Better off with You

What I liked

I liked that it managed to be so light hearted and funny. I think parental caregiving is such a scary/painful topic for a lot of people that folks put it out of their minds until they’re forced to confront it. Being able to present it in such an approachable and comedic way is a terrific introduction. Plus it’s a really timely topic! I also liked how the songs seemed to be written specifically to showcase the unique strengths of each actor’s voice. I feel like the jokes really landed and the plights of both the younger and the older characters were incredibly relatable. It all reminded me of some of the autobiographical graphic novels I’ve read, in the best way!

What I didn't like

I thought that the show did a great job maximizing its limited resources, and a lot of what I would want to see improve was simply related to the budget (like mics for the actors).SPOILER AHEAD WARNING The only thing aside from that was I thought it would be nice to have a clarification as to whether or not the mom has dementia or is very successfully hiding it— I have heard that it’s tough to diagnose at first because people hide the early warning signs. Maybe if the show gets an hour or two-hour version! It’d also be interesting to see how “mama’s boy” reacts when faced with his partner’s first real episode.

My overall impression

I thought the writing, composition, and direction in this show was absolutely superb! I really love the voice of the writers and couldn’t believe they’d created something so fun yet poignant in such a short amount of time. I would love to see it expanded into a full musical or a movie-musical!