Luvsbway Posted February 10, 2015 Report Share Posted February 10, 2015 From my local paper. I'm seeing this Tuesday. Full review will follow. http://www.pennlive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2015/02/i_love_lucy_live_hershey.html#incart_river Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted February 10, 2015 Report Share Posted February 10, 2015 From my local paper. I'm seeing this Tuesday. Full review will follow. http://www.pennlive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2015/02/i_love_lucy_live_hershey.html#incart_river Can't wait, you lucky devil! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvsbway Posted February 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 The review from my local paper. http://www.pennlive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2015/02/i_love_lucy_stage_show_is_a_de.html#incart_river My review of I Love Lucy Live on Stage last night in Hershey, PA. I had 4th row center seats. Nice view. As most of you know the show is 2 episodes of the show done as if you were part of an actual audience watching a filming. To round out the show they took breaks between each scene and they did classic commercials like Brillcream, Alka Seltzer, Chevy complete with Diana Beach (ha, get it Shore/Beach). The show started with a host that led us through what we would be seeing and popped up from time to time to explain things. Other than the commercials they had a group of singers who sang at the beginning and between each show. They also picked an audience member and a “plant” audience member to play ILL trivia between the shows. That was cute. Easy questions. I raised my hand for “knowing Lucy A-Z” but the guy picking was on the far left side of the theatre. The 2 shows they did were The Benefit and Lucy Has Her Eyes Examined. The actual show portion opens with an introduction to us (the studio audience) of the actors who are playing Lucy and Ricky. Now what I found very odd was they carefully avoided using the names of Lucy and Desi. It was rather crafty and made me wonder if they were not allowed to. So then everyone took their places and they did that episode. There was a break in filing between scenes and we had “Lucy’s stand in” at the piano filming a close up of writing on the poster the “MRS” part. This was to show us how they did a pickup shot. They said the stand in did this in the same clothes as the actor. I had an issue with this as it was totally wrong. Everyone did their own pickup shots. That was not Hazel writing MRS on that poster. Hazel would have been pleased to be represented as this hot little brunette playing the stand in. I noticed that they did change a line or 2 or added something to each episode. Fred does not call Ethel Seabiscuit after she takes off the horse costume. When Ethel comes out to introduce the club show they had a whole sketch of The Pleasant Peasant women from the Operetta sing the Pleasant Peasant song. It was cute and a good way to work that in. Although the song seemed a lot longer than it was in the Operetta. The second episode was a good way to get the club involved. They added a character to the club scenes. For the phone call Ricky gets from Lucy at the beginning some woman kept trying to get his attention while performing. She also had lines too. Later in the dance portion at the end when Lucy dances with the waiter this same woman shows up instead. The also altered Lucy’s jitterbug dance. For the most part it was the same but the portion where King Cat lays Lucy on the floor then picks her up as she jumps into the air was gone. It was replaced with just King Cat picking her up in the cradle position and carrying her off stage. The added musical portion to this show was Ricky doing Babalu, which is not in the show but they worked it in well even thought it was the condensed version. On to my reviews of each principal cast member. Let’s start with Fred. He could have been a little more grouchy for my taste and he was heavier then Fred was but it still worked. I didn’t laugh nearly as hard at the fur coat and crazy dancing bear bit as I do in the show as Bill’s dance when he comes through the apartment door is just great. He was pretty good in the Varsity Drag number at the club though. Since maybe I have only seen Fred impersonated once before in the Lucy movie from the 2000s I tend to give him a pass. Ethel. She was played as a nice friend to Lucy but the spark that Viv gave her was just not there. When Fred says hello Ethel with her in the horse costume the next bit where Ethel gets mad and gives up was lackluster. Her Varsity drag was good though. She just lacked the extra bit of spark and slight bit of sas Viv could impart. Ricky. Why oh why does anyone who impersonates him come across as doing a caricature of the character. What makes ILL what it is at its core is the LOVE factor. Maybe it was the episodes but he just didn’t seem that connected to Lucy. It was more like “here she goes again” without all the underlying “but I love her anyways” stuff. They did try to work in a few sweet “off screen” moments between takes of a kiss or 2 but none of the actual connection these 2 people really had. And Ricky was too thin. He sang fine though. He just didn't have a charm and charisma I'm use to. Lucy. Well she was an actress in a red wig and cute clothes but she wasn’t Lucy. She wasn’t terrible though. And she wasn’t Audrey Hepburn. I have seen too many bad imitations of Lucy that just hit on the stereotypical stuff. She didn’t turn me off. When you have seen all the top people who have impersonated Lucy you know how to rank them but you also realize how absolute unique and special this character is. You also realize that not one single person can even come close to perfectly executing the character because face it Lucille Ball was a damn genius. The jitterbug number was fine, but our Lucy had a natural fluid motion of that dance both in the real version and the altered version. Lucy may not have thought she was Cyd Charise but the girl could dance. The actress’s voice was fine but not Lucy. Lucy’s voice doesn't have any particular accent or odd inflection so it’s not like it can be easily imitated and have everyone say, hey that’s Lucy. It sort of just is. I think this actress also played a little bit too cute. The Benefit does come in the first season when the Lucy character was very childlike but she was smarter and a bit more grown up in the second episode being a 3rd season one. The eye exam bit had the eye doctor playing it