KISS ME, KATE! (2019) Reviews- Page 2

[Phillytheatreguy10]

Posted: 3/15/19 at 10:14am

A couple things, first, the charge wasn't that she couldn't do comedy.  The charge I was replying to was that she was miscast which I still believe.  She was miscast for the same reason Bernadette was considered miscast in Gypsy.  Certain roles have a long standing history of expectations.  can she reinterpret this, sure, was it successful, I would argue, no, based on the reviews that aren't even polarizing but all over the place- which I think that speaks volumes to the production itself.  From step one, the creative team didn't know what to do with this, and anytime you bring in someone to revise or modernize the text, especially the first ever Tony Award winning Best Musical, you're setting yourself up for failure.  The approach should've been to acknowledge it for what it was and then try to interpret it for a new audience, but the conceit of the piece was always going to be a hard sell to a "me too" audience.  Which brings me to why do it in the first place?  Many have said these reviews don't matter, because it's selling well.  Ok, here's the rub, Roundabout is a subscription house- those tickets were sold before this was cast or reviewed.  Studio 54 is one of the smaller houses and it is subscription based who's ages of members are largely above what's considered to be millenial- so why tailor this to millenials? It was a misfire all around.  Back to Kelly, who I should caution I am a fan of despite what you're reading, people keep saying she can do bawdy- show me the receipts.  She's painting with too broad a brush here, commit, go all in, don't be afraid to get a little messy- O'hara largely strikes me as that one Musical Theatre actress in your college class who has an amazing voice, is a great technician, but struggles to really dig in and be anything but perfect- Musical Theatre grads, you know this person.  I want to see a fully committed performance, I want to see someone make a damn choice and go for it, fail spectacularly or succeed greatly, but I don't want "meh" at the end of their efforts.  And for the love of God, the director is not 100% to blame for an actor's performance. A Director's job is to tend the garden not plant it.  I think when an Actor/Actress says the Director got this performance out of me they do themselves a disservice- it was always in them, they needed a little guidance to find their way, but it was there. All around, this was a misfire- different strokes for different folks indeed! Finally, I think Roundabout has a real producing problem, they take all their risks and cater to new works or new interpretations at the Off-Broadway level, and as some reviews pointed out, many of that work is thrilling, like the re-interpretation of Merrily we Roll Along currently running- do more of that Todd, but give it a shot on a larger stage!

Updated On: 3/15/19 at 10:14 AM

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 3/15/19 at 4:55pm

Take this lightly please, but some white space makes it easier for aging eyes to focus.

I don't think we disagree on much. I think that Kelli has the acting chops to descend into low comedy. I missed two pieces of evidence since this woman is just so flexible. She made her opera debut at the Met five years ago. Sort of a Broadway meets Opera debut. Susan Stroman directed The Merry Widow. Kelli plays a noblewoman disappointed in love who gets drunk and falls in on stage with the Grisettes chorus. Even if you don't like Kelli it is a treat for the male eyes. On Youtube and recommended.

More recently she appeared in a legit production of Cose Fan Tutte. Talk about respecting your material. They set Mozart's classic in Coney Island in the 1950s. Kelli plays the chambermaid at a local motel. It is another comic role and as usual was well received even by operaphiles who complained about the lack of respect given to the opera.

Kelli O’Hara is a brilliant bit of casting as Despina, the chambermaid at the Skyline Motel who orders her bobby-soxer bosses to have fun, and instructs them on the perfidy of men..... Her Italian isn’t crisp or her Mozart native, and she’s had a microphone-aided career, but she has the vocal technique and personality to command the Met’s stage without breaking a sweat.                  VULTURE

Things start off with a playful pantomime during the overture. We see Don Alfonso (the hearty, excellent baritone Christopher Maltman) acting as a sort of master of ceremonies. His assistant is Despina, the maid who works for the two sisters, and here the wonderful Kelli O'Hara, a Broadway star who brings savvy dramatic instincts, a lovely soprano voice and quite good Italian diction to the role.   TIMES

So convince me that this enormously talented and fearless actress could not even equal Marin Mazzie and Rachel York in playing bawdy and over-the-top if not held back by moral instincts.

I'm not in favor of tampering with old musicals, or plays or films for that matter. They were set in a particular time period, they are only sure to work in the period, and educate your audience, if they are too much for audiences to handle, put them aside.

