So I saw Cody on Friday night. I've seen the show 3 times (twice with Derek) and I've never realized how vital the role of Dimitri is to this show until I saw Cody..... because not gonna lie, watching him was an experiment in patience.
He clearly is trying his best, and probably has gotten a lot more confident than before, but it wasn't until his more dramatic scenes during Act 2 did I think he was anything other than terrible. His voice is wafer thin, and his chemistry with Christy is almost non existent. At times he reminded me a lot of high school productions where there isn't any male students available to play the male lead, so they cast the handsome jock just because he fulfills the basic requirements.
Thankfully, like others have mentioned, near the middle of Act 2 he really gets into the zone and does a good job of standing up to The Dowager Empress. Otherwise he is the perfect example of stunt casting that may work in helping boost the box office, but doesn't do anything to change the energy of the show.
I don't mind stunt casting, and sometimes it actually works to benefit the show (ex: Kinky Boots), but when it comes to stuff like this, it just lowers the quality of the show - especially for people like my mom, who this was their first experience seeing it. I'm sure Cody is a cool guy, and he works well within the pop genre (I've never heard any of his songs before), but Anastasia isn't the right show for him.
Updated On: 1/14/19 at 11:14 AM
