Saw the show over the weekend and found it to be very middle of the road in all ways.
The cast is more than competent, elevating the material they have to the best of their abilities. But I think they are both let down by rather poor writing. He fares a bit better because his arc is more clear than hers. Pitts is very likable, though at least this weekend her voice did not soar quite as much as the music needed it to. Tutty is charming and funny and energetic, though at times I felt very much like I was watching his Dear Evan Hansen performance.
The score is a mixed bag. The opening number, act one finale, and last song are the highlights. The rest I could really take or leave. All of her solos are rather dirge-like and bring the show to a screeching halt. The rap song about Tinder should have been cut.
The book is largely fun, though act one lacks any dramatic tension or obstacle, and act 2 then turns too emotional and I don't think sticks the landing at all because it tonally is far too different from act 1 to even feel like the same show.
There's no world to me in which this show earns its 2hr, 2 act run time. There is enough fluff that could have been trimmed or excised to make this a brisk 90 minutes.
The set is fine, I like the concept of it, though it looks rather cheap and ultimately I don't think the set being piles of suitcases makes much sense when only one of the characters is a traveler and he canonically has one small suitcase. But there is an attempt at style. I think it would have looked better if the band was not visible behind it.
I had further issues with the character writing, storyline, and ultimately end goal of the piece but I won't go into all of that. In a stronger season, I think this show would fall by the wayside almost entirely. In this season, it sticks out because it's the one wholly original musical. But for my money, Maybe Happy Ending does the small-cast musical/buddy comedy/rom-com 10x better.
