Taffy, the little brat: “Saw the matinee today. First act meh, second act much better, with more satisfying nostalgic feels. Roger and Casey were both (very?) good, but Hugh Coles is the MVP (and he’s hot IRL).”
Was there too. Agreed. Took my 10-yo and she liked it for the most part, but said some parts were cringey (accurate). 2nd act was definitely better, and the finale is incredibly well-done; reminded me of seeing Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at “The Hilton” where the car was also the MVP.
The rehearsed manic, faux-spontaneous banter got tiresome, and Bart’s character voice totally vanishing during his songs was odd. Warmed up to the Seymour-like/too-handsome George once I bought into his Crispin Glover act; his shadings and character development moved it beyond a simple impersonation after a while. (The song in the shaky tree only barely sputtered to life). A fun matinee with a 5th grader and my eyes didn’t roll as much as expected (esp. as it progressed along.) But I can’t remember a single one of the new songs. Oof.