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rmWe've just come from the Coraline musical, which was absolutely fascinating and enjoyable, although I think it has problems (very fixable ones). I should note, before I go on, that I've not read the book or seen the film and have no particular affinity for Gaiman's work -- I find it clever and amusing, but it doesn't (with te exception of a particular poem) resonate with me.
The real stand-out o the show is the integration of the set and music. Real and toy pianos litter the set and actors add sound -- plinky, eerie and oddly timed -- to moments musical and not. This does wonders for conjuring the world of the show, while making it both relentlessly charming and relentlesly creepy.
The set however, is also part of the problem, in that it is indicative of the way in which the piece has not yet decided if it's a musical or a play with music. The scenes in our world feel like musical theater; the scenes in the other world don't -- part of that is the atonal qualities to the music in this setting (a necessary trope, but one that becomes hard on the ear and is problematic for a musical because such melodies aren't hook-y and the ear craves that); part of that is timing issues. Yes, it is in the other world, the fantastical world, that the show sometimes threatens to drag.
What it really needs is one more song, one that explains to us what the Other Mother is in more than passing (Patty had to explain it to me; and if I didn't get it from a quick mention of the "Belle Dame" lord knows, most of the rest of the audience won't either) while being melodic and punchy enough to stay with the viewer.
All the performances were brilliant, but I was particularly taken with the fellow who played Coraline's real father and one of the theater ladies. HIs prescence was wonderful, his characterizations sharp, and he utterly, utterly broke my heart in the "We Trod the Boards" song, which was probably the most spectacular give-this-show-an-award moment of the piece.
Other exceptional moments include the puppetry of the Ghost Children, anything about the rats (funny, creepy, lovely), the hilarity of the actresses' dogs, and the tendency of the cat not to do obvious cat things (although there's plenty of that too), but do really weird, oddly timed cat things, that ring very true.
Overall the show is clever, very funny, utterly worth seeing, and kid appropriate, assuming you're raising a child who is both urbane and kind -- to appreciate the show they'll need to be more sophisticated than Coraline, but they'll also need to be on her side.
I'd love to see the piece developed further, made bigger, and take on noisy modern tourist-attraction Broadway with its shabby heart (often reminiscent of The Fantasticks, but, you know, with rats) and love for so many worlds of performance past from the oral tradition of fairytales, through the specialities of circus folk, to its memories of the stage's glamorous, scrapbooked past.
The real stand-out o the show is the integration of the set and music. Real and toy pianos litter the set and actors add sound -- plinky, eerie and oddly timed -- to moments musical and not. This does wonders for conjuring the world of the show, while making it both relentlessly charming and relentlesly creepy.
The set however, is also part of the problem, in that it is indicative of the way in which the piece has not yet decided if it's a musical or a play with music. The scenes in our world feel like musical theater; the scenes in the other world don't -- part of that is the atonal qualities to the music in this setting (a necessary trope, but one that becomes hard on the ear and is problematic for a musical because such melodies aren't hook-y and the ear craves that); part of that is timing issues. Yes, it is in the other world, the fantastical world, that the show sometimes threatens to drag.
What it really needs is one more song, one that explains to us what the Other Mother is in more than passing (Patty had to explain it to me; and if I didn't get it from a quick mention of the "Belle Dame" lord knows, most of the rest of the audience won't either) while being melodic and punchy enough to stay with the viewer.
All the performances were brilliant, but I was particularly taken with the fellow who played Coraline's real father and one of the theater ladies. HIs prescence was wonderful, his characterizations sharp, and he utterly, utterly broke my heart in the "We Trod the Boards" song, which was probably the most spectacular give-this-show-an-award moment of the piece.
Other exceptional moments include the puppetry of the Ghost Children, anything about the rats (funny, creepy, lovely), the hilarity of the actresses' dogs, and the tendency of the cat not to do obvious cat things (although there's plenty of that too), but do really weird, oddly timed cat things, that ring very true.
Overall the show is clever, very funny, utterly worth seeing, and kid appropriate, assuming you're raising a child who is both urbane and kind -- to appreciate the show they'll need to be more sophisticated than Coraline, but they'll also need to be on her side.
I'd love to see the piece developed further, made bigger, and take on noisy modern tourist-attraction Broadway with its shabby heart (often reminiscent of The Fantasticks, but, you know, with rats) and love for so many worlds of performance past from the oral tradition of fairytales, through the specialities of circus folk, to its memories of the stage's glamorous, scrapbooked past.
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Date: 2009-06-24 02:39 pm (UTC)I wasn't sure I could recommend the musical to anyone who isn't a fan of both a) Neil Gaiman and b) Stephin Merritt (the couple next to us both fell asleep, despite having bought front row tickets). So it's good to hear a perspective from a non-fan of both who found something of value in it.
The actor you mention specifically is named Francis Jue, and yeah, he was phenomenal. I found the Other Father pretty amazing and moving, too, particularly in the later part. The Other Mother was problematic for me on a number of levels (You know she was played by the playwright, no? One can tell, no?)