SteveSanders said: "Link to a post from one of the UK board's more thoughtful contributors talking about last night's final performance and exploring how Ives addressed some of the themes from the movies in the second act.
So glad to have seen this show four times in London where I found it even more compelling than at The Shed. The cast was uniformly sublime.
https://theatreboard.co.uk/post/591227/thread"
I didn’t see the London production and so I don’t know what changes were made, especially in the second act. I agree with a lot of the analysis, though I doubt Inferno is some sort of supernatural being - which feels like a reach, especially given the way his conflict with Leo plays out. It’s one way of explaining his character’s comings and goings but I don’t think it makes sense. Why would Dennis O’Hare’s existence in the first act as other characters be a sign of something when Tracie Bennett’s first act characters not matter at all? The actors are just playing multiple characters. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
But the idea that all of the characters are viewed by Ives (with Sondheim’s assistance) as redeemable gets a fair amount of support in the play, as does its pivotal and unique treatment of Marianne (Rachel Bay Jones in New York, Jane Krakowski in London). She is the most open and innocent of the characters, despite her obscene wealth, and she is the one - aside from the priest - with the most surprising and satisfying arc in the second act. Marianne sees things that others do not, in part because she sees her plight as an opportunity to learn and grow. There was something touching and almost inspiring about that. Jones’ performance in New York, aided to a great extent by David Hyde Pierce, is what made the show work for me.
But Ives’ inclination to forgive his often loathsome characters, while comfortable for the wealthy audience at The Shed, also feels out of place at the moment. Some people just aren’t redeemable. These are dark times, and when the laughs come more at those challenging the system - even naively or misguidedly - it felt off.
I can excuse the show’s flaws because the fact that the creatives were able to pull together a satisfying and thought-provoking musical after Sondheim’s death felt somewhat miraculous. The character of Marianne, certainly as played by Jones and probably by Krakowski as well, elevated it to unexpected heights.
Updated On: 7/3/25 at 03:24 AM
