Actually, no. I'm glad Jose enjoyed it. I do agree that Brooks Ashmanskas is wonderful and will get at least a Tony nomination for his performance. I also liked Kevin Chamberlin as Proclo and Patrick Kerr as Claude Perkins, the "chubby chaser" For me the funniest moment in the show was Seth Rudetsky's performance in the "talent show".
I did not like Miss Rosie Perez's performance at all. I could not understand, and I'm NOT exaggerating, 75% of her dialogue. I realize the character is wildly over the top but her diction is awful and lines that might have been funny were lost. I also thought her entire performance was forced and unfunny. Again, I know the character is an over the top stereotype but there was not a real, believable moment in her performance (IMHO). Her "act" in the bathouse might be funny for a couple of minutes but it went on far too long and wasn't funny at all by the end. That being said, the audience around me was ROARING with laughter and screaming and cheering, giving Miss Perez a huge hand after her cabaret number. I might be missing something. I don't know. The actor playing the mafioso type husband (who wants to kill Proclo) and the actor playing his wife may be good but I couldn't tell because their performances were little more than stereotype and I worry that they won't have voices by the end of the run because all they do is SCREAM, especially as the show comes to an end.
I guess I just don't like the play very much. I was never a big fan of the show. I've seen community theatre productions and the movie version and I just think it's a tired old farce. And while Terrence McNally has written some wonderful stuff, I don't think The Ritz is part of the "good" canon.
I'm in the minority, though. This performance was sold out and the audience (as I mentioned earlier) LOVED it. Roundabout is saying that it's one of their best selling shows in a long time and it may be extended. I did feel vindicated though, at intermission, when three people sitting next to me (one on one side and two on the other) got up and left. The gentleman sitting next to me even said, as Act One ended, "it's not very good is it?" I think he noticed I was not laughing and joining in the general mayhem and was happy to see that he was not alone in his feelings. I was actually relieved that the three people who left were all gay men. If that sounds strange I'll try to explain. If an older straight couple or an older person who didn't care for the material had left I would not have been surprised but to have 3 middle aged gay men leave at intermission (I did stay through the entire show, it wasn't bad enough for me to leave at intermission) makes me feel I'm not alone in my dislike of the production and the show. I hope that makes sense.
And those, dear readers, are my musings on the current production of The Ritz.
