DR Ben - Thanks for your review/opinion about
Good Vibrations. I had been wondering what the buzz was right now.
It turns out a young man I had the pleasure of working with a few years ago, is making his Broadway debut in this show. Tituss Burgess - he's the African-American of the four leads. Amazing voice! And a great sense of musicality. I had seen his name listed in the press releases, but I wasn't sure it was really him until I checked out the press photos on the shows website.
I also know the Music Director/Conductor too, Susan Draus. She was on the
Mamma Mia! tour for a while, and she left the tour when she was asked by the Music Supervisor to come on board.
So, I do hope that the show does work out it's kinks and provides many weeks, months, years of employment for them, but...
I'm amazed John Carrafa was given this project, especially after his ridiculous choreography for
Dance of the Vampires. And his statements about having a "very sexy cast" with some of the "most amazing bodies" on Broadway really raised some flags for me. And then looking at the cast photos, and seeing no one who is really drop-dead gorgeous or that appealing for that matter - and I do like eye candy. The girls look like chorus girls do today, and the guys are on the Abercrombie & Fitch scale of body fat - which is not necessarily a bad thing, but not entirely appropriate for this period. -And Tituss was never "known" for his body, and he wears a shirt in all the publicity stills.
And I had also worked with Mr. Carrafa on
A Little Night Music at the Kennedy Center...
*Oh, does the cast at least have tans? I know the publicity stills were taken early on, but no one really seems to have that California tan. Heck, if the cast of
Mamma Mia! gets free tanning with their contracts...