I might be pounded here, or ignored, for stating my opinion that it is looney to cast an African American as Billy in Carousel. A great deal of the audience is not going to know that the African American is playing a white, and will take the biracial seriously, not knowing that an African American at that time in New England would not be seen as a barker at a white carnival riding the carousel and touching the white girls. And the black, not the black playing a white, gets credit for hitting his wife.

I'm not sure that you know Kelli O'Hara very well. Although a person who comes off as sympathetic and not liking to displease anyone, she is aggressive when she has to be, as in the famous "lunch with Marvin" audition story. She plays at the Met without fear. Takes her young family to London for the summer, where she is a great popular success. But your opinion, as one whom I assume is in the theater, I give an edge to over mine.

To add color to the selection of Will Chase and Kelli O'Hara to star in Kiss Me, Kate for Roundabout, three years ago the two of them did a one night benefit concert version for Roundabout. I guess they were pleased at the time.

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 3/15/19 at 4:56pm

Out of the 18 reviews I read, I would say five to seven leaned negative of the production as a whole. The rest leaned much more positive. Even some of those negative reviews highlighted O’Hara’s performance as a positive. I have to admit I had a blissful time at the first preview so I am unapologetically biased. I understand it’s just my opinion. I do think this will be Block’s year (I haven’t seen The Cher Show) because she hasn’t won before and because she is reportedly the overwhelmingly best thing about a show that many feel is mediocre.

[MFlynn4]

Posted: 3/15/19 at 5:11pm

Hi, long time lurker, first time registrant. Jumping off Miles' comment, I did a deep-dive into the reviews because I was confused to see comments - in this thread as well as in the Tony predictions thread - referring to O'Hara's mixed/negative notices, when most of what I had read seemed quite favorable and at times glowing. Here's what I came up with:

 

Rave/Positive

Jesse Green for NYT: rave for O’Hara (“sublime,” etc.), positive for the show; https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/14/theater/kiss-me-kate-review.html

Roma Torre for NY1: rave for O’Hara (“lights up the stage with her incomparable talents,” etc.), rave for the show; https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2019/03/14/theater-review---kiss-me--kate-

Peter Marks for WaPo: rave for O’Hara (“heavenly performance,” etc.), rave for the show; https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/on-broadway-i-just-saw-my-first-kiss-me-kate-it-was-worth-the-wait/2019/03/14/0ab75ed0-44e4-11e9-8aab-95b8d80a1e4f_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.9e429c3ef489

Charles Isherwood for Broadway News: near rave for O’Hara (“soars,” etc.), positive for the show; https://broadway.news/2019/03/14/review-kelli-ohara-soars-in-a-revised-kiss-me-kate/

Dave Quinn for EW: rave for O’Hara (“what can’t she do?,” etc.), positive for the show; https://ew.com/theater-reviews/2019/03/14/kiss-me-kate-review/

Joe Dziemianowicz for the NY Post: rave for O’Hara (“puts her stamp on her roles with wry comedy, physical abandon and rapturous singing,” etc." ), positive for the show; https://nypost.com/2019/03/14/raunchy-gutsy-kiss-me-kate-showcases-glorious-kelli-ohara/

Barbara Schuler for Newsday: positive for O’Hara (“perfection as always" ), positive for the show; https://broadway.news/2019/03/14/review-kelli-ohara-soars-in-a-revised-kiss-me-kate/

Tim Teeman for Daily Beast: positive for O’Hara (“excellent" ), positive for the show; https://www.thedailybeast.com/kiss-me-kate-in-this-broadway-revival-shell-also-kick-your-butt

Chris Jones for NY Daily News: positive for O’Hara (“pitch-perfect ability to convey a kind of existential gravitas" ), positive for the show; https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/broadway/ny-ent-kiss-me-kate-0314-story.html

Greg Evans for Deadline: positive for O’Hara (“the production takes full flight with ‘I Hate Men’" ), positive for the show; https://deadline.com/2019/03/kiss-me-kate-broadway-review-will-chase-kelli-ohara-cole-porter-roundabout-theatre-company-1202574481/

Robert Hofler for the Wrap: positive for O’Hara (“has never sounded more thrilling" ), positive for the show; https://www.thewrap.com/kiss-me-kate-broadway-review-kelli-ohara-and-will-chase-are-so-in-love/

