I just got back, and I'm pretty sure what I just saw will win the Tony for Best Revival of a Musical. It was thrilling to see that the production is in nearly flawless shape so early in its run. For the first time in a while I NEVER looked at my watch once during the entire performance, and when it was over, I could've watched it again from the beginning.
Audra McDonald is doing the best work of her career as Lizzie Curry. Gone are her mannerisms and refinements, and there was no trace of Juilliard trained soprano Audra McDonald. There was just Lizzie Curry: plainspoken, tough and in pain.
Audra was born to sing this music. From her first number, the gorgeous "Love, Don't Turn Away", to the best "Is It Really Me?" I've ever heard, everything sounded pitch perfect. She provided formidable support for Christopher Innvar during "A Man and a Woman", and ferociously matched Steve Kazee step for step during "You're Not Fooling Me". You'll be wiping sweat off your brow after her breathless, forceful "Old Maid". Ebersole has competition now.
Kazee is the only cast member that still has a way to go. He has a beautiful voice, but I often didn't believe him as Starbuck. He was underpowering in the first act, rushing through "The Rain Song". It's a fast song, but he was running through it and dropping words left and right. He got better in the second act and delivered a commanding "Melisande", but I was expecting more. I'm sure he'll get better as previews move forward.
The ensemble is among the best on Broadway right now. Innvar makes a great File; John Cullum, Bobby Steggert and Chris Butler were terrific as the Currys, and Carla Duren was a scene-stealing Snookie. Paul Gemignani led a fantastic band.
Finally, I have to say that while I love experimental reimaginings of classic shows (a la John Doyle and the like), it can often be so refreshing to just hear a beautiful score performed the way it was intended to be.
Get thee to Studio 54. I know I'll be back.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
