Fantastic Reviews

Quique · Mon Aug 06, 2012 4:37 am

I was browsing the internet and bumped into an older review of the now-closed revival national tour in its 2008 San Francisco engagement at the Curran Theatre. I had flown to San Francisco to catch the original revival cast and their pre-Broadway try-out run at the same theatre in 2006. Both casts were great but I agree with this reviewer that the 2008 tour cast was even better than the original 2006 revival cast. I had the privilege of seeing them 4 times during their run at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles in the summer of 2008.

As good as THEY were, the final revival national tour cast that closed the tour in Los Angeles at the Pantages Theatre back in 2010, was EVEN better. This musical is special in that you really do have different experiences depending on the cast. I've seen performances that make the whole thing fall apart and fizzle out as soon as you exit the auditorium. I've seen performances that make an old show seem brand new again, which has led me to believe that it isn't really the number of years that pass between a show's premiere and a current production of the same show that determines how relevant it is today. People far too often are shallow and assume if a show they saw doesn't work, it's the show's fault for being too old when often times the production values are crap and the casts are miscast. All except one production I've seen of this musical was a top notch production (that "one" was a non-Equity tour, no surprise and they used synths in place of the required brass. That was tragic) that used the best resources available so that can't be blamed for the varying quality I've seen. I'd say it varied from good to amazing. And it was all determined by the strength of the cast.

I'm posting this review for multiple reasons. One, because it is refreshing to see a critic delve a bit deeper and getting at the subtext rather than being very objective, which is boring and sort of missing the point of theatre, and actually reviewing a show without getting bogged down by detail of the plot and stirs curiosity in the reader. This musical is too often these days treated like a relic of days gone by instead of the still compelling piece that it is and continues to be. I feel this critic is what theatre needs--people that actually review and help promote those shows worth promoting! I never thought I'd watch the show recently and view it through such fresh a perspective thanks to that awesome cast in 2010. I can't believe it has been more than two years, it honestly feels like last summer. This show needs to begin touring again. I miss it!

http://www.sfgate.com/performance/artic ... 277250.php

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