The "buzz" about Lennon on Broadway.
 

A lot of searching here isn't doing me any good in finding a post of a couple weeks ago asking for the "buzz" on the Broadway musical Lennon. The last I saw the thread there were no comments, so this is for whoever asked the question.

I have now read five reviews of Lennon. They can all be summed up with the following descriptive terms "dull, loser of a musical, muddled, uninspired, and sad".

I think the whole thing is best summarized by this line from a review on "Talkin Broadway":

"Well, Lennon has finally opened at the Broadhurst. If this is fixed, I'd hate to have seen it when it was broken.

Thank you Patrick. I made the initial inquiry. I had heard about this opening soon, and being a big fan of John Lennon, I was curious about what the buzz was. I'm disappointed to hear that. I am coming TO NYC in early spring ... that's when I could get some decent orchestra seats for a weekend show of Spamalot, and was thinking about what else we would like to see. I think we'll see Doubt instead if it's still playing.

Thanks.

I'm glad you happened to see this post, Cher, as I couldn't remember who had asked.

I suspect the decision was already made for you. I would be utterly amazed if Lennon is still playing in the spring.

And yes, I'm sure Doubt will still be playing, not necessarily with the full original cast, but it is a wonderful play regardless. Don't miss it.

Something to consider is what will surely be a very hot ticket once they are offered (probably in the next month or two). That is for Julia Roberts in Three Days of Rain.

Patrick, Three Days of Rain with Julia Roberts. I read it will be next March. Which theater, do you know? Thank you.

Last I knew they didn't have a theatre yet.

Thanks Patrick!

Lennon was unmercifully panned by the critics. Unless an awful lot of people have death wishes, the show will not be around this spring! Hey, it probably won't even last until the fall!
And, yes, the Julia Roberts show will probably sell out as fast as The Odd Couple did. As Patrick wrote, tickets probably won't go on sale for at least a couple months.

Thanks for the tip on Three Days of Rain. Since I'm not coming till March, I'll watch for that. If it doesn't open till March, I bet I'll still have a hard time getting tickets. Any suggestions on anywhere to check routinely (other than Playbill) for when tickets go on sale (as I'll probably have to be lucky to snag some when they first go on sale)?

Many shows are first offered to holders of American Express Gold Cards. So, if you have one and they're offered that way, you'll get advance notice. Otherwise, a Playbill website news item is probably your best bet.

"A new musical based on the life of late BEATLE JOHN LENNON has been torn apart by critics following its debut performance last night. . . "

From an online article entitled LENNON MUSICAL SAVAGED BY CRITICS, www.contactmusic.com

From the reveiw I read in Sunday's New York Times, "Lennon" was more about misunderstood egotistical Yoko Ono than John Lennon and sort of dismissed his time with the Beatles.

We saw it in SF a few months ago.
If you're a Lennon fan, you'll probably enjoy it...and if they haven't changed the ending, bring a hanky!

:$ And please don't tell Mrs Kal but I think I'm in love with Marcy Harriell.

Something about a short gal who can sing and shake a mean boo-tayyyyy.:-"

I think it could be said there were two different men. There was John Lennon of The Beatles and there was Mr. Yoko Ono. The musical "Lennon" appears to be about Mr. Yoko Ono, and has little or nothing to do with John Lennon of The Beatles. I'm not saying that's a good thing or a bad thing, but most of the critics seems to think it's a bad thing.

Sounds like a bad thing to me.

I would also have to say it is a bad thing. Although the sum of the parts make up the whole of John Lennon as an artist and musician, the part of him I remember and loved the most was John Lennon of the Beatles.

Perhaps they could change a couple of letters in the title and make it "Lenin". I can see the marquee now:

"Russian founder of the Bolsheviks! Leader of the Russian Revolution! First head of the USSR!
A little song, a little dance; A little seltzer down his pants..."

AL ((d))

Oh yes, I can see it now, and for a little sex interest, a busty group of chorus girls known as the Lenin sisters -- a one, and a two.

I thought the old joke went "When Pres Reagan heard John Lennon was shot he said 'I didn't care much for his father's politics but boy could his sisters sing'".

Wonder what John would be like now?

Now...what was the old joke about Yoko and dead beetles? :-"