I saw it and enjoyed it quite a bit, although I did not find the score to be very impressive. The leads, Alexandra Silber (who was in Tyne Daly's Master Class as one of the students) and Will Reynolds, are very winning, their fathers are well-portrayed, and the staging was quite good. It appears to be basically a reproduction of the original staging -- there is a credit to the original director in the Playbill. It is quite minimalistic -- the only instruments are strings and a piano, the sets are minimal, and there are only 5 credited characters (and a few ensemble members as well).
The pasta song and staging was definitely the highlight, and very clever. (BTW, I've never heard the word "hob" before and had to look it up. Is that a common term in Britain?)
The original Love Story theme is not used very much in this production -- the first few bars are played on the piano once, and that's it.
And the girl dying is not really a spoiler. The first sentence in the novel is something like, "What can you say about a 25-year old girl who died?" The musical opens with a song called, "What Can You Say?" that basically tells us the same thing, so it's clear from the opening moments what will happen at the end.
My main criticism is that the guy seems like a childish ass at times. I think this is because his father seems pretty likable and reasonable in this version, so the guy's reactions seem over-the-top.
I went into the show with very low expectations but it won me over. And there was a LOT of sniffling in the audience, so I think the audience in general liked it. I don't know if I would make a special trip to see it, but it's worthwhile if you're in the area and the material interests you.
"What was the name of that cheese that I like?"
"you can't run away forever...but there's nothing wrong with getting a good head start"
"well I hope and I pray, that maybe someday, you'll walk in the room with my heart"
