Performance date –  13 February 2014 (First Preview)

A musical about Rocky? Does he sing? Is it any good?

These questions are on the lips of anyone who has passed by the Winter Garden Theatre (home to only 2 other productions in the past 30 years)  or anyone else that has caught news of this big budget movie-to-musical production opening 13 March 2014. The answer to all three aforementioned questions is, YES. With book by Thomas Meehan and the original Rocky, Sylvester Stallone, music & lyrics by the incomparable writing team Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty and directed by Alex Timbers; this mega-musical takes it’s turn on the Great White Way and makes a big splash while doing so.

There has been much discussion of the expensive, mechanical set that supports this production. It is beautifully rigid and wonderfully depicts a very industrialized aspect of the Philadelphia that this story calls home. The intimate scenes are reinforced with very intimate staging, bringing this huge set together and focussing our attention on a tiny slice of stage real-estate. This is one of the best achievements of Mr. Timbers. He plays all the serious relationship and character building moments in the confines of a very small space, therefore the big picture moments look that much larger in our consciousness. These small apartment/shop sets are amazingly over-dressed, though. The pet shop scene, for instance, is so busy and overflowing with so much color and movement (are those tv screens showing cgi fish-tanks really necessary?) that it is difficult to actually see the actors within the scene and focus on what, one would assume, the director would like us to focus on.

It has been a pleasure to watch Andy Karl, who plays the title role, over the past few years. He is a perfect fit in this Tony-Worthy performance and has captured the essence of this down-and-out character in every possible way. He can sing, act, pull off the necessary fight choreo (and btw, looks great without a shirt), and really does an excellent job of embodying this character. Most importantly, he makes the transition between songs, dialogue and boxing seem completely effortless in what could be a real disaster if not played so artfully. He has taken great care to craft this character with both brooding turmoil and lovable qualities and the audience is really rooting for him just as much as they were for Stallone’s original take on the role. Kudos to you, Mr. Karl.

Thankfully, this production succeeds where other Movie Musical creations have failed in that they retain much of the musically thematic elements that assisted in making the original film a success. The original Rocky Theme, composed by Bill Conti and “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor,  have retained a major presence in this production. The two melodies are inextricably linked to this story in the hearts and minds of the millions of would-be theatre patrons and it is both refreshing and exhilarating when the tunes make their appearance in the show. Unfortunately, composer/lyricist team Ahrens/Flaherty aren’t as successful here as they have been in the past. Perhaps they, too, were struggling with where and when to put songs into this already richly established story and how to go about having a boxer(s) sing without becoming campy and unappealing. Rocky’s first song, “My Nose Ain’t Broken” is where this is all too apparent. Nice melody, nice scene even (yes, he sings a ballad to his pet turtles), but does the audience really need to start off on this journey about a struggling boxer who’s down on his luck by hearing him repeat over and over “Hey, my nose ain’t broken”? I mean, isn’t the point of music in a musical theatre piece generally that whole “the emotional point of the scene has become so great that we can no longer express the character’s emotion in any medium other than song” where we should probably be headed in the early stages of the show? Shouldn’t this be the driving crux of our Hero’s problem, OR a realization that he needs to make a change OR some other IMPORTANT story element other than a bleating lament and variation on the theme of “it’s not that bad”? Apollo’s opening number “Patriotic” is a nice distraction both visually and thematically from the dreary, dark world of the lead character’s struggle. It’s bright, refreshing, fun and gives insight into the motivation behind Creed’s actions. The beginning of Act II opens with a brilliant visual of the highly-anticipated training sequence, but seems interrupted by an insipid attempt to give the character of Micky a song that just begs to either be cut or integrated into some other point in the show. By this point in the show, we don’t really care about Mickey’s back-story and it brings the beginning of this act to a SCREECHING halt. Why not keep the seemingly unstoppable momentum going by combining the two training montages into one continuous knock-out blow for the audience? Or better yet, insert Adrian’s show-stopping number between the two?

Thanksgiving and what follows are two very heart-felt scenes where we really see the Rocky/Adrian romance blossom while being supported by a quirky song that embraces the awkwardness of these two characters finding each other at this moment in their lives. The bad jokes abound and we, the audience, begin to fall for this guy just as much as Adrian is finally showing us.

The character of Adrian, portrayed by Margo Seibert, has some stunning revelations throughout this show and in some ways a stronger character arch then our leading man. The opening pet shop scene in which we are introduced to her (which is one of those over-cluttered sets that I mentioned before), has her giving our Hero the VERY cold shoulder. So much so, that we are really questioning why he is barking up that tree in the first place, especially with the three hotties that just exited the scene during his entrance. Karl does a great job at playing the overly-sensitive, socially-awkward, but very interested young man here, and what we get from Adrian is, albeit, scripted but such a turn-off that no one in the audience is actually sure why he is pursuing her instead of her 3 co-workers who are, obviously more attractive and more willing to chat with him. I believe this is a directing fail, as the film source has the same issue but along with the intimate nuances of film, this problem is overcome. Later in Act II when she finally makes a choice to stand up for herself and her relationship in “I’m Done” we see both the power of this fresh young actress and also the experience of the veteran composer/lyricist team SHINE in one of the best developed theatrical moments and songs in the entire piece (which, unfortunately is smashed to bits less than 5 minutes later when Rocky states “You seem like a smart guy, a guy I need in my corner” and completely negates the strong moment that came before).

Before I forget… the Woof-Factor. WOOF (® @johnnyscruff 😉 This is one of the hottest Ensembles assembled in recent memory. Wow, this makes the $35 lottery ticket price REALLY worth it. All of these big, beefy, MEN are believable as both boxers and inhabitants of the world of this familiar story with nary a Mary amongst them (well that last part is almost true… but I’m pretty sure they fooled most of the str8’s in the audience). Good work Jim Carnahan and Carrie Gardner (CSA).

Which brings us to the spectacular final fight sequence. Yes, the entire show is a buildup to this moment. Yes, it’s pretty spectacular. Yes, it’s great fight choreography. And, yes, that final moment, post-fight, is truly magical. No one has ever seen anything quite as amazing as the final fight sequence in #ROCKYbroadway. All that aside, the focus shift away from what is truly important to this story, the love story,  is a bit disappointing and is, ultimately, where this stage adaptation falls flat. Not to mention the fact that if you are one of the lucky people that paid top dollar to sit in the front 6 rows of this show; SURPRISE, during the final 20 minutes you are re-located to seats onstage, which may be fun for some, but you are actually going to miss quite a bit of the visual finale of this show; which, by the way, does NOT stay in the previously stated era.  Stallone himself is quoted in promotional material for this production as saying “The fight was not the most important part… the part was the Heart.”  If those are the words of the iconic man that created this story and has a book writing credit in this show, then why aren’t we ending the story that way?

This is a fun night at the theatre and a show that has a willing audience to play to for years.

For show information… Click HERE

Andy Karl and Margo Seibert end the show with a passionate embrace.