Monday, December 15, 2008

Celebrate Home - A Broadway Rose Christmas

Broadway Rose Theatre Co. **Photo credit: Timothy Park**
December 5 - 21, 2008

Summary:

Ring in the holidays and The Broadway Rose Theatre Company’s new permanent home! Featuring many of Portland’s finest musical talent, Celebrate Home takes a melodic, imaginative look at our holiday traditions and the reasons we are continually in wonder of, inspired by, and INSANE this time of year. Hilarity included.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Leif Norby is a theatrical god!

Anonymous said...

Lindsay Michelet's Molly number is a delight! I always enjoy her performance. Thank you for bringing her back Broadway Rose.

Anonymous said...

If your going to delete comments that offend then please eliminate the "Leif Norby is a theatrical God" comments for EVERY SHOW HE'S IN!! That is offensive to me and others in this city.

Anonymous said...

Only negative comments are offensive. What's it to you that Lief Norby has a fan club?

Anonymous said...

Classic followspot banter. If you react that strongly to those posts, then you clearly have MOAJOR issues with Mr. Norby that make you less than objective - in which case i recommend that you stop frequenting the threads for his shows.

Whether of not he has a fan club is irrelevant. I'm quite sure he is respected by many, but these posts are more of a knee-jerk attempt to be cute than an actual review/reaction to the show. I'm guessing that even Mr. Norby would prefer actual reviews to such silliness.

Is it really so much to ask for people to stick to the topic and keep personal issues to a dull roar?

How was the show?

Anonymous said...

Wow. Some people have no sense of humor.

And anon, 12/09? You look stupid if you write "your" when you mean "you're."

Anonymous said...

Great cast superbly directed by Abe Reybold. Great new songs. Great old songs. Cute kids. No dialog at all. Thanks, everybody. You made my December.

Also: nice theater!

Anonymous said...

b'way rose theatre must have a great mechanism in place to post good reviews of itself --- there seems to be more noise for its shows than most others in town.
i have not seen the show, but am curious about it to be sure -- the original material -- the new venue --- the same old performers.
and may i just say for the record that the fotos they are using to publicize this show are the worst i have ever seen, anywhere for any show at any time in the history of theater. guess they spent all their money on the new venue.

Anonymous said...

Sure wish Anonymous could show enough intelligence and creativity to come up with an accurate, classy, useful, and professional critique for once. I say this never having had anything to do with a Broadway Rose production or their marketing. I get just as tired of the same-old-same-old in this venue as you claim to be with regard to the shows out there.

Ben Waterhouse said...

Yo anonymous 12/10: you ever consider that there might be "noise" for Broadway Rose's shows because they use local actors, have a large and loyal audience base, have been around for fifteen years and consistently produce work that is at least pretty good and sometimes, as with this show, really excellent?

Anonymous said...

"are the worst i have ever seen, anywhere for any show at any time in the history of theater."

Hm.

I've seen worse.

But I guess your experience is a bit limited.

Anonymous said...

anon 12/10 -

I count a whopping 2 complimentary posts prior to your angry flamage.

The rest is garbage from people like you who take issue with this thread, for some inexplicable reason.

jlh489 said...

This show will warm your heart like a fat mug of cider.

Of course, some on this blog will give the old, "You like it because it's your friends!" rant, which is true! I adore every person in this show, and the dynamic they have onstage comes as a result of the people they are offstage.

Instead of disregarding the opinions posted here, go see the show! The new theater is across Tigard, and I think that's discouraging people from coming.

Don't miss it! Bring your families! Tell everyone!

Oh, and Mr. Waterhouse, it's 17 years now.
:)

Anonymous said...

Okay, Mr. Waterhouse. We get it. You LOVE Broadway Rose and PCS, without fail. Also, in your world, the best theatre is musical theatre. So noted. I agree with you and can't wait to see this show!

Ben Waterhouse said...

Actually, I don't really like musical theater very much.

Anonymous said...

Go see this show and Altar Boyz, Ben.

They are both fantastic and they might help convert you.

Hey, even Scrooge came around eventually.

Anonymous said...

Oh my word, people.

Ben has seen (and reviewed) this show. He was kind enough to post some complimentary feedback on this thread and look what it gets him.

Ben, I guess you're damned if you do, damned if you don't.

:)

Karma Chameleon said...

