So I think this is the first time I'll ever have a play review on here... and thats pretty cool. I kind of got into blogging when I went to see the play Avenue Q with my sister and I wanted to talk about that day and stuff like that... so blogging about plays is pretty special to me.
This play is also kind of special to me. I've wanted to see it since I saw the commercials. I thought "This looks promising." Then I saw the performance on Jimmy Fallon and I loved that Shakespeare was in it and he was really hot and just really funny and I needed to see it. I've been following the Facebook page for a while. I knew by the time it was my birthday the original cast would still likely be in it and it just looked so cool and funny that I needed to see it.
So I wanted to go mostly because I love Shakespeare, I've studied Shakespeare a lot. I've read 12 of his plays I think some multiple times (I've read Othello like 4 times and that's my favorite.) I kind of want to read all his plays and honestly I'm a girl and all but I'd LOVE to play Iago! Lol. So I'm pretty well versed in Shakespeare... and I get maybe he isn't the greatest guy ever... but he's pretty damn good and he's made up a lot of things we use today. Phrases, words, just general plots for things. All Shakespeare. And his stuff is definitely timeless too.
I also love musicals and this is a musical about musicals and those are kind of the best. The Producers is a great musical about a musical. Elf the musical made subtle references to lots of musicals which I appreciated a lot... and thats another reason I wanted to see it.
And it exceeded my expectations I think even. Not only was there Shakespeare jokes, but there were lots of very meta jokes about plays and musicals and it referenced basically every play you could imagine in some way or another and it did a fantastic job of it all. I think if you like Community or 22 Jump Street or just kind of meta jokes then you'll probably really be into this. Its definitely a certain kind of humor that not everyone likes... but its kind of my favorite. And they didn't over-do it with the meta jokes either because the plot on its own was so good. A lot of times the plot can get lost when you reference the nature of something too much and this had just the right balance for me. I thought it was really great. I don't want to give too much of the plot away... but there was a lot going on and it all ended well. Alls well that end's well right?
The actors were all really great too. They sang great, and you could totally see that these people are real up and coming stars. These are names you'll know very well within a few years, I can almost guarantee that. I'm sure this will be the next Book of Mormon or something. I can't even pick a character or an actor that I liked the best because they were all fantastic. The main character Nick was amazing, his wife was a really powerful 90s (1590s) woman, his brother was funny and awkward, Shakespeare was a rockstar, the love interest for Nigel (the main character Nick's brother) was really good and she reminds me of Kristin Chenowith... and the guy that played Thomas Nostradomus is a lot like Nathan Lane. I could see him being the next Nathan Lane... or even better. I love Nathan Lane... but this guy was amazing. There's even a Minstrel at the beginning of the play and he was really good.
And the songs were all really good. Can't pick out a favorite of that either. There was tap-dancing that was amazing, songs that had a little bit of reference to other musical numbers that were great... and just really funny stuff. There were some great Double Entendres. It was just really really funny. Lots and lots of laughs were in this.
Best of all: It's something you'll remember. I've seen quite a few Broadway plays and there are some that I just don't remember. I didn't remember Into The Woods at all when that came out... can't remember much of Wicked, but I remember most of the story line of that at least. I kind of remember Avenue Q... I don't remember In The Heights at all... which is one of the last plays I've seen. I've seen Elf twice, so obviously I remember that... but yeah. This is really good. I think if you'll see it you'll remember what happens and the songs in it and stuff like that because it is good and memorable.
So yeah... I think this might be my favorite play. It might be tied with Elf... I think I liked it better than The Producers or Wicked though... It was really well thought out and clever and just a lot of fun... so if you want to see something good and fun that you'll remember... this is my #1 pick.
Ohhh and I forgot to mention there was only like 1 joke where you really have to know Shakespeare to understand. I really appreciated that they threw one in there, but didn't overdo it. They also were good on the timeline, it was early on in Shakespeare's career and I think they only mentioned plays earlier on in his career. He had written 12 plays at the time... I know Titus Andromicus, Romeo and Juliet and the Richard plays were a little earlier and Hamlet came later and then I think his last play was The Tempest. A lot of the plots were similar to Shakespear's plays too... so its kind of like he was taking these things and then wrote things like As You Like It and things like that because the character in the play was stealing ideas. Lol. Just an after-thought!
