| THE LIFE was never a very good musical—hackneyed hooker hash—and now it’s a lecture, a hostage to sanctimony. It’s not that its sentiments aren’t appreciable, it’s that they take the form of hectoring rather than characterization. This makes for self important, deadly theatre. And this on top of the many other baffling directorial choices. The opening of the second Act alone bounds, inexplicably, from a political vaudeville turn to a Chorus Line homage. And then, in the next scene, there’s an actual Greek chorus for good measure. What? Ledisi is the eleven o’clock spot and she’s terrific, but everything else here is just a bumptious mess. This iteration of THE LIFE is really too tiresome to get worked up about. May it rest in peace. |
