Posted: 9/22/15 at 10:20pm
Well, the show is over, now for my thoughts. On the plus side, the acting, singing and sets was very good. The woman who played Phoebe D'Ysquith, Catherine Walker, has a lovely soprano voice. She was a pleasure to listen to and watch. I really liked the songs and what they said and how they sounded. However... Unfortunately, the show left me sort of cold and unmoved emotionally. I feel bad saying negative things about shows that I see, but isn't it better to be truthful rather than just say "oh it was phenomenal! The best thing I ever saw!" A friend of mine described it as stylized. I didn't quite know what that meant, but now, I believe I understand what he meant. It was very catchy, English drawing room clever and punchy. I don't know if those are the right worlds to describe it. Now I love the English drawing rooms of Downton Abbey because we get to know who the characters are and why they are doing the things they are doing. This show was much more plot driven. Just sit back and watch the action. The dispatching of the relatives in the first act, to me was sort of boring and I found myself looking at the ceiling of the Walter Kerr and noticing the beautiful mural on the ceiling (probably one should not be noticing the decorations in the theater and having a few yawns in the first half). The second half was better, but I'm still not entirely sure who poisoned the last man standing in between the main character and his desire to be the next Earl. I think the show could have had a much more emotional punch had we really learned about who this main character was instead of watching slapstick silliness for much of the show. It was sort of like a melodrama for a lot of the show. I mean who were these people and why should I care about what happened to them? I believe he show wanted to be very clever and cute. And I guess it succeeded if those were its goals. It was a very "musical" type of musical (does that make sense?) whereas, FUN HOME, examined in depth, Allison and who she was at various ages. I guess maybe it's not good to judge each musical against Fun Home, but I believe he show would have had a much more lasting impact of we could have known a character or two in more depth. But then, how could we have seen the dispatching (killing of each of the 8 people between the main character and his goal of doing away with the 8 people so he could succeed as heir). Maybe there should have been 3 or 4 people between the main character and his goal versus 8. I don't know, was this based on a true story? Or based on a play, novel, short story or some other source material? I wanted to love this show, but I only liked it at best. But I realized that these are just my opinions, so why did you think if you saw it? I would also encourage you to see it for yourself and make your own opinions. I wish it had been more like a Downton Abbey with music, something more serious and interesting with some points to make versus something just silly and lighthearted that really said nothing.
