Donica was back in tonight and, frankly, I wouldn’t have known he was recently sick considering he was in fine voice and physical form. The show pretty much only comes alive when he is on stage and him and Phillipa Soo have a crackling chemistry. To that end, Soo played Guinevere with her full arsenal of emotions - from cheeky, to sexy, to vengeful, to broken - albeit myself and some others do recognize that Soo playing a jilted/betrayed partner of sorts is directly in her wheelhouse.
Burnap is okay, but definitely was underamplified for having such a thin voice. When he goes toe-to-toe with Donica, I found it laughable that Donica was the one bending a knee. There are times where it felt like Burnap, Donica, and Soo were all in different shows based on the way they were directed and only the latter two ever really found their way back together
I found Taylor Trensch profoundly annoying in this - his character appears just out of nowhere at the top of Act II and isn’t really doing camp, but more like is Dear Evan Hansen had a different kind of mood disorder.
Like with any Lincoln Center/Bart Sher production, the orchestrations are lush and wonderful, but sometimes obstruct the singing. Also, the cavernous set is a problem since there never isn’t much in the way of large set pieces to fill the dead air space, giving the music a bit of a hollow feeling. Overall, I think “hollow” is the best way to describe this production as a whole. It’s there - but really missing the romance and the heart. There is a chance I could actually see this show getting overlooked for Revival in favor of Dancin’ for the fourth slot, depending on the reviews.
In terms of timing, Act 1 ran about 1:40 and Act 2 was about 1:00, yet the pace of Act II dragged out and felt somehow longer.
Stage Door (since people inevitably ask) - Soo, Burnap, Dakin Matthews, Fergie Phillipe, Camden McKinnon (the boy), Marilee Talkington, Matias De La Flor, and Paul Whitty all signed.
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Updated On: 3/30/23 at 12:13 AM