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Sunday, 24 December 2006 01:08 pm
Must get over dull titles
Last night I ushered She Loves Me at Arena's Fichandler Theater. It's a 2.5-hour but fast-paced musical based on a play based on a book, and I had seen the premise reprised in the film You've Got Mail, which I give a solid two out of four stars. (It was inevitable that someone would adapt the story to the Internet age.) Fortunately, SLM is better.
Being fairly old, it stays close to the genre's roots in romantic comedy and takes itself seriously as a musical -- no autoparody. The result is, shall we say, sugary, but with a pinch of spice from sardonic wit. In that way, it reminded me of Gigi. The first act ends on a note that made me fear a turn to the dark side a la Into the Woods, but that didn't happen.
My dad was unimpressed with the first act, apparently because the music, while euphonious, was not memorable. But the songs my mom remembered from childhood were in the second act, as was the bulk of the good humor -- not to mention the best plot progression. In the end, we all enjoyed it.
Being fairly old, it stays close to the genre's roots in romantic comedy and takes itself seriously as a musical -- no autoparody. The result is, shall we say, sugary, but with a pinch of spice from sardonic wit. In that way, it reminded me of Gigi. The first act ends on a note that made me fear a turn to the dark side a la Into the Woods, but that didn't happen.
My dad was unimpressed with the first act, apparently because the music, while euphonious, was not memorable. But the songs my mom remembered from childhood were in the second act, as was the bulk of the good humor -- not to mention the best plot progression. In the end, we all enjoyed it.
