"Personally, I found the production generally too relentless. It was like being hit on the head again and again for two hours and change."
My take on this: it felt entirely presentational. Everything pitched out, many crosses downstage to underscore zingers, less intimacy established between players in the first act. It was built into Dolly's entrance, when Midler walked down and threw up her hands to acknowledge the house. Peters did almost the same thing, obviously, though the Peters iteration (I saw all the same supporting folk, Garber switched in of course) seemed slightly less so as the evening wore on. Peters exerts a different energy, and I suspect Buckley did on the road. I took to be Zak's reading of the material's strength -- sock it to the back of the house to make it land -- and rolled with it. But you're not the only person I know who found its drive too pushy by half. A good friend who loves big, bright musical theater said it wore him out. |
