What I liked
What I didn't like
My overall impression
I had a delightful time and I highly recommend this show! The lyrics are witty, lol-worthy, and poignant. The concept is smart and well-carried out. The choreo is superb and I’m not someone who commonly comments on that aspect.
The cast is strong overall, mostly made of excellent movers and vocalists with a few who pull their weight in other ways like stronger acting, etc. This cast brings it with their energy and the ensemble offer a lot of fun and commitment to their roles.
I almost snuck out because the show ran 6 minutes over slotted time and I ended up missing a show that I got to just way too late to see, but I’m glad I stayed because the closing number is absolutely fantastic. I got nervous for a second as far as content, but a well formulated and funny sentence reminded me of how this show is bitingly socially aware (thank goodness- many shows are NOT and that’s a big pet peeve as a theatregoer and writer). i love the disaster song and sadies solo early on… there are some really beautiful and dynamic songs in this show – many using counterpoint and other structures and genres! I also really enjoyed the JPEG song, but that is the one song I missed most of the lyrics too- maybe because of it being in an unfavorable key for the actress or because she has to use an accent…
The show makes great use of a challenging venue/space, limited tech, and tracks. I’d love to see this show with a live pianist!
There is one fantastic heart felt speech toward the end and it’s impeccably written and delivered – and here comes my one big wish for this show – while I love that moment and enjoyed the show before that happened,, I sort of wished everything else up to that moment lived more in this realm that the whole show seems to want to live in – I hate to use the word campy, especially because that usually refers to shows that aren’t vocally strong and there were some lovely singers! But I feel like this shows best hitting moments were when the actors full embraced the ridiculousness, stepped all the way into the goofy satirical nature of this piece I wanted everyone to be living the same world and energy level as the one ensemble guy who I watched for literally the whole show #stalker
Hope to see this show again – I think this is easily a piece that could go through a few minor changes and end up being an insanely long running show in LA. Relevant, well written, touching, funny!