I saw it tonight and was expecting a train wreck after reading this message board. It was not nearly as bad as it has been described by some.
On the positive side, it is cute, funny, sentimental, and at times, romantic. I laughed a lot, and I even cried a bit. My mom is basically the two mom characters wrapped up into one. My parents would love it, I will recommend it to them. Harriet Harris, as the mother of the groom, was great. Josh Grisetti, as the ex-boyfriend of the bride, was phenomenal. He has great comedic timing, and a very beautiful voice. I look forward to seeing him in the future.
On the negative side, the music was just average. There were a couple pretty songs, and a couple show stoppers, but overall, most of the music was fairly unmemorable.
The book was all over the place .... it really felt like about 4 episodes of a tv sit-com strung together. The opening premise was solid, and at times the story flowed beautifully, laced with a ton of funny jokes and situations .... kind of like if the tv shows Three's Company and The Goldbergs had a tv show love child baby.
The story took about 30-45 minutes to become engaging, and then toward the end as "the big surprise" was revealed, it started to unravel a bit. Parts of the big surprise were plausible, but other facets were just kind of stupid and unbelievable. Another criticism, as others have mentioned, the groom and his father's song and dance number should be axed .... it does not help the show in any way, shape, or form.
In summary, if you have seen and you liked Honeymoon In Vegas, you will probably like this. If you did not like Honeymoon In Vegas, you are not going to like this. They are both light-hearted, entertaining and funny (I think It Shoulda Been You is actually a lot funnier overall than Honeymoon), and I certainly do not regret that I went. I would give it a 6.5/10.
Regarding running time, the staff told us it would be 1 hour 45 minutes and no intermission. I think it started a little late and ended close to 10 pm, so for the poster who mentioned he/she is going to Hedwig afterward at 10 pm, you may want to be prepared to leave a little early, or be ok with arriving to Hedwig 10 minutes late. We actually had to walk to a place really close to the Belasco tonight and the sidewalks were really really congested with people on a Saturday night. It will take you about 15 minutes to walk to the Belasco on a Friday or Saturday night if you use Broadway/7th Avenue.
I would recommend walking from the theater straight east to 6th Avenue, and then heading south to West 44th street. That will allow you to avoid most of the pedestrian traffic, and the Belasco is really close to the corner of W 44th and 6th Ave. Don't walk down Broadway or 7th Avenue.
Updated On: 3/22/15 at 02:59 AM
