I saw yesterday's matinee performance. I agree with pretty much everyone else. I'm going to be super picky in this post but really, I walked away having enjoyed my time. I've certainly seen worse shows. The problem is that none of the songs were particularly memorable. Ali's song has stuck in my head a bit but not the others. I almost think Daniel needs another song? Perhaps at the beginning - something that's not about Ali or karate but about him.
Kate Baldwin was of course great, but the expanded role of the mom just wasn't really needed. The opening scene reminded me of the opening of Footloose, minus the religion. The later mom scenes felt like they were trying to be "Anybody Have a Map?" or "So Big / So Small" from Dear Evan Hansen but missed the mark.
I liked the idea of Ali not being sure of who she wanted to be, but I feel like there needed to be something else there. She doesn't want to go to USC like her parents, but what else? What are her interests beyond Daniel? I feel like maybe her bedroom set could have given a hint of something else - maybe instead of all of the posters of Patrick Swayze and Grease and other appropriate white, rich-girl interests, there could have been a photo of like, River Phoenix or someone a little edgier but still time period appropriate (?? who that would be I don't know). Or some cool original art or something? Like, rather than USC does she want to go to Berkeley or NYU or what? Give us a little hint of some additional personality she may have hiding.
I thought Jovanni Sy did a great job with Miyagi. Despite the heavy accent I could always understand him. Other actors may have difficulty with that - and it may depend on the sound quality and acoustics of the theatre it plays in. I thought they could have stayed just a minute more in the anniversary scene and really drive home the point that he was fighting for the US while his wife and unborn child were dying in an internment camp.
The idea of Kreese telling the Cobra Kai kids to befriend Daniel to "get in his head" was kind of bizarre and fell flat. I don't remember it from the movie but maybe it was there? In the musical, Johnny was mildly friendly to Daniel once, but that was the extent of it and I didn't see that Daniel was fazed by it at all. Make it something more or cut it.
The high points were absolutely the set and lighting design and the quality of the actors. I thought everyone sounded great from start to finish. I was front row center of the mezzanine and agree that some of the fight choreography could be a little better, but overall it didn't bother me too much. I thought the choreography was good overall and I liked the conceit of the "spirits."
