Okay. I really needed to sleep on this and process my thoughts because there was a LOT going on last night. In summary, it’s total chaos in ways both good and bad. I know I had my intermission thoughts last night so I’ll elaborate a bit more.
First of all - LUKE EVANS! I was not familiar with your game, sir. That was the most unhinged, sexually vibrant, erotic, vocally powerful Frank I could have imagined. Once he made his entrance, you could feel the entire show immediately gain a life that definitely felt sagging at the start. That whole man gave me some stirring feelings that I don’t think I’ve ever felt before in my life. While he won’t end up the winner, I’m already putting him in the Best Actor Tony race because he damn well deserves it. (And having sat front row - yes, it is big and yes, it’s got some bounce to it)
Dratch as the Narrator was surprisingly pedestrian. She has already shown that she can command a stage and be funny, but it felt like she was mostly just reciting the script and not bringing her own special abilities to it. Her best moments were when she broke the fourth wall to react to the callouts. Hopefully she does grow comfortable with the chaos and leans into it more. Juliette Lewis being sick does give me a little room to give grace for her below-par vocals, but her Usherette didn’t really kick off the show on the highest of notes. It might have been nerves, but I was sitting front row and she looked a little nervous. Once she got into the Magenta character a bit more, I found her to be okay, but nothing spectacular. I think she’s going to be more about the acting than the singing, which is a let down since she really has to match the freak of Amber Gray, who is an inspired choice for Riff Raff, but seem constrained a bit.
Durand and Hsu started off just okay as Brad and Janet and progressively became more unhinged throughout the night in a very good way, especially Hsu. She really went front wilting flower to a whole sexual woman in a way I did not expect and her “Toucha-Toucha-Touch Me” was a highlight for me. Her and Josh (as Rocky) had great chemistry together. Durand gets his biggest moment during “Once In A While”, but I personally was never a fan of that song since I feel like it slows the plot down, and that’s was very much the case last night. I will say that surprise reveal during Frank and Brad’s moment of coitus is something that will stick with me for quite some time.
Josh is talented and certainly nice to look at (even in his terrible nude singlet for a costume), but he doesn’t invoke the Charles Atlas Seal of Approval - which is rather specific. I once again invoked the idea that if they had cast someone like Cameron Loyal, it would’ve been perfect since he and Luke would be roughly the same height and also Cameron, as a bodybuilder, has the perfect physique for Rocky.
Harvey was…not the best. His Eddie was actually quite terrible. His Dr. Scott was…better, but in a “damning with faint praise” way. There seemed to be a lot of odd acting and vocal choices he’s making that just seem discordant and messy. Michaela Jae also has some weird vocals going on. She is basically doing Little Nell on helium and, love her I do, it got REALLY grating after a while because it sounded so thin and reedy.
The set really has exploded all over into Studio 54 and I give Pinkleton and team a lot of credit for the quasi-immersive concept of creating this weird and wild world straight out of a B-Movie, but the choreography felt a bit listless (I wonder why Pinkleton outsourced it to someone else) and I found myself thinking of missed opportunities for the cast to pop out into the audience and make use of the space a bit more, especially with “Sword of Damocles” and “Eddie”.
Overall, I had a blast in the way that the shock value moments really kept me engaged, but I have a lot of quibbles with the production itself and the first preview syndrome was definitely there - lost in space, lost in time…and meaning
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