The Bridges of Madison County (Menier summer musical)

EP expressed some doubts about 'Sweet Charity' - along the lines of it being brave for a non-singer to try to do the role, but that AMD pulled off the elevator scene. I thought it was refreshing and she was still bringing the show to people's attention without giving it an out and out rave.

Glad to hear you enjoyed it tmesis - seeing it in a couple of weeks so hoping for the best.

As posted in this thread, I took myself down to Menier Chocolate Factory to see The Bridges of Madison County on Saturday. I fell in love with this so much and was so moved, that it's Tuesday evening as I post this and I'm still thinking about it!

Firstly, the venue. They are putting on some tremendous work down there, of such quality. I have seen countless shows there and it's always interesting they use such an intimate space and the seating arrangements. This space is so limited and you are so close to the actors, you could (practically) touch the performers.

I have never read the book, however have seen the movie* a long time ago.

With two revolves in this production, sliding in a kitchen, a small stairwell, a small kitchen table and chairs and a modified vehicle, they comfortably used this space efficiently.

To create the sense of space- the field and farmland and of course, the bridges, projections are cleverely used.

The songs. This is seriously an impressive body of work from Jason Robert Brown; 20 songs (count them) in this show. I have the Broadway cast recording on my phone, so know the music however, because I always play my songs on random play, they never appear in order so to watch them sung in order and in context was hugely satisfying. And isn't interesting the way a song is performed is completely different from the way you imaging? For example the song Another Life, excellent performed by Shanay Holmes, I had no idea this is performed by the male lead's ex-wife.

And Jason Robert Drown is creating some excellent work isn't? With 13, Songs For a New World, The Last 5 Years, Parade (seminal) and Honeymoon in Vegas. I am lucky enough to attended most of his London concerts and actually met him once.

This is a small but incredibly hard working and effective cast. This is the fourth production that I have seen Jenna Russell in (Sunday in the Park with George, Merrily We Roll Along and Grey Gardens) and for me, this as Francesca was her best performance.

I believed she was Italian. She maintained her accent throughout and through the subtle use of simple hand gestures and the lessening of her hair as her character became more comfortable with the circumstances she found herself in.

I must admit, when she came out in the dress that she purchased, it took my breath away for a moment.

Edward Baker-Duly for me as Robert Kincaid was very good. To me, his character seemed genuine and was vocally good. Alas, not a patch as the male lead on the cast recording but he hit all of the notes adequately and after reading some of the reviews on this board, did not detect any problems hitting the notes.

I also though the actors playing the husband (Dale Ripley) and the children (Maddison Bulleyment and David Perkins) were excellent. And what a great launchpad for for such young actors.

But what stuck me as the second half of the second act. As I said, It'd been ages since the film so was in no way prepared for where the characters journey was going to take them.

Without giving too much away for those who are yet to see this show, the way it is staged when Francesca is faced with a choice is heart-breaking and you could how visually, emotionally and physically affected when Robert leaves. And the support offered by the neighbour, Gillian Kirpatrick

And the ending- O.M.G.! I could hear a woman behind me sobbing.

Look, jazz hands this ain't and I can understand how this isn't everyone's cup of tea, thus the mixed reviews. However this is a slow burner, subtly beautiful and deeply moving. I (genuinely) hope this transfers, simply so there is more exposure of this show to a wider audience.

It's hard, however to image which sized theatre this could go into, as yo could so easily run the risk of loosing the intimacy of the Menier.

If you can get a chance to see this, I would STRONGLY recommend that you do so.

*For anyone interested, the British Film Institute (BFI) are screening the film on both 1st September and 7th September 2019.

Thank you for the compliment xanady.

I was really moved by this piece

Totally agree. The casting mistakes here prove fatal. Neither can sing the roles properly and Baker Duly made my skin crawl. Zero chemistry. The set was awful too. Never heard so much banging and crashing during a show. The car in particular was something that will live in my nightmares for many a year.

The car was a pathetic effort. I'm sorry, but did you see how much it shakes when a door is shut?

Well it’s certainly all much slower than on Broadway, which I’m sure he was also present for!

I went to see the matinee of this today (3rd August). I want to preface my review with a fact that most people probably know on this board, but I ADORE this score, simply adore it! I have listened to the Original Broadway Cast Album since it came out, immediately fell head of heels for the music, and not a week - scratch that - not a day goes by where I don’t listen to at least some of the songs. If I had to name one of my favourite scores, this would be one that would instantly comes to mind, and the Broadway Album is a fantastic document of it, and is fantastically sung. When trying to process my thoughts on this London production, I have been to trying to think if my love of the score, and the Broadway Cast Album have ultimately coloured my view of the material somewhat, and I think it is only natural that it has. I imagine my thoughts may be slightly different had I come to the material cold, as I had with something like COME FROM AWAY (which I was flabbergasted by!). Please bear that in mind whilst reading.