Byeee!
-Shannon
This play is also kind of special to me. I've wanted to see it since I saw the commercials. I thought "This looks promising." Then I saw the performance on Jimmy Fallon and I loved that Shakespeare was in it and he was really hot and just really funny and I needed to see it. I've been following the Facebook page for a while. I knew by the time it was my birthday the original cast would still likely be in it and it just looked so cool and funny that I needed to see it.
So I wanted to go mostly because I love Shakespeare, I've studied Shakespeare a lot. I've read 12 of his plays I think some multiple times (I've read Othello like 4 times and that's my favorite.) I kind of want to read all his plays and honestly I'm a girl and all but I'd LOVE to play Iago! Lol. So I'm pretty well versed in Shakespeare... and I get maybe he isn't the greatest guy ever... but he's pretty damn good and he's made up a lot of things we use today. Phrases, words, just general plots for things. All Shakespeare. And his stuff is definitely timeless too.
I also love musicals and this is a musical about musicals and those are kind of the best. The Producers is a great musical about a musical. Elf the musical made subtle references to lots of musicals which I appreciated a lot... and thats another reason I wanted to see it.
And it exceeded my expectations I think even. Not only was there Shakespeare jokes, but there were lots of very meta jokes about plays and musicals and it referenced basically every play you could imagine in some way or another and it did a fantastic job of it all. I think if you like Community or 22 Jump Street or just kind of meta jokes then you'll probably really be into this. Its definitely a certain kind of humor that not everyone likes... but its kind of my favorite. And they didn't over-do it with the meta jokes either because the plot on its own was so good. A lot of times the plot can get lost when you reference the nature of something too much and this had just the right balance for me. I thought it was really great. I don't want to give too much of the plot away... but there was a lot going on and it all ended well. Alls well that end's well right?
The actors were all really great too. They sang great, and you could totally see that these people are real up and coming stars. These are names you'll know very well within a few years, I can almost guarantee that. I'm sure this will be the next Book of Mormon or something. I can't even pick a character or an actor that I liked the best because they were all fantastic. The main character Nick was amazing, his wife was a really powerful 90s (1590s) woman, his brother was funny and awkward, Shakespeare was a rockstar, the love interest for Nigel (the main character Nick's brother) was really good and she reminds me of Kristin Chenowith... and the guy that played Thomas Nostradomus is a lot like Nathan Lane. I could see him being the next Nathan Lane... or even better. I love Nathan Lane... but this guy was amazing. There's even a Minstrel at the beginning of the play and he was really good.
And the songs were all really good. Can't pick out a favorite of that either. There was tap-dancing that was amazing, songs that had a little bit of reference to other musical numbers that were great... and just really funny stuff. There were some great Double Entendres. It was just really really funny. Lots and lots of laughs were in this.
Best of all: It's something you'll remember. I've seen quite a few Broadway plays and there are some that I just don't remember. I didn't remember Into The Woods at all when that came out... can't remember much of Wicked, but I remember most of the story line of that at least. I kind of remember Avenue Q... I don't remember In The Heights at all... which is one of the last plays I've seen. I've seen Elf twice, so obviously I remember that... but yeah. This is really good. I think if you'll see it you'll remember what happens and the songs in it and stuff like that because it is good and memorable.
So yeah... I think this might be my favorite play. It might be tied with Elf... I think I liked it better than The Producers or Wicked though... It was really well thought out and clever and just a lot of fun... so if you want to see something good and fun that you'll remember... this is my #1 pick.
Ohhh and I forgot to mention there was only like 1 joke where you really have to know Shakespeare to understand. I really appreciated that they threw one in there, but didn't overdo it. They also were good on the timeline, it was early on in Shakespeare's career and I think they only mentioned plays earlier on in his career. He had written 12 plays at the time... I know Titus Andromicus, Romeo and Juliet and the Richard plays were a little earlier and Hamlet came later and then I think his last play was The Tempest. A lot of the plots were similar to Shakespear's plays too... so its kind of like he was taking these things and then wrote things like As You Like It and things like that because the character in the play was stealing ideas. Lol. Just an after-thought!
Byeee!
-Shannon
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