Posted: 3/12/16 at 3:05am
As part of the New York Pops subscription series at Carnegie Hall, Darren Criss and Betsy Wolfe performed a wide variety of songs from shows and composers of "recent" (going back almost 40 years) times. Even for someone rooted more in Broadway's past, the composers and shows and songs were very alien, except for Sir Andrew and Kander and Ebb. I was just as unfamiliar with the two artists. Both had good stage presence and, despite rather slim Broadway credentials had no trouble keeping busy. Wolfe is a very popular guest soloist for orchestras around the country.
Criss began the vocal portion of the show with a fitting rendition of "I Love Betsy," from Jason Robert Brown's score from Honeymoon in Vegas, a show that drew two raves from Ben Brantley, and not much else from the other critics. (I saw it and didn't find it half bad.) Near intermission, Betsy sang "A Summer-in-Ohio" from the JRB show The Last Five Years, which she had appeared in. The kicker was that she introduced as her accompanist the very Jason Robert Brown, who took the piano. Betsy really delivered on this song that was probably unknown to most of the audience, and received the biggest ovation up to that point.
Next, with JRB still at the piano, she and Criss performed "One Second and a Million Miles." A very good performance, if not quite up to O'Hara and Pasquale. Brown I don't believe said a word.
As intermission came, I was left wondering whether this particular musical could be salvaged. Perhaps the Broadway run could be taken as a long preview, with subsequent revisions to lead to a second chance. Any precedent? It doesn't seem too difficult to determine the direction in which the revised production must head: just about everyone loved Kelli and Stephen and the passionate Jason Robert Brown music given to them to perform. And just about everyone disliked everything else. As Brantley put it:
I would have been happier if “Bridges” had been a two-person show, with Mr. Pasquale provoking Ms. O’Hara into ever greater, exploratory heights of song. But since this is a big Broadway musical, it also embraces, far more expansively than Mr. Waller’s novel, the world that will ultimately bring its airborne heroine back to earth.
Every production of Show Boat allows its creative team to pretty much create their own second act, as long as Ravenol after heavy gambling losses deserts the pregnant Magnolia and Julie sings "Bill." (Just because it's such a popular tune.)
How about it? Go back to Williamstown and start over.