for laughs which I didn’t like. Lucy was acting too cutesy here for my taste spinning around on the stool like a little kid. The costumes were all really nice and I didn’t mind that they didn’t do exact copies of them but just kept in the style of costumes she wore. The lady as the planted audience member was as Charlie called her the workhorse of the show. She was the audience member, other trivia contestant, was in a couple commercials and also was mingling with the audience as we were being seated. This show once gain reinforced how perfectly talented our fab four were with making this show the legend it is. The fact that we still have not found anyone who perfectly impersonates these characters not only in line delivery, blocking, mannerisms, voice but the overall moments when they are not doing anything says something. Some of it may be because we have dissected every bit of this show and those on it that no one will ever come close. My take away from the night was I had a good time and anytime I am surrounded by fellow fans it’s always a fun experience. I wore my total 50s looking outfit and had to laugh as I was going up to the balcony level after the show to have Charlie take a picture of me and some guy passed me and said “good job”. Um dude your seats must have been really far back. Some pics from the lobby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 The review from my local paper. http://www.pennlive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2015/02/i_love_lucy_stage_show_is_a_de.html#incart_river My review of I Love Lucy Live on Stage last night in Hershey, PA. I had 4th row center seats. Nice view. As most of you know the show is 2 episodes of the show done as if you were part of an actual audience watching a filming. To round out the show they took breaks between each scene and they did classic commercials like Brillcream, Alka Seltzer, Chevy complete with Diana Beach (ha, get it Shore/Beach). The show started with a host that led us through what we would be seeing and popped up from time to time to explain things. Other than the commercials they had a group of singers who sang at the beginning and between each show. They also picked an audience member and a “plant” audience member to play ILL trivia between the shows. That was cute. Easy questions. I raised my hand for “knowing Lucy A-Z” but the guy picking was on the far left side of the theatre. The 2 shows they did were The Benefit and Lucy Has Her Eyes Examined. The actual show portion opens with an introduction to us (the studio audience) of the actors who are playing Lucy and Ricky. Now what I found very odd was they carefully avoided using the names of Lucy and Desi. It was rather crafty and made me wonder if they were not allowed to. So then everyone took their places and they did that episode. There was a break in filing between scenes and we had “Lucy’s stand in” at the piano filming a close up of writing on the poster the “MRS” part. This was to show us how they did a pickup shot. They said the stand in did this in the same clothes as the actor. I had an issue with this as it was totally wrong. Everyone did their own pickup shots. That was not Hazel writing MRS on that poster. Hazel would have been pleased to be represented as this hot little brunette playing the stand in. I noticed that they did change a line or 2 or added something to each episode. Fred does not call Ethel Seabiscuit after she takes off the horse costume. When Ethel comes out to introduce the club show they had a whole sketch of The Pleasant Peasant women from the Operetta sing the Pleasant Peasant song. It was cute and a good way to work that in. Although the song seemed a lot longer than it was in the Operetta. The second episode was a good way to get the club involved. They added a character to the club scenes. For the phone call Ricky gets from Lucy at the beginning some woman kept trying to get his attention while performing. She also had lines too. Later in the dance portion at the end when Lucy dances with the waiter this same woman shows up instead. The also altered Lucy’s jitterbug dance. For the most part it was the same but the portion where King Cat lays Lucy on the floor then picks her up as she jumps into the air was gone. It was replaced with just King Cat picking her up in the cradle position and carrying her off stage. The added musical portion to this show was Ricky doing Babalu, which is not in the show but they worked it in well even thought it was the condensed version. On to my reviews of each principal cast member. Let’s start with Fred. He could have been a little more grouchy for my taste and he was heavier then Fred was but it still worked. I didn’t laugh nearly as hard at the fur coat and crazy dancing bear bit as I do in the show as Bill’s dance when he comes through the apartment door is just great. He was pretty good in the Varsity Drag number at the club though. Since maybe I have only seen Fred impersonated once before in the Lucy movie from the 2000s I tend to give him a pass. Ethel. She was played as a nice friend to Lucy but the spark that Viv gave her was just not there. When Fred says hello Ethel with her in the horse costume the next bit where Ethel gets mad and gives up was lackluster. Her Varsity drag was good though. She just lacked the extra bit of spark and slight bit of sas Viv could impart. Ricky. Why oh why does anyone who impersonates him come across as doing a caricature of the character. What makes ILL what it is at its core is the LOVE factor. Maybe it was the episodes but he just didn’t seem that connected to Lucy. It was more like “here she goes again” without all the underlying “but I love her anyways” stuff. They did try to work in a few sweet “off screen” moments between takes of a kiss or 2 but none of the actual connection these 2 people really had. And Ricky was too thin. He sang fine though. He just didn't have a charm and charisma I'm use to. Lucy. Well she was an actress in a red wig and cute clothes but she wasn’t Lucy. She wasn’t terrible though. And she wasn’t Audrey Hepburn. I have seen too many bad imitations of Lucy that just hit on the stereotypical stuff. She didn’t turn me off. When you have seen all the top people who have impersonated Lucy you know how to rank them but you also realize how absolute unique and special this character is. You also realize that not one single person can even come close to perfectly executing the character because face it Lucille Ball was a damn genius. The jitterbug number was fine, but our