New shows -- box office hit and/or TONY darling?

[jo]

I first got a whiff that the much-disdained stage adaptation of the cinematic hit ROCKY may turn out to the season's surprise winner when I read some posts on ATC and BWW.

Here's one adoring review --

www.huffingtonpost.com/rex-reed/rocky-is-a-broadway-ko_b_4960831.html

Of course there is the usual Hugh Jackman comparison - LOL!

And just as the movie and its numerous, dog-eared sequels turned Sylvester Stallone into some kind of scruffy stardom, the new singing, dancing, two-fisted Rocky repeats history with a sexy, dynamic, three-dimensional flesh-and-blood star named Andy Karl. He's the biggest thing since Hugh Jackman, and as Rocky Balboa, the unlucky, downtrodden bum from the slums of Philly with a heart of molasses and the I.Q. of a mollusk, dreaming of being somebody in the eyes of the world even if fame is a one-night stand, he is very much the center of Rocky...

Suddenly, the Best Actor in a musical category has become really very crowded!


Jo

[jo]

Ha - it looks like Ben Brantley is not easily impressed! He thinks that the show actually starts in the last 16 minutes for that spectacular fight scene at the end!


www.nytimes.com/2014/03/14/theater/rocky-the-musical-brings-songs-to-a-film-story.html


On the other hand, the Wall Street Journal likes it and thinks it's a hit! Maybe its readership ( presumably largely male-dominated) will likely find the show appealing?

online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304185104579435110384195896?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304185104579435110384195896.html

Btw, Danny Mastrogiorgio, who was Hugh's standby as Denny in A Steady Rain, is in the show.


Jo

[jo]

Michael Riedel predicts BULLETS OVER BROADWAY will be the runaway winner --

nypost.com/2014/03/14/bullets-over-broadway-looking-like-the-killer-hit-of-spring/


Jo