Saw the first preview last night (March 13th), and enjoyed myself.
The audience had a good time, and was enthusiastic in their applause at the end.
Things went very smoothly for a first performance. Didn’t notice any scenery / costume issues or forgotten lines.
It is a nice, entertaining, somewhat old fashioned musical that can stand on its own. In fact, you will probably like it more if you have not seen the movie since you won’t be sitting there listing the differences. Which aren’t that many. The story line follows the film rather faithfully.
The music is enjoyable. Not a great score – I didn’t leave the theater humming anything. But I did find myself often tapping my toes. The songs do what they need to do to keep the story moving along.
The set is somewhat bare bones through much of it. That might be to make scene changes easier. But the show is “framed” by an outdoor set that creates a mini version of the outside of Vivian’s apartment building, complete with a short fire escape that Edward can conquer at the end of the show.
The costumes are functional. But you do get the red dress for the opera scene. And they chose to essentially recreate in detail Vivian’s initial “hooker” outfit – red jacket, thigh high black boots, blue mini-skirt, white tank top, fisherman cap and blond wig.
There is not a lot of choreography, and none of it is particularly memorable.
ORFEH as Kit DeLuca sings great but doesn’t have too much to do. But she generally gets her laughs. And yes, she does say “Cinder-*******-ella” at the appropriate moment.
ERIC ANDERSON plays the hotel manager, and at least one other part. He gets funnier as the evening goes on.
JASON DANIELEY is rich casting for a small part. I could easily see him as Edward Lewis at some point. He does “mean and greedy” as well as Jason Alexander, and is a lot cuter.
SAMANTHA BARKS and STEVE KAZEE are fine in the lead roles. Both have excellent Broadway style voices, tho I might have preferred a baritone for Edward. At the moment, they look very comfortable with each other. As time goes on, hopefully a bit more “heat” will develop between them. Both actors are probably 4 – 5 years older than Julia Roberts and Richard Gere were back in 1990 when the film came out. The grey in Kazee’s beard only emphasizes that. It makes for a slightly different feel to the romance. Despite her vocation, Roberts just looked so innocent – Barks looks a bit more worldly wise. But Barks certainly has the body for the costumes, even when quite brief, which certainly helps.
There are still some timing issues. A few laugh lines were lost because an actor didn't pause quite long enough before delivering it. I didn't hear what Edward says to Vivian in the last scene on the fire escape just before she responds "and she saved him right back". "I want the fairy tale" got lost a bit as well. But that should be easily corrected as they see how audiences respond and adjust pacing accordingly.
In summary, I had an enjoyable time. I won’t be retiring my video, but it worked better than I expected. It plays for 5 weeks in Chicago – I may try catching it in the last week to see if there are any major changes. But as it stands now, they have a good foundation.
