As someone who loved the original production, I guess I'm also an auditory learner. :)
I think by the time it opened, it looked just fine. Not brilliant, but fine. (A few of the critics did feel that way, too, for whatever that's worth.) And the cast was superb, and Prince's direction had both detail and throughline. Was it perfect? No. Were there places where, even after the great improvements to musical staging put in by Larry Fuller, the musical staging looked underdone because there were limits to what the cast could do? Sure. But the strengths far outweighed the weaknesses, at least for this observer. |
