Cast: Hugh Panaro (Martin Guerre), Stephen R. Buntrock (Arnaud du Thil), Michael Arnold (Benoit), and many other great cast members
Martin Guerre is supposed to be in its pre-Broadway tour. If it makes it that far (or comes to a theatre near you), avoid it at all costs. My friend and I were so sure it would be great. I mean, this is the same composer (Claude-Michel Schonberg) who wrote the music for Les Miserables and Miss Saigon - how could we go wrong? Not sure how, but it definitely happened.
The sets were laughable. The music was mediocre (at best). The costumes were okay, but not enough to save the show. The lyrics were horrible. Come on... "I, I'm Martin Guerre..."? Seriously? That's what you came up with?
So many people left at intermission (I haven't been able to do that no matter how horrible the show is) that my friend and I were able to move up to very close seats. (One couple leaving asked if we'd like to move up to their seats.) We moved up to seats that are generally too close to be great for a musical, but by this point we knew that Martin Guerre was a horrible musical, so we figured we'd go up and study the bad sets more.
The cast was amazing and that's sadly the only thing I can say that's good about Martin Guerre. They do the best they can with the material, but they can't save it.
Fortunately, I saw Martin Guerre with a friend of mine who works in the theatre and understands as much as I do about it. We had a lot of fun ripping on the show and talking about how the cast is great and we hope that they'll find a musical to show off their talents soon. In fact, this friend will probably always call Martin Guerre, "Um... what was that horrible show that we saw?" even though he remembers the name - after hearing that "I, I'm Martin Guerre" a ton, how could he forget it?
Anyway, avoid Martin Guerre at all costs unless you hear it's been totally re-written from start to finish. Honestly, even if you hear that, I'd be cautious.
Grade: D-
Reviewed by Kat at the 8:00 PM show | 2 screams
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July 28, 2006 2:42 AM
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December 02, 2011 3:10 AM