David Cote for Observer: positive for O’Hara (“angelic soprano" ), positive for the show; https://observer.com/2019/03/kiss-me-kate-review-a-broadway-classic-gets-consent/

Frank Rizzo for Variety: positive for O’Hara (“O’Hara scores particularly well with “I Hate Men,” though she can’t help infusing even the most extreme character with innate warmth" ), mixed-positive for the show; https://variety.com/2019/legit/reviews/kiss-me-kate-review-broadway-kelli-ohara-1203162932/

Naveen Kumar for Towleroad: positive for O’Hara (“the production shines thanks in large part to O’Hara" ), positive for the show; http://www.towleroad.com/2019/03/kiss-me-kate/


Mixed

Charles McNulty for the LA Times: mostly positive for O’Hara (“she doesn’t have enough opportunities to do what she does best: turn wistfulness into song" ), mixed for the show; https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/theater/reviews/la-et-cm-kiss-me-kate-review-20190314-story.html

Sara Holdren for Vulture: mixed-positive for O’Hara (“O’Hara and Styles both sound phenomenal, but there’s nuance lacking in the characters" ), mixed-negative for the show; https://www.vulture.com/2019/03/theater-review-can-kiss-me-kate-survive-a-2019-gaze.html

Adam Feldman for Time Out: mixed for O’Hara (“O’Hara’s full and clear soprano is as lovely as always, but her Lilli is more whimper than bang" ), mostly positive for the show; https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/kiss-me-kate

David Rooney for THR: mixed for O’Hara (“There are corresponding losses and gains, too, in O'Hara's performance,” etc.), mixed for the show; https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/kiss-me-kate-theater-review-1194513


Negative

Terry Teachout for WSL: negative for O’Hara, negative for the show (I gather, can’t read as it’s behind the paywall); https://www.wsj.com/articles/kiss-me-kate-review-so-not-in-love-11552609800

Christopher Kelly for NJ.com: negative for O’Hara (“The normally luminous O’Hara, especially, seems more interested in the material as the chance to serve up her takes on Porter standards" ), negative for the show; https://www.nj.com/entertainment/2019/03/kiss-me-kate-never-gets-out-of-first-gear-but-be-more-chill-has-charm-broadway-reviews.html

Updated On: 3/15/19 at 05:11 PM

[Synecdoche2]

Posted: 3/15/19 at 5:28pm

Teachout's Review:

‘Kiss Me, Kate,” Cole Porter’s ingenious 1948 transformation of “The Taming of the Shrew” into a backstage musical, is back on Broadway for the first time in more than 17 years. The Roundabout Theater Company has reunited the production team behind its 2016 revival of “She Loves Me” for a big-budget version directed by Scott Ellis and choreographed by Warren Carlyle whose cast is headed by Kelli O’Hara and Will Chase. Would that it were even half as good, but this “Kiss Me, Kate” is bland and unimaginative. Not only is Ms. O’Hara miscast—she is as warm and friendly as Kate is sharp-witted and spiky—but she and Mr. Chase have all the romantic chemistry of a pair of squabbling siblings. As for Mr. Ellis’s staging, it looks as though he’d put the show together while thinking about something else (which he may well have been, seeing as how he’s also directing “Tootsie,” which opens on Broadway next month).

For the record, Mr. Ellis brought in Amanda Green to give the last scene of “Kiss Me, Kate” a feminist spin, and I’m sorry to say that she’s delivered the goods. Among other things, she’s changed “I Am Ashamed That Women Are So Simple” to “I Am Ashamed That People Are So Simple” in order to spare the tender sensibilities of the aggressively woke. I yield to no one in my admiration for Ms. Green, but it’s no small trick to have simultaneously insulted Cole Porter, Shakespeare and every literate person in the audience.

