As closing announcements proliferate, and the remaining Broadway shows face the prospect of a bleak midwinter, we're also hearing about new musicals to step in and fill the void.
The new Twyla Tharp dance show, formerly titled Come Fly With Me, now bearing the moniker Come Fly Away, will begin performances at the Marquis Theater in March. Similar to Tharp's previous two efforts -- the successful Movin' Out and the disastrous The Times They Are a-Changin' -- Come Fly Away is a songbook show, this time featuring the music of Frank Sinatra.
Although the show itself is relatively new, Tharp actually has a long history with the music of Frank Sinatra, having created numerous pieces set to Sinatra recordings in the early 1980s, including Nine Sinatra Songs and Sinatra Suite, the latter with Mikhail Baryshnikov. But have no fear, musicians' union, for this won't be another Contact, a show that came under fire for eschewing an orchestra in favor of a piped-in jukebox soundtrack. Come Fly Away does indeed utilize recordings of the late Sinatra's voice, but the vocal tracks are backed by a live on-stage band playing some newly created orchestrations.
The show received some fairly solid reviews during its recent engagement at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta, at which time it was still known as Come Fly With Me. Charles Isherwood of the New York Times called the show "exhilarating." Wendell Brock of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said "dazzling." And Frank Rizzo of Variety wrote that "even at this early stage" the show is "vibrant, engaging and, at times, thrilling." With notices like that, the producers would be fools not to bring the show to New York. Right?
Not so fast. As my friend Ken Davenport recently wrote about on his blog, The Producer's Perspective, out-of-town raves do not a Broadway blockbuster make. Ragtime got very strong reviews when it played DC, and now the Broadway production is closing at a significant loss. Finian's Rainbow got terrific notices during its Encores run last season, only to meet a similar fate to Ragtime. Perhaps the most extreme example is the now-legendary Glory Days, which came to New York almost entirely on the strength of Peter Marks' gushing review in The Washington Post. During previews, Glory Days struggled to garner an audience larger than 25% of the house, and then promptly folded on opening night. Whoops.
Will Come Fly Away deliver on the promise of its advance notices? Will the new Twyla Tharp show be another Movin' Out or another The Times They Are a-Changin'? If it's the former, expect to see more from Twyla on Broadway. If it's the latter, well, it's probably back to the barre.
I saw this in Atlanta (when I was there in October for work), and it was exhilirating! The dancing was just phenomenal. Not sure, though, why it was decided to change the name.
Steve L-W
Posted by: [email protected] | January 05, 2010 at 06:31 PM
I went into the show with not high expectations and came out underwhelmed. One cares little for the characters who are put through a series of acrobatic dance steps moving from partner to partner in some sort of confused mating dance that judging from the costumes, set and hairstyles appears to take place in timewrap of a 1980's take on what a nightclub in the 1940s must have been like. It is indeed sad that Tharp has to resort to the dancers disrobing to their underwear to try breathe a little "excitement" into the plodding second act. And can someone tell me what the dance number set to Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" has to do with "the music of Sinatra"?
Posted by: Ashley warren | March 12, 2010 at 11:37 PM
I agree. I was expecting at least a decent production--knowing it probably would not reach the heights of when Baryshnikov danced Tharp's choreography of "That's Life" for Sinatra when Sinatra was honored at the Kennedy Center. But I was really looking forward to this and it turned out to be a travesty--an insult to Sinatra's legacy. It's unbelievably miscast--one female lead dancer acted more like Tarzan than any woman a Sinatra song would evoke. The dancing was generic, except for a few Tharp gems, but those amount to less than a minute out of the whole show--and overly acrobatic. This is a staggering disappointment, almost a parody.
Posted by: Janet | March 14, 2010 at 01:41 AM
I thought the show was boring except for the music.The production lasted less then 70 minutes.Their was no dialogue and the dance routines were monotonous. I agree with Janet s comments.
Posted by: Linda | March 14, 2010 at 02:48 PM