I loved loved LOVED this!
It's like a mix of {title of show] and Oh, Hello, two shows which I absolutely adore. Laugh a minute, and not in a disjointed way like Shucked (which I also enjoyed.) The book is hilarious. It rolls so well, there wasn't a second I was bored.
I think the show would hold up with anyone performing, but oh. my. god. do Rannells and Gad really sell it. I'm not a huge fan of Gad's humor, personally, but there wasn't a single moment he was onstage that he didn't have me rolling in my seat. Every choice was perfect, their chemistry is INSANE.
Such a great feel-good show, imo. Even the jokes that didn't land for me (of which there were very few) I still chuckled at just because they were delivered so earnestly. I smiled literally the entire time, ear to ear. Granted, this is probably because the humor was right up my alley, but god I just had such a great time.
The only thing I didn't love was that the music was a bit lackluster: But that's the point, I'm assuming, since Bud and Doug wrote it themselves it makes sense it's no Sondheim. And the choreo and acting choices within the songs more than made up for some mediocre lyrics.
I was in the balcony, so when I saw the whole hat gimmick I was a bit afriad I would miss some jokes or the plot of the show within the show, but I had no problems with that, even without being able to read the hats. Slightly annoying that everytime htey put on a new hat, half the audience went to whisper to a friend what the hat said, but I digress.
Oh, acutally I don't digress. There was a woman in the first row who kept triyng to "interact" with the show, as it were. Got annoying real fast. But again, not something the show can really help.
It seemed more filled up than I was expecting based on all the talk about how empty the theater seemed this morning, barely any empty seats. The crowd LOVED it, and so did I!
For anyone who cares, I rushed today at noon and got balcony seats. Cannot reccomend this show enough. I feel so lucky to have seen the first performance@