Comments | jlh: so I watched harry potter dance last night

jlh

so I watched harry potter dance last night

Apr 06, 2011 11:20

Yeah, I know, whatever. I can be irreverent on my own journal, damnit!

So first thing's first: He was perfectly fine. ( the details, if you want them )

music, harry potter, theater

Comments 8

sistermagpie April 6 2011, 17:37:49 UTC

I feel like the reason this show keeps getting done--besides Mad Men maybe giving it a boost as well--is that it's such a good vehicle for a cute star with limited talent at singing and dancing. Or even if he has the talent, it's a lead role for somebody young and unthreatening. Robert Morse maybe had a maniacal edge to him but Matthew Broderick, John Stamos, Dan Radcliffe are sweeter ( ... )

heidi8 April 6 2011, 23:45:55 UTC

Here's the thing that I felt from Rosemary, especially in the first act and most especially during Happy To Keep His Dinner Warm - you know the cellphone ad with the crazy girl in the tree stalking the boy? I felt like Rosemary was like that - just a little unhinged on top of the obsession. She changes a bit after Cinderella Darling, enough that she seems less stalker-gets-the-guy-she-s-stalking-because-he's-oblivious-to-her-crazy, but I hope that somewhere in the timeline after the show, she reads The Feminist Mystique and grows from it. The show is that weird little snapshot in time - if it was realistic in 1961, it wasn't by 1967. Kind of like Chess, which was outdated sociopolitically three years after it debuted.

jlh April 7 2011, 18:58:13 UTC

OMG I was totally thinking of that cellphone ad, AHAHAHA!

jlh April 7 2011, 18:57:35 UTC

There probably weren't as many 14-year-old girls successful in talking their parents into taking them to see Equus as there were in taking them to see How to Succeed. Just a guess! But yeah, there were a LOT of families there.

Heidi was pointing out that one of the reviews noted that with Broderick and Stamos and Macchio, because they're older, there's an air of desperation, of already having failed and clinging to a book, about their performance. But DanRad is just a young kid who doesn't have a lot of opportunities. Also Broderick could tap into Ferris--he can do that charming scalawag. Harry is a lot of things but he doesn't get scheming until the later books and that aspect of his character hasn't been brought out in the movies.

It's like, you know how much I adore Colfer in that "Teenage Dream" scene because he's not doing anything but he's doing so much? DanRad hasn't figured out how to do that yet. But god, he's young--I feel like he will. It's all there, he just hasn't put it together yet. And by the end of the show ( ... )

heidi8 April 6 2011, 23:46:45 UTC

SO GOOD TO SEE YOU! MISS YOU ALREADY!

jlh April 7 2011, 18:59:04 UTC

I dig me some surprise!Heidi, man!

shakespearechic April 7 2011, 00:04:09 UTC

The thing is, this kid has almost no stage presence whatsoever. The narrative, the lighting, the choreography conspired to keep my eyes on him, but he didn't do anything himself to make me want to watch him.

Ah, yes, I can see where this would be a problem. It seems like you can hear the charm Matthew Broderick oozes on the original recording. And when I saw the touring cast (in 1996ish) Finch was played by Ralph Macchio - and he also managed to ooze lovable charm and hold our attention.

It is random they keep reviving it though, given how really dated it comes across. It's been 15 years since I heard the music and every few weeks "A Secretary is Not a Toy" will pop into my head and I'll start singing it aloud and invariable get some odd looks from friends and family.

jlh April 15 2011, 17:25:54 UTC

Ralph Macchio is certainly charming on Dancing with the Stars, so I can imagine! He's sooooo sincere, which really works.

I'm sure Dan will get there with more theater work, but I think the whole star thing doesn't do him any favors as people pay attention to him without his doing anything.