The Bridges of Madison County

[Frankly Rich]

Bridges opened this week to favorable reviews, and that in itself was news. The sappy story, derived from a popular novel of the same name has one big thing going for it, and that's the female lead, Kelli O'Hara, late of Light in the Piazza. Her singing makes the show, says Ben Brantley of the NY Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/21/theater/bridges-of-madison-county-brings-iowa-to-broadway.html

 

And the NY Post likes it too, giving it three out of four stars and again citing Kelli O'Hara: http://nypost.com/2014/02/20/kelli-ohara-makes-the-most-of-bridges-of-madison-county/

 

The NY Daily news gave it four out of five stars, saying O'Hara gives a performance of "rare and radiant grace."

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/bridges-madison-county-theater-review-article-1.1620397

 

So, will you see it? I hadn't planned to, and even with Kelli singing her heart out, I think I'll pass. The novel did me that much damage.

[dcman]

I saw it a few days ago. Tennessee Williams gets a bit dry to me but her singing is really special. Also, Steven Pasquale playing the male lead of the photographer is a real hottie with an excellent voice as well. The shirtless scene with him really got my attention. Talk about the boy next door that you always wanted !!

[Frankly Rich]

dcman, forgive me, but I don't get the Tennessee Williams reference.

[foxy]

Tickets are available next week on tdf for $45. I would buy a ticket but am already seeing Mothers and Sons and Intimacy. 3 shows in one week might be too much. I do plan to see it as it has received good reviews. Curious about Intimacy. Will let you all know.

[dcman]

My error, was tired i guess…. I saw Glass Managerie and Bridges of Madison same weekend !! Liked them both but Glass Managerie by Tennessee Williams is a bit slow at times but very classical.

[Cooper]

I saw Bridges Of Madison County... Both Kelli O'Hara and the very handsome Steven Pasquale have amazing voices and carried this rather simplistic and predictable musical. The rest of the cast is forgettable... The play opens and you meet Francesca's (Kelli O'Hara) family: husband (always angry), and 2 teenage children who seem to be fighting most of the time. They're leaving for the County Fair as Francesca stays behind... Once gone, Robert (Steven Pasquale) enters the picture as a National Geographic photographer who's looking for directions, (something men aren't supposed to do)... The love story now develops. Take the rest of the cast out and you have 2 amazing singers. I thought the lighting and set changes were well done. The songs were wonderful.... I saw a Wednesday matinee performance and it was almost a full house.

[leeper]

I saw the show last weekend and pretty much agree with Cooper, with one exception. There is a song, "Another Life", sung by Whitney Bashor, who plays Steven Pasquale's character's ex-wife. I found that song and performance quite memorable. The voices of Kelli O'Hara and Steven Pasquale (who played husband and wife in "Far from Heaven" are truly glorious. If you don't think you can sit through what was a chick novel then a chick-flick, made into a stage musical, wait for the music to come out. Personally, I thought it was worth going to for the peformances of the leads. I did get discount tickets, but the Saturday night performance I attended seemed to be a full or nearly full house.

[Frankly Rich]

The show is closing, but Kelli O'Hara is not to be jobless. In the Upcoming Broadway shows listing on Playbill.com, she is in the cast for The King & I, opening next spring at the Vivian Beaumont. One might think that for a show like the King & I, it would be more important to have the King cast member lined up. (Not that Anna doesn't play a huge role in the show.) But, so far, no one has been cast to replace Yul Brynner.

[MrMiniver]

I love Kelli O'Hara. I think she's a treasure but I didn't for one second believe she was an Italian transplant living in Iowa. She just couldn't pull off the Italian part for me. It was a little like Light in the Piazza when I didn't for a second believe she was retarded. She just seemed dim. I think she's more suited to material like Pajama Game. I applaud her trying to stretch but I don't think she really has the skills to pull off Meryl Streep or even Yvette Mimieux

[actor61]

I love Kelli O'Hara. I think she's a treasure but I didn't for one second believe she was an Italian transplant living in Iowa. She just couldn't pull off the Italian part for me. It was a little like Light in the Piazza when I didn't for a second believe she was retarded. She just seemed dim. I think she's more suited to material like Pajama Game. I applaud her trying to stretch but I don't think she really has the skills to pull off Meryl Streep or even Yvette Mimieux

 

The movie of Light in the Piazza is one of my favorites and in that Yvette Mimieux didn't come off as retarded either. She just seemed childlike and vague, which was perfect. If the girl were very obviously mentally challenged, neither George Hamilton nor Matthew Morrison would have fallen in love with her.

[+ WilliamM]

I saw "Bridges of Madison County" for the first time of Friday night with an almost full house. Saw the musical from the front row, so really appreciated Kelli O'Hara's and Steven Pasquale's singing and acting upclose. Too close to the orchestra to truly evalaute the music, but, to the extent that I could differentiate the various instruments, I am pretty sure to enjoy the original cast album. The audience was made up of newbies and those who had seen the show several times already.

 

There are eight performances left, I might go back again.

 

I complete agree with actor61 about Kelli O'Hara seeming just childlike and vague at times in "The Light in the Pizza."

[skynyc]

I saw the first preview and thought I had commented on it here...(I certainly did to my friends.) I've been saying since then, that I wanted to go back, and now with the gun of time at my head, I just bought a ticket for Tuesday.

 

Very much looking forward to it.

