Review by anonymous
June 04, 2016 certified reviewerWhat I liked
Several of the females leads stood out. Kahleesi has an a stunning voice, while the Stark girls had the loveliest moment in one of the only non-campy songs in the show. (More about that later.) The opening number has power (loved the music) yet the lyrics do it absolutely no service. “My name is Eddard Stark…Catelyn Stark…Arya Stark…Brandon Stark” repeated ad nauseum until Jon Snow starts his bit before immediately being pushed aside by Catelyn in one of the truly funny bits in the show. Maybe it’s because I’m a faithful follower of the show and I know who these characters are that I found this introduction facile, but when the actor playing Eddard Stark, burst into song singing, “My name is Eddard Stark” after two seconds earlier being introduced as “Eddard Stark,” the audience burst into laughter. One thing noticeable: the cast was visibly enjoying itself and in on the utter silliness of the proceedings.
What I didn't like
The lyricist never provided any psychological underpinnings of what these characters were thinking or feeling, but we got a lot of dick jokes. I discovered how many dicks jokes it takes before it gets boring: two. There are more gratuitous dick jokes in this musical than bad gay porn. And in one of the most off-putting moments in the show, Hodor is referred to as “a retarded friend.” About half the audience roared, the rest looked uncomfortable, including the couple sitting next to me. The woman was genuinely upset. There was a lot of simulated sex on stage, for which the early seasons of the show were notorious, and the audience seemed to love it, but it got one note fast. What about the characters? The musical calls itself a parody, but camp describes it better. There is nothing quick witted about this show. Burlesque is more like it.
My overall impression
I can’t say it was bad, because it wasn’t. I can’t say it was good, because it was far from it. It had some very funny moments and a couple of good songs. It was well produced for the most part. Costumes amazing, sets not so much. The direction serviceable, though the venue didn’t allow for much variety in the entrances and exits and the one-hour Fringe format forces a lot of compromises. In the end, I think it was the script that let me down the most. It went for the obvious, easy, facile joke and wasn’t clever in the least bit. They crammed a lot in the allotted one hour and maybe that was the problem, but how do cram into one hour with music what HBO did in ten without? This show did not answer that question.
