Saturday, June 16, 2007
Smoke and Mirrors: Witches of Eastwick at Signature Theatre
For the first-act finale of Witches of Eastwick, a new musical receiving its American premiere at Signature Theatre near Washington, DC, the three title characters strap themselves into harnesses and soar over the heads of the audience. It's nifty but completely superfluous -- much like the show itself, I'm afraid.
(Note: I never finished this review, and I doubt I ever will. Essentially, the show was a triumph of special effects over a kitschy-coo, sitcom-ish book and a musical score so bland it could have been lifted from an industrial training film. For anyone familiar with the John Updike novel, it was the equivalent of a satanic mass. Still, Witches broke box-office records at Signature, largely because the cast included legitimate Broadway star Marc Kudisch, but I don't think there's any danger of the show being revived anywhere. Signature's downward spiral would continue through the rest of the year.)
For the first-act finale of Witches of Eastwick, a new musical receiving its American premiere at Signature Theatre near Washington, DC, the three title characters strap themselves into harnesses and soar over the heads of the audience. It's nifty but completely superfluous -- much like the show itself, I'm afraid.
(Note: I never finished this review, and I doubt I ever will. Essentially, the show was a triumph of special effects over a kitschy-coo, sitcom-ish book and a musical score so bland it could have been lifted from an industrial training film. For anyone familiar with the John Updike novel, it was the equivalent of a satanic mass. Still, Witches broke box-office records at Signature, largely because the cast included legitimate Broadway star Marc Kudisch, but I don't think there's any danger of the show being revived anywhere. Signature's downward spiral would continue through the rest of the year.)
# posted by Tim : 1:42:00 AM
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