Lucy had a natural fluid motion of that dance both in the real version and the altered version. Lucy may not have thought she was Cyd Charise but the girl could dance. The actress’s voice was fine but not Lucy. Lucy’s voice doesn't have any particular accent or odd inflection so it’s not like it can be easily imitated and have everyone say, hey that’s Lucy. It sort of just is. I think this actress also played a little bit too cute. The Benefit does come in the first season when the Lucy character was very childlike but she was smarter and a bit more grown up in the second episode being a 3rd season one. The eye exam bit had the eye doctor playing it for laughs which I didn’t like. Lucy was acting too cutesy here for my taste spinning around on the stool like a little kid. The costumes were all really nice and I didn’t mind that they didn’t do exact copies of them but just kept in the style of costumes she wore. The lady as the planted audience member was as Charlie called her the workhorse of the show. She was the audience member, other trivia contestant, was in a couple commercials and also was mingling with the audience as we were being seated. This show once gain reinforced how perfectly talented our fab four were with making this show the legend it is. The fact that we still have not found anyone who perfectly impersonates these characters not only in line delivery, blocking, mannerisms, voice but the overall moments when they are not doing anything says something. Some of it may be because we have dissected every bit of this show and those on it that no one will ever come close. My take away from the night was I had a good time and anytime I am surrounded by fellow fans it’s always a fun experience. I wore my total 50s looking outfit and had to laugh as I was going up to the balcony level after the show to have Charlie take a picture of me and some guy passed me and said “good job”. Um dude your seats must have been really far back. Some pics from the lobby. Oh myyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, Loooooooooovvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee your outfit, you look gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvsbway Posted February 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 I try. I got lots of compliments on the dress. You should have seen me trying to get into Charlie's Mustang with that big petticoat under the dress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvsbway Posted February 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 They played 50s music before and after the show. I laughed when the first song after the bows was from The Most Happy Fella although it was not from the original cast album. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted February 20, 2015 Report Share Posted February 20, 2015 I try. I got lots of compliments on the dress. You should have seen me trying to get into Charlie's Mustang with that big petticoat under the dress. Was that fur stole one of Lucy's old ones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvsbway Posted February 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2015 I wish. No just some old dead ladies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeySanJoaquin Posted February 21, 2015 Report Share Posted February 21, 2015 I wish. No just some old dead ladies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted April 10, 2015 Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 Saw this last night and agree with LuvsB's review. We may have had a different Fred. Wise of them not to choose one of the real classics to replicate. "Eyes Examined" was a rather odd choice, I thought. One of those episodes where the individual parts are greater than the sum. All in all a valiant effort. I went with no grand expectations so wasn't disappointed. There is only ONE Lucy and she cannot be imitated, it seems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freddie2 Posted April 11, 2015 Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 God, I love how dramatic this picture is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shane91 Posted April 11, 2015 Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 I didn't realize Luvsbway was a total fox! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvsbway Posted April 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 Thank you. I try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted April 12, 2015 Report Share Posted April 12, 2015 Thank you. I try. You not only try but you always succeed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irene Kampen Tripp Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 Its playing in st louis this month Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 Its playing in st louis this month Love seeing the commercials for it when it plays near here. Looks quite entertaining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Posted May 19, 2015 Report Share Posted May 19, 2015 It looks like the tour just got permanently LuPWNED. http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2015/may/19/patti-lupone-replaces-i-love-lucy-lied-center-sche/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tropicjeff Posted May 19, 2015 Report Share Posted May 19, 2015 It is or was supposedly coming to my area near Orlando next month but it looks like tickets are between $150 to $200? That seems a bit steep to me..... Just like Fred and those chickens they are calling me cheep cheep cheap......but I guess I'll skip it and watch a dvd....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvsbway Posted May 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2015 Well that is nutts. Top ticket price for my show was $70. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyImHome Posted June 16, 2015 Report Share Posted June 16, 2015 I saw the show at Playhouse Square in Cleveland in May. Fun show. When I got home, I quickly watched the 2 "episodes", on dvd to compare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted June 16, 2015 Report Share Posted June 16, 2015 It is or was supposedly coming to my area near Orlando next month but it looks like tickets are between $150 to $200? That seems a bit steep to me..... Just like Fred and those chickens they are calling me cheep cheep cheap......but I guess I'll skip it and watch a dvd....... No kidding, that's just crazy for a poor imitation of the real thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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