Earlier in the week, Joe DiPietro blogged about being at an Ad meeting on Tuesday the day after Opening in which we were all going over the reviews for the show. The gang at SpotCo, our own personal Mad Men and Women, had alot of amazing quotes to work with and worked furiously after the reviews came out to get a “quote ad” ready to run in the New York Times on Friday.
If you did not get the Friday New York Times, do not fear, I will bring the New York Times to you.
I cannot tell a lie. It feels great to have been received well by the critics. Freaking great.
And they did not mince words.
Let’s face it, Memphis rocks.
AND, it fully rocks from the front row!
Last night was totally my redo Opening Night as I sat front row with four fab friends. In an effort to keep it real, you will not see a lot of feet from the front row. Often times when actors are mid or upstage, you will see people from the knees down. BUT, what you will see entirely makes up for it.
I noticed things during the show that I have never noticed before:
1. heard what LaQuet says in the first scene (“talk on it, talk on it” being one of my favorite phrases),
2. saw so much in Derrick Baskin’s eyes (Gator) that it brought me to another level of understanding about his character as well as a new appreciation for Derrick the actor,
3. sweat actually flings off people when turning quickly,
4. The chemistry between Chad and Montego as Huey and Felicia is unbelievable. It was innumerable the amount of times that Kristel leaned over and said “he loves her sooo much.”
As shout out to Chad and Montego, here is a photo I took during tech that I haven’t shared until now.
It may be one of my favorites:
Loving them, right?
Anyway, it was so amazing from the front row that by the end, I felt exhausted/exhilarated- like I had just finished a 2 hour exercise class.
If you have seen the show already from another seat, run, do not walk and get those rush tickets for the front row. You will have to beat me to the box office because I am definitely doing that again!
Memphis blog Shout Out to the Official Front Row Crew (Allie, Cindy, Christina, Danielle, Kelly, Jamie and Michelle) who commented on the blog the other day:
“HEY WE ARE THE FRONT ROW CREW! We made this sign and brought it to the stage door opening night! We all attend Hofstra University and LOVE this show. We have Student Rushed so many times and sat front row several times( a couple of us two nights in a row)! WE LOVE THIS SHOW! We sing the songs constantly! We are Memphis #1 fans.”
Clearly, myself, the Front Row Crew, and Roma Torre from NY1 all agree, Memphis rocks.
As a member of the OFFICIAL Front Row Crew I would just like to say a few things:
1. Thank you soooo much for making us the OFFICIAL Front Row Crew and for posting our poster on your blog!! We really hope that the cast and crew appreciated it!! Did you guys get our Hofstra T-shirt that we made? If so, I think that it would be a fantastical idea to take pictures of some cast and/or crew members wearing said T-shirt and post them on the blog!
2. The Front Row Crew is planning on rushing together at some point in the near future! We’re currently trying to figure out how we can work around all of our class schedules! So look for us! You know where we’ll be!
3. There are many more members of the Front Row Crew than the ones listed in our last comment!! The whole group includes Christina, Hannah, Michelle, Kelley, Bryan, Jake, Erica, Derek, Danielle, Ally, Cindy, Dan, Katie, Jamie, and more keep joining as they see the show!
4. Fun Front Row Crew fact: We’re the reason they now use barricades at the Memphis Stage Door. There were a lot of us at the stage door, but there weren’t any barricades yet, so we just kind of accidentally kept inching our way towards the door because we were so excited! It kind of ended up being a jumbled mess, but the cast was shocked that people were waiting for their autographs! It was so cool how humble the cast was, they were so sweet! Literally the next night they started using the barricades!!
5. Memphis is a phenomenal show from the cast’s incredible talent to the amazing technical aspects. As we said the first night we saw it, “I’ve never seen a show where I want to give a standing ovation at intermission!” I was literally in tears, and I don’t normally cry. This show takes all of the big dance numbers and songs that we love in musicals and combines them with a heart-wrenching plot and lovable characters. As a future Stage Manager in the business (hopefully!), Memphis truly inspired me to keep pursuing my dream!
Thank you so much for creating such an amazing piece! Hockadoo!
Love always,
Christina Bracco
Comment by Christina Bracco — October 25, 2009 @ 11:51 pm