From the "it seemed like a good idea at the time" file...

Our last show of THE TALE OF PIGLING BLAND was on Saturday July 15 at 4pm. It was sold out (we actually turned away 25 people, regrettably), and by the time the dust settled on putting the set into the car and saying tearful goodbyes to the cast it was time to go home and...pack the car for the road trip to New York! Yeehah!

We had planned this in advance (i.e. it seemed like a good idea when we were planning) but all I really wanted to do was go home and put my feet up and have a glass of wine. We finally hit the road around 8pm with our goal being Syracuse before bedtime! We rolled in around 1:30am. We were back on the road in the morning with the goal of getting into New York in time for a 3pm show of TARZAN! Well, we made it with time to spare for a quick lunch before the show!

TARZAN, with book by David Henry Hwang and music and lyrics by Phil Collins, is playing at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. It is directed by Bob Crowley (who also did the scenic and costume design) and choreographed by Meryl Tankard. We had great seats and the theatre was packed with lots of families and lots of little kiddies. I have to say the stagecraft and acrobatics were fun to watch. There are lots of swinging monkeys and flying moths, and the way the leopard slinks and pounces is quite striking. The overhead view at the beginning was very cool. I really liked the way fabric was used in the set -- it gave the show a very natural, organic feel, which I thought worked well with the subject matter. For example, a waterfall was executed by having a dancer (gymnast?) pull blue and white fabric into the hole in the stage floor.

Now I don't like to be negative, but I have to say -- THIS SHOW IS TOO DARN LOUD! I mean, I could understand why a show like THE WEDDING SINGER could be guilty of being too loud (but I know first hand that it isn't!) since it is about an '80s rock band.

But TARZAN is all about the jungle, and nature...so what's with the earsplitting decibel level guys? Seriously, I had to literally cover my ears. Both my husband and I emerged at the end of the show, our ears ringing, in desperate need of aspirin! And the TARZAN audience is filled with young kids so why the need to crank the volume? THE LION KING and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST are fine so what suddenly happened at Disney? This is the wrong message to send -- this is musical theatre, not an ACDC concert (no offense intended!).

So endeth the rant.

Technorati tags: Broadway Music Movie Musicals Musicals Blog Blogs Theater Theatre Entertainment