I saw the show on Saturday night (3/7). It was the first night, but it was unofficially dubbed a "preview" night for the 3 week run in Seattle.
I'm working on a fuller review for my blog, but Jenifer was really good. The show did need a little tightening up in a few areas, but the leads were all pretty spot on for their roles, but Tracee Beazer who played Minnie Fay (she was a Dynamite in "Hairspray), played the role a little too "sassy" and needed that to be toned down just a notch.
The show was cast color-blind enough so that you could still suspend disbelief that there could be an inter-racial couple in this time period, but it seems like the correct time period was never really set costume wise.
I loved Jenifer's voice doing all the Dolly songs (though you gotta love Carol Channing, I love it more when there is a voice that can actually sing Dolly's numbers). My only problem was not with Jenifer, but the costumes she wore. All the other members had costumes ranging from decent to good, but most of Jenifer's costumes either didn't really make sense to me, or was just cheap looking.
The signature red dress for the "Harmonia Gardens" scene looked like a cheap Halloween costume version of a "Hello, Dolly!" dress that you buy at Party Express. I'm hoping that this was a "rehearsal" dress, and that the actual dress is still being worked on when the show "officially" opens.
What's funny is that Jenifer seems to be a very prolific actress, but I have never seen her in anything prior to this production. I may have to go on her IMDB profile and netflix some of the stuff she was in, as she seems to be a very charismatic and charming performer.
Xanadu! Can't cry on cue!
