I saw it yesterday afternoon. I was prepared for it to be more or less like Musicals Tonight, and I am happy to say this is much, much more like a small scale full production, fully staged with a lot of choreography. There's a three piece band - piano, bass, and xylophone/glock, which was a nice touch. I believe they're doing the post-Broadway version of the script (so act I ended with "The Party's On Me" and there was no "Spanglish").
J Savage in the Tommy Tune role really ran away with the show (aided in large part by Caitlin Belcik's choreography). The rest of the show didn't always spark for me, and I'm not sure if that's because the script is a challenge (too many cooks, and a hard-to-sell central relationship) or the leads didn't quite have the comic timing down or (most likely) the matinee audience wasn't giving the energy that a show like this really needs to soar. I'm glad I saw it, and I suspect it will be even better in its second weekend. The house appeared to be sold out, so if you're thinking about going, I won't wait too long to buy tickets. |