[bostonman]

The movie of Light in the Piazza is one of my favorites and in that Yvette Mimieux didn't come off as retarded either. She just seemed childlike and vague, which was perfect. If the girl were very obviously mentally challenged, neither George Hamilton nor Matthew Morrison would have fallen in love with her.

 

Exactly. To me, it should be rather unclear that anything serious is wrong with Clara on the surface, save that she seems a bit younger and more innocent than a 26-year-old usually is, and that she is prone to panic/outbursts in a way that might seem more abrupt and jarring than normal. Remember that one of the major plot points toward the end of the show is Signor Nacarelli discovering Clara's real age on the marriage contract, and his attempting to call off the wedding because his son is 6 years younger. It has nothing to do with her condition, more that he's perceived her to be much younger all this time.

[MrMiniver]

The movie of Light in the Piazza is one of my favorites and in that Yvette Mimieux didn't come off as retarded either. She just seemed childlike and vague, which was perfect. If the girl were very obviously mentally challenged, neither George Hamilton nor Matthew Morrison would have fallen in love with her.

 

I agree about Mimieux in the film. But she is SUPPOSED to be retarded. Kelli just seemed dim and clueless. Both she has the goods vocally.

[Frankly Rich]

I saw the first preview and thought I had commented on it here...(I certainly did to my friends.) I've been saying since then, that I wanted to go back, and now with the gun of time at my head, I just bought a ticket for Tuesday.

 

Very much looking forward to it.

 

Can I express a moment of benign jealousy? It must be so nice to have the funds and the ability to see a show twice. New Yorkers have it so good theater-wise.

 

Full Disclosure: I did have that myself for a few years, and I miss it so.

[bostonman]

I agree about Mimieux in the film. But she is SUPPOSED to be retarded. Kelli just seemed dim and clueless. Both she has the goods vocally.

 

I'm not sure what "SUPPOSED to" means. That's an interpretation. No one, from original writer Elizabeth Spenser forward, has given us a medical diagnosis for Clara's condition. We know the cause of her disability, and we know some of the ways the symptoms show up in her personality, but no, the diagnosis itself is still elusive to us.

 

Directing Clara to "be retarded" (whatever that means - and I'm not trying to be PC here but isn't "retarded" a term of the past?) would most likely only distract us from the show. We'd be watching THAT instead of dealing with the show moment to moment. I think it's a similar theatrical license to what is traditionally done in Violet, where we never actually see the scar on Violet's face, despite the fact that we know it's there. There's a point at which imagination and mystery still need to play for us as audience. Not everything needs to be spelled out for it to be understood. And I think that Sher and company were right not to make Clara's illness more physically obvious than they did. What we then see is Fabrizio and family falling for Clara's perceived innocence and naivete, whereas THEY are actually the innocent/naive parties, not realizing what is wrong with the girl. if Clara had more obviously pronounced symptoms, we might think Fabrizio e famiglia were treating her as a charity case. And the poignancy in the show would take on a different feeling altogether, and not in the intended way. (This way, there's also more of a dramatic burden on Margaret to have to make apologies for Clara and to try to shield her from people, as she's not outwardly ill enough for people to understand her condition. It's actually very smart writing/directing when you take some time to think about it.)

 

Not to say that there aren't times when an illness needs to be portrayed more graphically. 33 Variations comes to mind, with the leading character succumbing to ALS throughout the play. I didn't see Jane Fonda's original portrayal, but I did see a moving production in Boston a few years ago with a devastating performance by a local actress, who moved me to tears by the end of the show with her gradual decline into full ALS. But really, ALS is the main plot point of the play (yes, it's also about Beethoven's variations, and the actress' research into why he wrote them - but the real plight of the character is her illness - something we're aware of soon after the play starts, which is NOT the case in Piazza). I really don't think that Clara's illness is the MAIN plot of Piazza. A crucial part of the story, yes. But not the focus of the story, IMO. If it were, the show (and film and novella) would have wound up quite different, certainly dealing more with the specifics of the illness, and less about the romance(s) and the mother/daughter, father/son relationships, etc. Piazza at its heart is a romance about two dysfunctional families from two different cultures and countries trying to find common ground. At the heart of that story is a young girl who is not quite who she seems. But to play her illness any more prominently than it is would upset the balance of the story. Again, the mystery of what is really happening inside Clara is left to us to ponder and to try to understand. We don't need to see it to get it. (Also, again, in terms of the comparison to 33 Variations, in that show, we know precisely what ALS is. Again, in Piazza, it is never truly spelled out for us - and I think deliberately so - what Clara's condition really is, from a medical standpoint. There are many kinds of "retardation" to use your term - which form does Clara have? It's NOT CLEAR.)

 

I suppose a "Regie" production of the show would reveal a very physically damaged Clara, with all sorts of facial tics and other deformities that have been associated with severe forms of brain damage. And that's ALL we'd be watching. We'd wonder why Margaret was taking her to Italy in the first place, perhaps. We'd certainly wonder if Fabrizio was more sorry for Clara than in love with her. We'd wonder why the Nacarellis didn't stop the idea of the marriage right away, instead of letting it get as far as the wedding rehearsal before finding a real "clue" to the fact that something was really wrong with Clara. We'd miss out on the show that Guettel and Lucas actually wrote.

[+ WilliamM]

I give Kelli O'Hara credit for not giving "star" performances, and rather losing herself in each role. Here's Mary Martin from the London production of "South Pacific." IMO Martin knows the audience is expecting a lot from her and delivers; but her performance would be considered old-fashioned today vs. O'Hara's at the Beaumont at Lincoln Center.