I saw this last night at the second preview. The cast is good and the staging is well-done (aside from the weird ensemble dancing in the background of some of the numbers), but the material itself is so misconceived the show seemed pointless.
We're told in the opening song that the last issue of the magazine was published in 1997. We then start in 1996 with the arrival of this slick, smooth-talking young Princeton graduate. It's obvious what's going to happen, and would have been interesting if something else had.
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HeyMrMusic is correct; this is clearly the story of Stephen Glass--the time period, the magazine setting rather than a newspaper, the use of the brother's phone number, etc.
But no, the obvious unfolds, with the show treating it as a mystery when it's not. I spent most of the first half wondering, "What is the point of this?" The story is predictable. The songs are offering too little/barely any psychological insight into the character. If the show was fully presented from the POV of that character showing him as he's doing the things he does and offering more psychological insight into why he does them, then there would have been a reason for the show to exist. Instead, in the end Bakula's character tells him something like, "I'm looking at you trying to understand why you did this." I just sat through two hours of singing (and weird dancing) about this and I don't fully know why he did it either.
The show is mostly told from the POV of a young copyeditor played by Hannah Cruz, seemingly as an article she's written telling this story (she's the one who sings the opening song and closing reprise), and so it can offer the most superficial lines about sexism and racism. But she's the least interesting of the main characters and least active one in the show. If it had been about her actually realizing something's wrong with the guy and investigating him, then the show might have had momentum, and a point. But she doesn't. She's mostly there to pout about the unfairness of how easy everything is for him, to be his sort-of-but-not-really girlfriend, and have him say mean things to her. (One woman a few seats down from me kept hissing and oooo-ing at every line he had in the second half, which was just low-hanging fruit.). And then she writes this story, which she didn't have to do anything for--two other women literally hand it to her.
Late in the show, Muriel the magazine's factchecker, played by Jessica Molaskey, suddenly steps forward and has a solo song where she sings about the importance of truth to her and her work. And I immediately thought, "THAT'S who the show should have been about." If it had been centered more on her and her concerns, it, again, would have had more momentum throughout and a point. At the end of her song, she literally hands over proof to the younger woman so she can reveal it, which makes it seem like the younger woman is doing something. But she didn't. Molaskey's and another woman seen in bits throughout handed it to her. THEY are the interesting ones. Center the show on them! Or actually show the Cruz character doing the work on this story throughout and not just being given it without doing anything.
(It also would have been interesting to get more insight into Bakula's character and why he's willing to support the young writer beyond the fact that he's a young white guy. Maybe that really is just it, but it's not very interesting. A late song for him prior to the factchecker's finally gives some character insight I'd been hungry for. The show could use more.)
It's still early previews, so maybe they can reframe it. They need to. As it currently exists I thought it was a waste of time. This is what "Evita" would have been like if they didn't reveal anything Eva Peron was up to until the end of the show and Che was really boring.
Updated On: 1/14/24 at 12:47 PM
