I saw the show this afternoon and I have to say I really liked it and appreciated it, but I didn't love it. Most importantly, it is very impressive and exciting to see a musical like GIANT; it is very ambitious, very challenging, and very different. Even if not all of it works (and not all of it does), I would rather see 85 GIANTs than another NEWSIES or ROCK OF AGES.
Firstly, the cast is simply wonderful. Save for a slimy yet bland PJ Griffith and an almost hammy Michelle Pawk, there is not a bad or even mediocre performance in the entire group. They are all excellent, particularly Kate Baldwin of course. Her voice is gorgeous and she really knocks the book scenes out of the park. Brian D'Arcy James, always wonderful, is the ideal match for her. Katie Thompson (that voice!) and Bobby Steggert also made strong impressions on me.
The score is really gorgeous overall. The orchestrations are fantastic and there are some moments in this show that work so perfectly that it sent chills down my spine. But I have to echo a lot of the general complaints about the score; there are a handful of superfluous songs that side characters don't really need and some cuts can be made here and there. But (and I don't think I've ever felt this way about a show before) I almost feel as though those cuts could and should be filled in with more songs and more character development for Baldwin and D'Arcy James' characters. If the show needs one thing, it's a clearer focus. I completely understand the book (and the film) are sweeping, long, grand, and...well...giant. But in the show (maybe it's just this truncated version), it comes off as disjointed and a bit manic. When the show takes it's time and focuses in on one specific relationship, moment, or character, that's when it really soars (the opening, many of the scenes between Steggert and D'Arcy James, and the breathtaking final 30 minutes all spring to mind). The second act has a
much clearer direction and focus than the first, in my opinion. It also takes its time a bit more to tell the story and develop the characters. The Virginia sequence in the first act goes by WAY too quickly, and most of the first act felt choppy to me. I was getting whiplash from all of the new plots and characters and storylines being introduced, just as I was settling in to the scene or character that was introduced before it. That said, the three hour running time went by rather quickly.
Greif lends his steady directorial hand to the show, and it's all the better for it. He really continues to impress me.
I would love to see a future for GIANT. There is really a lot in the show that impressed me and some moments that even blew me away; and with another revision or two, I really do feel as though this show could be something incredible. But as it is a the Public, it's an ambitious musical in which not everything works. But the potential is absolutely there.
Updated On: 11/17/12 at 09:20 PM
