what a fantastic production, my issues with the book aside.
maybe i know too much about the source history, but seeing this for the first time in a full live production, i found many of Uhry's choices frustrating in telling such a complicated, tragic story. Maybe its a reflection of being written in 1998, but the need to constantly return to the white Georgians' singing about good ole Georgia seem like such a blind spot. The show is strongest when the Franks are allowed to emote over their quirky places in society, and when the African Americans are given license to sing about the insanity of the sudden national interest in an unfairly convicted white guy. The amount of time Hugh Dorsey and Tom Watson and the Governor and the Judge and the Confederate Soldier all get to sing about Good Ole Georgia- it continues to grind the story to a halt, in my view. I want to hear from Minnie, bullied into testifying falsely. I want to hear from, I dont know, the Jewish citizens of Atlanta, privileged in this society on the one hand, but vulnerable at the same time.
THAT SAID... Arden makes the other parts of the show sing and sing well. Special shout out to Paul Alexander Nolan, Jake Pedersen, Danielle Lee Greaves who all make the most of their relatively small roles. Courtnee Carter and Doug Lyons are perfection at the top of Act 2. Alex Joseph Grayson's vocals are simply other worldly.
But the show belongs to Micaela Diamond-- and I dont mean that as a ding against Plat, but Uhry writes Leo's transition so clumsily, that Diamond's character grounds the show in ways Platt's can't. She Is Perfect, in singing, in emoting, in every single moment.
Someone earlier said that Platt is doing some Evan Hansen mannerisms, and thats true--but I actually found it very powerful, and I wonder if its an accident of his mannerisms or a deliberate choice. Leo Frank was awkward and didnt fit in-- and he was lynched for it. This recall to another awkward character underscored, to me, the way that an Evan Hansen (or a Ben Platt, or me) could so easily be swept up in a mob of hate. Keeping Platt on stage during intermission had a similar effect. This is only my second time seeing him perform live (the last was Book of Mormon, a very different performance) and I thought he sounded incredible tonight. His final scenes were very low key, very deliberate and very very devastating.
Some of Arden's touches work better than others-- i don't want to be accused of spoiler crime here but I thought he did something rather beautiful with Mary Phagan, but then used her in a way I found cringey later on. But its such a tight, earnest, production, and the cast is so strong/committed, it winds up knocking you back in your seat.
The opening "turn off your phones" bit was by Senator Warnock, which was a very clever touch, and grounded a chatty audience perfectly. I wonder if he is aware of the dig at modern Georgia that closes the show (which i found somewhat clunky).
I do have to say that the raised set baffles me. I havent seen A Doll's House with Chastain, but the idea that a director would stage a show that a quarter of the audience will miss-- it truly offends me. Yeah, the challenge is how to use this sacred, confined space to tell a story. Thats what makes it hard. Finding some cool trick that 1/4 of your audience cant see-- well, you failed your task. And while I think I mostly saw everything tonight, the choice to put so much action on this raised platform over the orchestra audience's heads-- why? To what end? If you're charging people hundreds of dollars--minimum!-- how dare you not make sure they can, at the very LEAST, see everything?
I was right orch, a few over from "partial view" and my seat was fine as far as the Jacobs (one of the best) goes. But even my full view seat couldnt make out all the projections on the back of the stage, and time/place is often projected on the platform in way that many audience member surely cant see. Would be so easy to project the same image elsewhere to make sure cast members dont block it, and everyone can see it. But that seems of no interest to this production.
Anyway that pet peeve aside, i thought the show flew by, the second half of Act 1 being near perfection, a perfect meld of actors, with director, with score and book. And Diamond and Platt's two Act 2 duets will stay with me for quite some time, as will Platt's recitation of the sh'ma, which elicited numerous choked sobs tonight. Moments like those are why we see live theater, right? Well done.
Updated On: 2/26/23 at 10:41 PM
was a follow-up to a different song called "Big News," which has been cut. What bwayobsessed is saying is that, without both songs being featured, Britt Craig doesn't feel as consistently part of the story in the way he did in the original and the press's involvement with the vilification of Leo seems minimized. 
