Jarethan said: "Saw this tonight and loved it. The cast was great, with special kudos to Jones, Diamond, Hyde Pierce, Ha and O’Hare (the latter more in Act 1, however).
I thought that Ives made a bigger contribution to my pleasure than Sondheim; on first hearing, the music seemed like minor Sondheim, although the lyrics were as always a source of pleasure. I didn’t like the choppiness of some of the early songs.
Highlights for me: Hyde Pierce’s entrance scene, Ha / Diamond’s duet (boy, did both have great control, and all of Act 2.
Bottom line: I had a smile on my face every minute of Act 1 and was fully engrossed during Act 2.
Investor’s see should not waste their money moving this to Broadway…I just don’t see a broad audience for this, and fear that demand would peter out quickly, if there was heavy demand at all."
I felt exactly the same way - was grinning throughout Act I and was fully into Act II also.
This piece is an odd duck, but I'm an odd person who likes odd things so it felt like in many ways like I was the ideal audience.
I've been wrong about many things before - I did not think A STRANGE LOOP or KIMBERLY AKIMBO would transfer to Broadway and they did. I also thought BEETLEJUICE would flop on arrival based on how it went in DC, but I was wrong on that, too. That being said, I think it would be unlikely for this to transfer. Maybe or a limited run at Lincoln Center or something but it has pretty much no commercial appeal. Bobby Cannavale--who is foxy as all get out in this--is probably the biggest name to tourists aside from Pierce, and neither of them really have the draw that would be needed to overcome the obscurity of the subject material to a tourist audience. Back in the day you could pull off something like NIGHT MUSIC which was based on a relatively obscure movie and no names (although, was Cariou a draw back then? Unsure, wasn't alive). Speaking of ALNM, that's probably the show I would compare this too the most, as I do interpret ALNM as a satire, but it often isn't played as such.
Sondheim is of course why we're all seeing it, but Ives and Mantello do an excellent job as well--I also loved Zinn's designs. The color coordination reminded me a bit of ASSASSINS and was on that level of iconography for me. I'd be curious moving forward to see how other productions design it, because I think it'll be hard to top.
I suppose my only real complaint about it is that aside from a broad comedy like FORUM, it's his least emotional work. It doesn't quite capture the human condition in ways that his other works do for me, especially COMPANY & MERRILY. But the moment between Bay and Hyde in Act II was really, really lovely.
My biggest takeaway is even if you didn't care for the piece, it would be hard to argue that it's anything less than a high caliber production. Tons of amazing performances, top-notch direction and design. It deeply saddens me that we will never have another premiere like that again (perhaps The Sondheim Estate will budge and let someone stage EVENING PRIMROSE commercially; although it's my understanding Sondheim didn't want to see it performed live but let it happen on a smaller scale once or twice). In my lifetime, I never had the experience of seeing an original Sondheim piece, much less one in previews, and it was money well spent for that alone.
.jpg?format=auto&width=300)
