I think that posters and audience members have identified three issues, none of which have to do with viability and diversity of stories.
First, this rewrite was pretty terrible. Everything that kept the Life around for 20 years has been removed. The joy was sapped out of the production, and without that joy there is no way this version will ever have a life after this weekend. Plus the reorchestrations sapped the show of any musical diversity...every song basically sounded the same. Where was the gospel of "You Can't Get to Heaven"? Where was the cakewalk of "Easy Money"? I missed them so much.
Second, the rewrite centered Queen and gave her much more material. And unfortunately, the actress playing Queen was not really up to the challenge. She was perfectly fine, but, at least to me, she had neither the vocal or acting chops to make the audience want to follow her for three hours. There were so many times that I yearned for the voice and star quality of Pamela Isaacs in the role. And the duets with Ledisi amplified this so much. I couldn't believe how "My Friend" seemed to become a solo.
And third, I don't think it's fair to say this show was a net positive because of the inclusion of a trans character. This show was not good, and it caused many walk outs and grumbles during the show. They didn't leave because there was a trans character on stage...they left because the show containing the trans character - and the actress playing her - just were not compelling. (Also, I'm pretty sure the original production also had a trans character). |
