2 Days, 4 Shows, a few unpopular takes 😅
This week I saw 4 current Tony contenders, following are brief reactions to each:
The Lost Boys - Like many others, I am mixed to positive on this show. I have no familiarity with the movie. Shoshanna Bean was so great in this - she is capable of doing the most, but I thought she walked a perfect line of being warm, believable and killing her songs without doing too much. I’ll be very pleased if she wins that Tony. Ali L.B. is also an absolute star and I look forward to him having a rich career. Unlike many of you, I kind of struggled with Act One because I am a weenie who doesn’t like horror movies or prolonged feelings of impending dread (here, waiting for David to become a vampire). Also, I was not a fan of LJ Benet - neither his look nor his singing did it for me. Just about every other guy onstage (excepting Benj) appealed to me more. But I realize I’m an outlier on that. While Act 2 gets goofy, it’s at least more upbeat in tone so I was relieved by that. I didn’t really enjoy Benj and the Frogs though, their material was too over the top for me. Still, there were enough visuals and moments for me to like this show overall. It wouldn’t be my personal choice for Best Musical, but I won’t be surprised or disappointed if it wins, I’d be fine for it to be boosted for a long healthy run.
Death of a Salesman - I’ve also never read or seen this show in any medium. It was excellent, with uniformly incredible performances and so finely directed. The score added a lot, I am happy for them to have that nomination. And forgive the thirst, but good lord Joaquin Consuelos is so good looking onstage. Ben Ahlers was out but his understudy did a very fine job.
Rocky Horror Show - Go ahead and start throwing things at me, this show is just super not my cup of tea. I’m glad I got to see Luke Evans, he lived up to the expectations, and Stephanie Hsu was delightful. That’s about all I can say on this one. I know there’s a lot of distaste for Chess, but I enjoyed every aspect of that show 1000 times more and would’ve given it the Best Revival spot over Rocky Horror. JMHO.
Cats: The Jellicle Ball - This was my third time at the Jellicle Ball and I continue to love it. I’d seen it twice from the orchestra, so I sat onstage this time and had a blast. NPH and David Burtka were the guest judges and totally understood the assignment - they were very fun, especially interacting with Rum Tum Tugger. The cast was giving it their all and the audience was electric, it’s just a great, memorable night in the theatre.
Them’s my takes on this crop. Thanks for reading if you’ve made it this far.