Patty & Emily discuss the MTC play Ripcord and Kerry Butler’s show at 54 Below. They also get further into the controversy and hypocrisy surrounding bootlegs, before finding out which Cats cat they are in a Buzzfeed quiz. They also discuss the three upcoming Live! musical broadcasts and their casting.
Patty & Emily
Comedy and Opinions from Two Broadway Fans!
You guys should go see Futurity. Like, seriously. It’s amazing. Even if you end up disliking the story, the music is incredible. It has way more clever and important things to say about the civil war and the end of slavery than Amazing Grace. It also has a super diverse cast of men and women of all ethnicities. SEE IT
I agree with Evan that Futurity was fantastic. The story was a bit too abstract for me and the lyrics were sometimes muddled but I loved the music and the energy of the show. The ensemble was used incredibly well and they made the most of the space with the movement and set.
I didn’t have as positive of a response to Ripcord. I thought it was fine. It went on a little too long for me. Both of the leading ladies were great and I also liked the actor who played the orderly (who was also good in Of Good Stock). But it wasn’t a very strong play to me. It felt like that kind of mid-range, comfort food Hallmark/Nancy Meyers movie I would never watch but with odd darkness that wasn’t explored well. And the reveals and most of the humor didn’t work on me. It felt very predictable.
As for the dummies making bootlegs and disrupting performances I feel like a lot of that comes from a concert mentality. Not that I go to a ton of “real” concerts but when I do, people often have their phones out (unless they’re banned) filming instead of being in the moment.
I see a lot of theatre. Really, I see so much theatre. And I have a great deal of respect for the kind of magic that can happen in a theatre. But sometimes you don’t get a cast album (I mean, one doesn’t get recorded) and you really want to listen to that score. Or sometimes you just want to hear every Elphaba sing Defying Gravity. Everyone listens to bootlegs.