I think Paulus is an excellent director and there is nothing inherently wrong with the show's pace or staging. I believe her problem here is that she seemed uninspired. Either by pressure from producers or her own misguided instincts, she took the source material into a more comedic (read: forced) direction. Also, pushing the romance between the leads was another misstep. Better the relation was like Anna and the King than a typical love story, which this was not.
Again, the film was more subtle. Paulus' belief here that the material needed a heavy hand was wrong-minded IMO. I also feel the one person who needed to be removed from the ART production was Mia Michaels whose work here is so lacking in charm that it simply doesn't work for an iconic world that's filled with it. I'm not sure what went wrong here but I feel the problem is the juncture between the producer, director and choreographer. They created a perfectly fine evening but it had so much more potential.
Many people complain about the score but is it really any worse than the other shows this season? Fun Home for me would have been a better straight play. The music adds nothing of note. Something Rotten is typical college frolic fare. Only The Last Ship for me is worth repeat listening. Neverland is simply mediocre when it should have soared. But I don't think the score is the main blame here.
Is it Paulus' fault? I would say, for the most part, yes. She's at the helm and should have made far better changes with the concept and choreography. I thought after ART,she would have recognized that the tone and choreography were the weak links that needed refocus. She changed the dog, which was a good move but shockingly the other areas never were addressed.
I think Paulus lacked inspiration with this show. It happens. Casey Nicholaw has been regurgitating his best bits since Chaperone. I think Paulus is a better director but here she simply made an enjoyable evening rather than a memorable one. Given the material, the producer, and the director, expectations were high and the production didn't live up to the expectations.
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