It Shoulda Been You Previews — Page 9

"Barbara Anselmi's original idea was to write a musical revue with the theme being "weddings" and each song would have a different lyricist (but all the music by her, because it was her idea). After a reading someone suggested adding a story and creating a book musical about a wedding."

So.... the "concept" for which Ms. Anselmi is prominently credited no longer even exists?

I never saw this, but listening to the cast recording/libretto I can't help but feel the show was a little underrated. I agree with many of the problems listed here (e.g. very talented cast with little to work with, twists that you need to suspend too much disbelief for, a score that is not as melodic and catchy as it should be). However, to me it felt like they were putting on a 1940s style show slightly tweaked for modern day and thus if you just want to have a bunch of cheap laughs, like both absurd & predictable twists, and enjoy Tyne Daly play an overbearing mother, which is a bit of a cliche character but always fun, it sounds like it would have been a good night out!

If I had paid $40 USD for a prime orchestra seat I would not have felt ripped off. But perhaps this is the key issue that this kind of value is not good enough for Broadway.

I saw this a week after opening night. It was a very brisk 100 minutes, and let's just say I envy the star power of that entire cast. Daly and Howard were especially good. The material they were working with, on the other hand, was funny at times but mostly unmemorable. The first half seemed like your average traditional wedding comedy, and I couldn't even begin to follow the shenanigans that took over the more uneven second half. Certainly one of the wildest plots in recent memory. I don't think David Hyde Pierce was the right guy to direct this.

The score also did not stick with me, save for a few notable tunes. I did listen to the cast album when it released digitally (as I always do for every B'way show), but have barely streamed it since. The set somewhat stood out to me- the upscale NYC hotel representation was not quite Daddy Warbucks's mansion, but definitely good enough for this occasion.

In short, it wasn't quite the disaster I thought it would be based off reviews, but with a cast this sublime, the show Shoulda been better. Perhaps I would've had a better wedding-day experience at The Drowsy Chaperone.

Updated On: 12/28/20 at 07:31 AM

I have to say I went to see this show on a Saturday night, last minute because I'd been to the matinee of THE VISIT and it made me want to never see theater ever again if I didn't see something just fun immediately. (I need to qualify this by saying - I saw The Visit in Arlington several years before, in its full version directed by Galati, and thought it was exquisite and breathtaking..... The Broadway version was a skeleton, ruined by a director imposing his own ego and poor taste onto a piece that had been so beautifully written before he got involved).

As I left the Lyceum I stopped at TKTS and asked for something silly and heartwarming and perhaps it was the total contrast (no, I'm not comparing them, there is literally no similarity), but I LOVED EVERY moment of It Shoulda Been You. Not everything can be high art, this was like a sitcom musical in all the best ways, and that cast was impeccable. Essentially, seeing those two shows in the same day, I just kept thinking It Shoulda Been You achieved what it set out to do - it did not pretend to be anything but what it was. Whereas so many shows with purported "high-brow" directors like Doyle are aiming at something they will never get to and often totally miss the mark.

I find the score to hold up quite well on the recording and the cast and orchestrations sound great. I am friendly with someone who worked on the show and they said it was a group of people who were deeply enamored with each other in the best of ways. The music to me has a cleverness, it's not just tacky imitation / cruise ship fare, there is something sly about it. (The lyrics are less-so, but not anywhere near as bad as any number of shows I've seen people rave about here, namely Mean Girls and Tootsie). But there were about 73 lyricists as I recall.