[Phillytheatreguy10]

Posted: 3/15/19 at 5:37pm

Acting in opera is often bandied about as not being very good- in a sense you proved my point with that argument.  Musical theatre acting and opera acting are polar opposites. Emoting a song and embodying a role are very different.  Just because you win a Tony does not make you critic proof nor should it give you a pass on weaker performances you may give after winning.  I've heard many a tale of Kelli not being as likeable off stage and having done some unsavory things to get where she is- they are tabloid fodder for sure, so I take them lightly, but to not offer a truly critical assessment because a performer is a seemingly nice person who plays nice person roles is not doing your job as a critic.  Times reviews are not taken seriously anymore- when those that favor print reviews, which seem very old fashioned die out, a Critic's Pick stamp of approval from the Times will mean little.  I realize that sounds ageist, but print media will eventually be a thing of the past.  I know many who do not base what they see on reviews- esp. the Times which is almost a caricature of it's grand bygone days- when we can predict the exact adjectives Brantley or Greene will use toward a certain performer based on past reviews, that's lazy work on their part and really diminishes anything that would follow.  Theatre is at it's best when it prompts discussion, which clearly this is doing, so maybe I owe it more credit.  We all have the right to enjoy what we enjoy, and I would enjoy not sitting through this production that, I feel was a misfire, again. All that being said, Kelli will get the nom because she is Kelli, not because the work is revelatory- when has Katherine ever been a soaring Soprano, that's not how it's written it makes no sense for a bawdy character to have songs that sound pretty and not strong or persuasive- which Kate is supposed to be- that's just poor character development- which is not the case from these masters. Adam Feldman gets closest to an honest to God critical assessment of this work.  He even stumbles onto the point that maybe this is working for many because though O'hara isn't playing the part to the extent that the men of the piece sound justified in making her out to seem like a truly heinous woman offers a more sympathetic view of the character- which I found interesting and while he doesn't fully commit to the notion it takes his review over from being a simple ego stroke to a true critical assessment.  I would argue the Cher show is no fluffier than a Cole Porter musical- I give Block the edge for a true star turn that shows her to be a woman of many talents that is finally getting her due, in terms of praise and where awards may be concerned, just as O'Hara finally did with The King and I.

Updated On: 3/15/19 at 05:37 PM

[Here I Am]

Posted: 3/15/19 at 8:32pm

Why is nobody talking about Beth Leavel for the Tony win? Her performance in ‘The Prom’ is a true tour de force in every sense of the word.

[JayElle]

Posted: 3/15/19 at 11:20pm

OldBlueyes wrote, in part, "Lilli is self-assured and every bit her ex-husband’s match; she is spanked by him on stage only after knocking him around physically herself, and ultimately reconciles with him on her own terms."

Did we see the same show?  I saw Kelli & Chase kick each other in the butt, he threw her over the shoulder, but I didn't see the spanking scene that was in the movie.  That behavior was horribly acceptable in alot of movies, tv in the 1950s.

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 3/16/19 at 3:12am

JayElle said: "OldBlueyes wrote, in part, "Lilli is self-assured and every bit her ex-husband’s match; she is spanked by him on stage only after knocking him around physically herself, and ultimately reconciles with him on her own terms."

Did we see the same show? I saw Kelli & Chase kick each other in the butt, he threw her over the shoulder, but I didn't see the spanking scene that was in the movie. That behavior was horribly acceptable in alot of movies, tv in the 1950s."

I didn't make it clear that I was talking about the 1999 revival on Broadway and the West End. These were very popular and have stayed with us since the West End production with Rachel York following Marin Mazzie in the role of Katherine. This production is well known since a performance with Rachel and Brent in the roles was broadcast on Great Performances and is available on DVD and streaming on Youtube.

The book of the original underwent major changes for 1999 and this one that just opened incorporated all those changes, so there was less for Amanda to do.

In the first preview there was no spanking and the scene just lost its way and drifted to no real conclusion. In the last preview they wisely followed the path of the Rachel/Brent production. Petruchio got his arms around her, but in trying to get her into the spanking position she slips away and falls on the floor. At this point pandemonium breaks out and the curtain is lowered. In the next scene backstage Lilly slaps Fred a couple of more times and exits with dignity, while Fred is whining that he thinks his eye is bleeding. This last was kept in the new revival.

I hope this satisfies you. The spanking is really very upsetting to women.

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 3/16/19 at 3:23am

Some gay men also find it upsetting that a woman being spanked against her will would be played for laughs.

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 3/16/19 at 3:58am

Phillytheatreguy10 said: "Acting in opera is often bandied about as not being very good- in a sense you proved my point with that argument. Musical theatre acting and opera acting are polar opposites. Emoting a song and embodying a role are very different.

