ljay889 said: "All of the lyrical and book revisions were literally done by Sondheim himself, with guidance from Elliot. It’s not like some random hack did them."
Well, it wasn't his book to revise, but Furth is dead, so I guess someone had to. Agree with the comment above that Sondheim's revisions of his own work don't always go so well. I'm not crazy with the sanitized version of the lyric to "You Could Drive A Person Crazy" that's been used since the 90's. Yeah, the original is ugly, but the girls have had it up to hear with him. Why would they say something in a polite way to the man who's frustrating them so deeply?
I do think this is an interesting take on the material. One could argue whether the issues Bobby faces are equally true for both genders and therefore whether a female lead works as well, but any one character of whatever sex (or race, or religion, or sexuality) can feel anything, so artistic license. Would be nice if they'd hire singers for the pit like the original production had, as the songs always sound a little thin without them. (Isn't it odd that we never see those singers in the documentary on the cast recording--they are on the recording, but unlike the couples and Bobby, whoever sang in that chorus doesn't seem to be present, isn't on camera anyway).