FLYING OVER SUNSET Reviews

Tony nominees Tony Yazbeck, Harry Hadden-Paton, and Carmen Cusak finally take a long-awaited trip over Sunset Boulevard in the new musical Flying Over Sunset at Lincoln Center Theater. The world premiere production began preview performances November 11 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. It had originally been part of LCT's 2019–2020 season with performances scheduled to begin on March 12, 2020—the day all theatres shuttered due to the pandemic.

An official opening is set for December 13.

The musical, with a book by director James Lapine, music by Tom Kitt, and lyrics by Michael Korie, is inspired by the lives of writer Aldous Huxley (Hadden-Paton), playwright, diplomat, and congresswoman Clare Boothe Luce (Cusack), and film star Cary Grant (Yazbeck)—each of whom experimented with the drug LSD.

Also featured in the cast are Kanisha Marie Feliciano, Nehal Joshi, Emily Pynenburg, Michele Ragusa, Robert Sella, Laura Shoop, and Atticus Ware. Aria Braswell, Danny Gardner, Kate Marilley, Patrick Scott McDermott, Tony Roach, and Michael Winther serve as understudies.

Flying Over Sunset features choreography by Michelle Dorrance, sets by Beowulf Boritt, costumes by Toni-Leslie James, lighting by Bradley King, sound by Dan Moses Schreier, projections by 59 Productions, and casting by The Telsey Office, with orchestrations by Michael Starobin and music direction by Kimberly Grigsby.

The musical is produced in association with Jack Shear. Rick Steiger is the production stage manager.

Raves for the three stars will be well deserved. Score too. Show itself... we'll see.

I'm expecting the most polarizing reviews for any individual show this Broadway season tonight.

I hope Carmen Cusack gets some great notices, I can still hear that layered and textured voice ringing in my ears. Sometimes I wonder if we have lost that unique timbre all the divas of the past have had but Carmen Cusack has it!

Jimbo2 said: "https://newyorktheater.me/2021/12/13/flying-over-sunset-review-cary-grant-clare-boothe-luce-and-aldous-huxley-take-lsd-not-a-hippie-in-sight/"

This is about what I expected based on all the preliminary reports. I'm still very excited to see this show in a couple weeks.

This isn't unkind:

"If nothing else, their high jinks together on the beach seem to free up both the songwriters (especially the lyricist) and the designers (especially the projection designers) to let loose and get creative. My favorite song is “OM,” a meditative chant that is tuneful, and gorgeously sung, but also quite funny, with each of the character singing their inner monologue (Cary: What am I doing here. Clare: I wish he’d take his shirt off. Aldous: She has such interesting feet. Gerald: “In movies he’s amazing…/Don’t let him catch me gazing&rdquo

Aldous tells an interviewer at one point that doses of Lysergic acid diethylamide 25 “take an individual inward and foster a contemplative manner of self-exploration” — which is manifested for these four characters by conjuring up people from their past. Thus (conveniently for the production) the acid trips produce some juicy biographical moments. So, for example, we see the adult Cary Grant dancing with, and wooing Sophia Loren (portrayed by Emily Pynenburg), while there’s a fun-house mirror projection of an actual movie in which they co-starred. (Cary Grant and Sophia Loren did in fact have an affair.) We also see Archie, Cary Grant as a youth, in a dress because that’s how his mother dressed him.

How far this celebrity psychoanalyzing goes is reflected in the song “My Mother and I,” in which each character takes his or her turn until Aldous stops the music: “My God, we didn’t take LSD so we could sit around and tell sad stories about our mothers.” It’s hard to conclude that the creative team feels the same way, but at least they do have a sense of humor about what they’re doing."

Updated On: 12/13/21 at 08:57 PM

Anticipation is killing me.

https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/flying-over-sunset-broadway-review-lsd-musical

Fifties celebs drop acid in an odd new Broadway musical.

The Lincoln Center production has real pleasures: Yazbeck shares a thrilling musical-hall duet, choreographed by Michelle Dorrance, with his younger self (Atticus Ware), who is dressed as a girl; Cusack sings as beautifully as always, as does Laura Shoop as Huxley’s wife. And the staging is very handsome indeed: Beowulf Boritt’s expansive set, Toni Leslie-James’s costumes and Bradley King’s lighting are all first-class. But these elements can only distract so much from a show that would probably make more sense as a one-act in a smaller space. What a long, strange trip it is.

*** 3 STARS

Updated On: 12/13/21 at 09:58 PM

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/13/theater/flying-over-sunset-review.html

‘Flying Over Sunset’ Broadway Review: A Muddy Musical About Cary Grant’s All-Star Acid Trip (thewrap.com)

'Flying Over Sunset' review: LSD musical is a bore on drugs (nypost.com)

REVIEW: Bizarre 'Flying Over Sunset' has celebs tripping on LSD - New York Daily News (nydailynews.com)

Updated On: 12/13/21 at 10:07 PM

‘Flying Over Sunset’ Broadway Review: Day Tripping With Cary Grant – Deadline

DidTheyLikeIt? Aggregate of Reviews

These reviews are far worse than I thought they would be. It is good that young Atticus is getting quite alot of favorable mention. I thought he was a standout when I saw it.