CAROLINE, OR CHANGE Previews — Page 8

Saw the show last night as well and largely agree with everything you said, Jordan.

After hearing the somewhat mediocre word of mouth, I went in with low expectations, but came out really enjoying the show.

Small critiques:

- The costumes for the washer, dryer, and radio gave me major Starlight Express vibes...and not in a good way. The Dryer looked like he was gearing up for a rave.

- All the performances were tremendous. However, I do think John Cariani had a bit of an off night.

- The staging for the moon was a bit annoying, as I had nosebleed TDF orchestra seats, and I frequently struggled to see her when she was in the top right/left corners of the stage. Her costume reminded me of a Ziegfeld Follies beauty 😍.

binau said: "At Jenna Russell’s concert London she just announced that the MD of her show Nigel Lilley (who is working in NYC on Caroline, or Change but appears to be temporarily in London) is returning back to New York next week to record the Caroline, or Change cast album!"

Fabulous news!!

I saw the show on Wednesday afternoon last week with a friend and didn't have too much frame of reference beyond just the general idea of the plot and it was really well done. My friend knew the show prior and was completely bowled over by the end. The show isn't my normal cup of tea, but the performances were incredible and the message of the show sadly remains very relevant.

I was in the rear mezzanine and there were definitely a fair number of seats and a few rows with open seats, but it was a small but mighty audience.

Sharon's performance was incredible and you could feel the huge emotional release of Lot's Wife as Caroline bottles up so much through out the entire show to that moment. The moment between Caroline and Noah that sets off the last half of Act 2 was so intense and you could hear a pin drop in the room as things began to spiral between them.

I thought Caissie was wonderful and as always she sounded great and such a drastic change from playing Elsa in Frozen. You could tell that Rose was trying to be kind and helpful in her actions, but also struggling in her own ways to fit into her new husband and stepson's world.

I had loved Samantha Williams in Dear Evan Hansen and her Alana is one of my favorites, but this was just an absolutely star making moment for her. She has such a fantastic voice and she pours so much passion and life into her performance. She's absolutely one to watch in the future, because she's going to be a star!

I loved The Radio so much and I don't think I'll ever stop thinking about how fabulous they were. The Moon was also a standout and being in the rear mezzanine I got the full impact of her appearances. The Washer's costume was cute (it reminded me a bit of a Lady Gaga outfit) and she did a great job overall as well. The Drier was fine, but it was hard to understand him at times which is partly I think a sound issue at Studio 54 in general. The Bus has such a great entrance and moment, but he also suffered from being hard to hear at time as well. A lot of the opening parts of the show were hard to hear when the appliances were singing together.

Someone in another thread mentioned how ugly the set design is and it was pretty ugly, but I feel like that's kind of part of the whole thing.

I'm planning to go back toward the end of the run with a HipTix and while the show doesn't fit the mold of my normal cup of tea, it's such a well done production that I'm excited to witness the performances again.

Updated On: 11/7/21 at 03:29 PM

"its impossible to get Kushner to edit himself"

He's CONSTANTLY editing himself. With almost every production he adds and edits. There are suggested edits in published versions of his plays. There are several published versions of many of his plays. The sprawling nature of Kushner's work is an intentional part of his aesthetic. It's not because he doesn't edit himself.