As the last revival proved, staying faithful to the original material didn't work (as shown by the original production in Florida).
I only saw the touring production of the show with Anthony Rapp and Tari Kelly, and I can honestly say that that's the version that I fell in love with. I loved the set design, the huge hydraulic plants, and most of all the cast.
I think the cast is where the recent Broadway revival fell apart. I never saw the show on Broadway, but I've listened to the recording a lot. I think Hunter Foster, Douglas Sills, and Rob Bartlett were very much miscast. They all seemed to be trying to hard to accentuate the stereotypes of their roles: nerdy, shallow, and crazy. There wasn't any depth or character in their performances as far as I could tell. I personally loved Kerry Butler, but a lot of people didn't seem to so I must be missing something in hearing only the score.
If the cast came together well, I think the show would work well even in a huge Broadway theater (I saw it in the 2,000-seat Ahmanson in Los Angeles and it didn't seem dwarfed at all by the huge theater). It's a wonderful show and I think under the right circumstances it could do quite well on Broadway.
"You mean what was the best picture of the year or what did they pick as the best picture of the year?" - California Suite
Updated On: 1/18/08 at 08:07 PM
