I saw the show in it's first preview on December 17th and gave it a lukewarm review of a C+ (detailed review available on the Lestat Musical forum) and just saw the 2nd to last SF preview last night. In my first review I noted that I thought Noseworthy was off and didn't feel right in the role when I saw him and I was happy to see them seek a replacement. I'm glad to say that Sarich is perfect in the role, he is exactly the antogonist that I was looking for. He has a youthful naive innocence balanced with the perfect amount of michivious cunning.
I know that everyone has an opinion and these days it's much more fun to spread rumors of doom and gloom but I believe I can objectively say that this musical has improved signifigantly since I first saw it and you can tell that the production team understands what isn't working. It is pretty evident to me that they are working out the small wrinkles for the SF open tomorrow night and will do some restaging (Sail Me Away), add a song or two (male torch needed in Act 1) and do some trimming (Act 1 needs it, try Paris) between sf and ny previews.
I was sitting next to two women (50+) who were SHN season pass holders who told me that they have never seen the a show in SF sold out. It is selling out every night and they also told me that they were stunned by how young the crowd was. They said that they would guess that a majority of the crowd at the Curran last night was 20 years younger then what they are used to seeing.
The show has not only tightened up and is transitioning better but it has gotten darker and I had more goosebump moments this second time around even though I knew what was coming. From all accounts the first act is still what needs some work. Of the women I mentioned above, only one was sold on the show at intermission but after the 2nd act both were very positive about it. Even though they are about the same running time the first act still feels almost twice as long as the second. They have to set up a signifigant amount of story here and they are going to have to sit down and think what will get trimmed.
Updated On: 1/8/06 at 02:06 AM