Well, I really wanted to love this, but ultimately didn’t, and here are my reasons why -

- The singing. I felt that the singing was awful, specifically the two leads who just couldn’t handle the material. I really don’t mean any disrespect by this, as they are clearly trying their best, but it is just not a good fit for either of them, and they simply should not have been cast. Again, bearing my opening comments in mind, maybe my expectations are too high, and what I am asking of them is simply unachievable, because they are not the two original Broadway cast members, but if you are doing a show like this, you really need two leads who can really sing the score, as it is extremely difficult, and not just something you can get through, which they barely do as it is. I also feel it is hugely detrimental to the score, as it really deprives the whole show of its emotional weight, urgency and dramatic validity. Moments and songs failed to land because of how it was sung. This isn’t all the fault of the leads. As mentioned above by another poster, I felt that some of the tempos were too slow for my ears, and this wouldn’t have helped anything. I overheard members of the audience, both in the interval and afterwards, say that the score wasn’t very good. I have also read this in some of the reviews. This is not the case, it is just not well served in this production (again this could be my blinding and unwavering love for it).

- The sound design. The band actually wasn’t loud enough for me, and the singers were too far forward in the mix (probably because they struggled with the score, so needed the closer mixing). Some of the intricacies in the choral writing got particularly muddled with the sound as it was.

- The set. The set is too fussy and loud. It seems like a good idea in principle with the revolves, but in practice does not seem to work, as there is a lot of banging and crashing which disrupts songs and again takes you out of the moment. Why they couldn’t have just had everything on wheels and gave the cast wheel them on and off, , I don’t know. This could have been quite effective. Today’s matinee was also seemingly characterised by Jenna Russell having a fight with a fridge door that wouldn’t shut in the first act. It was funny at first, but soon became distracting. The one thing I did like about the set was the use of projection - there were some lovely little touches in there, such as the starlit night sky projected across all the flats at the end of “One Second and A Million Miles”, which I thought was beautiful, and the projection of Francesca’s photograph during “It All Fades Away”.

- It was too long. I am all for long shows, and do not get annoyed if they go over a certain time, but this FELT too long. Had I not known the songs, I wouldn’t have known when it was going to end, as the various last few scenes could have all been a suitable ending to the piece. When it did end, I heard a woman behind me say “Finally”. Saying that, I did think that the last 30 minutes were some of the best in the show from the scene when the family all went out for ice-cream onwards, so don’t know how they would get round that. Whether they could have done some nipping and tucking at earlier points in the show perhaps? This could also be the direction, as it was quite meandering and aimless in parts. Dialogue directly after scene changes wasn’t always snappy, and the pace could have been picked up.

All this being said, I did enjoy Jenna Russell’s acting. Ironically, when I saw SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD at the St James, she gave one of my favourite performances, and she has lovely moments, particularly towards the end of the piece. Unfortunately, Francesca is not a role where you can just get away with fantastic actingX

So, lots of misgivings, and I am ultimately disappointed. It is a real shame, as with two different leads, with better voices suitable for the material, this could have been electric. Maybe in a few years, BRIDGES will get the real treatment it deserves - a one-off concert with Kelli perhaps? My one regret is now not seeing the original Broadway production, as I feel that my experience of this would have been so completely different.

I have a pair of top priced tickets for tonight, going free if anyone can use them

PM me.

Echoing theatre241 - was also there this afternoon and also really liked it.

I thought Jenna was wonderful, and giving the performance of her career- yes, she doesn’t have Kelli’s voice but she navigated the score well and acted it beautifully, so nuanced and emotional.
I did think Edward was terrible in almost all of Act 1, and then he came back after the interval like a different person - which proves he CAN do it, and just sort of, chose not to for act 1.

Really liked the set, thought the double revolve worked really well, spinning you in and out of scenes. Only a couple of crashes - I thought it worked really well. Beautiful orchestra (half strings is just a delight).

I do completely get why this isn’t people’s cup of tea though - I just happened to like the way they did things.

Throughout the show I was trying to understand how they do the wooden panels at the side when things come on and off. Must be really complicated! I think the revolves give it a cinematic touch as well. The whole piece is very filmic. (Probably because it was a film) And it is very immersive with the projections going round into the audience 

Support understudies! You never know, they may well be able to sing it better.

I don’t even know if they have understudies for this actually