Saw it yesterday. Here's my review as someone who had never seen the show before:
1. The set was very effective and well-designed. It does not make the Carnival explode with color and flair but then again this is a circus that has seen better times, so it all makes sense.
2. The performances: Lili was very good all around. She is a convincing ingenue with a lovely voice. Jim Stanek sang beautifully but he just never comes across as "menacing" or even really mean. His face works against him as he has boyish charm and his acting seemed sincere, just not mean enough. I got the feeling that Paul was just bored and pissed, but the deep emotional scars just don't seem to be there.
Marco the Magnificent acted and sand very well. He is hot, too! But he was so over the top that I just assumed he was a gay character and was surprised to see that he actually was quite the ladies' man. Michael Arnold was amazing. Great acting and dancing. He really brings the "Grand Imperial Cirque De Paris" number to life. Rosalie was played beautifully by an actress who reminded me of a young Rita Moreno and I enjoyed her comedy bits very much.
3. The music: gorgeous and the orchestra sounded truly beautiful.
4. The story: this is where things get tricky. You never get the feeling that Lili is falling in love with Paul through his puppets. I was actually quite surprised when it was explained late in the second act. I don't know if this because of the rewrites or if the performances just didn't come across as they should. It just seemed that she was so lonely that she allowed herself to believe the puppets were real.
Also, there is not enough character development for Lili. Yes, we get she's naive and alone in the world, but we never learn much else about her untiln the end, when we realize she is not that dumb and knew that the puppets were not real but Paul's way of expressing himself.
5. Puppets: beautiful, funny, instantly likeable.
6. Design: the lighting design worked beautifully with the set, it was truly a collaborative effort. Costumes were nice too, nothing particularly memorable, but I liked them. The choreography was at its best in this number too.
The only real problem I have with this production is the same I had with the KC Mame. Their shows are great and millions of dollars are visibly invested, but since the show runs for a few weeks only, the performers always seem to be very good and you can't help but feel that given a few more weeks to grow into their roles, they would be perfect. I thought so with Christine Baranski and this was my general feeling with the leads in Carnival.
My favorite parts were the musical numbers with Rosalie and Marco performing magic while singing and the Grand Imperial CIrque de Paris number, where the whole circus emerges from a box center stage.
Clearly, this review is not very inspired nor thorough but I am not really creative right now. I just wanted to post my impressinons for those of you who missed this fun, charming and touching production.
Another bad thing is ther are no souvenir brochures and obvioulsy no recording so you see the show and the memory better be very vivid forever because you have nothing to remind you of what you saw. I wonder why PBS doesn't broadcast these shows once their limited runs have concluded. Scratch that (I want to avoid the whole Broadway Treasures DVD debate). Make that "I would like it vey much if PBS would tape and broadcast these shows".
The meat is always leaner on somebody else's dinner plate!
