Roger Davis....................................................Tony Vincent
Mark Cohen.......................................................Jim Poulos
Tom Collins....................................................Calvin Grant
Benjamin Coffin III........................................Jacques C. Smith
Joanne Jefferson............................................Kenna J. Ramsey
Angel Schunard...................................................Jose Llana
Mimi Marquez....................................................Karen Olivo
Maureen Johnson.............................................Tamara Podemski
Mark's mom and others..........................................Carly Thomas
Christmas caroler, Mr. Jefferson, a pastor, and others..........Byron Utley
Mrs. Jefferson, woman with bags, and others...............Shelley Dickinson
Gordon, the man, Mr. Grey, and others..........................Mark Setlock
Steve, man with squeegee, a waiter, and others..............Chad Richardson
Paul, a cop , and others......................................Darryl Ordell
Alexi darling, Roger's mom, and others..............................Tina Ou
so here goes...i have heard and heard and heard things about Tony performing the role of Roger so i was curious to see him myself. so curious in fact that i got up early sunday morning and rode the subway up to times square and sat on the steps of the theatre for three hours until the box office opened. tony had long since announced two performances that week that he would be going on as roger and i wanted to try and catch at least one of these - since i am always curious to see new people in a role and for once actually had the chance. that thursday all the sro tickets had been reserved and of course i didn't win lottery tickets so that left sunday. so i got a centered sro ticket and went on to see the first matinee of this show i had ever seen. i still have a feeling that the evening shows are much stronger - especially those after a matinee or at the end of a work week. maybe it's just my imagination who knows?
the audience was well populated by tony fans of all ages so it was by no means a dull show...it was mark setlock's last day as well. maybe all this pro-tony atmosphere made it harder for me to like him. i tend to do best when i have no expectations in either direction. it was a regular show in terms of energy and all that but it seemed like a lot of loose ends and nothing really together as a unit. that's what has always amazed me at shows that are full of understudies - how they all seem to bond in the first few songs and go on to carry a most amazing experience on to the audience. this performance just seemed somehow frayed. maybe it was just me getting over this wierd summer cold i had had and i was still tired. maybe i was sick of hearing how great tony was and just wanted to prove to myself that he wasn't. whatever it was, it wasn't there for me that day. to me, tony did not make an appealing roger from the distance of a standing room "seat". he tended to overact way too often, this also was evident in him seemingly straining his voice to "sound like roger" - whatever that means. so, instead of sounding *more* like a rock star he sounded weak and unbelievable. to me. i can honestly say i have never been to an unenjoyable show - that just doesn't happen. but the first act of this show was highly unimpressive - especially after all the hype i'd heard. needless to say, i was pretty much alone in my opinion since the tony fans had already made up their minds - which is fine, but i was still alone - so i waited for the second act, hoping it would somehow pull together. i should also note that it felt like the band wasn't completely in sync (figure of speech - NOT that group:þ) with the cast or vice versa. anyway, the second act began and it was better than the first by a lot. this still wasn't as good as the show can be but it felt like one piece now. i must say to tony's advantage that he does some wonderful things with every character i have seen him play so far. he truly does seem to have an immmense amount of talent in acting as well as singing. the feeling i get though is that he tries too hard and ends up sounding fake rather than just letting his real portrayal through - which would feel much better for everyone's sake. i tend to enjoy roger when he has more of a rock star's voice but tony's voice is just fine when he lets it out normally. he also plays EXTREMELY well off of all the other characters - his solo scenes need work ('glory' more than anything else)but playing off other characters he seems to forget this 'make an effort to be amazing' attitude and just does it. if only he would do this all the time he would truly be perfect. by the end of the show the cast were more in one piece and tony had cut down on his overacting a bit which was good. that's all i have to say about that for now.
karen's mimi has a TREMENDOUS voice! wow! i think she reminds me of sharon leal even though it's been quite a while (almost a year and a half) since i saw her. i have excellent memories of both though. her bar dance is not the scariest, her enunciation is not the clearest - but that's only in comparison to others. she is an amazing gifted performer and as many have said - the only mimi i have ever seen who i truly believed was actually nineteen. there's something about her stage presence that is strong - as someone who is out in the world should be, but young - as someone who is only nineteen should be. i don't know if i can explain it too well, only to say that you'd know what i mean if you saw it. i was very impressed and at some points i think she improved tony's performance greatly for just being there. again, i have to say - what a KICKASS VOICE!!!!!!
calvin is awesome as always. chad did a good steve - very enjoyable! tamara's voice didn't sound good - sounds like it needs rest - especially in 'take me or leave me'. she used to sound much better and now it just sounds like it hurts her to sing. this would be the final time i was seeing mark setlock as gordon. i have seen him every show until and will definitely not forget him - he did an excellent job in the role.
FWD
my last review
