BROADWAY REVIEWS
Grease
Gypsy
Hairspray
In the Heights
Jersey Boys
Legally Blonde
Lion King, The
Little Mermaid, The
Mamma Mia!
Mary Poppins
Monty Python's Spamalot
Phantom of the Opera, The
Rent
South Pacific
Spring Awakening
Wicked
Xanadu
Young Frankenstein
OFF-BROADWAY REVIEWS
COMING UP:
Sept 18 - A Tale Of Two Cities
Sept 25 - Equus
Oct 1 - The Seagull
Oct 2 - To Be Or Not To Be
Oct 5 - 13
Oct 7 - Man For All Seasons
Oct 16 - All My Sons
Nov 13 - Billy Elliot
Nov 20 - Dividing the Estate
Dec 11 - Pal Joey
Dec 14 - Shrek: The Musical
AM NEW YORK GLORY DAYS REVIEW
No glory in 'Glory Days'
By Matt Windman
We guarantee that anyone who sees the new Broadway musical "Glory Days," which was written by two lucky 23 year olds, will be stunned. But not in a good way. After enduring all 90 painful minutes of this undercooked, horribly amateurish show, you'll be wondering how the hell it got to Broadway.
Taking place one night on a deserted high school football field, "Glory Days" looks at four male best friends who reunite a year after their high school graduation. Besides a few details about a proposed prank, all that really happens in "Glory Days" is that one of the guys admits to being gay and another acts homophobic. And then the show ends. No real conflict. No resolution. The show just stops.
Don't get us started on how cheap the show looks. It's just four guys, bleachers and stadium lights. Seriously, who would pay $100 for that?
Except for one short solo about a college road trip, everything in its light rock score is generic, forgettable or just plain bad. At one point, "Jewish" is rhymed with "blue-ish."
Our "no stars" rating could also describe the cast. The young male quartet (Steven Booth, Andrew Call, Adam Halpin, Jesse Johnson) tries its best, but none possesses any charm, personality or vocal chops. Jonathan Groff of "Spring Awakening" has more talent in one pinky finger than all of them put together.
What's most sad about "Glory Days" is that its producers could have spent their money bringing a really wonderful musical like "Next to Normal" to Broadway. Instead, we've received a pathetic attempt to cash in on the "High School Musical" fad, the "Spring Awakening" audience, and the familiarity of Bruce Springsteen's song "Glory Days."
We are not saying that having young, unknown songwriters on Broadway is a bad thing. It's actually great. But with all due respect to Nick Blaemire and James Gardiner, "Glory Days" does not belong on Broadway. Better luck next time, guys.
COMING UP: |
||
|
||
