Jessie did the last Lab of this before it went into ART (had a friend who did it with her). I just saw this show at the Wednesday Matinee, standing. Although it isn't a mind-blowing story or game changing musical I would still give it two thumbs up for the performances. I disagree with people (or maybe it was just that one WSJ critic) who said that Sara B has no concept when it comes to writing for the stage. The score felt like a breath of fresh air to me and I think some of the songs are absolute knockouts (When He Sees Me is such a delight - especially on the cast album). I also saw Keatle Settle's understudy (Charity Angel Dawson) perform and she was SO good. And on that note, I feel like all the understudies I've seen recently have been amazing in their respective shows. I think it's a shame this won't win any Tony awards because it definitely has a worthy enough score for my money - and also Kimiko Glenn was snubbed for a nomination!
There are some cool directorial elements with the cast when Jenna opens up with narratives to the audience, though I wish they were a bit tighter performed. I also though that the band having coffee cups when scenes took place at the diner were a little unnecessary, too tongue and cheek - we obviously see the band is on stage the whole time and it almost made it more distracting to me seeing them there. I wish we knew more specifically why Drew Gehling's character went ahead to cheat on his wife so fast. Yes Jessie's character is lovely and likable but it didn't seem like enough for me to buy that he would just drop everything so fast.
I have to admit I was bummed that Jenna doesn't make it up to the pie competition, it would have been nice to see the story go there. The advertising for this show while I think is appropriate and lovely didn't quite prepare me for how heavy this show gets at times, which is of course okay I was just not prepared for that. One thing that is not show related but what I couldn't help but notice from seeing this show standing room is how LATE some of the audience arrives to the show, and how late people return to their seats post intermission. Perhaps it was just because it was the matinee, but God that was so annoying and can only imagine how distracting that is for the actors on stage. Because this show is such a hit I wouldn't put it past house management and the creative team to have a talk about people not being invited in if not seated when the show begins post intermission.
That's all I've got for now, curious to see more reviews come in :)
