Went to the matinee on Sunday and found it to be surprisingly amateur. In addition to the not very strong material (probably a dozen songs that could be cut), it is also a poorly staged and designed show. When Josh Young and Tom Hewitt sing together on the dock, they merely stand still and sing to each other with everyone essentially frozen in action around them for a whole 2 minutes (this type of staging happens a lot through the show). The entirety of Gattelli's choreography for the Act 1 ball is essentially opening and shutting fans on the beat.
The audience members around me were restless throughout the entire show and complained during intermission that the show was long and boring. Act 2 didn't fare better for them until the finale when the cast sang what is a very fine arrangement of "Amazing Grace." Then they leapt to their feet and sang along waving their arms during the curtain call.
It's an exceptionally talented cast and everyone is in fine voice, but only Chris Hoch ever rises above the material to create a memorable character. Even if it's a tad cartoon villain-y, he at least makes strong, detailed choices that allows him to make an impression.
As it stands, it is far too long with deadly pacing and many unnecessary songs. "No Negotiation," "Never," "Expectations," "Welcome Song," and "A Chance For Me" should all be cut as they either musicalize a moment that doesn't need to be or are given to a character whose storyline isn't defined enough to warrant them being given 4 minutes alone to sing. And Whizzer is absolutely on point when he says that finale feels very takced on, essentially having Chuck Cooper tell the audience "And that was how John Newton came to discover that slavery was bad...oh and by the way, he also wrote..."
I would love it if the creative team found a way to actually fix this show, but given the fact that they've already had an out-of-town tryout and the audience is incredibly responsive to the finale, they may mistakenly feel that they have a working show on their hands.
"Sing the words, Patti!!!!" Stephen Sondheim to Patti LuPone.
Updated On: 6/30/15 at 01:15 PM
