I completely agree with you, somethingwicked, and am glad you so eloquently put in to words what I was having difficulty verbalizing.
It wasn't that I had a "bad" time, either... a lot of the music WAS very catchy, touching and memorable and the show was definitely watchable with polished performances that masked what irked me.
The biggest qualm I had with the show was the source material and what it was saying, or trying to say. I felt like I was asked to care about what happens to someone (not to mention his buddies)in the last 20 minutes of the show, when the whole first act and most of the second act, our protagonists were fairly terrible people with barely hinted at inner-justifications. I'm not saying everyone has to have a direct moral compass, but if people are going to behave that way so prominently in the scope of a stage piece it would serve the drama and conflict to expound on the reasons why, so the audience can learn what we as a society have done to create, foster, and perpetuate that behavior.
The subject matter was uncomfortable in how it objectified women, but then the piece wasn't even really about that which made it more offensive. As an audience member in the 21st century I wanted THAT to be explored.
Again, they barely hinted at it being something that their fathers and their grandfathers did, and maybe I would have been more invested if it explored further the passing down of misogyny and need to be a hero, and what it means to "be a man," but it didn't. It was just sort of a suggestion of being there in the background over a thin, for want of a better term, "love story."
This is also going to be a very strange back-handed compliment, but perhaps the actor playing Birdlace is almost too (universally) good looking? Maybe the relationship between the two leads and overall piece would be more successful and ironic if the male lead was more or less an average looking guy?
I don't know, these are just rambling thoughts... One opinion out of hundreds, but hey, a new musical made me think beyond leaving the theatre doors, so, kudos.
Updated On: 7/3/12 at 05:08 PM