Since you seem interested, here is Jesse 21's (from All That Chat) roundup of all the major papers (no Variety in here at the moment):
Charles Isherwood in The New York Times writes: “The Best Is Yet to Come: The Music of Cy Coleman,” [is]a finger-snapping, hard-charging, small-scale but still shiny-looking revue. . . . Despite the variety of Coleman’s music and subject matter, “The Best Is Yet to Come” tends to overdose on overbearing crescendos and throbby interpretations of the songs that would better suit a larger theater. Sitting in the fifth row, I often felt pinned to the back of my seat by the show’s need to transform Coleman’s coolly swinging, jazz-inflected compositions into something hotly theatrical. . . . The show as a whole could benefit from a softer sell. (Even the bandstand set, by Douglas W. Schmidt, is a little too sparkly.) Coleman’s music has plenty of style and flash of its own. It’s not really necessary to sock it to us with quite so much insistence.”
Joe Dziemianowicz in the New York Daily News writes: (** out of 5 stars) “As directed by David Zippel, who conceived the revue and is known for his collaboration with Coleman on "City of Angels," the performers oversell songs that don't need any hawking whatsoever. It's particularly true considering the relatively small space at 59E59 Theaters, where the show opened on Wednesday night. Overplaying in an intimate space is like watching hi-def with a magnifying glass. Ease up, people. If you overdo the come-hither, you end up looking like a "Basic Instinct" leftover. Zippel has devised "Best" as pure songbook sampler. In addition to the singers, there's a terrific seven-man band, led by music director Stritch on piano. There's not a word of dialogue. Except for the fact that numbers tend to revolve around tricky male-female relationships, there's no overarching theme or takeaway.”
Elisabeth Vincentelli in the New York Post writes: (**½ out of 4 stars) “An evening dedicated to the late composer seems just what the doctor ordered. But the revue that opened off-Broadway last night, "The Best Is Yet To Come: The Music of Cy Coleman," is wildly uneven. Even with a brass-heavy band and pros like Lillias White, Sally Mayes, Howard McGillin and music director/singer Billy Stritch, there isn't enough snap, crackle and pop. . . . Not surprisingly, quite a few of David Zippel's songs made the cut. The ones from 1989's "City of Angels" hold up, but we could have done without the middling excerpts from an unfinished show called "N." Especially since the two fragments from the thrilling Fields collaboration "Sweet Charity" are dispatched in medleys. Unlike the current crop of jukebox musicals and cabaret shows, "The Best Is Yet To Come" has no story line, no banter and only the barest choreography, deployed at seemingly random moments.”
Linda Winer in Newsday writes: (subscription based; link will not open to full review) “The show is oddly formal, frozen into an old-time, fancy-dressed retro-revue on a set designed like a snazzy deco nightclub. . . . But we're not in a spacious club. We're in a small Off-Broadway theater that should enhance the intimacy but, instead, makes us feel too close to all the belting and the over-directed emoting. Inexplicably, considering the size of the place, the singers are wearing head mikes. Basically, the show is too big for its room and not slick enough for its style. Lillias White is the only one, except for Billy Stritch, who genuinely seems to be having a good time. . . . Sally Mayes has a likable no-nonsense aplomb as the show's older woman, but it is hard not to want to put a small net over the enthusiasms of Rachel York, Howard McGillin and David Burnham. The staging feels embalmed. There is no chat and not enough greatest-hits. The song list leans a bit heavily on work with lyrics by [director]David Zippel, a choice more understandable than defensible.”
Adam Feldman in Time Out New York writes: (*** out of 5 stars) “The Cy Coleman revue “The Best Is Yet to Come” begins with the title tune, which sounds like a promise, and ends with a reprise of it, which sounds like a tacit apology for failing to deliver. Although performed with professional verve by a name-brand cast of six, most of the show’s songs can’t be described as the cream of the late Coleman’s bounteous crop; assembled and directed by David Zippel, the lyricist for Coleman’s hit 1989 Broadway musical City of Angels, the show heaves a Cy of mil disappointment. . . . “The Best Is Yet to Come” is truly exciting only when the sensational Lillias White is center stage, especially when re-creating the centerpiece song from her Tony-winning turn in 1997’s “The Life.” Otherwise, this is a case of too much Zippel and not enough zip.”
Melissa Rose Bernardo in Entertainment Weekly writes: (Grade = C+) “It's only natural that a Cy Coleman revue should take its name from one of the composer's most memorable tunes — 'The Best Is Yet to Come,' that swingy ode to optimism made famous by Frank Sinatra in the '60s. Yet after seeing this cramped, haphazardly staged Off Broadway show, I thought of one of Coleman's titles from Sweet Charity: 'There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This.' . . . It's just song after song after song after song...shoehorned into random situations to give the barest suggestion of a plot. . . . Along with lyricists like David Zippel, Carolyn Leigh, and Dorothy Fields, Coleman created a whole host of fascinating characters. Why cut them out of the show?”
Updated On: 5/27/11 at 06:32 PM
