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Friday, October 11, 2019
Review Roundup: Critics Weigh In On GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY's Limited Engagement in Toronto
www.broadwayworld.com: After critically acclaimed, smash-hit runs at The Old Vic London, in London's West End, and at The Public Theater New York, Girl from the North Country comes to Toronto's Royal Alexandra Theatre for a strictly limited engagement. Performances are now on stage through Sunday, November 24.
It is always interesting to see the various critics reviews and compare them to each other for one show. I'll admit, I have never heard of this musical before, nor of the Bob Dylan songs. However, the musical seems like a really interesting concept, and I love blues and Bob Dylan so it seems like a sure win for me. The reviewers were all mainly positive, though some did say that there was a disconnect in emotion between the songs and the script, as the director had the actors use microphones to sing the songs, making it seem disconnected from the rest of the story. I thought this was interesting and a very valid point, as usually microphones mean cabaret or song cycle. I found the last review about the lights funny and encouraging. Usually the lights, or even sound, are not discussed about, unless they are really bad and noticeable. But this reviewer loved the lights, so that was a nice change.
Usually I am kept up to date on all things upcoming on Broadway. While I did know the show was transferring from the public, I did not know that they also did another out of town tryout in Canada. For a while the trend was to do a one out of town tryout and bring it to broadway. After that the trend was to just open up after some successful readings. There seems to be a new trend of doing multiple out of town tryouts. Hadestown and Aint to proud first come to mind. I know for hadestown significant changes happened at each stop but I wonder how much the other shows have changed. Also I think this can be helpful if the show is good to start getting word of mouth out, but if the show is bad,you might not want multiple cities with awful reviews. I am excited to see this show and the change in developing broadway shows.
2 comments:
It is always interesting to see the various critics reviews and compare them to each other for one show. I'll admit, I have never heard of this musical before, nor of the Bob Dylan songs. However, the musical seems like a really interesting concept, and I love blues and Bob Dylan so it seems like a sure win for me. The reviewers were all mainly positive, though some did say that there was a disconnect in emotion between the songs and the script, as the director had the actors use microphones to sing the songs, making it seem disconnected from the rest of the story. I thought this was interesting and a very valid point, as usually microphones mean cabaret or song cycle. I found the last review about the lights funny and encouraging. Usually the lights, or even sound, are not discussed about, unless they are really bad and noticeable. But this reviewer loved the lights, so that was a nice change.
Usually I am kept up to date on all things upcoming on Broadway. While I did know the show was transferring from the public, I did not know that they also did another out of town tryout in Canada. For a while the trend was to do a one out of town tryout and bring it to broadway. After that the trend was to just open up after some successful readings. There seems to be a new trend of doing multiple out of town tryouts. Hadestown and Aint to proud first come to mind. I know for hadestown significant changes happened at each stop but I wonder how much the other shows have changed. Also I think this can be helpful if the show is good to start getting word of mouth out, but if the show is bad,you might not want multiple cities with awful reviews. I am excited to see this show and the change in developing broadway shows.
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