BrodyFossee's post brings up what I was reluctant to discuss after seeing the show with Feldstein last week: her comic take bothered me more than her much-debated vocals. (I find her head voice/upper register rather pretty, and nothing to apologize for, in and of itself.) I found the characterization too clowny, and not in the Brice sense, and lacking needed sophistication when incorporated into her scenes with Nick. Just tonally off. She works hard to suggest Brice was an amalgam of traits, a comedienne who sang, a woman whose self-deprecatory humor disarmed on stage and off. But the work isn't seamless, and I could feel a calculated push -- that odd cackle, off-putting -- to give us this much-heralded "accentuating the comedy" take on Brice.
I posted that I wish Mayer had reined in the overkill in the comedy -- which is often presentational even in straight books scenes -- and some pointed out that Benko doesn't have the issue, serving the same staging. So per BrodyFosse's latest report, I leave it there. I think reservations among many of us aren't necessarily about power notes in "Parade." The show has issues (that thud of a reprise-laden second act), and this production's problem is an overreliance on shtick when simply relaxing into the narrative might serve. Leave the high comedy bits to the Ziegfeld numbers and -- what Benko apparently does -- show us the evolving woman.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
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