, and her song "What Only Love Can See" is also very nice.

 

In summation, I wish this show could decide better what it wants to be. Is it a bio-play with music? Or is it a musical homage? I do recommend this for folks who like good performances by talented people. I hope that the creators take some time in previews to polish it.

 

I enjoyed it, I fear the critics will be divided and Brantley will hate it. I always like to offer full disclosure on what I paid, etc...I was taken to this by a friend for a belated birthday present, but have seen numerous offers for $85 tickets...and it has been on tdf for $45.

 

Chaplain is at the Barrymore Theater and opens on September 10th.

[edjames]

The reviews are in and alas, they are not good:

 

http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/theater/unsound_Ur2mtJM0WDs3Wdj9LgjvDL

 

http://theater.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/theater/reviews/chaplin-the-musical-at-the-ethel-barrymore-theater.html?ref=arts&_r=0

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/theater-review-chaplin-broadway-article-1.1155972?localLinksEnabled=false

 

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-09-10/entertainment/sc-ent-0910-chaplin-broadway-review-20120910_1_warren-carlyle-charlie-chaplin-christopher-curtis

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20120910/us-theater-review-chaplin/

[operalover21]

Who the hell is Charlie "Chaplain?" Can't be a typo since it appears in the post around 100 times. It's Charlie CHAPLIN!

[edjames]

Closes jan 6....