I guess our discussion is over since you accept no arguments against you. You want evidence that Kelli can act bawdily so I refer to your a clip from The Merry Widow showing her intoxicated and wandering onto the stage and joining the kick line with the chorus girls. By showing you this I'm really help proving your point. Huh?

The New York Times reviews are no longer important. Huh? You might want to think so and I might want to think so, but we know that this is simply not true.

But, forgive me, truly wacky is your plan to save Roundabout. Instead of putting on splashy, high budget, Tony-winning revivals, they should put on Broadway a big budget Merrily We Roll Along? The original production didn't last two weeks. Time goes backwards. That's fine for a Star Trek episode, but for mainstream theatergoers? Based on Jesse Green's review, it wouldn't make his list of top 500 revivals.

This is a baby that only a Sondheimite could love. (Although it does have one of his best ballads in "Not a Day Goes By."  In fact, I covered that song as well as "Good Thing Going."

 

 

[LuPita2]

Posted: 3/16/19 at 5:00am

Some gay men also find it upsetting that a woman being spanked against her will would be played for laughs.

All people can find that upsetting. No gender or sexual orientation involved. 

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 3/16/19 at 10:45am

It's too bad that Charles Isherwood went from being arguably the second most influential critic in New York if not the country to the relative obscurity of Broadway News. He probably speaks for many thousands of lurkers here.

The changes are certainly reasonable — and, frankly, I have always found the depictions of gender relationships in the Shakespeare play distasteful, no matter how hard directors try to soften or subvert them

— but are they really necessary? Surely Broadway audiences attending a revival of a 1948 musical comedy drawing on a 16th-century comedy might be expected to recognize how the culture has changed.

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 3/16/19 at 4:21pm

LuPita2 said: "Some gay men also find it upsetting that a woman being spanked against her will would be played for laughs.

All people can find that upsetting. No gender or sexual orientation involved."

Yes, that was what I was trying to imply. Sorry if it wasn’t clear. 

[Loopin’theloop]

Posted: 3/16/19 at 4:49pm

OlBlueEyes said: "JayElle said: "OldBlueyes wrote, in part, "Lilli is self-assured and every bit her ex-husband’s match; she is spanked by him on stage only after knocking him around physically herself, and ultimately reconciles with him on her own terms."

Did we see the same show? I saw Kelli & Chase kick each other in the butt, he threw her over the shoulder, but I didn't see the spanking scene that was in the movie. That behavior was horribly acceptable in alot of movies, tv in the 1950s."

I didn't make it clear that I was talking about the 1999 revival on Broadway and the West End. These were very popular and have stayed with us since the West End production with Rachel York following Marin Mazzie in the role of Katherine. This production is well known since a performance with Rachel and Brent in the roles was broadcast on Great Performances and is available on DVD and streaming on Youtube.

The book of the original underwent major changes for 1999 and this one that just opened incorporated all those changes, so there was less for Amanda to do.

In the first preview there was no spanking and the scene just lost its way and drifted to no real conclusion. In the last preview they wisely followed the path of the Rachel/Brent production. Petruchio got his arms around her, but in trying to get her into the spanking position she slipsaway and fallson the floor. At this point pandemonium breaks out and the curtain is lowered. In the next scene backstage Lilly slaps Fred a couple of more times and exits with dignity, while Fred is whining that he thinks his eye is bleeding. This last was kept in the new revival.

I hope this satisfies you. The spanking is really very upsetting to women."

The spanking was in the Barret/York production 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DTSkWZXai9w&list=PLe5zg02hnnxk8RkbL8gRDWiBY5H2aZuc0&index=11&t=0s

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 3/17/19 at 7:07pm

I saw this this afternoon and have no idea what the complaints are about. Thought it was one of the funniest, most enjoyable pieces of theater I've seen in a long time.

https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2019/03/theater-diaries-kiss-me-kate-and-prom.html

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 3/17/19 at 7:33pm

poisonivy2 said: "I saw this this afternoon and have no idea what the complaints are about. Thought it was one of the funniest, most enjoyable pieces of theater I've seen in a long time.

 

I’m glad you enjoyed. I was there for the first preview and found it blissful. 

 

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 3/17/19 at 8:36pm

I also dont see why Ol'Blue Eyes you find the omission of the spanking so unforgivable. Lilli and Fred do have a knock down drag out fight in this version. There's slapping, kicking, and a strong subtext of a little BDSM in their relationship. 

