Another gargantuan live Fox musical production. Like Grease Live!, this was HUGE in every respect from a large cast to multiple outdoor and indoor sets, and also like its predecessor, they cleverly maneuvered costume and set changes out of camera's eye to make it quite magical.
I was not impressed with the score in the early numbers, but the later songs were really good, and most of the movie's highlights were there (no Little Orphan Annie/decoder pin sequence) abetted with songs. The couple of vast departures from the story (the numbers for Miss Shields and Mrs. Schwartz) felt a little like padding even though they were among the strongest musical moments of the evening.
Having played the Narrator/Mysterious Man in Into the Woods on stage, I can tell you Matthew Broderick's Narrator had the herculean task of the evening, even more of the show on his shoulders than on Ralphie's with ALL that dialogue and seguing difficultly between scenes. It's a thankless but very necessary role.
I wish Maya Rudolph had a stronger singing voice. Someone like Laura Benanti might have gotten more dramatic meat out of the Mother's numbers though Maya acted them just fine. All of the other principals were excellent. Impressed with the trained dogs rising to the occasion on their every cue.
I was not impressed with the score in the early numbers, but the later songs were really good, and most of the movie's highlights were there (no Little Orphan Annie/decoder pin sequence) abetted with songs. The couple of vast departures from the story (the numbers for Miss Shields and Mrs. Schwartz) felt a little like padding even though they were among the strongest musical moments of the evening.
Having played the Narrator/Mysterious Man in Into the Woods on stage, I can tell you Matthew Broderick's Narrator had the herculean task of the evening, even more of the show on his shoulders than on Ralphie's with ALL that dialogue and seguing difficultly between scenes. It's a thankless but very necessary role.
I wish Maya Rudolph had a stronger singing voice. Someone like Laura Benanti might have gotten more dramatic meat out of the Mother's numbers though Maya acted them just fine. All of the other principals were excellent. Impressed with the trained dogs rising to the occasion on their every cue.