Saw this here in Seattle tonight and mostly enjoyed it. The actress playing Jane Doe was, unexpectedly, the stand-out, maybe because her character is so genuinely mysterious (the power of a good wig?), but Constance was also very funny and there weren't any particular weak spots, though the Ukranian guy felt kind of hammy. My biggest issue was that it was overamplified - the ACT Falls Theater is so tiny, is it necessary to blow it up? The instruments were amplified, so the voices had to be amplified, which meant in more than one number it became a kind of sonic mush. I don't think I understood a single lyric in the opening song.
I also agree with a lot of previously mentioned criticisms, it definitely feels like it was written around a set of vaudeville songs and some of the actual construction was clumsy. Many jokes landed a firm punchline, but then the actors broke through the laughter with a weaker, second punchline. Little things like the inconsistency of the "catchphrases" made it feel kind of wobbly - we get a couple actual catchphrases, and then a jokey, long non-catchphrase catchphrase, which is funny, but then we get another long one, and now we've lost the gag. Several of the numbers were really nice, but then you get the rap song and the cat queen song back to back (I think), which feels like an overload.
How are we meant to feel throughout the show? In the first half it was exquisitely dark - you want to like these kids, and then you start to get the sense that they are, in fact, broken, but then it hesitates, and I don't think it lands the shift to genuine empathy quite as cleanly as it could. It reminded me of Putnam/Spelling, both in good and bad ways - the lineup of quirky teens and the bleak undercurrent, but there's something about Cyclone that feels a little too fabricated and careful. Even Constance stopping the show for her virginity speech felt overly considered - as genuine as some of what she says felt, it was undercut by being led into a frenetic number that felt like it only sort of matched the content, and most of which I couldn't understand due to the noise issue.
Despite my endless crabbing, I enjoyed it overall. I guess I just wish it were more self-assuredly weird. There were so many great bits peppered throughout, but it didn't feel like it earned its own zaniness - let it be scarier and sadder first.
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