FANtomFollies said: "This may work beautifully in the theater, but on the recording and all televised performances, this production just comes across as actors trying to out-act each other and all previous versions of these songs. It feels very forced and phony, to me."
That is very much what it felt like, in the theater the evening I saw it.
The original company was full of great actors and singers, all held back by sophomoric and wrong headed directorial choices. Sally was so angry from the get go, that you never felt any tragedy. You should want to get out of your seat and scream at her, when she declines Cliff’s offer to leave Berlin at the show’s climax but you just think ‘meh’ she’ll be fine nothing can destroy her. There is no fragility and you never feel that Sally is a creation. She’s played entirely authentic, when you should sense that the woman has created an identity to cover her crushing insecurity and lack of talent.
Truly unforgivable is that the director seems to have gone to the Tom Hooper master class in directing musicals. All of the sustained notes and phrases are cut back, and the actors are encouraged to growl, and shout lyrics instead of singing. The end of ‘Whay Would You Do?’ was entirely ransacked of its climactic punch, in the pursuit of what the foolhardy director thinks is the way to achieve drama .
the venue is incredible and whilst you can sit at your table, be served booze and have a zany pre show happen around you then people are going to have the emperor and hai new clothes syndrome. It’s a great night out but a lousy theatre experience. I was astounded at how little the audience around me was invested in the story, and serval asking questions because they had no idea what was happening. The plot had become background and the show is a grotesque variety performance, serving as a distraction whilst people get drunk in a trendy immersive setting
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