Just wanted to report that I saw this on Friday with Rebecca and I thought she was indeed very, very good. Unfortunately, our seats were farther back than I realized, and the Auditorium Theater is such a barn that I wasn't really able to catch her (or anyone else's) expressions. Had I thought to check my tickets and the seating chart I would have brought my opera glasses. But I thought she sang beautifully and her acting was fine. I did think her Brooklyn accent was a bit over-heavy at the start but I don't think she's the first one to struggle with that (I understand that might have been an acting choice, too.)
As I'm just the right age for this show (mid-50s), of course I loved it. My favorite aspect was the way they presented the songs "in development," so you could feel that you were hearing them for the very first time. That, along with the Goffin/King story being juxtaposed with the Mann/Weil story made it more interesting than your standard jukebox musical. I thought the supporting cast was generally very good, with Becky Gulsvig as Cynthia Weil and Ben Fankheiser as Barry Mann being standouts for me. Was slightly less crazy about Liam Tobin as Gerry Goffin - I thought his singing was fine, but his acting was a little inconsistent. On the other hand, it's a more complicated role and he isn't given a huge amount of time to develop a character. Overall, a really fun night at the theater and I'd definitely recommend the touring production if you can't get to Broadway.
Maggie-the-schnoodle
