| Days of Wine and Roses (last night) | |
| Posted by: Ncassidine 10:49 am EDT 05/07/23 | |
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| We hardly ever buy tickets months in advance, but we jumped on these in February because of the cast, and for curiosity's sake. What a strange project to adapt, right? I have to say, I was TRANSFIXED, mostly by the acting. Brian D'Arcy James and Kelli O'Hara are both doing exquisite work. I think I personally felt that the book is a lot stronger than the score. The score FEELS like Piazza, in many respects, which doesn't make a ton of sense. There are a few pieces you could probably call songs (there was no song list, at least last night) but most are vignettes, without a hook or structure to them. The lyrics are absolutely beautiful (as is the music) but it's a little unbelievable (in the strictest sense of the word) that these two characters would be singing absolutely beautiful lyrics. The book makes some nice changes from the movie (I've never seen the original teleplay), including turning the daughter, Lila, into a real character. Because, for the first 90 minutes of the 1 hour and 45 minute musical, D'Arcy James and O'Hara are doing ALL of the singing (Ella Dane Morgan, as Lila, has some material towards the end that's wonderful and affecting), it's a strange show. There are 6 other actors playing small parts, but all in non-singing roles. So, even when the score itself feels like it's exploring genre and different musical material, you're never given a break from the intimacy and destruction of this marriage. The show is running very close to 2 hours without an intermission, but never feels long. A lot of what was new about this project when it was new (the language in Alcoholics Anonymous, and awareness about alcoholism in general) has been done everywhere now, but it's incredibly striking how fresh a lot of it feels when you're talking about these specific characters. This musical doesn't set that up quite well enough, but it's a completely fascinating ride. |
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