MemorableUserName said: "I saw this yesterday not being familiar with the material other than knowing a couple of the songs out of context. A cheap ticket (at least in comparison to the regular prices; $99 for partial view side orchestra that was essentially full view except for the most minor things) opened up so I took it.
My main takeaway: the narrator is godawful and must be stopped.
I'm pretty sure that is not what I was supposed to get out of it, but with every stupid, smug, smirking aside I was just getting more livid, to the point where I was having a visceral reaction and recoiling every time he showed up after a song to completely ruin the mood that had been created with a dumb joke or obnoxious line.
When "One Night in Bangkok" ended and he strolled out and said, "Damn, that was hot!"
When Svetlana finished her big emotional song and he strolled out and said, "Oh, shiiiiiiiit!" (This was where I was on the verge of booing him.)
In the big climactic moment when he rattles off all the stakes and the players, building to a melodramatic, "Here at the climax of OUR COLD WAR MUSICAL!"
Yes, a lot of the audience laughed, but audiences frequently laugh at stupid things. The things arestill stupid. And this was thoroughly. He introduces one character by saying, "he's kind of a dick," and later after one manipulative moment from that character pops up to say, "See, I told you he was kind of a dick." And I thought, "And yet, somehow less of a dick than you are."
It's a shame, because otherwise this is an enjoyable enough evening of people with great voices belting their faces off. Tveit, Michele, Cruz, and especially Rodriguez are all great. Until it falls apart at the end, the plot is easy enough to follow, even if it may not hold up to close examination. It's sensible enough to carry the audience along from song to song.
But yes, it does fall apart at the end. Even knowing nothing about how the plot usually works I could tell "Someone Else's Story" doesn't make sense where they have it. The lyrics simply don't apply to her relationship to Anatoly as it's been portrayed at that point in the show, which has entirely seemed like genuine love(and would obviously make more sense referring to Freddie earlier). All of the events in the end starting from that song are also really rushed.
Click Here To Toggle Spoiler ContentThe reunion with her father is both poorly staged and written (him saying he heard he was freed because of a chess match and the audience braying in laughter just showed how the tone was off). It also made little sense that the KGB that showed no indication of caring at all about these people would come through on its promise. It would have hit harder and made more sense if we had seen Anatoly agree to go back if they returned her father...and then they didn't. Because why would they? There was nothing he could do about it after they had him back.
If they cut all of the narrator's jokes and bits and made him a straightforward deliverer of exposition this would have worked much better as an entertaining showcase for talented people giving 100% to their songs. Instead, it's songs punctuated with this:
"
Great review. Kudos for the memes, but who the F is "Rodriguez"????
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