Your Leif Norby is a theatrical god who also takes fotos to publicize his shows that are the best i have ever seen, anywhere for any show at any time in the history of theater. Also, he cannot be defeated by Kryptonite, he killed Voldemort, and beat John McCain for President. He is Portland's first gay mayor, was the first man on the moon, and is the leading winner on the NASCAR circuit this year. He won the pulitzer prize for his memoir "TALES OF A THEATREICAL GOD IN 7 VOLS." as well as an Oscar for his adaptation of that work to the screen.

He'd be easy to hate if he weren't genuinely talented and one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. So lay off my man Leif. He's a better man than anyone who would post this ridiculous crap about him.

Anonymous said...

i agree with 12-10 --- those are some awful fotos.
as for all you all who kinda lost your minds over that post; did you miss the fact that "in the history of the theater" is pretty likely said with a heavy dose of TONGUE IN CHEEK. (cuz no one has really seen all the fotos ever taken -- get it?)
sheesh, some of you really can be quite DEFENSIVE and churlish when it comes to responding annonymously to annonymous posts.
(e.g. "God")
and what have the fotos to do with the show anyway?
it's great that you love the brtc,
but if you really believe in it, you don't need to defend it quite to acidly, do ya?
cream rises to the top, without your help.
which is to say, these blogs are kinda pointless.
including this one.

SaraCat said...

I have to admit i wasn't sure about how much i would enjoy a holiday show, but this one is worth seeing. Weather you need help getting into the holiday spirit or just want to push it over the edge, this show will do it. I thought it moved really well and i was excited when i left. You get that same feeling you get when you watch "charlie brown christmas"....remembering the reason for the season. i think that the show is touching and at the same time fun and funny. It features some really wonderful vocalists singing great arrangements of old favorites, and the stuff about Portland makes you remember what an awesome place this is to live! (especially during the holidays!!) And the new BRTC space is a delight. Go see the show!

Anonymous said...

the set is fantastic.

Anonymous said...

Bravo Broadway Rose
Beautiful new facility
terrific holiday show in your own space
Thanks for not making me take one more trip out to Tualatin for your Christmas show
Well be back
C&A

Anonymous said...

lawrence welk anyone?


vapid.
full of vapidness.
an exercise in vapidity.
2 hours of vapidiocity.

how do you spell s-e-l-f i-n-d-u-l-g-e-n-t-?


i am sorry if this offends anybody.
this show has been on my mind since i saw it.
i can't come to grips with precisely why i found it so very distressing.
from the opening moments it was fraudulent.
it continued, with very few lapses into good taste, in a vein of pointless, sometimes mildy offensive, but always troubling vacuous, trite and pandering sentimentality, cuteness and somewhat crude attempts at humor.
i can't believe that the people involved were not aware in their cores that this was not a pursuit of anything resembling good entertainment.
it was as though branson, missouri had snuck into tigard like the body snatchers.
visually and musically impeccable, the problem here seems to be how to try to please everyone when theatricalizing a topic so tinged with political correctness.
i submit this is not how to do it.
it should have worked -- it just didn't.
we simply were never engaged with anything resembling honesty, sincerity or authenticity.
it was money and talent and time misspent.
while i harbor no ill will towards any of the creators or performers, i still can't quite get the bitter taste of those 2 hours out of my system.
when one sees a great show, it reverberates in the soul for days and longer.
unfortunately (and this is the chance we all take when we see any show) the opposite is also true --- a wretched experience such as this, stays with you and makes you wonder how it all could have gone so wrong.
this show is about portland, but it is not "of" portland.
it was agony from stem to stern and it gives me no pleasure to say it.
i love the broadway rose theater company.
but that doesn't mean that i therefore think they can do no wrong.

Anonymous said...

all that talent and nothing to do.
what a crying shame.

this new venue has remarkably uncomfortable seats.
i wouldn't be surprised if they tore them out in a year or two.


the person i sat next too smelled like "old person".
with a new venue and a new holiday show, one wants the place to smell like pine needles or egg nog or fresh baked cookies ---- definitely not like old people.  but hey, it's tigard, they knew what they were getting into when they started this thing.  just something to keep in mind when you pony up your $30.

it is accepted ettiquette not to wear strong perfume/cologne to the theater.
is it not also accepted that one needs to bathe as well, before sitting for 2 hours within inches of others?
you can be thrown off a plane for BO. if only it were true of the theater as well.
sometimes when they say the show stinks, maybe they meant the audience?

Anonymous said...

Great cast but terrible material, great theatre but terribly uncomfortable seats. I knew going in that this show was a musical revue...but ouch. I felt "sung down to" the entire time. Corny, cheesy, hammed-up delivery of everything. I'd buy the recording in a second, but you couldn't pay me to watch it again.