StylishCynic said: "Overall, I was overwhelmed by the sheer ACTING that our divas carried throughout the performance. Kelli O'Hara in particular was riddled with emotion. This is a show that almost requires a close-up viewing."
I'm looking forward to revisiting it when they most likely air it on Great Performances at the Met. There was some lovely music but I was mostly underwhelmed by the storytelling and, perhaps because of the staging, everyone looked even smaller than usual from up in the Family Circle. Also, someone coughed throughout the entirety of the trio finally singing together at the end.
I can't compare it to the film but I felt like, for a story about three women, I was always outside the characters, observing them. It also could have been way more Sapphic. Frankly, you could just tell there were no women, let alone queer women, on the creative team. The Clarissa storyline was the strongest and the other two felt like afterthoughts. The use of the chorus (especially when they were just lying around) felt like it was part of a struggle to fill the stage. Having two locations simultaneously on stage was rarely effective, especially when one scene would effectively be dark while the other was active. I think it would have been a lot stronger in a smaller theater with more intimate staging.
