I wonder how much people are rethinking the story's integrity, versus the balance of those who applaud the story versus those who find it grotesque has shifted. I'm not seeing anything new being said about DEH's basic storyline, and even some friends who were fans of the original Broadway production also acknowledged these issues.
Maybe our culture has shifted in the past 3 years, maybe the casting of Platt is too uncanny valley for folks to process, and/or maybe this is just what happens when musicals are produced as full social realism (look at "In the Heights" and "Everybody's Talking About Jamie" for successful film musicals that have at least one foot in fantasy, frolic, magical realism, and queerness) and then assessed by film critics. |