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 3/18/19 at 5:10am

I'm sorry to have given you that impression. It was this scene in the first preview that was very ragged and clearly still under development. The jousting went on, back and forth, for too long and never reached a climax. By the last preview they had decided to closely follow the scene in the 1999 revival, omitting anything found to be objectionable. 

The entire 1999 revival, having traveled to London and taken on Brent Barrett and Rachel York as principals, is on YouTube in 22 6.5 minute segments. (It's also available on Blu Ray.) There Kate punches Petruchio in the gut and later elbows him in his private parts. It's understandable that O'Hara did not want to do these. But she catches Petruchio with two or three hard slaps to the face, and relentlessly comes at him kicking. Petruchio in Roundabout grabs Kate and tries to put her in position for the spanking, but she slips through his grasp, falls to the floor, and pandemonium ensues. 

There was no such climactic moment in the first preview, no curtain falling and no flustered entertainers improvising a dance in front of the curtain while loud noise came from behind the curtain.

So apparently everyone is happy with the scene now and I have written far to much about it and am done with the subject. This scene was just a mess in the first preview and it was given the most attention during previews.

Here, in fact, is the scene by Brent Barrett and Rachel York, which I see Loopinloop has already linked.  If you did not try his link above, I recommend it. Here it is again. I think Rachel is very good here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=DTSkWZXai9w&list=PL-I3IyTxxSadAPOrpasuA4r2AAXBf157N&index=10

Updated On: 3/18/19 at 05:10 AM

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 3/18/19 at 8:48pm

Ol'Blue Eyes if you haven't seen KMK since the first preview I suggest you go see it again. The accounts I read from early previews differ so drastically from what I saw yesterday afternoon. It's really now a very funny, raucous show.

[chanel]

Posted: 3/18/19 at 10:36pm

Another positive review. (Scroll down.)

http://www.newnownext.com/halston-designer-tv-miniseries/03/2019/

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 3/18/19 at 10:55pm

Thanks, poisonivy,

I saw the last preview on Wednesday night. That's how I knew that they followed the 1999 revival closely, but Kelly wanted no part of slugging Will in the solar plexus or hitting him in that other place. Also I saw that no one wanted the spanking, Although Petruchio grabbed Kate as if to spank, she got away. 

I even liked the end of that scene where the curtain has fallen and those hapless company members in front of the stage have to improvise a little act while a lot of noise comes from behind the curtain.

I thought the story dragged a little in the second act, but it had those great dance numbers and Stephanie's song.

Ben Brantley reviewing the 1999 revival said

''Kiss Me, Kate'' asserts that there is still a place for sophisticated, grown-up fun in the New York theater.

Brooks Atkinson, in his review of the original said:

All you can say for 'Kiss Me, Kate' is that it is terribly enjoyable,

 

 

[ethan231h]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 2:16pm

Extended to June 30

[sppunk]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 7:15pm

We saw Kiss Me, Kate! Sunday and had an absolutely joyous time. I knew most the music, but had never seen this skit was “new” to me. I love Kelli O’Hara and she was great as always, though I do agree in the second half she seemed to get a bit lost in the shuffle. 

Stephanie Styles stood out - like “I think I’m seeing a huge star in the making” type of stand out.

Will Chase has a wonderful voice. 

Too Darn Hot is worth the ticket price alone. 

Is it the best thing I’ve seen? No. Is it a revival that will be talked about in 80 years? Doubtful. But it’s a highly entertaining day of theater and I’m glad we saw it.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 3/19/19 at 7:33pm

OlBlueEyes said: "

"So convince me that this enormously talented and fearless actress could not even equal Marin Mazzie and Rachel York in playing bawdy and over-the-top if not held back by moral instincts."

It's not about how enormously talented and fearless O'Hara is.  I adore her.

It's about whether the interpretation of Lilli/Kate works in this production.
Even great actors can have misfires.

If you ask me Kelli is wonderful as Kate (the end of the show within a show doesn't work, but that's the fault of the direction and fooling with the lyrics, not Kelli's).

Her Lilli is just not fun enough.  In her zeal to not make Lilli into a bitch, she has become bland.   There is no theatricality, flamboyance or over the topness about her.

To me, that doesn't work.  To others, it does no doubt.